Volume CXVIII No. 77
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Union protests company wages and benefits By Loumarie Rodriguez Staff Writer Union carpenters of Connecticut gathered early yesterday afternoon in order to bring attention to the busi-
ness practices of Allstate Inc. in front of the Storrs Center construction site, on the corner of Route 195 and Dog Lane. The union protested that the New York based company
does not meet area standards for wages and benefits for their employees. Another issue the group brought to light was the fact that Allstate did not hire in-state carpenters to work on the project. Which they feel is
irresponsible given the state’s high unemployment rate. “It’s a great project for the town and it’s good for the community, but our concern is for the workers getting the area standards of wages and benefits,” said Chris Bachant, a union carpenter and business representative organizer. “Allstate does not pay the standard wages.” With a little over a dozen union members present at the Storrs Center construction site, armed with loud noise makers, the protestors made sure their presence was well known to the surrounding area. They placed an inflatable rat in front of the site in order to bring more attention to the situation. This is the group’s second time demonstrating at the site and they plan to come back again next week. The carpenter’s union has been looking into the site project since the developing stages back in 2006. They have tried to bring their concerns to the attention of the mayor and town council and have attended multiple town meetings while gaining few results. Another main concern is the safety of workers, according to Tim Sullivan, a council representative, who referenced the scaffolding accident that took
place a few weeks prior. “I understand that times are tough and people need work, but we want to make sure they don’t jeopardize their lives in order to keep their jobs,” said Sullivan. “They also need to be paid fair wages.” The demonstrations want to advocate that workers need to be treated fairly on the job. According to the union, they faced a similar situation back in 2000 - 2001 when Husky Village was under construction and the university hired an out of state company that was not meeting Connecticut standards. The group stayed until 1 p.m. chanting and made sure that the public was well informed on the current situation. They also handed out packets filled with information on the organization and why they were demonstrating. There were also a few articles from local newspapers showing letters to the editors and showing how long the campaign has been on going for. “People need to understand we are here to represent all carpenters. Misclassification of workers is running rampant in the state and we need to get the public aware,” said Bachant. “No one deserves to get below standard wages.”
ground on making people aware of discrimination,” Saunders said. Saunders shared the lyrics of several songs from the Cuban hip hop band Las Krudas. Las Krudas is dedicated to promoting acceptance and making people aware of discrimination and its effects on an international scale. “Their lyrics reflect the reality of today,” Saunders said. “They ask women to participate in arenas typically dominated by men, such as politics.” Saunders discussed how women are socialized to view themselves as sex objects and compete with one another for male attention. Saunders
described her own experiences in Cuba, where women critiqued her appearance and told her she should change her appearance to become more attractive. “People I didn’t know would tell me I should straighten my hair or lose some weight,” Saunders said. “Women in Cuba are primarily judged by their appearance.” Saunder said that Las Krudas seeks to instill a sense of equality among all people of all races, genders and sexuality and speak to the limitations of black women. “Las Krudas targets the way women police each other through their lyrics,” Saunders
said. Saunders discussed how discrimination exists on a global level and how people are trained to perform gender, race and sexual roles. The Class of 1947 Meeting Room in the library was filled with students who came to hear Saunder’s lecture. “I think it was really great to see UConn offering such a different perspective,” said Kristen Van Ness, a graduate student in the human development and family studies program. “I really enjoyed it.”
we would put this nightmare behind us,” said Cafero, predicting Malloy will now have to make additional cuts because of yet-to-be realized savings from a deal with the state employees, and falling state revenues. “We have a lot of bad news to come,” Cafero said. Last week, Malloy announced that state revenues for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, are expected to decline by about $95 million. That’s one-half of 1 percent of the annual budget. State revenues are projected to drop by about $139 million the following fiscal year that ends on June 30, 2013, or seven-tenths of 1 percent of the annual budget. Malloy asked Barnes to prepare a plan that relies on the governor’s budget-cutting authority to make sure the current budget is balanced. Malloy is limited to reducing any line item by 5 percent.
(AP) - The iPhone is taking over Apple. For the first time, the device that changed how people use mobile phones, accounts for more than half of the behemoth company’s sales. Apple Inc. on Tuesday said it sold 37 million iPhones in the last three months of 2011, vastly exceeding analyst estimates and propelling the company to record quarterly results. The phone accounted for 53 percent of Apple’s revenue in the quarter. Though it has other hit products, like MacBooks and the iPad, they can’t keep up with the iPhone, whose sales more than doubled over last year from an already high level. The sales mean Apple is set to regain the position it briefly held earlier last year of being the world’s largest maker of smartphones. Nokia Corp., the earlier No. 1, in transition to a new generation of smartphones, and more recent competitor Samsung
Electronics Co. has announced preliminary figure of 35 million smartphones sold in the October to December period. October saw Apple launching the iPhone 4S in the U.S. and some other countries. The phone was delayed for a few months, which meant that Apple’s results for the July to September quarter were uncharacteristically tepid. It came back with a vengeance in the holiday season. On Tuesday, Apple said net income in the fiscal first quarter, which ended Dec. 31, was $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per share. That was up 118 percent from $6 billion, or $6.43 per share, a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting earnings of $10.04 per share for the latest quarter, Apple’s fiscal first. Revenue was $46.33 billion, up 73 percent from a year ago. Analysts were expecting $38.9 billion.
CAMPUS REPUBLICANS GET RILED AS ELECTION APPROACHES Students discuss candidates, issues on their own terms. FOCUS/ page 7
WORTH THEIR WEIGHT? Calhoun and Auriemma stay atop pay list of state employees. SPORTS/ page 14 EDITORIAL: ISU SHOULDN’T HAVE CANCELED RELIGIOUS BUSINESS CLASS Iowa State University did its students a disservice by canceling class. COMMENTARY/page 4 INSIDE NEWS: FBI ARRESTS FOUR EAST HAVEN POLICE OFFICERS Probe found discrimination and biased policing.
NEWS/ page 2
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Union carpenters of Connecticut protested Allstate Inc.’s work conditions in front of the Storrs Center construction site on the corner of Route 195 and Dog Lane.
Hip hop sheds light on discrimination
By Kim Wilson Senior Staff Writer Racism, homophobia and gender discrimination undeniably exist as a part of today’s culture, according to guest lecturer Tara Saunders. Saunders discussed how discrimination can be brought to the attention of listeners through the art of hip hop yesterday during her presentation titled “Cultural Production and Cuban Activism”. Sponsored by the Institute of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, Saunders’ lecture explored how discrimination is an international problem that is only just
beginning to be discussed and explored. “Musical artists are breaking
“They ask women
to participate in arenas typically dominated by men, such as politics.” Monqedh Razzaq Iraqi army officer
Loumarie.Rodriguez@UConn.edu
Kimberley.Wilson@UConn.edu
Malloy covers deficit with cuts to iPhone earns half of Apple’s veterans programs and state attractions profit in first quarter
HARTFORD (AP) — Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy plans to use his budgetcutting authority to trim programs across state government and impose new restrictions on hiring to help cover a projected $73.6 million deficit that has developed in this year’s state budget. Malloy’s budget director, Office of Policy and Management Secretary Benjamin Barnes, released a list of proposed cuts and withdrawals of unspent funds on Tuesday. The wide-ranging list includes $17,500 from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ account for headstones, $2 million in personal services or staffing expenses at the Department of Developmental Services, and cuts to various private museums, theaters and attractions throughout Connecticut. The plan also calls on the judicial branch to cut $5.7 million and the legislative branch to cut $800,000. When asked about any potential
negative ramifications on state services, both Malloy and Barnes said that the latest reductions, taken in their entirety, should have a relatively small impact. Barnes told state agency heads during a meeting Tuesday that “$75 million is a lot of money by any of our individual standards. But it is a very, very small percentage of the budget. We believe that a reasonable and modest intervention now can result in (a balanced budget). I don’t believe that this will deprive us of the ability to provide needed services.” But House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, said the reductions come somewhat as a surprise because Malloy, a Democrat, promised that he could balance the deficitplagued state budget last year with a combination of spending reductions, tax increases and state employee concessions. “We were told that if we did it his way, we would be in balance,
What’s on at UConn this week... Out to Lunch Lecture 12 to 1:30 p.m. Rainbow Center
Lunar New Year Coffee Hour 2 to 4 p.m. Student Union, 307
The “Educational Needs/Legal Rights of LGBTQ Students” lecture will focus on reviewing existing laws and adapting the school community to fit the needs of all students.
Lunar New Year Coffee Hour-YEAR OF THE DRAGON at the International center, there will be music and refreshments.
Victorian Fashion Drawing 2:30 to 4 p.m. Benton Museum Examine fashion from different periods, be inspired and draw your own designs! The Women of New England ehibition will provide the fashion, you provide the large sketchbook and drawing supplies.
Movie Night 6:30 to 9 p.m. Women’s Center See Hilary Swank star as womens’ rights leader Alice Paul in “Iron Jawed Angels,” which shows the story of Paul and Lucy Burns fight for womens’ suffrage.
-ELIZABETH CROWLEY
The Daily Campus, Page 2
DAILY BRIEFING » STATE
Coast Guard cadets ‘meet’ with astronaut in space
NEW LONDON (AP) — More than 100 cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy have “met” by video conferencing with a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station. Manchester native Dan Burbank, a retired U.S. Coast Guard captain, talked Tuesday with cadets in an event coordinated by the academy’s aviation club on the New London campus. Burbank is commander of NASA’s Expedition 30. He and others at the Space Station are studying how the human body and different materials react to the weightless environment of space. Burbank graduated from the academy in 1985 and is a former engineering professor there. Cadet First Class George Grock, the aviation club’s president and a native of Smithtown, N.Y., said they were able to ask Burbank about everything from the weightlessness research to the Space Station’s living conditions.
Suspect held in Spain in killing of Westport jeweler
WESTPORT (AP) — A man wanted in connection with the killing and robbery of a Connecticut jeweler has been arrested in Spain, U.S. authorities said Tuesday. Andrew Robert Levene, also known as Robert Thomas, was arrested Monday, said U.S. Attorney David Fein and local and state law enforcement. The 41-year-old Levene was charged with federal murder, robbery and firearm offenses in the Dec. 8 shooting of Yekutiel Zeevi, the owner of YZ Manufacturers LLC in Westport. Levene contacted Zeevi in early December, asking him for several diamonds that were to two to three karats and valued between $45,000 and $75,000, authorities said. The evening before the shooting, Zeevi met Levene, who examined the diamonds and was noncommittal about buying them, authorities said.
Paramedic pleads not guilty in sex assault
NEW HAVEN (AP) — A Connecticut paramedic accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious patient in an ambulance has entered a not guilty plea in the case. Mark Powell made a brief appearance Tuesday in New Haven Superior Court. The New Haven Register reports (http://bit.ly/ z5m4yQ) the 49-year-old Powell stood silently as his attorney entered the plea and asked for a jury trial. Powell is charged with first-degree sexual assault and unlawful restraint. Hamden police say the 22-year-old woman, intoxicated and unconscious while strapped to a stretcher Dec. 25, awoke to find Powell sexually touching her. Police say she had fallen and hit her head at a party. Police said Powell acknowledged touching her to try to awaken her, but his lawyer disputes that.
Fire victim mourned by parents and friends
FAIRFIELD (AP) — The mother of a New York college student who died in a fire remembered her as the best daughter a mother could have. The Connecticut Post reports (http://bit.ly/xCjMFr ) that hundreds of mourners attended the funeral Monday of Eva Block, a 21-year-old Marist College student from Woodbridge who was killed with two others in a fire Saturday at an off-campus house in Poughkeepsie (puh-KIHP’-see), N.Y. Kevin Johnson of New Canaan and Kerry Fitzsimons of Commack, N.Y., also died. Four others escaped. Her mother, Barbara Block, said her daughter will live on in her heart. Block’s father, Jeffrey Block, said his daughter wouldn’t want her family and friends to be sad. Mark Conti, Block’s boyfriend, said a scholarship is being established at Marist for a student of fashion design, which was Block’s major.
Hunter faces cruelty charge in videotaped hunt
HARTFORD (AP) — State environmental officials have increased the charges against a New Hartford hunter who posted the killing of a deer on YouTube. A spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said Monday that Anthony Piana will be charged with animal cruelty in addition to violations of hunting rules. The Republican American reports (http://bit.ly/AmKEaT ) that Piana had no comment when reached by telephone. He was charged two weeks ago with failing to report a deer kill within 24 hours, as required. He paid a $100 fine by mail.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
News
FBI arrests four officers after probe found discrimination and biased policing BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut (AP) — Four police officers, including the president of the local police union, were arrested Tuesday by the FBI on charges that they used excessive force against illegal immigrants and covered up abuses in a New Haven suburb where a federal investigation found life was made miserable for Hispanics. The East Haven officers assaulted people while they were handcuffed, unlawfully searched Latino businesses and harassed and intimidated people, including advocates, witnesses and other officers who tried to investigate or report misconduct or abuse the officers committed, the federal indictment said. Police treatment of Hispanics in the seaside city of East Haven has been under federal scrutiny since 2009, when the U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights probe that found a pattern of discrimination and biased policing. The arrests were welcomed by local Hispanic business owners, including Luis Rodriguez, an immigrant from Ecuador who had complained of harassment by police at his Los Amigos Grocery store. “They should have to pay, not with many years, but enough to make an example of them. They should not abuse their power,” Rodriguez said. “All I ever wanted was to be left in peace.” Officers Dennis Spaulding, David Cari and Jason Zullo and Sgt. John Miller, president of the police union, are each charged with conspiracy against rights, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. Some also face
AP
East Haven police vehicles are seen outside the police department in East Haven. The FBI arrested four East Haven police officers on conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges following an investigation into possible civil rights violations.
charges including deprivation of rights, obstruction of justice and use of unreasonable force. All four defendants pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, and three were released on bond. The highest bond amount — $300,000 — was set for Spaulding, who was described by prosecutors as facing the most serious charges. Zullo was ordered to remain in custody until another hearing Thursday because he was not immediately able to post bond. The U.S. attorney for Connecticut, David Fein, said the criminal investigation is still looking at other people and urged tipsters to contact the FBI. The profiling claims emerged with a dramatic demographic
Skakel seeks sentence reduction for 1975 murder MIDDLETOWN (AP) — Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel on Tuesday again insisted on his innocence in a 1975 killing, as he pleaded with a three-judge panel to reduce his prison sentence of 20 years to life. Skakel’s lawyer, Hubert Santos, argued in Middletown Superior Court that the sentence Skakel received after his 2002 murder conviction in the beating death of Martha Moxley when the two were teen neighbors in wealthy Greenwich was excessive. Santos repeated his claim, which has been rejected by other state courts, that Skakel should have been tried in juvenile court, where the maximum sentence for a murder conviction would have been four years. “Give me a polygraph,” Skakel told the judges. “I’ve passed three sodium pentathol tests. I don’t know what else to say.” Skakel’s lawyers didn’t ask for a specific sentence reduction. Skakel, 51, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, wore an orange prison jumpsuit as he spoke to the three judges, who are expected to issue a ruling in about two months. He was handcuffed and his legs were shackled. Members of both the Skakel and Moxley families were in
the courtroom as Skakel said he prayed for Moxley’s mother, Dorthy Moxley every day. “I told Mrs. Moxley if I killed Martha I would take responsibility for it,” Skakel said. “I didn’t commit this crime.” Dorthy Moxley and her son, John, both called Skakel’s words “hollow” and said he got the prison sentence he deserved. “Michael belongs in jail for the rest of his life,” John Moxley told the judges. Speaking after the hearing, Dorthy and John Moxley said that they were upset that the case keeps returning to court, adding that they have to relive Martha’s killing every time. The state Supreme Court ruled in 2010 against Skakel’s bid for a new trial, saying a claim implicating two other men in the killing wasn’t credible. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Skakel currently has a habeas corpus appeal pending in state courts, alleging his trial attorney, Michael Sherman, did a bad job. “It’s getting a little frustrating and getting a little old,” Dorthy Moxley said. “I’m so convinced Michael did this. He made us suffer for ... 26 ½ years.” Martha Moxley was beaten to death with a golf club in her neighborhood when both she and Skakel were 15 years old. Skakel was arrested in 2000.
