The Daily Helmsman

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The

U of M Pom Squad Wins Title Dance team captures 13th national championship

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 Vol. 78 No. 064

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Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis

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Witherspoon to be reinstated Thursday

BY JOHN MARTIN Sports Editor University of Memphis junior forward Wesley Witherspoon will be reinstated from his suspension on Thursday, men’s basketball coach Josh Pastner announced Monday night.

Pastner and his staff met with Witherspoon on Monday to discuss the parameters of his reinstatement before they reached a decision.

While Pastner said the plan is for Witherspoon to be back on Thursday, he said he’s still taking it day by day.

“He’s got to want it, and he knows what he needs to do,” Pastner said. “I

believe he will do it. There’s no doubt The difference is we’re in an age where that the first step of changeverything is scrutinized. ing (is that) sometimes People are making things you’ve got to hit rock botbigger than they are.” tom. You’ve got to feel the Pastner said that the suspension was just part of the pain.”

Witherspoon was susprocess of coaching such a pended after The U of young team and compared M’s 64-58 loss to Southern it to the dynamics of raising Methodist University on a family.

“Like in any family, Wednesday, Jan. 12.

The 6-foot-9 forward you’re going to have disaverages 11.5 and 4.9 cipline,” he said. “It’s like grounding a kid and not letrebounds.

“Having a basketball ting them go to the movies Witherspoon with their friends.” team is like having a family,” Pastner said. “We’re all human beings.

Yesterday, the junior forward pri-

vately apologized to the team for being a distraction.

Freshman forward Tarik Black said he felt that the apology was sincere.

“It was genuine,” he said. “I can just tell that he wants to get back on the court with us.”

The coaching staff did not ask Witherspoon to apologize, Pastner said.

“I don’t want anyone to apologize to anybody unless they’re sincere,” he said. “I don’t force anybody to apologize to anyone because I want things to be done with sincerity and honesty.”

see

Witherspoon, page 9

Performing Arts

UM sophomore ready to grace the big screen

Several cats living in the crawlspace underneath Mynders Hall were removed by the Physical Plant over the weekend. They are waiting to be adopted at a local animal shelter.

Whisked away Felines served with notice to va-cat

BY CHRIS DANIELS News Reporter Three cats living in the crawl space underneath Mynders Hall were evicted this weekend from their sub-dormitory lair.

Residence Life, which oversees residence halls at The University of Memphis, requested the cats’ removal, said Kathryn Linn, administrative associate at the Physical Plant.

Linn said the cats were adolescents, long past the stage of being dependent upon a mother. “(The) Physical Plant does everything possible to protect the animals that are removed

from campus,” she said. “And they are always treated in a humane manner.”

The three cats were removed using a humane live trap, Linn said.

“The process that is used, a humane trap, is safe for the cats and involves the least amount of stress to the animal,” she said.

The traps are formed from heavy-gauge wires and reinforced with steel rods. Food placed inside the traps lures the cat inside, and a door closes, trapping the animal inside.

The cats were taken to the Memphis Animal Shelter at 3456 Tchulahoma Road.

Danny Armitage, assistant vice president of student affairs,

said that students and faculty should alert Physical Plant when they see stray animals on campus.

He said there are risk factors when dealing with non-domesticated animals on campus, and no one can ever be sure what these animals are capable of doing. The animals could bite or carry diseases and may potentially harm students, he said.

“From time to time, you might have raccoons,” he said. “You just have to be very careful.”

Brittany Ekwugha, a former Mynders Hall resident, said she noticed a lot of cats on campus

see

Cats, page 4

because of a belief in his personal character, said Lynn Holmes, senior pastor of Calvary of the Nazarene.

“Rob has been a member of our church his entire life,” Holmes said. “We knew from his heart and integrity that Rob would be perfect for this role.”

Greg Kenerly, connections pastor at the church, echoed Holmes’ sentiment.

“This film is about reconciliation and showing grace to others, and Erickson’s superior character made him right for the film,” Kenerly said.

Calvary Pictures partnered with Gracework Pictures, created by local optometrist David Evans, after the film grew into a larger production. It has screened in over 140 locations nationwide, including Miami, Chicago and

University of Memphis student Rob Erickson isn’t pursuing a career in acting, but his desire to improve Memphis landed him a major role in the local film “The Grace Card.”

“I wanted to make a difference in Memphis,” Erickson said, “and had no idea that the movie would become so big.”

