SILVA SHOW
HILARIOUSLY FUNNY
The West Virginia women’s soccer team defeated Kansas 3-0 in the first round of the Big 12 tournament Wednesday. Senior forward Frances Silva scored two goals.
Comedian Kathy Griffin filled the hall with laughter with her stand-up at the WVU Creative Arts Center Wednesday. A&E PAGE 6
SPORTS PAGE 7
THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
da
Thursday November 7, 2013
Volume 126, Issue 56
www.THEDAONLINE.com
SGA passes first aid, CPR resolution by Sam Bosserman staff writer @DAILYATHENAEUM
A resolution endorsing first aid and CPR training for all personnel working in West Virginia University residence halls passed unanimously at Wednesday’s Student Government Association meeting. Several SGA members announced also they were seeking student feedback on initiatives ranging from GECs to academic advising. The unanimously passed
first aid and CPR training resolution supports efforts already underway by the University to have residence hall employees equipped with the necessary skills required in urgent student health situations. Gov. Evan McIntyre said he believes the resolution is important because many students spend a lot of their time inside residence halls. “If something happens, it’s RAs, it’s students working in the dining facilities, it’s people on night staff who see students coming in re-
ally late at night, who are the ones who most often are having to call 911,” McIntyre said. “It’s really awesome that WVU residence halls are getting on board with offering those individuals training.” McIntyre said those in charge of RA health training have said they hope to see CPR and first aid training made available to all Residence hall employees this summer. In addition to the resolution Gov. Stephen Scott said announcements and emails
regarding an advising survey recently went out to students, because he believes feedback through the survey was vital to the process. “The advising survey is really pinpointing the areas where students are having problems and also is identifying certain areas where advising can be improved upon in general,” Scott said. Scott said he was working closely with administrators in University College Advising, and he believes the survey comes at a perfect time to make potential changes.
FEAR THE BEARD
“University College is new and this is really a chance for them to see how students want their advising and how they want their advisors to help,” Scott said. Scott said the advising survey is not specific to certain majors and the hope is to use the results to improve advising for all students. “We’ll try to branch this out to other departments … this is really a chance for everyone to see what students are looking for when they go to their advising appointments,” he said.
staff writer @dailyathenaeum
Mick Posey/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Annual beard growing competition part of Mountaineer Week tradition by alexis randolph staff writer @dailyathenaeum
Mick Posey/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Some of the areas top beard growing judges came in support of Mountaineer Week and helped find a winner.
Mountaineer Week is well underway in Morgantown with some hairy competitions happening around the West Virginia University campus. The Mountainlair was abuzz with the 2013Mountaineer Week Beard Growing contest judging and results Wednesday. The competition began with the beard shaving, which took place four weeks prior. Andy Boggs, a senior physical education student, was the victor. Boggs said he was confident coming into the competition, but when he saw his competitors, nerves set in. Now that the competition has come to an end, Boggs said he feels great to be the winner.
see SGA on PAGE 2
National org aims for changes in animal testing at WVU by evelyn merithew
The Mountaineer interviews a contestant while a judge evaluates his beard.
Students will have until the end of the semester to complete the survey. The survey can be found at http://bit.ly/HKwkS1. A second initiative focused on the potential reworking of the General Education Curriculum. Kartik Motwani, SGA director for academics, said SGA has been asked to be part of a process that will look into potentially reworking GECs in order to make them more practical for
West Virginia University is among hundreds of colleges and universities in the United States using animal testing to study the effects of diseases on humans. However, one large organization believes there are better and more efficient alternatives to animal testing. Dr. John Pippin, director of academic affairs for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said the PCRM has more than 150,000 members, including more than 10,000 physicians. “Our mission is to pursue practices in nutrition, medicine, science and education that combine the best methods with the best ethics,” Pippin said. “Trying to determine how to create or prevent certain diseases in people by studying human diseases in animals does not work. “The statistics are overwhelming that the entire animal research enterprise to study human diseases is a failure.” Pippin said there are a variety of methods to studying diseases that are both human-based and relevant, such as studying tissues and cells, stem cell growth into tissues and organs, and various state-ofthe-art imaging procedures for medical conditions like brain diseases. “There are a variety of approaches that don’t use animals, and some of them are fully developed and are in use in universities already,” Pippin said. “Our position at PCRM is to track the record of using animals to study human diseases. “What we’ve found is so terrible over the past four
to five decades that we should end this and spend our time, money, effort and hope in further developing human-based methods that are relevant.” Paul Atkins, professor emeritus of the Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, said he has been an active member of PCRM for a number of years and feels strongly about its research. “PCRM provides an alternative to the brutal experiments colleges and universities perform on helpless animals. Now we have computers and all kinds of inventive gadgets that can be used in place of animals for the same research,” Atkins said. According to Pippin, many colleges and universities use domestic animals like cats, dogs and pigs to study and test human diseases, but WVU does not. Dr. Matthew Wilson, assistant professor of Animal & Nutritional Sciences, said all of the human disease work that is done at the University is done on rodents. “The research is done on a variety of things from Alzheimer’s disease to cardiovascular disease and a number of things that are human health problems,” Wilson said. “In order to make improvements in our treatments, we find a mechanism of action or potential therapeutics that might solve those.” PCRM has made a difference in the past and hopes to make changes to WVU. “Last year, we were able to persuade University of Virginia to quit doing a particular type of animal research,” Atkins said. “That’s what I hope we will be able to do at WVU.” danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu
see BEARDS on PAGE 2
B&E Distinguished Speaker, CONSOL CEO talks change in coal industry By Laura Haight staff writer @DAILYATHENAEUM
The Business & Economic Distinguished Speaker series continued Wednesday with J. Brett Harvey, chairman and CEO of CONSOL Energy Inc. “From the very beginning, the whole purpose of the series is to illustrate and put in front of you – students, professors and other invitees – individuals who have succeeded in life,” said Jose Sartarelli, Milan Puskar Dean of West
Virginia University College of Business & Economics. Sartarelli said he was impressed by his accomplishments and encouraged students to learn from him. “I think in this day and age role model leadership stories, success stories and lessons of life is very important,” he said. Harvey began by explaining the history of CONSOL Energy and the importance of continuous improvement. “Abraham Lincoln was the president of the United
States when CONSOL Energy Inc. was formed,” Harvey said. “That shows you have the timeless value of resources that create society over time.” Harvey said he started as a proud fourth-generation coal miner. During his lecture he shared life lessons about how he was humbled by coal miners who enjoyed working with his father but didn’t approve of his bossy techniques at first. He said coal miners taught him how to lead a team effectively, which he
had to learn the hard way. “I can’t do it by myself but I can give them the tools (to succeed) and work with them,” Harvey said. “Learn to work with other people. Don’t push them.” Harvey also discussed the future, rapidly changing technology and how it’s crucial for students to adapt. “It has been said if you want to understand today, you have to research yesCory Dobson/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM terday. History is a great Brett Harvey, chairman & CEO of CONSOL Energy, speaks at the College of Business & Economics Distinguished Speaker Series at the Erickson Alumni Center see HARVEY on PAGE 2 Wednesday.