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shift in East Haven, a predominantly Italian-American suburb of 28,000 people that was 10.3 percent Hispanic in 2010, compared with only 4.4 percent in 2000. Latino business owners said rough treatment by police drove away many of the newcomers from Mexico and Ecuador, although business has recovered in recent months as residents report less profiling. At My Country Store on Main Street, where the defendants are accused of carrying out illegal searches and a false arrest, owner Marcia Chacon said she is grateful for the tranquility. “Things have gotten much better,” she said. “Business has started to come back.” Federal officials say the offi-
cers denied Latino residents and their advocates the right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures, the right to not be arrested and detained without probable cause and the right to not be arrested on false and misleading evidence. “In simple terms, these defendants behaved like bullies with badges,” said Janice Fedarcyk, assistant director of the New York office of the FBI. Zullo described taking joy in singling out Latinos, authorities said, telling Spaulding in a 2008 exchange quoted by the indictment that he liked harassing drivers and referred to “persons who have drifted to this country on rafts made of chicken wings” and living in East Haven.
Rockefeller impostor ordered to stand trial ALHAMBRA, Calif. (AP) — A German man who masqueraded as a Rockefeller and assumed many other identities was ordered to stand trial Tuesday in a California killing that had baffled police for 26 years. Christian Gerhartsreiter listened solemnly as Superior Court Judge Jared Moses said there was sufficient evidence to hold him for trial in the murder of John Sohus, the son of a woman who rented her guest house to the defendant. The judge set bail at $10 million and ordered an arraignment Feb. 9. Sohus and his wife, Linda, disappeared in 1985 and bones were dug up in the yard of the home in 1994. Forensic analysis suggested they were John Sohus’ bones. No sign of Linda Sohus has ever been found. Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian spent five days calling 29 witnesses to build a circumstantial case based on the excavated bones, traces of blood found in the cottage and the memories of residents of the upscale community who welcomed the stranger into their homes and churches. The most compelling witness was one of the last, a woman who lived with Gerhartsreiter as his girlfriend for seven years and told of his paranoid behavior when a police detective
called and began to question his whereabouts. She said he acted as if he was a hunted man and said that he was in danger. Another witness said the man he almost hired to work as a bond salesman acted strangely and had an attitude as if he was involved in “something cloak and dagger.” Ralph Boynton said the man he knew as Christopher Crow told him a wild story involving his parents being kidnapped by terrorists and said he had to go and help them. “It had to do with espionage, spies, kidnapping. It all sounded a bit strange to me. I was looking for a bonds salesman,” he said. Balian said outside court: “We look forward to a jury trial. It’s an interesting case and we feel at the end we’ll have a fair and just verdict.” He said the age of the case poses challenges but none that cannot be overcome. During the preliminary hearing, a number of elderly witnesses spoke of having fuzzy memories of the decades-old events. But Gerhartsreiter’s former girlfriend was not one of them. She told a detailed story of their time together. Mihoko Manabe testified Tuesday that he lived the life of a hunted man in a plot that could have been plucked from a spy thriller.
Corrections and clarifications This space is reserved for addressing errors when The Daily Campus prints information that is incorrect. Anyone with a complaint should contact The Daily Campus Managing Editor via email at managingeditor@dailycampus.com.
Monday, January 23, 2012 Copy Editors: Mike Corasaniti, Eric Scatamacchia, Meredith Falvey, Ed Ryan News Designer: Elizabeth Crowley Focus Designer: Stephanie Ratty Sports Designer: Matt McDonough Digital Production: Rochelle BaRoss
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News
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Teenager charged with firebombing 2 synagogues
PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — The suspect in two firebombings of New Jersey synagogues is a virulent anti-Semite who was so intent on sowing fear and destruction that he rode his bike to both locations when he couldn’t get access to a car, authorities said Tuesday. Anthony Graziano, of Lodi, an unemployed recent high school graduate, was arrested and charged in the Jan. 11 attack on a Rutherford synagogue and the Jan. 3 firebombing of a Paramus synagogue. He was being held on $5 million bail. It wasn’t immediately known if he had retained an attorney. The charges include nine counts of attempted murder, bias intimidation, arson and aggravated arson. The 19-yearold Graziano was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Wednesday morning. “We have no doubt that the arson and attempted murder in Rutherford were a direct result of Mr. Graziano’s hatred of people of the Jewish faith,” Bergen County prosecutor John Molinelli said Tuesday. Molinelli and other authorities didn’t speculate on what may have spurred Graziano to action. They described him as a 2010 high school graduate and loner who didn’t appear to have
much of a social life. During the time period when the attacks occurred, Molinelli said, Graziano lacked access to a car but searched for nearby synagogues on the Internet and rode his bike to the two locations and, at the Rutherford synagogue, threw several Molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices before fleeing. He is believed to have acted alone. Graziano’s father, whose name is also Anthony Graziano, told The Record newspaper that he sees his son infrequently but that his son had never said anything to suggest he had any animosity toward Jews. He called his son a great kid but said “he’s confused.” A man who answered the door at the teen’s home in Lodi told The Associated Press that the young man’s mother was too distraught to speak and had known nothing of his activities. Neither Graziano’s parents nor his siblings were charged with any crimes. The Rutherford attack narrowly avoided causing serious injury and possibly death. According to police, the Molotov cocktails were thrown at Congregation Beth El early on Jan. 11, igniting a fire in the second-floor bedroom of Rabbi Nosson Schuman’s residence. The rabbi,
his wife, five children and his parents were sleeping at the time. Molinelli said Graziano knew people were in the residence when he threw the bombs. “I’m elated,” Schuman said Tuesday about the arrest. “It’s been a very stressful two weeks even with police coverage at our home. We’re still a little scared because obviously this guy’s not normal. Maybe this will restore life back to some normality, though we will still be doing outreach to try and restore unity.” The fire at Congregation K’Hal Adath Jeshuran in Paramus was discovered on the morning of Jan. 3 when members smelled gas in the building and contacted authorities. Fire and police officials determined an accelerant had been used in the rear of the building to start a fire. The fire had quickly burned itself out, and no injuries were reported. Molinelli speculated Tuesday that Graziano might have changed his methods after the Paramus attack, resulting in far more firepower directed at the Rutherford synagogue. Graziano’s arrest was the end result of meticulous police work combined with an alert public. Once the ingredients of the bombs used in the Rutherford attack were identified — low-
Judge tosses lawsuit on secret IRA and Boston College tapes
NEWTON, Mass. (AP) — A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block federal subpoenas for Boston College transcripts and recordings of interviews with former members of the Irish Republican Army. The ruling was a minor victory for U.S. prosecutors. But a federal appeals court will likely have the ultimate say in whether the controversial interviews from a Boston College oral history project will eventually be handed over to police in Northern Ireland. U.S. District Judge William Young ruled in favor of prosecutors after a brief hearing Tuesday, finding that the two men who filed the suit do not have legal standing to bring the complaint. The hearing was held at Boston College Law School as part of an annual program in which Young holds court hearings at a law school so law students can attend. Young ruled in December that interviews with former IRA member Dolours Price could be turned over to U.S. prosecutors. But the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had temporarily blocked the handover. Arguments in that case — scheduled for March — will determine whether those interviews and the interviews of seven other former IRA mem-
bers will be handed over. Carrie Twomey, the American wife of Anthony McIntyre, a former IRA member who collected the interviews, told The Associated Press she fears her husband’s life will be in danger if the interviews are released. Twomey, who attended Thursday’s hearing, said some “malicious elements” in Ireland have branded her husband as an informer because of his participation in the project, and she fears he could be killed. “I think it would be the IRA — what’s left of the IRA,” she said. “The penalty for that is death.” McIntyre and Ed Moloney, a former Belfast journalist who directed the oral history project, sued U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, arguing that he improperly issued subpoenas for the interviews. Both men argue that in addition to endangering McIntyre’s life and the lives of other former IRA members who participated in the project, the release of the interviews could undermine Northern Ireland’s peace. Police investigating the IRA’s 1972 killing of Jean McConville, a Belfast mother of 10, want to get the taped interviews. McConville’s killing has received widespread media attention in Ireland because of allegations that Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams com-
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manded the IRA unit responsible for ordering her execution and secret burial. Adams denies that. Moloney has said that the material is explosive enough to damage Northern Ireland’s unity government, in which Sinn Fein represents the Irish Catholic minority. Their stable coalition with the British Protestant majority is the central achievement of the U.S.-brokered Good Friday peace accord. McIntyre was convicted of murder and IRA membership for the 1976 drive-by shooting in Belfast of a Protestant militant from an outlawed rival paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force. McIntyre was paroled in 1993. He wrote a book criticizing the Sinn FeinIRA leadership. His Catholic west Belfast home was picketed several times to protest his outspoken criticism of Adams. In 2007, he and his family moved to the Republic of Ireland border town of Drogheda, where he received a threat in 2010 when his neighbors’ house and car were vandalized by attackers who got his address wrong. Twomey said she is outraged because Boston College did not appeal Young’s ruling ordering the school to turn over the Price interviews. She said each person interviewed for the project was promised confidentiality until their deaths.
grade motor oil, duct tape, hairspray and empty bottles of raspberry Crush soda — investigators searched for stores that sold all those items. They came up with a Wal-Mart in nearby Saddle Brook and were able to pull surveillance video showing a man buying those items on Jan. 9. Last week, they released still photos and video and received tips that led them to Graziano late Monday at the residence where he lives with his mother and siblings. Molinelli implied that evidence taken from Graziano’s residence related to the synagogue attacks wasn’t the only indication of his religious views, but he declined to elaborate. Attempted murder carries a sentence of life in prison with a minimum of 30 years before parole. Arson carries a 15-year maximum sentence. In the weeks leading up to the fire bombings, anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered at synagogues in Hackensack and Maywood, according to police. Two days after the Rutherford attack, a swastika was found scrawled in a park in Fair Lawn, though police haven’t said if it is connected to the other incidents. “It is very disturbing that a hate monger was living right in
AP
This undated photo of Anthony Graziano was released by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Graziano, 19, of Lodi, N.J. faces nine charges of attempted murder.
our midst in Bergen County,” said Etzion Neuer, acting New Jersey director of the Anti-
Marine to serve no time in Iraqi killings case
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — A Marine sergeant who led a squad that killed 24 unarmed Iraqis will spend no time in confinement, despite a military judge’s recommendation Tuesday that he spend three months in the brig. Military judge Lt. Col. David Jones said his hands were tied by a plea agreement that prevents any jail time for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich. Wuterich pleaded guilty to negligent dereliction of duty as part of a deal with prosecutors. The minor charge carried a maximum sentence of 90 days, which is what Jones recommended. But because of the way the military system works, the terms of the deal with prosecutors weren’t known to the judge until after he made his sentencing recommendation in court on Tuesday. Prosecutors asked Jones to give Wuterich the maximum sentence of three months confinement, a reduction in rank and forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay. They said his knee-jerk reaction of sending the squad to assault nearby homes without positively identifying the threat went against his training and led to the deaths of the 10 women and children. “That is a horrific result from that derelict order of shooting first, ask questions later,” Lt.
Col. Sean Sullivan told the court. The judge said he would recommend that Wuterich’s rank be reduced to private. He said he decided not to dock his pay because he is the divorced father of three young daughters with sole custody. Wuterich has acknowledged ordering his squad to “shoot first, ask questions later” after a roadside bomb took the life of a fellow Marine, but he said he did not shoot any of the 10 women and children killed in nearby homes that he stormed with his men. “The truth is: I never fired my weapon at any women or children that day,” Wuterich told military judge Lt. Col. David Jones, who recommended the sentence that must be approved by the commander of Marine Corps Forces Central Command. The surprise contention by Wuterich contradicts prosecutors who implicated him in 19 of the 24 deaths. It also counters testimony from a former squad mate who said he joined Wuterich in firing in a dark back bedroom where a woman and children were killed. Defense attorney Neal Puckett said Wuterich has lived under the cloud of being labeled a killer who carried out a massacre in Iraq. Lawyers also said he has been exonerated of directly causing the deaths of civilians in the two homes and insisted
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his only intent was to protect his Marines, calling it “honorable and noble.” “The appropriate punishment in this case, your honor, is no punishment,” Puckett said. Wuterich, 31, told the court that his guilty plea should not suggest that he believes his men behaved badly or that they acted in any way that was dishonorable to their country. He said he ordered his men to “shoot first, ask questions later” so they would not hesitate in attacking the enemy, but he never intended to harm any civilians. The plea deal that halted Wuterich’s manslaughter trial has sparked outrage in Iraq, where many said it proves the United States does not hold its military accountable for its actions. In Iraq, residents of the Euphrates river town of Haditha were angered by the fact that not one of the eight Marines initially charged will be convicted of manslaughter. A survivor of the killings, Awis Fahmi Hussein, showed his scars from being hit by a bullet in the back. “I was expecting that the American judiciary would sentence this person to life in prison and that he would appear and confess in front of the whole world that he committed this crime, so that America could show itself as democratic and fair,” he said.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Daily Campus Editorial Board
Melanie Deziel, Editor-in-Chief Arragon Perrone, Commentary Editor Ryan Gilbert, Associate Commentary Editor Michelle Anjirbag, Weekly Columnist Tyler McCarthy, Weekly Columnist Jesse Rifkin, Weekly Columnist
» EDITORIAL
ISU shouldn’t have canceled religious business class
T
his semester, a class at Iowa State University was canceled. The course, Application of Biblical Insight into the Management of Business/Organization, was decided by the dean of the business college to have not met the university’s academic standards and was far too religious in theme. This decision was marred with controversy by many who saw the choice to remove the class as an oversensitive attack on religious freedom. While it is acceptable for a university to repeal admittance of a class that does not meet academic excellence, as dictated by the school, this class may not have been such a case. The description of the course, found in a cached Google search before the class was removed, said, “The goal of this seminar is to employ the Bible for insight into handling the vital issues faced in a business. Topics include building an appropriate team environment, creating a life-work balance, financing decisions and building integrity. The class will be informal with discussion as the principal focus.” This implies that the course would be a viable course which looks at the world of business through the scope that the Bible creates. This is a perfectly reasonable plan of study for anyone who wishes to work in or with certain business models where religion factors heavily into their day-to-day operations such as evangelical telethons, certain charitable organizations or massive churches. The students who signed up for this class clearly saw some merit in the lessons that it would be teaching. Lessons that were not necessarily Christian or religious. Unfortunately for these students, certain faculty at the school saw a problem with some of the religious undertones such as the main textbook having a line which strongly urges against conducting business with “nonbelievers.” As a result, the class was cancelled despite the students who signed up for it having made the decision that the class was worth their time. The truth of the matter is, we live in a world where religion is a very strange subject. People’s opinions and beliefs run so high that any class with religious subject matter is going to be placed under a microscope, as it should be. Academic excellence is important as students cannot be given credits for a class that has no educational merit; such a thing would cheapen all student’s degrees irrevocably. However, in the case of ISU, the class was not given a fair shake. The real injustice here is to the students, whose feelings toward the merit of studying business through the Bible were favorable, were ultimately completely ignored. Opposition to the class stemmed largely from people who disagreed with the literal translation from the textbook. Ironically, but not necessarily surprisingly, in this situation, the ones who were opting to study the Bible were the more open-minded to not taking a book at face value. The Daily Campus editorial is the official opinion of the newspaper and its editorial board. Commentary columns express opinions held solely by the author and do not in any way reflect the official opinion of The Daily Campus.