“The Grace Card” opens Feb. 25 at theaters across the country.

Locally, it will run at Hollywoof Cinema and five Malco theaters: the Paradiso, the Majestic, Cordova Cinema, Stage Cinema and Collierville Towne Cinema.

The film was produced by Calvary Pictures, a production company created by Erickson’s church, Calvary of the Nazarene, in Cordova, in partnership with see Grace, page 5 another local organization, Gracework Pictures. The film was shot entirely in Memphis.

Erickson, a sophomore political science major, has been involved in the performing arts his entire life and is currently a trumpeter in the Mighty Sound of the South, The U of M’s marching band. He said he has played in the orchestra for a couple of Calvary of the Nazarene’s theatrical productions, but he hadn’t felt a drive to act until his church began casting for the film.

Calvary Pictures hosted several auditions for Rob’s role, Blake U of M sophomore Rob Erickson will McDonald, but ulti- be appearing in “The Grace Card,” a mately selected Erickson movie filmed in Memphis.

by Malcolm Regester

by Casey Hilder

BY Rob Moore News Reporter

2 • Wednesday, January 19, 2011

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DOMINO’S PIZZA Across 1 They may be indoor or outdoor 5 Starr with rhythm 10 Angel dust, for short 13 Yearn (for) 14 Like a supportive crowd 15 Come as you __ 16 China flaw 17 Far from dense 18 Source of rays 19 “West Side Story” duet 21 Prepare to seal, as an envelope 23 Classic Welles role 24 Whopper 25 Sunscreen letters 27 7-Down’s “Casta diva,” e.g.

29 UN workers’ gp.

30 Fab rival 31 Agt. under Ness 32 Hose 36 Playwright Hart 38 Place for a bracelet 40 Suit 41 Like some conditional statements 43 Warty amphibian 45 Singer Sumac 46 Hard-rock link 47 Eye hungrily 48 Hunk 49 Polite links response 53 Loll 55 Outfit 56 Drive crazy 59 Back talk 60 Like former admirals 62 Surefooted goat 63 Pre-holiday day 64 Handle with skill 65 Hindu royal 66 Shriner’s cap 67 Lowly workers 68 Part of Q.E.D.

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4 Dark brown pigment 5 Mesmerized 6 George’s musical partner 7 Bellini opera 8 *Pioneering Frank King comic strip featuring Walt and Skeezix 9 1990s “Inside Edition” host 10 Shells, e.g.

11 Unusual companion?

12 10-Down type 17 *Award-winning author of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” 20 Tiny biter 22 Lifted 24 Sleeveless summer wear, or what each answer to a starred clue might be said to have 25 Climbing lane occupant 26 Univ. employee

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28 John in Scotland 33 *Trendy place for a breather?

34 Hard-to-find clownfish 35 Picketer’s bane 37 Vertical passage 39 Captain Kirk’s record 42 Stays away from 44 Pricey 49 Staff symbol 50 Drab color 51 1990s-2000s Braves catcher Javy 52 Ed of “Up” 54 Rumble in the Jungle setting 56 Netflix shipments 57 Actress Rowlands 58 __ poll 61 “Go Simpsonic With the Simpsons” composer Clausen

S u d o k u

Complete the grid so that each row, column and 3—by—3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9.

Solutions on page 5

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 • 3

Education

Study: Many college students not learning to think critically

BY SARA RIMER The Hechinger Report An unprecedented study that followed several thousand undergraduates through four years of college found that large numbers didn’t learn the critical thinking, complex reasoning and written communication skills that are widely assumed to be at the core of a college education.

Many of the students graduated without knowing how to sift fact from opinion, make a clear written argument or objectively review conflicting reports of a situation or event, according to New York University sociologist Richard Arum, lead author of the study. The students, for example, couldn’t determine the cause of an increase in neighborhood crime or how best to respond without being swayed by emotional testimony and political spin.

Arum, whose book “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses” (University of Chicago Press) comes out this month, followed 2,322 traditional-age students from the fall of 2005 to the spring of 2009 and examined testing data and student surveys at a broad range of 24 U.S. colleges and universities, from the highly selective to the less selective.

Forty-five percent of students made no significant improvement in their critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills during the first two years of college, according to the study. After four years, 36 percent showed no significant gains in these so-called “higher order” thinking skills.

Combining the hours spent studying and in class, students devoted less than a fifth of their time each week to academic pursuits. By contrast, students spent 51 percent of their time — or 85 hours a week — socializing or in extracurricular activities.

The study also showed that students who studied alone made more significant gains in learning than those who studied in groups.

“I’m not surprised at the results,” said Stephen G. Emerson, the president of Haverford College in Pennsylvania. “Our very best students don’t study in

groups. They might work in groups in lab projects. But when they study, they study by themselves.”

The study marks one of the first times a cohort of undergraduates has been followed over four years to examine whether they’re learning specific skills. It provides a portrait of the complex set of factors, from the quality of secondary school preparation to the academic demands on campus, which determine learning.

It comes amid President Barack Obama’s call for more college graduates by 2020 and is likely to shine a spotlight on the quality of the education they receive.

“These findings are extremely valuable for those of us deeply concerned about the state of undergraduate learning and student intellectual engagement,” said Brian D. Casey, president of DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. “They will surely shape discussions about curriculum and campus life for years to come.”

Some educators note that a weakened economy and a need to work while in school may be

partly responsible for the reduced focus on academics, while others caution against using the study to blame students for not applying themselves.

Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education known for his theory of multiple intelligences, said the study underscores the need for higher education to push students harder.

“No one concerned with education can be pleased with the findings of this study,” Gardner said. “I think that higher education in general is not demanding enough of students — academics are simply of less importance than they were a generation ago.”

But the solution, in Gardner’s view, shouldn’t be to introduce high-stakes tests to measure learning in college, because “the cure is likely to be worse than the disease.”

Arum concluded that while students at highly selective schools made more gains than those at less selective schools, there are even greater disparities within institutions.

“In all these 24 colleges and

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universities, you have pockets of kids that are working hard and learning at very high rates,” Arum said. “There is this variation across colleges, but even greater variation within colleges in how much kids are applying themselves and learning.”

For that reason, Arum added, he hopes his data will encourage colleges and universities to look within for ways to improve teaching and learning.

Arum co-authored the book with Josipa Roksa, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Virginia. The study, conducted with Esther Cho, a researcher with the Social Science Research Council, showed that students learned more when asked to do more.

Students who majored in the traditional liberal arts — including the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences and mathematics — showed significantly greater gains over time than other students in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills.

Students majoring in business, education, social work and com-

munications showed the least gains in learning. However, the authors note that their findings don’t preclude the possibility that such students “are developing subject-specific or occupationally relevant skills.”

Greater gains in liberal arts subjects are at least partly the result of faculty requiring higher levels of reading and writing, as well as students spending more time studying, the study’s authors found. Students who took courses heavy on both reading (more than 40 pages a week) and writing (more than 20 pages in a semester) showed higher rates of learning.

That’s welcome news to liberal arts advocates.

“We do teach analytical reading and writing,” said Ellen Fitzpatrick, a history professor at the University of New Hampshire.

The study used data from the Collegiate Learning Assessment, a 90-minute essay-type test that attempts to measure what liberal arts colleges teach and that more

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thinKinG from page 3

than 400 colleges and universities have used since 2002. The test is voluntary and includes real world problem-solving tasks, such as determining the cause of an airplane crash, that require reading and analyzing documents from newspaper articles to government reports.

The study’s authors also found that large numbers of students didn’t enroll in courses requiring substantial work. In a typical semester, a third of students took no courses with more than 40 pages of reading per week. Half didn’t take a single course in which they wrote more than 20 pages over the semester.

The findings show that colleges need to be acutely aware of how instruction relates to the learning of critical-thinking and related skills, said Daniel J.

cats from page 1 and assumed that the heat of buildings might have attracted them.

“I don’t think students should worry,” the senior biology major said. “I don’t think cats are too harmful. Now, if it’s dogs — that’s a different story.”

Jenesis Anderson, a junior mathematics major who currently lives in Mynders, said she had seen some cats around campus but was not alarmed by them.

“I heard we’ve got mice, and

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Bradley, the president of Indiana State University and one of 71 college presidents who recently signed a pledge to improve student learning.

“We haven’t spent enough time making sure we are indeed teaching — and students are learning — these skills,” Bradley said.

Christine Walker, a senior at DePauw who’s also student body president, said the study doesn’t reflect her own experience: She studies upwards of 30 hours a week and is confident she’s learning plenty. Walker said she and her classmates are juggling multiple non-academic demands, including jobs, to help pay for their education and that in today’s economy, top grades aren’t enough.