My roommate figured out it was me who posted in the instant daily about sabotaging his sex life... I’m sleeping with one eye open for the next 3 months. Relevant insight: I have concluded that Thirsty’s is the tequila shot of bars. Quick, easy, and hot mess central for chicas. I turned on Fox at 9 hoping to catch a glee rerun, but was disappointed when i found out the state of the union address was apparently on...I’m pretty sure this makes me a terrible polisci major. Did anyone else see Joe Biden fall asleep during President Obama’s speech? I miss the snow! Nothing says “new semester” like a new spider solitaire addiction. The joke about crying over spilled milk in the State of the Union speech. Worst State of the Union joke ever? Or only State of the Union joke ever? So... strange weather we’ve been having. True life: I’m addicted to roller coast tycoon, Windows 98 version. I always buy American! That’s why I never put Swiss cheese on my Subway. FREE BOATRIGHT! LET HIM SAIL AGAIN!
Send us your thoughts on anything and everything by sending an instant message to InstantDaily, Sunday through Thursday evenings. Follow us on Twitter (@ InstantDaily) and become fans on Facebook.
Charlie Womack, the guitarist at the XL Center
A
lone figure sits just beyond the main entrance of the XL Center arena in Hartford. Though the heat inside is set on the optimally comfortable level mere yards away, he braves the frigid outdoor January temperatures to play his guitar and sing. Thousands of college students and Connecticut residents entering the arena for UConn basketball games recognize his face and voice instantly. Yet somehow, incredibly, almost nobody knows this man’s name. His name is Charlie Womack. And his story – with its highs, lows, and regrets – provides a lesson to us all about the importance of making wise long-term deciBy Jesse Rifkin sions in life. Weekly Columnist “I was born and raised in McKenzie, Alabama,” said Womack, age 72. The town boasted 530 residents and a $10,359 median per capita income as of last year. Womack, an African-American, grew up in a state which illegalized interracial marriage until 2000. What was it like coming of age during such a discriminatory location and era, given his skin color? “You know what it was like,” he answers bitterly. “You’ve read the history books.” After spending years picking cotton in the oppressive Southern heat, Womack dropped out of high school at age 17. He moved around between several different states, including Florida and New York, primarily working construction jobs to support himself. With no degree and meager wages, he turned instead to a different business offer-
ing more lucrative results in the immediate short-term. “I sold all kinds of drugs,” he said, dealing for many years in all manner of illegal narcotics. With the benefit of hindsight, he now strongly denounces his former profession and urges today’s youth not to involve themselves with that lifestyle.
“Teenagers are quitting high school, selling drugs and starting down the same dangerous path he began walking down...” Like most lives of crime, Womack could only keep up the act for so long. Law enforcement eventually caught and arrested him for the possession and selling of cocaine, a felony for which he received and served an 18-month jail sentence. During that time, he quit his cigarette addiction cold turkey and made a difficult introspective examination of his choices. Upon release he vowed to turn his life around. Unfortunately, his age and lack of high school diploma were difficult barriers to overcome. So, Womack fell back on his first love: music. Since childhood he had sung as a member of gospel choirs in church and slowly taught himself how to play guitar with no lessons or help. Once out of prison, he bought himself a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, a zip-up instrument case, an amplifier, a microphone and a stool. Now he sits every day and every night outside the XL Center, strumming his guitar and singing to such uplifting classics as “What a Wonderful
World” by Louis Armstrong, “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King and “I Got a Woman” by Ray Charles. Still, Womack’s eyes take in the cold dark reality of the city streets. Teenagers are quitting high school, selling drugs and starting down the same dangerous path he began walking down such a very long time ago. “People don’t have jobs,” he said. “And there is too much killing going on. It’s rough out there.” Womack’s tale holds particular significance for college students. The economic value and societal usefulness of higher education is often contested nowadays by critics and scathing articles. But take it from the lonely musician on the street corner – with no wife or children and only his guitar to keep him company. The only problem is, his education and life experience make changing careers an impossibility. You can see in his eyes that he loves what he does. But after his admirers exit the basketball game for the parking garage while perhaps throwing a one dollar bill into his jar, the streets get quiet… and you can also see that at the end of the day, he would rather be doing something else. At the same time, his story validates the never-ending value of optimism. Every single one of us experiences sorrow and shame. We do not, however, need to psychologically succumb to allowing our past to subsume our present. “The song is right,” Womack reflects. “‘What a wonderful world.’” Instead of sulking in remorse and sadness, Womack consciously decided to make people smile for a living. And for that occupation, there is no degree required.
Weekly Columnist Jesse Rifkin is a 4th-semester political science and journalism double major. He can be reached at Jesse.Rifkin@UConn.edu.
The standard MLA format is a lie from the pit of hell
I
have been to three different universities and have had eight different English professors. The first few classes usually start with a discussion on how the professor wants papers formatted. But then, like a sudden and unwelcome set of fingernails on a chalkboard, she says those inevitable, terrible words: “I follow the standard MLA format.” There’s only one glaring and difficult problem By John Nitowski with this: Staff Columnist there’s no such thing. The “standard MLA format” is as much of mythos as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. People will swear up and down to claim they’ve seen it, the professor spent a week teaching the class, etc. But it is a lie. Allow me to explain. The Modern Language Association was founded in 1883 dedicated toward the study of classical languages (Latin and Greek) but gradually shifted its focus to more modern languages such as English, German, and Spanish. In 1985 they published the first MLA Style Manual in an attempt to standardize academic writings and citations to help the flow of ideas without reading
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one paper double-spaced on fine white legal sheets while another is in 8pt. crazy legs font on pink paper. Finally, academia had been standardized… and then they continued to release new handbooks ever since. The MLA modified their format ever so slightly, but modify it they did.
“The ‘standard MLA format’ is as much of mythos as Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster.” This produced so many problems. First, none of my English professors graduated in the same year. So the “standard MLA format” they were taught is slightly different. I’ve never written the date “European style” (24 January 2012 as opposed to January 24, 2012) but was recently instructed to because it was “standard MLA.” I’m a Junior and have written countless papers in “standard MLA
format.” Why do I suddenly have to change the way I write the date? Pretty much the only thing that stayed the same has been the fact that the paper must be double-spaced. But what to double-space has changed. The first paper I wrote in “standard MLA” had 20 points taken off because I double-spaced my information at the top of the page. Since then, I always double-spaced the rest of my paper, but single-spaced my information. This semester, I have to double-space it again. Many an English class would happen where I would raise my hand and ask the professor something like, “Do you want block quotes single spaced?” or “How do make in-text citations?” To which the professor would answer, “I follow the standard MLA format.” The proper response to that is, “Which one?” Wouldn’t it just be better if we stopped pretending there was such a thing? This “standard MLA format” is like Bigfoot, if your assignment was to take a picture of the ape and he sucker punched you for doing so. The minute differences that change from year to year simply aren’t enough to merit a 20 point. strike on a paper. As an English Major and a
writer, this bothers me. Quite frankly, I don’t care if something is written on ancient parchment (Half of the material I read for class was originally) or the bluelined skin of a notebook, the paper and format adds character and voice to the work itself. The vast majority of the MLA changes I would direct my questions toward would be purely aesthetic. Trifle issues such as which side of the Atlantic to write the date, how to best display block quotes, or what font to write the paper in (Wingdings and Crazy Legs being the obvious exceptions) should be left to the discretion of the writer. “But what about the professors? They are the ones who need to read them!” This is true. And I do think that any student who makes their paper illegible (the aforementioned hot pink paper with the crazy legs font) should reformat the paper at least or fail at worst. But if professors are a little more particular about how they want their papers formatted, then please just tell us. Stop referring us to the “standard MLA format.” It doesn’t actually exist. Staff Columnist John Nitowski is a 2nd-semester english major. He can be reached at John. Nitowski@UConn.edu.
“I thought the race was over ; I thought M itt R omney had closed it it . Y ou know for a guy that is supposed to be a great business man , he sure can ’ t close the deal . A nd now it looks like M itt vs . N ewt ; A lien vs . P redator .” –B ill M aher
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Comics
The Daily Campus, Page 5 I Hate Everything by Carin Powell
Royalty Free Speech by Ryan Kennedy
Procrastination Animation by Michael McKiernan
Editor’s Choice by Brendan Albetski
Horoscopes by Brian Ingmanson
To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging. Aries (March 21-April 19) -- Today is an 8 -- Write down your blueprints for a vision. Listen to a dreamer, and let go of a fear. Stick to the facts. New info brings new possibilities. Taurus (April 20-May 20) -- Today is an 8 -- Aspire to great heights. Friends gravitate to your orbit so get something exciting in action. Explore every lead. A benefactor appears. Gemini (May 21-June 21) -- Today is an 8 -- Save caustic remarks for later. The spotlight is on, and respectful service works. You can move up a level here. Use your experience and connections. Cancer (June 22-July 22) -- Today is an 8 -- Exploration and expansion of the heart and mind call out. Cultural, educational and romantic adventure entices. Review options and choose. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Today is a 7 -- Power on at work: Wheeling and dealing may be required. Work out a win-win compromise. Research purchases carefully. Facilitate creativity in others.
Mensch by Jeff Fenster
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Today is an 8 -- Greet people with an open hand. Listen carefully to your partner’s crazy suggestion. Pay attention to details since they’ll be useful. Get a second opinion. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- Today is an 8 -- The creative energy sizzles, and you’re on a roll. You’re generating money, and the work reflects well on you. Keep track of your hours and expenses. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- Today is a 7 -- Have a good time with friends. See if there’s a way to make the impossible happen. Consider making something beautiful for your home. Save energy.
Nothing Extraordinary by Thomas Feldtmose
UConn Classics: Back in My Day, Comics Were These Comics Sad Hamster by Ashley Fong
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- Today is an 8 -- Your peaceful thoughts manifest themselves. Stop and listen before you speak. You can stay close to home and still think outside the box. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Today is an 8 -- Channel your message to get the word out effectively. The winds are blowing your way. Stroll around a garden or down a nature trail. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- Today is a 9 -- Harness your ambition for monetary gains. Today you’re especially sensitive to good business. Trust your optimism. Be surprisable. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- Today is a 9 -- Your dreams bring answers. It’s time for reinvention and setting extraordinary goals, even if you don’t think you can reach them. Trust your power.
Questions? Comments? Other Stuff? <dailycampuscomics@gmail.com> Ever want to draw comics for the Daily Campus? We’re accepting submissions now!
The Daily Campus, Page 6
Money talk dominates battle between two lead Republican presidential contenders
TAMPA, Florida (AP) — The two leading Republican presidential contenders tried to turn the arguments over their business dealings to their own advantage Tuesday, as Mitt Romney released tax documents that put him among the very richest Americans and Newt Gingrich defended his high-paid consulting work for a mortgage giant that contributed to the housing crisis. The country’s struggling economy remains voters’ top concern as Republicans choose a candidate to run against President Barack Obama, who was delivering his State of the Union policy address Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress. In excerpts of his speech released in advance, Obama attacked income inequality and advocated an economy where “everyone gets a fair shot.” He accuses Republicans of defending the interests of the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. The president’s timing could not have been better for a message about income inequality. Romney’s tax returns revealed
that he earned nearly $22 million in 2010 and paid an effective tax rate of about 14 percent. That is a lesser rate than many Americans pay because of how investment income is taxed in the United States. Romney’s income put him in the top 0.006 percent of Americans, according to Internal Revenue Service data from 2009, the most recent year available. His net worth has been estimated as high as $250 million. It remains unclear how the details of Romney’s wealth will play among American workers, who on average earn less in a lifetime than Romney paid in taxes in 2010 alone. After a night of mutual sniping in a debate, Romney’s release of two years’ worth of tax documents, showing him at an elite level even among the nation’s richest 1 percent, kept the focus on the two candidates’ money and how they earned it. As Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, relented to political pressure and released more than 500 pages
of details from his federal tax returns — including a nowclosed Swiss bank account — Gingrich kept up the heat, saying Romney was “outrageously dishonest” for accusing him of influence peddling while doing consulting work for government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.. “I don’t own any Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock. He does, so presumably he was getting richer,” the former House speaker told Fox News on Tuesday. Freddie Mac and its larger sister institution Fannie Mae, have become targets for criticism — especially from Republicans — stemming from the housing crisis that helped drive the United States deep into recession and then hampered recovery. Romney’s tax filings show he was an investor in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Gingrich, who has come under fire for earning more than $1.6 million working as a consultant to Freddie Mac, insisted his high-paid work for the mortgage giant did not include lob-
AP
Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accompanied by his wife Callista waves during an event at a Hobby Lobby parking lot.