“If you don’t have a good resume,” Walker said, “the fact that you can say, ‘I wrote this really good paper that helped my critical thinking’ is going to be irrelevant.” they need to check that out,” she said. “That’s why we need cats — to get rid of the mice.”

Anderson said she understands why The University must remove the animals and hopes the shelter takes care of them, but she suspects the cats might fare better on their own.

“I’d rather them be on campus,” she said. “They’d be like our mini-mascots.”

Students who wish to provide an off-campus home for the cats can make adoption arrangements with the Memphis Animal Shelter by calling 362-5310.

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 • 5

Education

Unexcused: Absences can hurt students’ chances

BY HANNAH OWENGA News Reporter

For some University of Memphis students, the most important part of a class syllabus isn’t the course description or the grading scale — it’s the attendance policy.

“I mean, who cares whether I come to school or not?” senior journalism major Raphael Small said. “I don’t know why there even is an attendance policy, especially if my work is good.”

The U of M’s standard attendance policy allots for six unexcused absences before a student fails a class. Some professors abide by the University-wide rule, while others are stricter or

Grace

from page 1 production, but it has grabbed attention across the country,” Erickson said.

The film follows the struggles of Mac McDonald, played by actor and comedian Michael Joiner, as he battles issues of loss and faith after the unexpected death of his teenage son.

Louis Gossett Jr., one of a select group of actors to win both an Academy Award and an Emmy Award, also plays a leading role in “The Grace Card.”

“The movie follows a man’s loss but also deals with racial

more lenient.

Some even go to great lengths to ensure students aren’t punished for unavoidable absences caused by illnesses and emergencies.

Joseph Ventimiglia, an associate professor of sociology at The U of M, created his own unique form for handling students’ requests for excused absences from his classes.

“Excessive absenteeism (four or more absences per semester), for whatever reason, renders such make-up work compulsory,” Ventimiglia’s form says.

In Ventimiglia’s classroom, more than four absences leads to failure of the course.

Senior psychology major issues and other problems that can be found in Memphis,” Erickson said. “This is a film about Memphis, from Memphis.”

Holmes said he believes the film will inspire families to engage in active discussion after watching.

“We hope this film does more than entertain, and I believe that it could provide healing for families,” he said.

Erickson said he plans to stay in Memphis after he graduates and hopes to continue improving his hometown.

“I want to make a difference here,” he said. “That was the entire reason I did the film — to better Memphis.”

Ben Roberts curtly explained Ventimiglia’s zero-tolerance attendance policy.

“Make sure you come to every class,” said Roberts, who took Ventimiglia’s Sociology of Gender class.

Paperwork like Ventimiglia’s requires interaction between the student and the professor, while other methods, like e-mails and phone calls, are sometimes less personal.

Carlos Bolton, an English instructor at The U of M, said it’s important for professors to check their e-mail accounts regularly.

“I check e-mail several times a day — probably up to five during the regular semester, and up to 10 at the end of the semes-

ter, when it is time to submit grades,” Bolton said. “I check my voicemail once in the morning, when I get to campus.”

However, not all professors are as accessible as Bolton.

At the beginning of last semester, journalism instructor Milton Brown Burnett said he told his students to call him on his office phone instead of e-mailing because he rarely checked his University account.

This semester, he plans to spend more days at the office and said he will be checking his e-mail account more regularly.

Brittany Smith, sophomore human development and learning major, said she thinks it is unprofessional when professors

do not reply to her e-mails.

“Not responding to students in a timely manner does not the meet the students’ needs,” she said.

Melissa Campbell, a counselor with Academic Status and Retention Services for The U of M, sends alerts to students when they are on the verge of failing a course.

Out of 3,386 U of M students who were alerted to the possibility of failing their classes last semester, 1,710 of those were due to excessive absences, Campbell said.

“My advice to the students is to stay motivated and focus on the end goals,” she said. “And pay attention to the syllabus.”

6 • Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The University of Memphis

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 • 7

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Entertainment

Dude, where’s my formulaic romantic comedy?

BY FRANK LOVECE Newsday

ment-sex films, among them the recent “Love and Other Drugs,” the 2009 indie “Friends (With Benefits)” and the upcoming Justin Timberlake-Mila Kunis “Friends With Benefits.”

Though, of course, “Seinfeld” went there with Jerry and Elaine in the episode “The Deal” back in 1991.

Throughout all this, one thing remains constant, as Portman points out to us in a telephone interview: “Relationships are not linear as we like to make them in movies.” And in modern relationships, she said —

MCT

Ah, these kids today. Falling into bed together first chance they get. Not waiting to get to know each other first. Why, in our day ...

Um, yeah, about our day.

“We were the generation that brought the concept of free love!” said director Ivan Reitman, 64, whose romantic comedy “No Strings Attached,” starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, follows a couple trying to have friends-with-

benefits sex without getting all boyfriend-girlfriend about it.

So even though your grandpa and my grandma may have been pursuing that idea in the Summer of Love — and, judging from ‘40s film noir and old magazine articles about Roaring ‘20s flappers and such, so were our great-grandparents — each generation seems to discover on its own that sometimes a man and woman just see each other for sex.

In fact, “No Strings Attached,” opening Friday, even seems part of a trend of no-commit-

Natalie Portman, left, as Emma and Ashton Kutcher as Adam co-star in “No Strings Attached,” which hits theaters Friday. The sexually charged romantic comedy explores the concept of “friends with benefits” and its pitfalls.

and, at 29, what other perspective could she have? — “First comes the intimacy, and then comes the relationship.”

And as far as “No Strings Attached” goes, first came a robot version of “Hedda Gabler.”

That would be “Heddatron,” a 2006 off-Off-Broadway play

by Liz Meriwether, also 29, that helped land the well-regarded comic playwright and Yale grad a spot with a Fox Television project in which New York playwrights penned 10-minute plays. From that, Meriwether says, “I got a deal to write a pilot called ‘Sluts’ that didn’t make it to air” — the comedy, about four post-college female friends, co-starred Tia Carrere and Lacey Chabert — “and then I got this movie off that pilot.”

The movie, developed under the working title “Friends With Benefits” — and before that a title unprintable in a family newspaper — arose from Reitman and a producing partner pitching the idea to up-andcomer Meriwether. Reitman says he wanted to examine “this idea of people in their 20s at a time of Facebook and texting, who have romantic relationships where they don’t even see each other for half their conversations.”

Meriwether, he said, “went off and a few months later had this extraordinarily funny first draft. She was inexperienced as a screenwriter, so it was a little bit all over the place, but boy,

was it funny. And we just started working and structuring it” over the next three years.

In the final product, 80-houra-week medical resident Emma Kurtzman (Portman) and TV-show production assistant Adam Franklin (Kutcher) agree to a guilt-free, purely physical relationship. They have a cache of close friends, among them Adam’s housemate Eli (Jake Johnson); Emma’s BFF and fellow med-student Patrice (indie darling Greta Gerwig, impressive in the big leagues); and their med-student roommate Shira (“The Office” actor-writer Mindy Kaling).

Reitman said Portman — who recently became engaged to ballet dancer and “Black Swan” choreographer Benjamin Millepied, with whom she is expecting a child — was always his first choice to play Emma.

But Portman — who aside from the seriocomic “Garden State” (2004) is best known for dramas like Mike Nichols’ “Closer” (2004), three “Star Wars” films, “V for Vendetta” (2006) and “Leon,” aka “The Professional” (1994), in which she made an unforgettable film debut as a prepubescent hit-girl in training — said she hasn’t been able to snag a rom-com before now.

“People were not sure about me doing a romantic comedy,” she said. “I have been offered romantic comedies,” but then hit a wall when studios became “worried because I hadn’t

see

strinGs, page 9

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The University of Memphis

Witherspoon from page 1

Witherspoon did not play Saturday in the Tigers’ 77-61 win against Marshall and will miss tonight’s game at Southern Miss.

“I’m going to do what I feel is best for the program and the young man,” Pastner said.

“I’m very tolerable to play for. I believe in consequences and different consequences for different actions. Now, if the behavior doesn’t change, you have to make the consequences a little bit more severe.”

The decision to reinstate Witherspoon comes before two straight road contests for the Tigers. They play Southern Miss at 6 tonight and the University of Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday.

The U of M is 0-2 on the road this season. In its two road losses, Witherspoon averaged 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and three turnovers.

Since his reinstatement won’t take effect until tomorrow, Witherspoon will not return to game action until Saturday’s matchup against AlabamaBirmingham.