Democrats sue Calif. state controller for halting lawmaker pay
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Legislature’s Democratic leaders filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state controller for blocking lawmakers’ pay last year after deciding they had failed to meet their constitutional deadline for passing a balanced budget. Assembly Speaker John Perez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said they are not seeking back pay, but rather want the courts to clarify whether Controller John Chiang overstepped his constitutional authority when he withheld lawmakers’ pay. “This is fundamentally an issue of separation of powers,” Perez, D-Los Angeles, said at a Capitol news conference. Chiang, also a Democrat, acted under Proposition 25, an initiative approved by voters in 2010. He said he reviewed the budget passed by the Democratic majority and determined it was not balanced. The lawsuit filed in Sacramento County Superior Court says it was and that Chiang overstepped his authority. He issued a statement after the Democrats’ news conference saying he welcomes the court’s review. “The issue before us is not the role of my office, but how to enact the will of the voters,” Chiang said. “While nothing in the Constitution gives me the authority to judge the honesty, legitimacy or viability of a budget, it does clearly restrict my authority to issue pay to Legislators when they fail to enact a balanced budget by the constitutional deadline of June 15.” Rank-and-file lawmakers have a base annual salary of $95,291 but can make about $30,000 more through per diem payments. They lost an average of $4,800 in salary and per diem pay before they passed a budget that Chiang said was balanced. Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said legislative leaders are not picking a fight with Chiang or with Gov. Jerry Brown, a fellow Democrat who had vetoed the Legislature’s bud-
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
News
get because it contained billions of dollars in borrowing and questionable budgetary maneuvers. But he said they have a responsibility to defend the Legislature’s independence. “Neither the governor nor any member of the executive branch may brandish the threat of withholding legislative pay because they disagree with the decisions made by the legislative branch,” Steinberg said. “Imagine the mischief five years from now or 10 years from now if a controller is from a different political party than the majority party and wants to leverage the budget for his or her own partisan or political purposes.” Perez and Steinberg said they expect the constitutional question to be resolved before the budget debate heats up this spring. Resolving the issue quickly matters this year because Democrats in the Legislature disagree with the health care and social spending cuts that Brown has recommended. If Democrats are forced to pass a budget by the June 15 deadline, they may have to accept those cuts because they will not have any leverage with the governor’s office. Under Proposition 25, Democrats could pass the budget with their simple majority, but Republicans had balked at providing the two-thirds majority needed to raise taxes. Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, was not consulted about the lawsuit, said a spokesman, Bill Bird. Perez informed Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway, R-Tulare, said her spokeswoman, Sabrina Lockhart. “She hasn’t weighed in on it beyond the fact that she’s aware of it being filed,” Lockhart said. Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, criticized the lawsuit. “This is arrogant and I think it is reflective of a significant disconnect between our elected leadership and ordinary Californians,” he said.
The lawsuit asserts that “the Controller went beyond the limited terms and restrictions imposed by the Constitution” when he essentially did his own math. Chiang said the budget approved by lawmakers wasn’t balanced because it relied on taxes, fees and an underfunding of schools that had not been approved by the Legislature. But it’s up to the Legislature and governor to adopt a budget, the lawsuit says, adding that “neither the Constitution nor any statute grants the Controller any role in that process.” Proposition 25 is silent on who decides whether the budget is balanced. Chiang spokesman Jacob Roper said the controller draws his authority to make that decision from Proposition 58, which amended the state Constitution to define a balanced budget, and from the controller’s constitutional obligation to pay only expenses that have been lawfully authorized. Chiang asserted that he has the obligation to “determine whether the expected revenues will equal or exceed planned expenditures in the budget,” under Article 4 of the state Constitution. Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California at Irvine law school, said he does not believe Chiang had the authority to block lawmakers’ pay. “There’s no provision in the California Constitution that gives the controller the authority to say the budget isn’t balanced and therefore the sanctions of Prop. 25 are to be imposed,” Chemerinsky said. “The controller last summer said, ‘I get to decide if the budget is balanced, and I say it’s not balanced.’ But if Prop. 25 wanted to give the controller the authority, it would have.” The legislative leaders hired Arthur Scotland, a retired appeals court chief justice, to represent them. He will be paid $435 an hour from the Legislature’s operating budget, Perez said.
Hospital must return $500K to Garth Brooks
bying. The two candidates squared off a week before the Florida primary on Jan. 31. The state’s diversity, large population and large media markets are a bigger challenge than the three smaller states that have voted in the nominating process so far. Surveys of Florida Republicans show Gingrich leading Romney after his decisive win in the South Carolina primary over the weekend, making Florida pivotal if Romney is to reassert his former role as the inevitable Republican nominee. The specter of well-off Gingrich and wealthier Romney feuding over money matters pleased former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who lags in polls ahead of Florida’s primary but hopes to benefit from the dust-up between the frontrunners as the race moves on. He told MSNBC: “The other two candidates have some severe flaws.” On Tuesday, Romney stood outside a Fannie Mae-foreclosed home in a struggling neighborhood in Lehigh Acres to assail Gingrich over his ties to the government-backed mortgage companies that helped make the housing crisis work, particularly in states like Florida which has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the U.S. In Florida, Romney argued that regulations passed during the Obama administration give banks less flexibility if they’re trying to help consumers renegotiate the terms of their mortgages. Romney himself hasn’t outlined any specific proposals to help fix the housing market. He says improving the economy will allow Americans to regain their footing and keep their homes. Gingrich, a candidate once left for dead, stood before thousands in a U.S. flag-draped airport hangar in Sarasota brimming with confidence about his chances of winning the Republican nomination. He barely mentioned Romney in two events, though he went hard at Obama.
CLAREMORE, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma hospital in Garth Brooks’ hometown must return a $500,000 donation to the country singer because it failed to build a women’s health center in honor of his late mother, jurors ruled Tuesday evening. Jurors also awarded punitive damages in Brooks’ breach-of-contract lawsuit against IntegrisCanadian Valley Regional Hospital in Yukon. Brooks said he thought he’d reached a deal in 2005 with the hospital’s president, James Moore, but sued after learning the hospital wanted to use the money for other construction projects. The hospital argued that Brooks gave it unrestricted access to the money and only later asked that it build a women’s center and name it after his mother, Colleen Brooks, who died of cancer in 1999. Jurors were still deciding late Tuesday how much money to award in punitive damages to Brooks, who was expected to make a public statement after the jury’s decision was announced. “Obviously we are disappointed, particularly with the jury’s decision to award damages above and beyond the $500,000,” Integris spokesman Hardy Watkins said. “We’re just glad to see the case come to a resolution.” During the trial, Brooks testified that he thought he had a solid agreement with Moore. Brooks said the hospital president initially suggested putting his mother’s name on an intensive care unit, and when Brooks said that wouldn’t fit her image, Moore suggested a women’s center. “I jumped all over it,” Brooks told jurors in tearful testimony. “It’s my mom. My mom was pregnant as a teenager. She had a rough start. She wanted to help every kid out there.” His attorney told the jury during closing arguments that Brooks kept his end of the
agreement. “This case is about promises: promises made and promises broken,” lawyer John Hickey told jurors shortly before they started deliberating. “Mr. Brooks kept his promise. Integris never intended to keep their promise and never built a new women’s center.” But hospital attorney Terry Thomas said Brooks’ gift initially came in anonymously and unrestricted in 2005. He also noted that Brooks couldn’t remember key details of negotiations with the hospital’s president — including what he’d been promised — when questioned during a deposition after filing his lawsuit in 2009. “At most, it was a misunderstanding between these two,” Thomas told jurors during his closing argument. “Am I calling Mr. Brooks a liar? Absolutely not. It’s perfectly understandable that he does not remember these events.” The jury began deliberating Tuesday afternoon in Rogers County District Court, and the judge told jurors she wanted them to work as late as midnight to come to a decision. Before the verdict was read, Brooks said the day had been emotional. The country music star said he was simply trying to honor his mother.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Representatives from around the world will be returning to Rio de Janeiro this June — 20 years after the U.N. Earth Summit — but this time the focus will be on sustainable development, not climate change, a Brazilian diplomat said Tuesday. Andre Correa do Lago, who heads the Brazilian delegation negotiating a draft of the outcome document for “Rio plus 20,” said that climate change was too sensitive an issue for many countries, while sustainable development was something everybody could get behind. “Climate change has very strong resistance from sectors that are going to be substantially altered, like the oil industry,” Correa do Lago said. “The feeling we have, when we are discussing with such different countries, is that sustainable development is the right answer.” He said the refusal of many
U.S. Republican candidates vying to challenge President Barack Obama in this year’s elections to even acknowledge global warming was a problem highlighted the difficulty of addressing the issue in an international forum. While the 1992 Earth Summit focussed the world’s attention on the dangers of global warming, this year’s conference takes place in a world where economic concerns overshadow almost every other issue. And while some fear that may doom the conference’s chances of having much impact, Correa do Lago says it could also present an opportunity. “We know we have an environmental crisis, we have a financial crisis, we have a job crisis, we have many crises at the same time now, in some countries many of these crises together and the fact is that sustainable development is the answer to that,” Correa do Lago said.
The Earth Summit ended with a great spirit of optimism with representatives from 172 countries, including 108 heads of state or government, signing on to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change. But since then, with United States failing to ratify the Kyoto Protocols on global warming, and no real progress in reducing the emissions of the greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming, public interest has waned. So June’s conference will seek figure out how to implement policies that allow the world to grow and develop in a manner that is sustainable, not just environmentally but economically and socially as well, Correa do Lago said. “To really make a change it has to have an economic logic, that’s why we come back to the issue of having sustainable development as a paradigm for the economic sector,” he said.
AP
Country singer Garth Brooks leaves a courtroom during a civil trial at the Rogers County Courthouse.
UN conference returns to Rio with a focus on sustainable development
THIS DATE IN HISTORY
BORN ON THIS DATE
1949
On this day, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences holds its first annual awards ceremony at the Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles.
www.dailycampus.com
The Daily Campus, Page 7
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Campus Republicans get riled as 2012 election approaches Students discuss candidates, issues on their own terms
Surviving Valentine’s Day predicaments By Holly Battaglia Campus Correspondent
Valentine’s Day can be likened to one of its most ubiquitous trappings: the perennially stale “conversation heart” candies. In my opinion, they are not candies; they are pieces of sugary poison chalk, imprinted with phrases ranging from cliché to downright absurd. Valentines Day is a box of candy hearts.You can choose to embrace its commercialized tackiness and celebrate it in a conventional way by going to a swank restaurant, drinking wine, and exchanging creepy plush bears and waxy chocolates that you purchased in the middle aisle of CVS. However, if you despise candy hearts, social norms, and relational scripts, do something rad. Whether you are single, double, or not sure, here are some suggestions to make sure that V-Day 2012 (which is 19 days from today) does not go down in history as the worst day of your life:
By Purbita Saha Focus Editor This is the election season for unpredictable caucuses, defamatory commercials and shameless tattle telling. But the UConn College Republicans host a weekly forum to discuss contemporary issues, such as healthcare and energy for those who want to experience political debates off the silver screen, sans the drama. The College Republicans meet every Tuesday at 9 p.m. in Arjona room 115. The group brings in both national and local politicians, like Senator Brian K. Hill and Congessional candidates Daria Novak and Chris Coutu, to speak at its gatherings. It also stages debates to allow students to broadcast their thoughts and ideas in a hospitable setting. “You might be surprised how diverse everyone’s opinions are,” said C.O.O. Joe Gasser, a 6th-semester political science major. According to him, open discourses are integral to the group’s principles because “they are seen as hallmarks of conservatism in America by the Republican party.” Generally, the club’s executive board introduces a topic for the week before allowing participants to raise their hands and take the floor. Gasser said that the more well-informed a commentator is, the more intense the debate ends up being. Officers also partake in the deliberations to encourage sensitivity and bolster their favorite political candidates. Due to the ongoing caucuses, many of the recent discussions have turned toward national affairs. Brianna Jordan, a 7th-semester political science major and C.F.O of the UConn College Republicans, said that while the group as a whole does not endorse any of the competitors until the party officially nominates one, the executive board does have its personal preferences. Still, many of the officers wish that there was a better candidate to represent their party in 2012. “We talk about the Reagan zombie,” said Chairman of Recruitment Edward Lee, a 2nd-semester environmental science and journalism major. Jordan also said that she is worried by the fact that there was no clear forerunner in the past
Virginia Woolf - 1882 Dean Jones - 1931 Etta James - 1938 Alicia Keys - 1981
Photo courtesy of Rebekah Singer
The UConn College Republicans pose in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. The group visited the nation’s capital in February 2011.
caucuses. “I don’t like the primary season, it really tears everyone apart,” she said. Gasser on the other hand, thinks that primaries are a good way to analyze the available candidates and make sure there are no skeletons in the closet. “No matter who the nominee is, all Republicans will vote for him. This is the best chance Republicans have had in 60 years, excluding 2010, to make gains in Washington and Connecticut,” he said. In addition to its weekly assemblies, the College Republicans offer opportunities for its members to network and make advances in the political profession. Campaigners often contact the club to seek out volunteers and national organizations tap into the group’s roster to find interns to work in the nation’s capital. Another motive behind the College Republicans is to help out-of-state students adjust to the political landscape in Connecticut, said Gasser. This includes everything from teaching them about the state’s policies, to helping them register for district elections. Jordan said there is a high sense of civic duty among the club’s members. “A lot of people realize they can make a change on the local level,” she said. She also said that the local politicians who come
Photo courtesy of Joseph Gasser
Rebekah Singer recruits a new member for the College Republicans at the UConn Involvement Fair in the Fall 2011 semester. Approximately 150 new members signed up at the fair last semester.
to speak make a big impact on the students, especially if they are off-campus residents. In February, 14 members from the group will be going to Washington D.C. for the Conservative Political Action Conference. Jordan said the event is a good way to be exposed to the biggest names in American
politics -- Ann Coulter, John Boehner, Bobby Jindal, and all the Republican candidates will be speaking at his year’s program -- and to bond with other students of like-minded beliefs. The UConn College Republicans invite students of all affiliations and majors to join their ranks.
“We’re not your stereotypical gun-toting, red-neck Republicans,” said Lee. Secretary Vera Soliman, an 8th-semester economic major, said, “the College Republicans are for anyone who wants good politics or good friends.”
Purbita.Saha@UConn.edu
Shining a light on mental illness, support “Rocksmith” caters to skill level » REVIEW
By Kim Halpin Staff Writer Coping with a family member or loved one that has been diagnosed with a mental illness can be a very stressful and confusing time. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, mental illness affects nearly one in four adults, which means that there are a large number of people facing similar situations. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has been committed to providing mental health support, education and advocacy since 1979. With local branches spreading across the country, there are members to help anyone no matter the location. Beginning Monday, Jan. 30, NAMI will be hosting a “Family to Family Education Program”. This 12 week program will meet every Monday
night at 6:30p.m. at St. Paul’s church, located a couple miles from the Storrs campus on 195. There is no cost to attend and all instructional material will be free. The goal of the program is to offer education and support to family members and significant others of people with mental illness. Throughout the class, attendees will learn to overcome any guilt or shame they could be holding regarding their loved one’s condition, and instead learn how to effectively communicate and problem solve. The class can be a way to share your own personal experience without judgment or shame in an understanding and sympathetic environment. Having this type of outlet can significantly relieve stress from a sometimes overwhelming situation.