“Again, we’re a family, and in a family there’s going to be opportunities where you’re going to have discipline and structure,” Pastner said. “And sometimes those discipline situations or decisions are maybe not fun for anybody right at the short term but best for the long term.”

strinGs from page 8 done one, and studios like to sort of rely on you to appeal to a certain kind of audience.”

She understands. “They’re the business side of it, and it’s a safer bet.”

For her own part, she says she clicked with Meriwether’s script, “which at the time was on the shelf (i.e., not in active development) and nothing’s going on with it, they don’t know how to make it, and I mean, the character was just so funny that it was one of those experiences where you start reading the lines out loud while you’re reading the script, you’re so excited to get to say them.”

“It wasn’t about any specific relationship that I’ve had,” said Meriwether, who has a cameo helping bring out a birthday cake. (Reitman cameos as a “Glee”-like TV-show director.)

“It was about a bunch of different experiences I’ve had dating and failing to date and basically just being out there looking for love in 2009 ... and 2010 ... and 2011,” she said. “I’ve had relationships that were at all different levels of definition, and I wanted to write about all of the ways people try to define what’s happening between them and kind of can’t.”

And where is she herself now in this relationship roulette?

“I’m not going to answer that!” she hollers in mock outrage.

“There might be some strings in my life. There might!”

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 • 9

Dance

University of Memphis POM squad captures 13th national championship

BY JOHN MARTIN Sports Editor The University of Memphis POM squad captured its 13th national championship Sunday at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla., in the 2011 College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship.

The Tigers defeated Cincinnati and LSU to capture the Hip Hop National

Championship. The Spirit Squads won nine straight titles from 1986-1994 and also claimed the championship in 2000, 2007 and 2008.

The U of M finished third in Division IA competition behind the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis and the University of Cincinnati.

The all-girls squad finished fifth, while the co-ed cheerleading team placed eighth this year.

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Science

Walrus babies at center of new scientific research

MCT

BY LISA M. KRIEGER San Jose Mercury News

Holley Muraco, marine mammal reproduction physiologist at Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, Calif., kisses Uquq, a female walrus. The top walrus is a female named Siku.

He’s strong, healthy and hirsute. She’s social and friendly, with Rubenesque curves.

Yet the dalliances of this walrus pair have failed to yield a baby, a fact that confounds experts at Vallejo, Calif.-based Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, which seeks to breed the rare and mysterious species. So scientists are now making the first-ever attempt at artificial insemination — if only they can convince male Sivuqaq, a rambunctious creature the size of a Volkswagen, to donate sperm. “Once we get the sperm, we’re good to go,� marine mammal reproductive physiologist Holley Muraco said. “I feel confident that we’re going to have walrus babies.�

The love lives of Pacific Walruses have long been shrouded in secrecy. They mate underwater, at remote, vast and icy habitats,

during the Arctic Circle’s longest and darkest nights.

And there is growing concern for their survival because sea ice is melting. Zoos don’t want to collect from these perilous wild populations, and seek instead to increase the genetic diversity of their captive populations.

In the eight decades that walruses have been kept captive, only 11 babies have been born; of those, merely six survived. Fewer than 20 now exist in American zoos, and many are aging, Muraco said.

Hopes are pinned on Sivuqaq and Siku, or perhaps another female, Uquq — among America’s youngest and healthiest captive walruses. Orphaned when their mothers were killed during an Eskimo hunt, they were recovered off the coast of Gamble, Alaska, near St. Lawrence Island.

So far, they’ve been star-crossed, their cycles sadly out of sync. Siku and Uquq produce eggs just once a

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year — in the spring. But Sivuqaq is most romantic in the winter, when their ardor has faded. “The females ovulate like champs,� Muraco said. “But there’s nothing to give them. His good stuff happens later.�

So scientists are working to align the reproductive cycles, artificially.

They’ve identified what stirs Sivuqaq’s passion: Strollers.

Running children. A nearby recycling bin. Power tools. “He loves it when workmen are doing something loud with hammers and drills,� Muraco said. “It is almost a territorial thing. He’ll puff up and make groans, whistles and a low growl.�

He’s been taught to roll over and expose himself and he obliges on a simple cue: “Penis!� It is a daunting 30-pound, 3-foot-long organ. Walruses have the largest organs in the mammalian world, Muraco said. Their penis bone, called a baculum, is so big that Eskimos use it as a walking stick.