» SUPPORT, page 9
By Joe O’Leary Senior Staff Writer I’ve had an electric guitar sitting around in my room for five years, unloved and untouched. Originally a Christmas present, the black, glossy First Act has laid in the corner, collecting dust, because it’s incredibly hard to learn to play the guitar. And when I was in high school, I gave up on things incredibly easily. After the rapid rise and subsequent precipitous fall of the plastic guitar-playing “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” series in that time (their ease of use contributed to my guitar’s neglect), Ubisoft noticed one aspect of the music genre that Neversoft and Harmonix never fully pulled off; why not teach players a real instrument? Enter “Rocksmith,” their answer to the clickity-clacking series that came
before them. Instead of fake instruments, Ubisoft’s developers have centered their game on real guitars. And when I say “real guitars,” I mean any guitar that can plug into an amp. This one’s a game-changer in the way that Rock Band’s “Pro Guitar” mode largely failed to be. Upon first boot-up, the game asks players to plug a jack (included in the $80 asking price) into your guitar, the other end of which is a USB pitchreader that reads your strums and places them on a full 6-string, 24-fret virtual guitar. Much like the other guitar games, colored squares travel toward you that you need to hit. What’s the main difference? In “Rocksmith,” you’re playing real notes, from real songs, on a real guitar. While “Rocksmith” features a roster of nearly 50 songs, which can be
» ROCKSMITH, page 9
Scenario: You are overwhelmed by prospects. Solution: Play the field. Don’t try to switch up your act all of a sudden. You cannot teach old dogs new tricks. It will be obvious that you are a wolf posing as an Alaskan malamute. Just be aware that the people who are courting you may not like you as much as you think they do, and they might have just as many options as you perceive yourself to have. Your best bet for V-Day is to do a classically single activity. The heartshaped holiday falls on a Tuesday this year. So, go to Ted’s, Huskies, or Thirsty’s that night. Make sure to go to a good old fashioned party the weekend before. Who knows? Maybe one of your “options” will become a “priority.”
Scenario: You’re single and celibate. Solution: Halloween II (a flippant anti-Valentine’s Day bash) I have to credit my friends for thinking of this pleb-rich holiday in 2010, when we were all single on V-Day and wanted a fun weekend activity. Not to be confused with an 80’s movie, Halloween II is the celebration of Halloween on Valentine’s Day. It is observed by dressing up in costume, eating an array of sweets, and throwing a party at a designated residence; it is an irreverent rebuttal to the notion of romance. The more public places you wear your Halloween II costume, the better. It does not matter if your garb is unoriginal, haphazardly handmade, or the same thing you have worn for the past three Octobers. Trust me, you are going to eat so much candy that you won’t care. In my experience, there is nothing more fun than parading around McMahon dining hall in a makeshift koala costume, wearing paper plates for ears.
Scenario: You’re casually dating someone or in a relationship. Solution: Plan an adventurous, unconventional date. I have heard of some ludicrously extravagant Valentine’s Day dates including stays at five-star hotels and an entire weekend’s worth of itinerary in faraway lands. I say, what for? If you like them that much, why don’t you just marry them? Then you can go on a honeymoon and pull out all the stops. Now is not the time. Instead, try snowboarding, skiing, going to a concert, or even something so simple as sledding at Horsebarn Hill. The bigger the deal you make this holiday, the more pressure there is. The more pressure, the more likely someone is to feel let down. Agree beforehand whether you are getting one another gifts, so no one ends up looking like a stooge.
Holly.Battaglia@UConn.edu
The Daily Campus, Page 8
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Focus
FOCUS ON:
GAMES
Game Of The Week
Your game reviews could be here! Stop in to a Focus meeting, Mondays at 8 p.m. at the DC Building.
Sonic Generations (X360)
BLITZED
Upcoming Releases January 31 Final Fantasy XIII-2 (X360, PS3)) SoulCalibur V (X360) NeverDead (PS3) SLG SteelWar Online (PC) Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword (3DS) Tropico 3: Gold Edition (MAC) Racedrome Offroad (X360)
Budding games for spring 2012
February 3 Captain Morgane and the Golden Turtle (DS, PC, PS3, Wii)
By Jason Bogdan Senior Staff Writer
Just like the years before it, this holiday season brought many quality games. But with upcoming releases like these five, a gamer’s wallet still won’t be safe for the next few months.
Schedule from Gamespot.com
Focus Favorites Photo courtesy of Gamespot.com
EA games revived the “NFL Blitz” series just in time for this year’s Super Bowl. “Blitz” maintains the classic gameplay of the original, and any flaws are minimal compared to the overall experience.
By Joe O’Leary Senior Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of Gamespot.com
Budget Gems: Uncharted Dual Pack The 320 GB “Uncharted 3 Bundle” is unquestionably the best value on the market for those looking to buy a PS3 at just $299. But for those who got that bundle over the holidays, it might have been awkward to have their first game be the third entry in a series, instead of the first. However, for just $40 ($30 on Amazon.com), the trilogy can be completed with the “Uncharted” Dual Pack. The only thing about this deal that might turn off new “Uncharted” fans is that they will, presumably, have to play through the first game before the superior sequels. It’s not horrible, but it’s undeniably dated compared to the others. You can see the storytelling and pacing aspects that would later influence such a masterpiece like “Uncharted 2,” but there’s still the abundance of annoying shooting portions and some really lousy wall climbing. The forgettable story itself wasn’t the greatest way to introduce Nathan Drake. In that sense, it wouldn’t be so bad to just get the Game of the Year edition of the second entry for a cheaper price, chronology be damned. But for completionists, playing through all three is a fascinating look on how game sequels continually expand upon what came before it. - Jason Bogdan
Fifteen years ago, the “NFL Blitz” franchise reinvigorated arcades with its highintensity, low-rules brand of smash-mouth football. It’s been nine years since the last official “Blitz” game, and three years since its spinoff series “The League” hit consoles, but just in time for the Super Bowl, EA has bought the franchise and released a brand new entry on the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network. Between players catching fire, late hits becoming very legal and turbo-touchdowns becoming the way to play the game, football fans’ gaming lives were changed forever when the original version came out. While it doesn’t quite hit the massive success of its N64/PS1 predecessors, the new Blitz has more than enough fun to earn your $15. Much like October’s “NBA Jam: On Fire Edition,” “Blitz” updates the main game we all know and love. It’s 7-on-7 football format is in super-fast-forward and offense is the name of the game. The huge playbooks of “Madden” have been simplified to a mere 18 offen-
sive plays (though all you really need is “Da Bomb”) and 9 defensive plays. Pass interference is not only allowed, but encouraged. However, blitzing may leave your opponent wide open for a run or deep pass. The gameplay is simple and fun, though occasionally frustrating, especially against some of the pros online. Sometimes the game will make things fair with spikes in difficulty, as well. A seemingly major hurdle is the game’s “directional passing,” where your throw will go to either your left, middle or right receiver with little player control; however, this is easily fixed by turning on “Madden”-esque button passing. “Blitz 2012” does, unfortunately, have a few disappointing missing features. You can no longer jump on opponents after you tackle them, though that’s nowhere near a deal-breaker. While that was a fun way to relieve stress in the originals, it’s understandable that the “No Fun League” would step in and remove it, and it’s not a big enough feature to warrant complaints. Also missing is the “Quick Season” mode, though there are more than enough modes to replace it.
The main draw to “Blitz 2012,” at least for me, is the new Elite League mode. It’s basically a card-collecting game, much like Madden 2012’s Madden Ultimate Team mode, where you earn better players for your custom team as you win games online. In my experience, I had to lose a few games with Tavaris Jackson before earning Tom Brady as my new quarterback. It’s overwhelmingly fun, though very hard to get good at, and can get addicting pretty fast. The online and multiplayer play is the main draw here, and it’s pretty close to perfect. If “Madden” has the strategy of chess, “Blitz” is more like checkers. The strategy’s more basic, but the speed can be deceptive, and it’s just as fun (and when you let up a 60-yard bomb, just as frustrating). EA has done a great job reviving the Midway sports franchises thus far. “Blitz” is well worth $15 for arcade fans, just as “NBA Jam” was. Hey, EA, could you bring back “NHL Hitz” next?
Joseph.O’Leary@UConn.edu
Shaking your groove thing
By Jason Bogdan Senior Staff Writer For years now, the “Just Dance” series of games have been a huge hit. The popular soundtrack and easy-to-grasp dance gameplay is the perfect formula to appeal to the whole family. Thanks to Microsoft’s Kinect that works with body movement, you can shake your body without worrying about the Wii or Playstation Move. The actual quality of the motion capture is pretty much like all the other Kinect games. Because the game itself doesn’t ask for as much feedback as something like Kinect Adventures, that means the mediocrity of the Kinect won’t rear its ugly head so highly. The forgiving approach is the reason why the “Just Dance” games haven’t gotten a lot of critical appeal. But at the same time, the freedom in its lack of strict expectations is exactly why kids and grandparents love it so much. The fun in the experience isn’t necessarily how well you do score-wise, but in moving your body to your favorite songs with some pedigree of dignity alongside your loved ones. For those parties with people of multiple musical tastes, the soundtrack here is a godsend in its utterly amazing variety. Yes, it has the sugary, chart-topping hits from the likes of Katy Perry and
The Black Eyed Peas. But then there are also songs from Daft Punk, Queen and even the “This is Halloween” song from “A Nightmare Before Christmas.” However, even with a stellar soundtrack and casualappealing gameplay, this series still needs some heavy work before the connoisseur gamers can approve. Half the time, the stick-figure guy that scrolls across the screen to show the next move hardly helps the player match the fidelity of the neon-drenched choreography on screen. There’s also the fact that the forgiving motion detection requires heavy suspension of disbelief when you can get a good score by randomly moving your limbs about. Plus the menus are a mess to go through as is the organization of all the modes and options. But is “Just Dance 3” for the Xbox 360 still a good game? Well, it largely depends on what you’re looking for. For the players who want to feel like they’re legitimately dancing well to the tune, they should get the more professionally-made “Dance Central.” But for people who want to just have an enjoyable party game that doesn’t take itself very seriously, then “Just Dance 3” is a clever workout for your arms.
Jason.Bogdan@UConn.edu
Photo Courtesy of Gamespot.com
“Just Dance 3” incorporates a current musical selection, although it can be overly simple at times.
Just Dance 3
9.0
/10
The Good
-The Kinect does as good of a job of detecting movement as it ever will (decent at best), but “Just Dance 3” is forgiving enough to not lead to frustration -It’s rare when a soundtrack has enough variety to appeal to everybody. But “Just Dance 3” makes it look easy when it has Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” and what seems to be a theme song from the Japanese version of the Power Rangers.
The Bad
-Once you realize how little this game demands from you, the experience can immediately feel pretty vapid. -If only the developers could take notes from the “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” games and make menus that aren’t such a hassle to deal with.
1.“Final Fantasy XIII-2” (Jan. 31): I’m not the kind of person who would be content with not finishing a game, but “Final Fantasy XIII” was definitely an exception. Just when I got used to the super linear mix of easy battles and cutscenes, it suddenly decided to turn into a full-blown, toughas-nails, RPG. It was that kind of sloppy pacing, along with the cumbersome storytelling and lazy attempts to incorporate Western style RPGs, that turned me and many others away. But with what’s known about the sequel, it looks like it is fixing everything up into something worth playing to its entirety.
2.“Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” (Feb. 7): The big faces involved make the anticipation for this game so high. Spawn creator Todd McFarlane is doing the character designs, fiction author R.A. Salvatore set up the game’s universe and Ken Rolston, lead designer for Elder Scrolls III and IV, is the executive designer. The odds are good that this action RPG with combat inspired by God of War is worth every penny.
3.“Rhythm Heaven Fever” (Feb. 13): I’m not lying here, I would have bought a Japanese Wii with an import copy of this game, in a heartbeat, if it wasn’t confirmed for a U.S. release. This ingenious implementation of the music rhythm genre in minigame form made for an outstanding DS and import-GBA game. After seeing some of the catchy beats and endearingly weird creativity on YouTube, this looks to be the best one yet.
4.“Mass Effect 3” (March 6): The hallmark RPG series of this generation, “Mass Effect,” will finally finish off the trilogy in just over a month. BioWare wants to satisfy all their fans, so they included three ways to play this game. You can finish off Shepard’s adventure stragetically, action-oriented, or in the easier story focused mode. There’s just over a month to prepare your “Mass Effect 2” Shepard for the finale, so get to it if you haven’t already.
5.“Kid Icarus: Uprising” (March 23): This “Sin and Punishment” inspired shooter finally has a set release date for the Nintendo 3DS. Apparently, playing it is so epic that every copy is coming with a stand to hold the system while you fight mythological eggplant creatures. So long as it doesn’t hurt people’s hands like the peripheral for the “Guitar Hero” DS game did, this is looking to be another fine addition to the 3DS library.