Finding a super-sized artificial vagina has proved a bigger challenge. Six Flags bought the largest one on the market, specifically designed for huge draft horses from the equine company Select Breeders Service. But even that proved too small.

A hasty reassessment with a measuring tape — Sivuqaq’s reproductive organ measures 22 inches in circumference — sent scientists back to the drawing board.

To be safe, they’ve decided to custom-build their own vagina out of a big PVC pipe, cushioned inside to prevent injury and equipped with valves to allow the flow of warm water.

Their final task will be building a mount — a fake female walrus — that’s sturdy enough to support his 2,900 pounds, yet fuzzy enough to put him in the mood.

Already, Muraco has collected vast amounts of data that reveal the daily, weekly and monthly shifts in the walruses’ hormones such as testosterone, progesterone and estradiol. Every day, the animals open their giant mouths to provide a saliva sample, swabbed with Q-tips. Once a week, they offer up a flipper to donate blood. “They trust us,� she said. “They’ve been here since they are 3 months old. There’s a bond.�

Videotape analyses help scientists link the animals’ behavior to hormonal changes. “Sivuqaq is a mellow, hangingout, eating, sleeping guy when his testosterone levels are low,�

Muraco said. “When it’s rising, he shows rutting behavior, growing larger and posturing to people.�

The fertility cycles of Siku and Uquq are also tracked like clockwork. With an Army-issued ultrasound — portable, battery-operated and water-resistant — Muraco scans their organs for signs of increased blood flow, which signals a developing follicle that leads to ovulation.

Artificial insemination has already succeeded in creating baby sea lions, harbor seals, dolphins and killer whales. In these animals, the problem isn’t successful mating. The more challenging task for scientists in artificial insemination is picking the healthiest parents, creating a strong and genetically diverse generation of youngsters.

The University of Memphis

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 • 11

Basketball

Golden Eagles won’t go easy on young Tigers in tonight’s matchup

BY JOHN MARTIN Sports Editor The 2010-2011 version of The University of Memphis Tigers, by coach Josh Pastner’s approximation, are the youngest in program history.

But the University of Southern Mississippi won’t feel sorry for the youngsters tonight at Reed Green Coliseum.

The Golden Eagles (14-3, 3-1 Conference USA) are fresh off of an 86-69 thumping of thenNo. 22 ranked Central Florida on

Saturday. They’re tied with Texas El-Paso for first place in C-USA. They haven’t beaten the Tigers (13-4, 2-1) since the 2003-‘04 season. “Southern Miss is a good basketball team,� Pastner said. “They’re a veteran squad — they’ve got good players. They’re well coached, obviously. Coach (Larry) Eustachy is a very good coach. In a tough league that’s obviously got a lot of parity among the teams, we’ll have to give a great effort.�

Last season, in Pastner’s first year as head coach, The U of M escaped Hattiesburg with a two-point win, 59-57. The Tigers managed to win despite recording only two field goals in the entire second half.

Only two current Tigers — senior forward Will Coleman and

sophomore forward D.J. Stephens — logged minutes in last season’s contest at Southern Miss. Junior forward Wesley Witherspoon played but will remain suspended until tomorrow. “(The freshmen) will see how rough it is when we get up there,�

Coleman said. “I think me and (freshman forward) Tarik Black have done a good job of staying positive, and so has everyone else. I think if we pat each other on the backs and stay positive with each other, I think we’ll be just fine.�

The Golden Eagles are led by senior forward Gary Flowers, who leads C-USA in scoring with 21.8 points per game. Four of USM’s starters are upperclassmen.

The Tigers are 0-2 in true road games this season. They lost at Tennessee, 104-84, Jan. 5 and SMU, 64-58, Jan. 12 “One thing about being on the road is that you’ve got to almost be 10 points better,� Pastner said. “You need to go into the game thinking you’re down. Then you’ve got to dig and claw to work your way back in.�

The Tigers are coming off of an emotional 77-61 victory against a Marshall team that thumped Southern Miss, 95-65, Jan. 8. “If we come out to play, I don’t think anybody can beat us,� Black said. “I don’t care whether we’re on the road or if we’re at home. If we come out and play our hardest, then we’re an unbeatable team.�

A Weekly Devotional For You A Good Man?