Jason.Bogdan@UConn.edu
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
» MENTAL HEALTH
12-week program supports mental health for families All teachers of the program have previously taken “It is rewarding to watch the class and then participated people who first come and in further training to become are in crisis, transition to tak- teachers. This means that all ing control over their lives,” instructors have had experisaid Karen Zimmer, one of the ences and backgrounds that instructors for the class. are relatable to attendees. She also added that it can be Zimmer said, “I’m not afraid a very empowto talk about ering experithem.” She ence for family later added members once that the eduthey are given cation that is the tools they provided can need where help famthey previously ily members felt as if they understand had no control. the situation Zimmer, who more fully. has had many These free personal expericlasses are ences of family open to stumembers with dents, facmental illness, Karen Zimmer ulty, staff is also a memand the pubClass instructor lic. With ber of the board for the state over 115,000 chapter of NAMI. Early in her graduates of this program life, she witnessed her brother, throughout the country, it who suffered from schizophre- could be beneficial for many nia, commit suicide. in the UCONN community. After that experience with Any questions about the mental illness, which would class can be answered by connot be her last, Zimmer sought tacting Karen Zimmer at (860) help through NAMI. Having 377-0486 or Carol Caruso at attended the class when it was (860) 423-7601. offered years ago, she is now co-teaching the class with her friend Carol Caruso. Kimberly.Halpin@UConn.edu
from SUPPORT, page 7
“It’s rewarding to watch people who first come and are in crisis, transition to taking control over their lives”
» REVIEW
“Rocksmith” suitable for novice strummers to experienced guitarists ers’ slides. Sometimes, when a new song (that definitely expanded with more than a wasn’t “Use Somebody” by dozen (and growing) down- Kings of Leon, no sir) tore me loadable songs, it’s not viable a new one, I would head into to expect to play “Free Bird” the practice modes determined right after plugging in to correct my mistakes. While and tuning up. Not only does the learning curve is very high, the game implement a smart that’s the kind of reaction a progression system, where guitar teacher would want. (I players gradustill can’t get ally unlock more than 70 Rocksmith more diffipercent on that cult parts of a stupid song, song as they though.) play through a “Rocksmith” variety songs, is an experi/10 but it also has ment, as can multiple sets of The Good be seen from tabs for many -It actually teaches you to play guitar the unfinished, of them as well. -The eclectic setlist ranges from Cream to s o m e t i m e s I thought I was Best Coast to the xx glitchy menu pretty good -It makes failure fun systems, but after nailing it’s hugely the single-note successful. I version of the don’t think Rolling Stones’ The Bad I’ve ever been “Satisfaction,” -Ridiculous learning curve excited to fail but I was -I’ve never had to tune a guitar a song miserquickly emas- every time I touched it before I played ably, over and culated when I this game over, just so tried it out with -The menus are unfinished and I could learn chords. sometimes have glitches it better. And T h o u g h that guitar? it’s touted The dust has as a game, been cleaned “Rocksmith” is more of a series off (except for those hard-toof guitar lessons disguised as a get places), the strings have game. Mixed in with the Black been re-tuned, and it has a Keys, Pixies and Nirvana lovely space right next to tracks littering the single-play- my couch in my room. After er mode are chord teachers and only a week, I can (barely) mini-games that are actually play guitar, and that’s why technique teachers. A “Space “Rocksmith” is an overInvaders” knockoff is meant whelming success. to teach proper fretting, and a “Tetris” clone is actually supposed to help improve play- Joseph.O’Leary@UConn.edu
from ROCKSMITH, page 7
9.0
The Daily Campus, Page 9
Focus
The Legacy of Zelda
How ‘Skyrim’ continues the Ocarina of Time experience, and how ‘Skyward Sword’ fell short of its predecessor By Mac Cerullo Managing Editor
Have you ever had an experience playing a video game where you just stopped and said, “wow?” One of my earliest “wow” moments came way back in 1998 when I first encountered Hyrule Field in “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.” It was huge. It was expansive and it was beautiful. At the time, we had never really seen anything quite like it. It was the first time we had ever been placed in anything resembling an open-world environment – a world you could freely explore and interact with as you saw fit. It was fitting too that Zelda would be the first series to really pioneer the 3D open world environment, given that the original “Legend of Zelda” on the NES did the same thing on a 2D scale by dropping you into Hyrule without a map or any sense of where to go. But while I have always been a huge fan of “The Legend of Zelda” series, I have to admit that Zelda has long been passed in this regard, first by Grand Theft Auto and then by “The Elder Scrolls.” The Great Sea in The Wind Waker was huge, but it felt largely empty. And while Hyrule was bigger and more diverse in Twilight Princess, the game felt like it had been released two years too late, because by 2006, the Gamecube caliber graphics couldn’t match up to the level of “wow” that Xbox 360 had accustomed us to. With the release of Skyward Sword in November, I hoped this trend would change. But instead, another November release came along and cemented its status as arguably the greatest adventure game ever created. That game was Skyrim. I had a realization shortly after I started playing Skyrim. Everything Ocarina of Time felt like back in 1998, Skyrim actually was, only a hundred times more. Skyrim boasts a world so expansive that it literally could take hours to cross the whole world without fast traveling, and at any given point you can look around and take in the view of forests, mountains, rivers and plains as far as the eye can see. Then you could actually go there, without contending with invisible walls and superficial barriers. Just like you could with Hyrule Field. Day gradually turns to night in both games, and periodically the weather changes unpredictably as well. You can drop by the local village, whether it by Hyrule Market in Zelda or any of the numerous Holds in Skyrim, and mingle with the villagers, who each have their own schedule and go about their daily lives as if they were real people. The only difference between the games is that the experience in Skyrim has evolved considerably. In Skyrim you can own property, barter and trade, accept quests, join guilds and make meaningful progress in the game without ever actually attempting to complete the main story. You don’t even have to be a hero either, you can also steal, pickpocket, break into people’s houses and murder
TOP: This photo, courtesy of Gamespot.com, shows the original graphics from “Zelda: Ocarina of Time,” released in 1998. BOTTOM: This photo, courtesy of Amazon.com, depicts a scene from “Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” which was released in November 2011.
if you want, although unlike in Grand Theft Auto, there is a price to pay and the guards in Skyrim aren’t pushovers. Allowing you to commit crimes may not be heroic, but the important thing is that Skyrim gives you the choice. Which brings me back to Skyward Sword. Skyward Sword makes huge strides in terms of gameplay, but as an overall experience, the game is unfortunately lacking in a couple of areas that really irked me. Part of that has to do with the Wii’s hardware limitations. The fact of the matter is, the Wii isn’t capable of running a game as visually stunning as Mass Effect 2 or Skyrim, so the decision to design the game in a subtle painting-type style was probably the right one, even if it makes the game look like it came out a decade ago. Still, it’s hard to “wow” people that way. What really irritated me was how painfully linear the game was. Nearly every aspect of discovery and adventure that was present in Ocarina of Time is absent here, and more than in any other Zelda game, Skyward Sword thrusts Link’s destiny upon him and doesn’t give him a choice. The entire adventure unfolds according to a grand design laid out by the goddess Hylia. You are the chosen hero, and you are constantly reminded how it is your destiny to fulfill a certain set of tasks, and if you don’t, the consequences would be catastrophic. In order to help make sure you don’t get lost along the way, Hylia tasked the spirit Fi to serve as your guide. But Fi feels more like a magical computer assistant rather than a spirit, given that she spends most of her time telling you what percent chance something will happen. Without delving too deep into any plot details, I’ll sum it up this
way. The game is constantly telling you things rather than showing you, and it is constantly introducing things and presenting them to you rather than letting you discover them. And frankly, there isn’t a whole lot to discover anyway. You could try exploring the vast land beneath the clouds, except there isn’t much to explore. Rather than being a huge expansive land, the surface is broken up into three regions that you can’t directly travel between. On the surface, there are no villages, very few people, and the landscapes have few landmarks and memorable locations that you might just check out simply because you can. There is also the sky, which functions somewhat like the Great Sea in the Wind Waker, only with less interesting places to visit. It’s pretty much just Skyloft, the main hub of the game, and some scattered islands that occasionally have a person or two in need of assistance. But the sky does have some worthwhile places to visit, and none are more notable than the Lumpy Pumpkin. The Lumpy Pumpkin is a tavern on one of the islands in the sky. When you first visit it, you can see some rupees and a piece of heart hanging from the chandelier. Naturally, you want to get your hands on those, so how do you do it? You create a scene and eventually knock the chandelier from the ceiling, crushing the table below, wrecking the chandelier and scaring the crap out of everyone. It’s gloriously uncharacteristic of Link, and I loved it. For one fleeting moment, the game lets you take matters into your own hands and do something outrageous. But then, it’s back to reality when you try to leave, and the tavern owner “magically” stops you by yell-
ing at you, then won’t let you leave until you promise to do chores for him as penance. Last time I checked, Link is trying to save the world from destruction and he has a sword. So why is he getting pushed around by tavern owners? Why won’t the game let Link say no? Doesn’t he have more important things to do? There are far too many occasions where Link is forced into a mundane fetch quest where, if we’re being honest, he would be better off drawing his sword and reminding the requesting party that his time and priorities are more important than theirs are. Plus, Link is supposed to be an avatar of the player, which is why he is never given dialogue of his own, so it is sort of a cop-out to deny Link (and the player) the ability to choose how they go about their adventure. It’s not even unprecedented within the series to let Link get in trouble either. In Link’s Awakening for the Game Boy, you can actually steal from the town shop if you want to. Only problem with this is that after you do, the game changes your name to Thief, and the next time you visit the shop, the shopkeeper kills you. The point is, in past Zelda games, and in games like Skyrim today, the game gives you the choice on how you play out your adventure. You can go where you want, do what you want, play however you want. Skyward Sword, regrettably, strays too far from its roots in that regard, and that’s a real shame. But while the game may have become too linear, the advances it made in gameplay and the depth it added to the origins of Hyrule can’t be ignored. The music was outstanding too, which makes me hopeful for when the new Wii U is released. There will inevitably be a new Legend of Zelda game on the new system, one that will most likely have Xbox 360 level visuals and sounds and hopefully be able to provide a full and immersive Hyrule unlike any we’ve seen before. When that happens, my hope is that one of the first things you see after starting the game is a whole world laid out before you, with the sun rising, a cool breeze rustling the trees around you, and Hyrule Castle standing tall in the distance. The kind of scene that beckons you into the world, and dares you to explore it.
Michael.Cerullo@UConn.edu
The Daily Campus, Page 10
Focus
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Daily Campus, Page 11
Sports
» MLB
AP source: Fielder and Tigers agree on 9-year deal
AP
In this 1994 photo, Prince Fielder, son of Detroit Tigers' Cecil Fielder, swings a bat at the Tigers' spring training facility at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla.
Calhoun is worth his weight in gold From WORTH, page 14
Silver is currently selling at $32.15 per ounce and $514.40 per pound. At that value, Calhoun is worth $105,452 in silver today, and Auriemma is worth $87,448. That means that Calhoun could afford 22 life-sized silver statues of
himself with his earnings last year, and Auriemma could afford 19. Both coaches’ salaries increased over the previous year. In the 2010 fiscal year, Calhoun earned $2,151,877.90, meaning his earnings increased by about a quarter of a million. Auriemma
earned $1,605,666.68 in FY2010, so his increased by about $150,000. If that trend continues, then both coaches might someday be able to go platinum.
Michael.Cerullo@UConn.edu
» NFL
Super Bowl still finalizing seating
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NFL is trying to avoid another super snafu. One year after hundreds of ticketed fans were left without seats at Cowboys Stadium, organizers have added only 254 temporary seats to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the Feb. 5 game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots. League spokesman Brian McCarthy said officials decided in March the capacity for a stadium that normally seats about 63,000 for football games would be expanded to roughly 68,000 for the Super Bowl -- with most of the addi-
tional capacity coming from standing-room only tickets. The league still could add some padded seats to camera platforms, standing-room only availability to stadium suites and perhaps additional seats near the auxiliary media area, but no more tickets are going on sale. "What we do is take a hard look every year," McCarthy said Tuesday. "As we get closer to the game, our event planners will sit in each of the sections and fill in other areas that would not be used for a regular-season game. In general, we are taking a very fan-first approach, which is to deliver to our fans the best
from the NFL." That certainly wasn't the experience some fans got in Arlington, Texas. Just hours before kickoff of last year's Green BayPittsburgh game, league officials announced that about 1,250 temporary seats were deemed unsafe. The league scrambled to find new seats for about 850 people, forcing the rest to watch from standing-room only locations around the stadium. Two days after the game, the displaced fans filed a federal lawsuit alleging breach of contract, fraud and deceptive sales practices.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Tigers responded to a jarring injury with an audacious move. Free-agent first baseman Prince Fielder and the Tigers agreed Tuesday to a nine-year, $214 million contract that fills the AL Central champions' need for a power hitter, a person familiar with the deal said. Detroit boldly stepped up in the Fielder sweepstakes after the recent knee injury to star Victor Martinez. A week ago, the Tigers announced the productive designated hitter could miss the entire season after tearing his left ACL during offseason conditioning. CBS first reported the agreement with Fielder. The person told The Associated Press the deal was subject to a physical. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract was not yet complete. The Tigers won their division by 15 games before losing in the AL championship series to Texas. Adding the 27-year-old Fielder gives the Tigers two of the game's premier sluggers, pairing him with Miguel Cabrera. With Fielder now in the fold, general manager Dave Dombrowski and owner Mike Ilitch have a team that figures to enter the 2012 season as a favorite to repeat in the division — with an eye on winning the franchise's first World Series title since 1984. "Everyone knew Mr. Ilitch and Mr. Dombrowski were going to make a move when Victor went down," outfielder Brennan Boesch said in a phone interview with the AP. "But I don't think anybody thought it would be this big." The move also keeps Fielder's name in the Tigers' family. His father, Cecil, became a big league star when he returned to the
majors from Japan and hit 51 home runs with Detroit in 1990. Cecil played with the Tigers into the 1996 season, and young Prince made a name for himself by hitting prodigious home runs in batting practice at Tiger Stadium. A few years ago, when Prince returned to Detroit as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline recalled that power show. "You can't ever say that you look at a kid that age and say that you know he's going to hit 40 or 50 home runs someday, but Prince was unbelievable," Kaline said then. "Here's a 12-year-old kid commonly hitting homers at a big league ballpark." In an interview with MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, Cecil Fielder said he was "shocked" by the news that Prince was heading to Detroit. "He's been there in Detroit most of his young life so I think he'll be comfortable in that place," Cecil Fielder said. "I know Mr. Ilitch is probably excited because he's been wanting that kid since he was a little kid, so he finally got his wish." With Cabrera and Fielder, Detroit will begin this season with two players under age 30 with at least 200 career homers. According to STATS LLC, that's happened only once before. At the start of the 1961 season, the Milwaukee Braves featured 29-year-old Eddie Mathews (338 homers) and 27-year-old Hank Aaron (219). Several teams had shown interest this winter in Fielder, who had spent his entire career with the Brewers. He visited Texas, and the Washington Nationals also got involved in the discussions. The beefy slugger hit .299 with 38 home runs and 120 RBIs last season. He is a three-time All-Star
and was the MVP of last year's event in Phoenix. Fielder has averaged 40 homers and 113 RBIs over the past five years. He's also been among the most durable players in the majors, appearing in at least 157 games in each of the last six seasons. Fielder hits left-handed, while Cabrera is a righty. Manager Jim Leyland will get to decide where to put them in the batting order. "I don't think there's a better right-left combo in any lineup in baseball," Boesch said. "I'm sure Skip's wheels are already turning on how to set them up." The deal is only the fourth $200 million contract in baseball history, following Alex Rodriguez's $275 million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees, A-Rod's $252 million, 10-year deal with Texas and Albert Pujols' $240 million, 10-year contract last month with the Los Angeles Angels. Among current players, Fielder's $23.78 million average salary is behind only A-Rod ($27.5 million), Ryan Howard ($25 million), and Cliff Lee and Pujols ($24 million each). Dombrowski indicated last week he'd probably seek a shortterm solution to Martinez's injury, but he left himself some wriggle room, saying it depended who the replacement was. Acquiring Fielder opens all sorts of possibilities. For now, Detroit has an opening at DH with Martinez out. But Martinez is in the second year of a $50 million, four-year contract. One option could be to move Cabrera from first base to third. He played third base regularly for the Florida Marlins before the Tigers acquired him before the 2008 season.