by David C. Minkin

10 • Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Who was/is Jesus Christ? The question is controversial now, and it was controversial 2000 years ago. It is obvious that He was a remarkable Person. He has had more influence on history than any other human being. Some think that He was God. Some think that He was something above the average person, but was certainly not God. Some religions acknowledge that He was a great prophet, but stop short of accepting His claims. He claimed to be God. This leaves us with only three alternatives. One alternative is to acknowledge that He was indeed God come in the flesh. Another alternative is that He was a conscious, deliberate liar. If He was not God and knew that He was not, yet claimed to be God, He was a blatant deceiver and a liar. The third alternative is that He was a lunatic. If He was not God, but thought He was, He was to be pitied and belonged in an asylum. What all this means is, we cannot call Him a good man if He were not God. As one writer aptly put it, He was either the supreme Lord, or a Liar, or a Lunatic. Next time we will examine His claims to be God. The implications are great. If He really is God, He has authority over all His creatures. When He tells us how to live, these are not just suggestions; they are divine commandments.

Will Coleman will need a big game tonight to improve U of M’s 0-2 record on the road. In his last outing, Coleman had 19 points and 11 rebounds in a 77-61 victory against Marshall.

C

Grace Chapel Primitive Baptist Church – Zack Guess, Pastor 828 Berclair Rd. • Memphis, TN, 38122 • 683-8014 • e-mail: zguess@juno.com

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Basketball

Tigers rebound from loss to trample Herd, 77-61 With adversity staring them in the face, the Tigers responded in a big way.

In its first game without indefinitely suspended junior forward Wesley Witherspoon, The University of Memphis men’s basketball team (13-4, 2-1 Conference USA) finally put two halves together and handily defeated the Marshall Thundering Herd, 77-61, Saturday in front of 15,877 at FedExForum.

“From the start of the game to the finish, there weren’t any lulls,” coach Josh Pastner said.

“We kept going inside, we kept defending, we kept executing our game-plan, and we didn’t have any blown assignments.

It was a good win. I’m really proud of our team.”

The Tigers, off a 64-58 loss at Southern Methodist University in which they allowed the Mustangs to close out on a 34-18 run, finally found themselves on the right side of a large run.

After the Herd tied the game at 15 apiece on a Drago Pena 3-pointer with 11:51 left in the first half, the Tigers countered with a 20-0 run that spanned nearly six minutes.

The first-half barrage was spearheaded by senior forward Will Coleman and fresh-

man forward Tarik Black, who played on the same floor for an extended stretch for the first time this season.

Coleman scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds — his first double-double of the season — while Black finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.

“I thought Tarik (Black) and (Will) Coleman gave us great

minutes together,” Pastner said.

“They really set the tone.”

In one of their few complete performances this season, the Tigers shot a season-high 63 percent from the floor and held the Herd to just 37 percent shooting. The U of M also held the rebounding advantage over the Herd, 39-29.

Behind the Coleman-Black tandem, the Tigers outscored

the Herd in the paint, 48-26.

“This is how we need to play regardless of (whether) we have 20 men on the court or two men on the court,“ Coleman said. “It doesn’t matter. We just need to make sure we bring it, day in and day out.”

Freshman guard Will Barton bounced back from his seven-point performance against SMU and finished with 15

by David C. Minkin

BY JOHN MARTIN Sports Editor

Freshman forward Tarik Black (right) lays it in past a Marshall defender Saturday at FedExForum. The Tigers won, 77-61, after Black and senior forward Will Coleman combined for 31 points and 20 rebounds to beat out the Thundering Herd.

points and five assists in one of his best games in a Memphis uniform.

“I just don’t like losing and playing bad, so I just did a lot of soul-searching and looked myself in the mirror,” Barton said. “I think sometimes I don’t play my game out there, and it looks like I’m just out there (to be out there). I’ve got to learn to play my game all the time.”

Unlike their other home contests, the Tigers maintained a sense of urgency for 40 minutes rather than going into halftime with a large lead and letting up in the second half.

With 14:54 left in the game, the Herd cut the Tigers’ lead down to ten, 51-41, after a three-point play by Damier Pitts. The U of M answered, however, with an emphatic D.J. Stephens putback slam on a Coleman miss.

Marshall didn’t get closer than 11 points afterward.

“I think everybody’s lost sight of how good this team really is,” Black said. “We have twelve guys that are on scholarship that can go anywhere else and play Division I basketball and start. Losing (Witherspoon) — we miss him a lot, we could really use him— but at the same time, this team is so talented that we can beat anybody in the country, whether or not we lose one person on this team.”