» MLB
Jorge Posada: 17 seasons, five titles and one team
NEW YORK (AP) — Jorge Posada was watching television when he saw speculation on which teams were interested in signing him as a free agent. "They put my face on different uniforms," he said. "And it didn't look good." He began a Yankee and ended as a Yankee, spending his entire career in pinstripes. Flanked by his wife and children, with five World Series trophies sitting on a table to his right, the five-time All-Star catcher retired at age 40 on Tuesday after 17 major league seasons. He finished with a .273 career batting average, 275 home runs and 1,065 RBIs. At a crowded Yankee Stadium news conference, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and CC Sabathia were among those who watched Posada fight off tears as he sat on a dais with wife, Laura, 12-yearold son Jorge Jr. and 9-year-old daughter Paulina. It was clear the rest of the family also wanted to be Yankees lifers. "This is so cool," Paulina said to her dad as she picked up the cardboard in front of her seat with her name and the famous interlocking "NY" logo. "I'm going to keep this." Posada joins Bernie Williams and Andy Pettitte in retirement, leaving only the 37-year-old Jeter and 42-year-old Rivera from the core group that led the Yankees to four World Series titles in five years from 1996-2000. "Mariano said this is it. He says one more year. But Derek says he's got like three more to go. So we'll see," Posada said, adding he didn't expect the great closer to quit after next season. "I don't think about it right now. But the time will come," Rivera said. "Definitely the time will come when I'll have to just admit it and hang (up) the glove and the uniform and move on. We all go through that." Jeter, the Yankees' captain and leader, expects to outlast Rivera. "Mo's still got to go first. He's a lot older than me," he said before adding with a laugh: "Mo's going to be here longer than all of us." Shrieking at success and fuming over failure, Posada often was nuclear fission at the center of the Yankees and what became known
as the Core Four. While Jeter and Rivera rarely reveal their feelings, and Pettitte does only on occasion, Posada has been a passionate open window into the Yankees, praising, strutting, venting and battling. "We feel the same way; I'm just better at hiding it. But we feel the same way inside, and I think that's why we've gotten along so well throughout the years," said Jeter, who first played alongside Posada in the minors in 1992. He has called him "Sado" for years, since late Yankee Stadium public address announcer Bob Sheppard mispronounced Posada's name when he pinch ran for Wade Boggs in Game 2 of the 1995 AL playoffs. In the same room where Pettitte announced his retirement 11½ months ago, select season ticket holders were invited to sit in the audience. Posada talked with great fervor about the team that drafted him in the 24th round in 1991. "Every time I stepped through the Yankee Stadium doors," he began, "I quoted Joe DiMaggio and said, 'I want to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.'" "I could never wear another uniform," he said. "I will forever be a Yankee." Posada's voice broke up, especially when he spoke in Spanish about his parents. He thanked his teammates, rubbing his chin three times and wiping his eyes. He called Rivera "my brother" and praised Jeter "who helped me stay focused and positive." "Hopefully you won't miss me that much," he said. Diana Munson, wife of the late Yankees catcher Thurman Munson, spoke admiringly of Posada, who kept a quote from her husband in his locker: "Batting fourth and being in the lineup is important, but I think the stuff I do behind the plate is more important." One day at Yankee Stadium, Posada sat next to her and told her about his admiration for the former captain, who died in a plane crash when Posada was 7. She wound up following Posada in the box scores. "He in fact is the one who brought me back to baseball again. After losing Thurman, I kind of lost my heart for baseball," she said. "He plays the game I think
the way Thurman played it: a lot of grittiness, lot of toughness. ... I think he and Thurman would have been best buds. He definitely has the 'it' factor. I can't describe it. I don't know what it is. But I knew immediately upon meeting him that he had it, and I think the Yankee fans also have realized that, and I imagine they're as sad today as we all are." She was followed by a video of fan tributes and by Lisa and Brett Niederer from Bristol, Wis. She talked about the Jorge Posada Foundation and its emotional support and financial assistance to families affected by craniosynostosis, a disease that causes bones in the skull to fuse prematurely. Jorge Jr. has had nine operations, and Lisa Niederer was watching on television when the father and son went onto the field together during the introductions for the 2002 All-Star game. Brett, then 2½, was diagnosed with the disease around the start of that year, and they talked about the Posada family's assistance. "I knew we were not alone anymore," said Lisa, who has become a mentor for the foundation. When the focus returned to baseball, Posada recalled how he started his professional career as a shortstop, was moved to second base and was asked by the Yankees to move to catcher after the 1991 season. "I felt like it was the worst decision ever," he said, remembering all the passed balls he allowed while catching top draft pick Brien Taylor. "It was not a pretty sight." He went on to have one of the better offensive careers by a catcher. The switch-hitting Posada made the decision to retire during a season that turned tumultuous May 14 when he was batting .165 and was dropped to No. 9 in the batting order against Boston. He asked to be taken out of the lineup, saying he wasn't ready to play. Posada rallied to hit .268 for the rest of the season, leaving him with a .235 average, 14 homers and 44 RBIs. And then on Sept. 21, his two-run pinch-hit single beat Tampa Bay to clinch the AL East and earn another huge ovation. He hit .429 (6 for 14) in the five-game loss to Detroit in the division series.
The Daily Campus, Page 12
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Sports
NCAA needs to take hard look in mirror
By Ryan Tepperman College Basketball Columnist Last week, Joe Nocera, an Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times, wrote an article titled “Guilty Until Proven Innocent,” where he criticized the NCAA’s handling of determining the eligibility of UConn freshman Ryan Boatright. Boatright, a 6-foot point guard, sat out the first six games of the season for receiving “impermissible benefits” (presumably a plane ticket). More recently, on Jan. 14 – the same day over 400 friends bought tickets to see him play at Notre Dame, whose campus is a short drive from his hometown – he was told he’d have to sit out again while the NCAA rereviewed his eligibility. The organization is yet to issue its final ruling, but according to Nocera’s article, the new investigation stems from his mother, Tanesha, accepting plane tickets from his AAU coach (reportedly a friend of Tanesha’s) so that she could be present during his college visits. As you may have guessed, the NCAA considers this impermissible. Unfortunately Boatright isn’t the only freshman point guard in the Big East whose felt the NCAA’s cold wrath this season. On Oct. 25, Providence College released a statement saying Kiwi Gardner had been ruled academically ineligible by the NCAA – a decision that came a week and half after the start of team practices and seven weeks into the academic school year. And, coincidentally of course, the news broke the same day he was supposed to make his collegiate debut in the team’s exhibition opener against Assumption. Such timing sounds a little familiar, doesn’t it? Throughout the whole Boatright-eligibility saga, one phrase that’s continued to come up has been “impermissible ben-
efits.” The NCAA constantly uses the word “impermissible” whenever it hands out reports of school or player infractions. For instance, receiving plane tickets from an AAU basketball coach (the Boatrights) is an impermissible benefit. Having a standardized test paid for in high school by a non-family member (Nate Miles) qualifies as an impermissible gift. A coaching staff making too many phone calls to a recruit (Calhoun and co.) is also impermissible. But exploiting student-athletes for millions? Apparently that is permissible under the list of thousands of NCAA rules. The NCAA makes approximately $775 million a year in total revenue through things such as TV ratings, the sale of merchandise and ticket sales, 96 percent of which the organization’s website says “benefits the membership through distributions or services.” Yet that still leaves over $30 million unaccounted for, a large portion of which is divided among the NCAA’s 400-plus members. In fact, according to an article that appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education in September 2010, the organization’s 14 highest paid employees make a combined $6 million. For the record, I have no problem with these people’s wages, but it’s still hard not to laugh at the NCAA’s hypocrisy. Sure, it’s fine for them to benefit from the labor of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Chris Webber, Kemba Walker, etc., but if any of these players take a penny during high school or before they go pro? Bring down the hammer! This was the case when the NCAA launched an investigation into the Michigan basketball program in the late 1990s, and found that a school booster, Ed Martin, had given aid to four future NBA players (Webber, Robert “Tractor” Traylor, Maurice Taylor and Louis Bullock) that totaled $616,000. I don’t think this should be an
acceptable practice by studentathletes, but I can at least understand why Webber in particular – whose “Fab Five” team produced an $8.5 million increase in merchandise sales in their first year alone – wanted to reap some of the benefits of his own hard work. The NCAA was not so understanding, and the players and Michigan program paid dearly. Webber had his 1993 All-American honors stripped, Traylor saw his ’97 NIT and ’98 Big 10 tourney MVPs taken away and Michigan’s ’92 and ’93 NCAA Final Fours were vacated. All because these four players took an average of $154,000 from a booster right before they went pro. Which, by the way, is almost $400,000 less than the average annual salary of the NCAA’s 14 highest paid officials (not an apples-to-apples comparison, I know). UConn is expecting to receive word on Boatright’s eligibility in the next day or so, according to multiple reports. If all goes well he’ll be suiting back up for the Huskies soon. Kiwi Gardner was not so lucky, however. After Providence appealed the NCAA’s initial decision back in late October, the team had to wait until Dec. 5 to learn the final verdict: that he is ineligible for the entire season. Who knows what Gardner’s plans are going forward, but wouldn’t it benefit the player and the team had he received this news at the start of the year as opposed to the end of the first semester? Perhaps the NCAA could use some of its yearly revenue to hire enough employees to make these decisions in a timely manner. Of course, that’s assuming the members of the corporation… uh, organization actually care more about the student-athletes’ well being than making money for themselves.
Ryan.Tepperman@UConn.edu
ASHLEY POSPISIL/The Daily Campus
Ryan Boatright, seen here in UConn's Dec. 8 win over Harvard, has had troubling staying on the court due to NCAA investigations.
» NBA
Knicks snap 6-game skid, rout Bobcats 111-78
AP
Tyson Chandler, Mike Bibby and Carmelo Anthony react during the second half of the Knicks' 111-78 win over the Charlotte Bobcats.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Tyson Chandler had 20 points and 17 rebounds as the New York Knicks snapped a six-game losing streak with a 111-78 rout of the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday night. Chandler, a former Bobcats player, shot 9 for 10 from the field as the Knicks won despite a career-low scoring output from star Carmelo Anthony. Amar'e Stoudemire chipped in with 18 points and eight rebounds while Landry Fields added 18 points and four assists for the Knicks, who won for the first time since Jan. 11. The Knicks dominated inside the paint, outrebounding the Bobcats 53-33 while handing them their fifth straight loss. Anthony missed all seven shots from the field and finished with one point. Only once in his previous 42 games with the Knicks had Anthony failed to finish in double digits. That came on March 18, 2011, when he finished with six points. His previous career
low was two points when he was with the Denver Nuggets. Kemba Walker, starting at point guard in place of D.J. Augustin, led Charlotte with 22 points but struggled early on with turnovers, seemingly bothered by the Knicks' bigger guards. Gerald Henderson and Derrick Brown each scored 15 points for the struggling Bobcats. Boris Diaw, who had come up big in his previous two games against the Knicks, had just four points on 1-for-6 shooting from the field. Anthony, who came into the game shooting just 35.4 percent from the field over his past eight games, didn't score until three minutes into the third quarter when he made a free throw after a technical foul on Charlotte's Tyrus Thomas. Anthony only played 30 minutes before being removed from the game with the Knicks leading by at least 25 points for most of the fourth quarter.
The Knicks jumped out to a 52-42 halftime lead behind a near-perfect first half by Chandler, who was 6 of 6 from the field with 13 points and nine rebounds and simply outplayed Bobcats center Byron Mullens. Walker was 5 of 6 from the floor for 15 points in the first half but turned the ball over four times. The 6-foot-1 Walker seemed to be bothered by the 6-foot-5 Iman Shumpert and 6-foot-7 Landry Fields. However, the Knicks failed to take advantage of very many of Charlotte's nine first half-turnovers, regularly missing easy layups. Shumpert even missed a breakaway dunk, clanging it off the back of the rim. Still, the Knicks began to pull away in the third quarter as the Bobcats shot just 6 of 24 from the field. The Knicks were a solid 9 of 10 from the field during that same span and then expanded the lead in the fourth quarter while resting their starters, including Anthony.
Toss Up? Who is the bigger conference championship goat?
By Ryan Curto Campus Correspondent This past weekend, the Patriots took on the Ravens and the 49ers took on the Giants in what became one of the most thrilling “Championship Sunday’s” in NFL history. Both of the games ended with a last minute field goal, or lack there of. With time ticking down in the fourth quarter of the first game of the afternoon (Ravens at Patriots), Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff pulled a 32-yard field goal wide left. Had he put the ball through the uprights, he would have tied the game and saved the Ravens season for the time being. However, he missed and sent the Ravens home instead of to Indianapolis for a chance to hoist the Lombardi trophy. The 49ers vs. Giants game saw a similar ending. In overtime, punt returner Kyle Williams fumbled and set up the Giants for a short field goal and a trip to the Super Bowl. Since these games, the question of who is the bigger “goat” has arisen multiple times. The answer is Kyle Williams. The fumble that Kyle Williams
lost in overtime was not his only game changing mistake of the game. With his team leading 14-10, Williams allowed a punt to hit off his knee and be recovered by the Giants who would eventually score on their next possession. Now trailing 17-14, Williams forced his team to fight back. While they were able to tie the game and send it into overtime, it is impossible not to ask “what if?” in regards to Williams botched punt return. However, he was still not done helping the Giants. In overtime, the 49ers defense was able to shut down the Giants offense and force a punt. This time Williams was able to cleanly field the punt but shortly after put it back on the ground. Jacquian Williams of the Giants was able to punch the ball free from Williams who had now given up the ball twice. After recovering the fumble, the Giants pushed the ball a few more yards down an already short field and set up Lawrence Tynes with a game winning field goal. Looking back at the game it is hard not to title Kyle Williams as the goat, not only of his game, but of both the games played on Sunday. Sure Billy Cundiff missed
a field goal that could have tied the game, but that’s all his field goal could do. Already down by three points, Cundiff’s field goal attempt was a last second attempt to send the game into overtime. However, in the case of Kyle Williams, the story is different. His first turnover cost the 49ers a lead while his second turnover cost the 49ers the game. In total, William’s turnovers led to 10 Giants points. It is true that Cundiff’s missed field goal was a jaw-dropping ending to a game. However, his missed field goal did not give up a lead, nor did it provide the Patriots with more points. It merely did not send the Ravens into overtime. Why not blame Lee Evans? He dropped a potential go-ahead touchdown pass right before Cundiff attempted to tie the game. Regardless, Kyle Williams is more to blame for the 49ers’ loss than Billy Cundiff is for the Ravens’ loss. While Cundiff did miss a short field goal, Williams’ two turnovers led to 10 points for the Giants and cost his team the lead once and the game in overtime.
Ryan.Curto@UConn.edu
By David Marinstein Campus Correspondent With the Super Bowl just under two weeks away, we have our two teams. A rematch of the 2007 Super Bowl, the New York Giants will take on the New England Patriots in Indianapolis. Many are anticipating this headliner of a match up. But, after watching the AFC and NFC Championship games this past weekend, it’s safe to say that the two losing teams, the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers, both deserved to be in the Super Bowl as well. Unfortunately for both teams, each had a crucial play at the end of the game that caused their demise.
The biggest “goat” of this past weekend has got to be the kicker for the Baltimore Ravens, Billy Cundiff. With seconds to go, the Ravens only needed to hit a 32-yard field goal to send the game into overtime. Billy Cundiff, a seven-year veteran in the league, has a field goal kicking percentage of 76.7 percent and was a pro bowler just a season ago. Following the snap, Cundiff kicked the field goal and shanked it wide left. A routine field goal turned into a nightmare for Cundiff, the Ravens and their fans. The Patriots won the trip to the Super Bowl and Baltimore did not even get a chance to compete for the spot in overtime. It is clear that Billy Cundiff is the scapegoat of champion-
ship Sunday. His team was not even given the chance to win the game as he missed an easy field goal attempt. In San Francisco, Kyle Williams fumbled the ball late in the game when the game was already tied between the 49ers and the Giants. Although it was a costly mistake, Cundiff’s missed field goal was definitely more of a choke job. Williams, a young player, was the second string kick returner and was most likely shaken up in the situation. Cundiff on the other hand, is a veteran with some big game experience. It is unacceptable for someone of his talent to let down his team in such a way.
David.Marinstein@UConn.edu
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TWO Wednesday, January 25, 2012
PAGE 2
What's Next Home game
Away game
The Daily Question Q : “Who is the best defensive player in this year’s Super Bowl?” A : “Jason Pierre-Paul.”
Next Paper’s Question:
“Will you watch the Pro Bowl?”
–Michelle Lanouette, 6th-semester elementary education major
» That’s what he said
» UCONN
–Colts’ quarterback Peyton Manning on the changes in the organization.
Home: Gampel Pavilion, XL Center
AP
UConn outlines new abuse policy
Peyton Manning
Feb. 6 Louisville 7 p.m.
Feb. 11 Syracuse 1 p.m.
Women’s Basketball (17-2)
» Pic of the day
Saying bye to Joe Pa
Home: Gampel Pavilion, XL Center Today Syracuse 7 p.m.
Jan. 28 USF 1 p.m.
Jan. 30 Duke 7 p.m.
Feb. 4 Rutgers 7 p.m.
Feb. 7 Louisville 7 p.m.
Men’s Ice Hockey (11-12-2) Feb. 7 Jan. 27 Jan. 28 Jan. 31 Army Holy Cross Holy Cross Princeton 7:05 p.m. 7:05 p.m. 7:05 p.m. 7:05 p.m.
Feb. 10 Sacred Heart 7:05 p.m.
Conn. doctor grabs Cundiff’s errant kick GLOUCESTER, Mass. (AP) — When Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff’s field goal attempt sailed wide left in the Patriots 23-20 AFC championship win Sunday, it set off a mad scramble in the end zone seats. A Connecticut doctor who learned to play football in his hometown in Massachusetts came up with the loose ball. Dr. Terry Oder of West Hartford, Conn. was at the game with three lifelong friends from Gloucester. The ball bounced off friend Robert Bouchie (BUSH’-ee) and Oder pounced, with what he described as “20 people on my back.” The former youth football running back used his skills to secure the ball. He was besieged by Patriots fans who wanted to touch the ball and have photos taken with it. The nephrologist has already taken the ball to work to show patients.
Feb. 11 Boston College 1 p.m.
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Michael Cerimele, right, a member of the honor guard, greets a mourner as she files through the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus for the viewing for former Penn State coach Joe Paterno Tuesday.
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Mosqueda-Lewis notches second straight Rookie of the Week award
It’s time to wrap up the offseason as the hot stove cools
By Andrew Callahan Senior Staff Writer
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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — University of Connecticut officials have outlined for lawmakers new policies for responding to reports of sexual abuse and child abuse on campus. The policies, expected to be adopted by the school’s Board of Trustees on Wednesday, would require almost all employees, including coaches, to report suspected abuse to one of three campus offices — the school’s Title IX coordinator, the Office of Community Standards, or the Office of Diversity and Equity. The school officials testified Tuesday before two committees considering legislation in response to the child abuse scandal at Penn State. Lawmakers also are looking at proposals that would expand the list of professionals required to report child abuse to the state Department of Children and Families to include college and youth coaches.
» NFL
Women’s Ice Hockey (3-15-6) Feb. 5 Jan. 29 Jan. 28 Feb. 4 New Providence Providence Northeastern Hampshire 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m.
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The Daily Campus, Page 13
Sports
This past Monday freshman forward Kaleena MosquedaLewis picked up her seventh career Big East honor as the conference freshman of the week. The California native averaged 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in an undefeated week for Connecticut. Just over one week ago, she poured in fifteen points against no. 24 North Carolina during an 86-35 UConn rout at Gampel Pavilion. Midweek, Mosqueda-Lewis led another dominating effort as the Huskies rolled visiting Cincinnati 80-37. Her long threepointer early in the first half helped propel the Huskies along a 21-3 run. She finished with 10 points and seven rebounds over 22 minutes of play. Last Saturday however, the first-year player saved her best for last by dropping a careerhigh 25 points on no. 21 DePaul. UConn doubled up the Blue Demons when it was all said and done, 88-44. MosquedaLewis scored 18 before halftime
had commenced, boosted by a 5-7 shooting performance from behind the arc. She also collected seven rebounds. Postgame, DePaul head coach Doug Bruno lauded MosquedaLewis and company for their dominant performance over his club. “I’ve said all along here over the last couple of weeks that there are four teams that have a chance to win the national championship,” Bruno said. “Baylor, Notre Dame, UConn and Stanford.” The talented freshman has now grown into the Huskies leading scorer, averaging 14.8 points per game. She is shooting a team-best 39.4% on threepoint attempts, just ahead of the club’s second-leading scorer Bria Hartley. The Huskies return to the floor tonight on the road at the Carrier Dome for a matchup with Big East foe Syracuse. The Huskies beat the Orange last season on Senior Night at Gampel Pavilion 82-47. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Andrew.J.Callahan@UConn.edu
By Jimmy Onofrio Staff Writer Under a month is left before the first official sign of spring – pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training camps. Amidst the NBA lockout turmoil and Tebowmania, not a lot of attention has been paid to baseball storylines this winter, but there have been some significant moves and changes around the league. Here’s a quick recap of what’s been happening: Big Contracts For years, the name Alex Rodriguez has been synonymous with huge contracts. But now, A-Rod has two other players to join him in the world of absurd payouts. Albert Pujols, the 32-year-old first baseman, ended his elevenyear run with St. Louis when he signed a 10-year contract worth a reported $254 million in December. Then, Tuesday afternoon, former Milwaukee Brewers first baseman and elite slugger Prince Fielder signed with the Detroit Tigers. His contract is reportedly for
nine years and will pay him $214 million. Fielder will join another great hitter, Miguel Cabrera, and the Tigers are the early favorites to be AL Central champs again. Rebranding The Florida Marlins have officially been renamed the Miami Marlins. For the 2012 season, the Marlins will be playing in their own stadium (Marlins Park) for the first time in their history. Since their first season in 1993 they have shared a stadium with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. The Marlins won the World Series in 2003 behind pitchers Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett, but haven’t made the postseason since. Ozzie Guillen, former Chicago White Sox manager, was hired in September as the fourth manager since 2010. Miami has made a number of acquisitions in the offseason including pitchers Mark Buehrle and Carlos Zambrano, shortstop José Reyes, and closer Heath Bell.
James.Onofrio@UConn.edu
» INSIDE SPORTS TODAY
P.13: UConn outlines new abuse policy. / P.12: Toss Up: Who is the bigger goat? / P.11: Prince Fielder signs with Tigers.
Page 14
Paterno’s passing
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
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WORTH THEIR WEIGHT?
Calhoun and Auriemma stay atop pay list of state employees
By Mac Cerullo Managing Editor
Colin McDonough Joe Paterno was set to become the John Wooden of college football. Then in the last three months of his life, it all fell apart. We all know the story. On Nov. 9 he was fired. He didn’t do enough to stop friend and former colleague Jerry Sandusky from abusing children on the Penn State campus. Even after a grad assistant told him he saw an incident in the shower, he didn’t do everything in his power to bring Sandusky to justice. Paterno didn’t call the police, didn’t talk to Sandusky or ban the former defensive coordinator from hanging around campus for years after he wasn’t working for the football program. He didn’t actively stop a child molester. What was he thinking? He wasn’t. Now Paterno is gone. He died on Sunday after battling lung cancer. It is time to reflect on his legacy. Unfortunately, the latest visions of Joe Paterno etched in our minds are not good memories. What Paterno did was wrong. And this may be tough to say or argue on my part, but people who call Paterno a monster are also wrong. Jerry Sandusky was touching the kids, not Joe Paterno. As we look back on a great coach’s life this week, his sins should not outweigh all the good that he has done. It’s not just because Paterno is dead. I don’t think it’s ill mannered to speak poorly of the dead if they don’t deserve a beautiful eulogy from everyone, but Paterno coached and taught young men, donated money to Penn State for academics and helped it grow into a famous university. For the people who will never forgive Paterno, I find it difficult to fully agree with them. What would you do if you were in his situation? We all hope we’d have the immense courage to do the right thing 24 hours a day, every day until we die. But we are all human beings. That’s why none of us are able to do that. Paterno should’ve confronted Sandusky about it. That’s the least he could’ve done. Maybe if Sandusky heard Paterno’s voice in his ear he would’ve stopped. Paterno had a chance to help keep kids safe and he failed. But some people seem to think Paterno should’ve dragged Sandusky to the Happy Valley police chief. I don’t think I agree with that. Here’s a hypothetical situation in which I’m not trying to offend, simply promote thought. If a friend of yours drove home drunk, not only putting his or her own life in danger, but running the risk of killing an innocent driver or pedestrian on the road, would you drag him to the police station and turn them in? My example is not the same situation that Paterno was in, it’s just up for comparison. Depending on your moral base, it may not be as bad as not reporting a child molester, it may be worse. I am not defending child molesters or saying that the acts committed weren’t horrible. Like most normal people, I had a tough time watching the situation at Penn State the last few months because of how disgusting some of the allegations were. All I’m saying is Paterno should still be remembered as a good person and a great football coach. His bad judgment shouldn’t be forgotten, but it also shouldn’t define him. I’m nowhere near the person Paterno was, so if he had a hard time handling the information he was told, I would definitely have a tough time, too. Would you?
Colin.McDonough@UConn.edu
JIM ANDERSON/The Daily Campus
Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma are worth a lot to UConn, between the money they bring in annually in ticket sales and the publicity their programs bring to the school. But are they worth their own weight in gold? By most measurements they are, but surprisingly they are not based on their annual earnings. According to the most recently available Connecticut payroll data, Calhoun and Auriemma are the two highest paid state employees for the second year in a row. Calhoun has been the highest paid state employee for several years now, while Auriemma has traded the No. 2 spot with former football coach Randy Edsall in recent years. In the 2011 fiscal year, Calhoun earned $2,403,223.54 in total compensation. According to the athletic department, Calhoun currently weighs roughly 205 pounds, and today, gold is valued at $1,666.50 per ounce. That would place the value of Calhoun’s weight in gold at $4,982,026.75, well over his annual salary. Similarly, Auriemma earned $1,743,108.90 in total compensation. The athletic department would not provide a weight for Auriemma, but offered a ballpark estimate of roughly 170 pounds. At that weight, Auriemma would be worth $4,131,436.82 in gold. Even if the weight estimate was well off, Auriemma’s salary would still be far short of his value. So what does that mean? Only that if Jim Calhoun decided to buy a life-sized, gold statue of himself, it would take him two years to save up for it, and it would take Auriemma three. It’s fair to say that both likely have enough saved up that they could have the statues commissioned right now if they really wanted to. But given the current economy and the sharp rise in the price of gold, silver might be a smarter investment right now.
» CALHOUN, page 12
Jim Calhoun waves to the crowd after winning the NCAA national championship 53-41 over Butler at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
» X GAMES
It’s time to ride on for Sarah Burke
By Danielle Ennis Action Sports Columnist
The last time I sat down to write this column, I had just heard of the death of 20-yearold skier, Will Schooler. I urged you all to be safe on the mountain, we parted for a month, waited on some snow and then made our way to the slopes. Kevin Pearce, a pro snowboarder who suffered severe head trauma over two years ago, rode again for the first time last month. With not a moment of tentativeness, he flew past the film crews who were all ready to document
his return. The anxious crowd was relieved and moved by his ease and confidence in the snow. He still had it. The stickers and shirts that read, “I ride for Kevin,” were replaced with the phrase, “I ride with Kevin.” From hopeful to happening, the community was uplifted by the moment of triumph. But, in even the simplest of forms, the sports world is filled with binary oppositions. The blessing of victory is met with the woe of loss. On the very same halfpipe that Pearce fell in the winter of ’09, Sarah Burke, a 29-year-old pro skier, crashed two weeks ago while training
for the Winter X Games. She ruptured her vertebral artery, went into a coma, and died nine days later on Jan. 19. Respected for her continuous progression of women’s freeskiing and revered for her passion for life, she was, and always will be, an inspiration to athletes everywhere. The four-time Winter X Games medalist lobbied for the addition of women’s superpipe in the Olympics and was just at the start of her collection of medals and honors, family and life. Both athletes wore helmets, and both crashed on the same pipe. One lived to ride again, and the other left behind a
legacy. It’s hard to pin; eerie, tragic, unfair? For one, we mourn the loss and damage that is irreversible. For the other, we cherish survival and restoration. While friends and competitors remember Burke’s life, they continue to practice, progress and perfect for the Winter X games, the fourday event beginning Thursday morning in Aspen, Colorado. There will undoubtedly be an aura of sorrow, but they will continue to compete as she would. By Monday, headlines will be exalting the newest trick landed and the newest athlete discovered, recognized and awarded. Records
that stand today will be broken in this week’s events. And in the surpass, people will slowly move on. It is in the undetermined moments of life, in the seconds we can’t predict, that we are met with our worst nightmares and our happiest successes. With death, it is near impossible to find the beauty in the uncertainty of life, but we can always lift our heads and ride on. And just as people rode for Kevin, they will ski for Sarah. This week and beyond.
Danielle.Ennis@UConn.edu
» WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
No. 3 Huskies look to continue winning ways
By Danielle Ennis Staff Writer The No. 3 Huskies take on Syracuse (13-7, 2-4 Big East) at the Carrier Dome tonight at 7 p.m. The Huskies have scored 80 points or above in their last three games, holding those opponents to a combined total of 116 points. Redshirt Junior Caroline Doty will not play tonight due to a minor bone bruise on her left knee. The injury occurred in Saturday’s matchup against DePaul. She left after playing only two minutes as her knee swelled up. With her history of injury, the exhaustion of four games in eight days wore down her ACL. Freshman Kaleena Mosqueda Lewis will start in her place. On Monday, Lewis earned her sixth Big East
honor as she was named Big East Freshman of the week. In their 3-0 week, she averaged 16.7 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game, scoring double figures in all three. On Saturday, she performed her third 25-point game of the
quick hands in the passing lanes). The Huskies won 88-44, snapping the Blue Demon’s 28 game home winning streak. With an all-time record of 34-12, he huskies have the edge in the series with the Orange, and have won the last 27 of 28. Syracuse just pulled off a fourpoint win against Seton Hall on Sunday after suffering two conference losses to Georgetown and St. John’s. The Orange’s 13-7, 2-4 17-2, 6-1 home record is 7-2. Carrier Dome, 7 p.m. Syracuse has three players averaging douCPTV ble digits. Junior center Kayla Alexander poses a season against DePaul. threat in the paint with Iasia Both Bria Hartley and Hemingway and Carmen Tiffany Hayes are averaging Tyson-Thomas on the outside. 14.7 points a game. Against The game will be televised No. 22 Depaul, Hayes scored on CPTV. double digits for her eighth consecutive game and the Huskies tallied 18 steals (six of which came from Hartley’s Danielle.Ennis@UConn.edu
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL VS.
ROCHELLE BAROSS/The Daily Campus
Brianna Banks runs the fast break in UConn’s 93-40 win over Fairfield on Dec. 29 at Gampel Pavilion.