Issue 42

Arts & Life, B4

Sports, B1

Toledo Hookah Culture

Rockets lose to Northern Illinois in overtime, 75-70

Independent Collegian IC The

www.IndependentCollegian.com 91st year Issue 42

Monday, February 28, 2011

Serving the University of Toledo since 1919

Limited learning

Fundraiser held to help find murderers

By Allison Seney IC Staff Writer

By IC Staff

Many students enroll at college each year expecting to be enlightened with information that will help them in their future careers, but many are not actually learning in college as they would expect.

In the book “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses,” two professors highlight how students today do not reach their full academic potential, especially in their first two years.

Lack of improvement

The authors of the book are Richard Arum, professor of psychology and education at New York University, and Josipa Roksa, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Virginia.

According to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the book cites data — Learning, Page A2

Photo illustration by Nick Kneer / IC

In the book “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses,” professors Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa discuss how students are not reaching their full academic potential.

The “Lisa Straub Benefit Fund” has raised $10,000 through events such the fundraiser held Thursday at T.G.I.Friday’s.

The fund was created in order to help catch and convict the murderers of Straub and her boyfriend, Johnny C. Clarke, who were found murdered Jan. 31 with bags over their heads and their hands bound with duct tape.

The all-day fundraiser occurred at the Friday’s located at 1334 Bernath Parkway, where the 20-year-old Owens Community College nursing student worked until her death.

This is the first fundraiser T.G.I.Friday’s has held for Straub, but is one of several that have taken place in her honor. During normal operating hours, a portion of the profits from the day were donated to a bank fund for Straub’s family.

According to the event’s media relations supervisor, Rebecca Maas, the bank fund was established by the Straub family in honor of their daughter.

“We were all devastated by this crime. We want to do what we can to honor [Straub’s] memory and help her family. This fundraiser is our way of helping,” said a representative from Friday’s. “We thank the community for joining us in showing our love for the people involved in this tragedy.”

Police officials believe the murders started as a robbery that went wrong, leaving Straub and Clarke, 21, at the wrong place and time.

Nothing of high value was stolen and there were no signs of forced entry at the scene.

Donations to the “Lisa Straub Benefit Fund” will be accepted at branches of Fifth-Third Bank.

Alternative spring break

By Randiah Green News Editor and Managing Editor

As some students grab their sunglasses and head to the beach or lock themselves in a room with video games for a week, others are making their way to impoverished areas to help rebuild communities during spring break.

Next week, students participating in the Alternative Spring Break through Toledo Campus Ministries and the YMCA will be going to New Mexico to help the

Pewa people who live in a “high violence area.”

Students will be working at McCurdy School in Espanola, New Mexico.

“We’ll do a little repair and whatever they need done: painting the classrooms, cleaning out the drains before the rain hits and some students will be able to work with the children doing recreational activities,” said Director of Toledo Campus Ministries Dee Baker. “The school is dedicated to helping the Indian nations reclaim their

culture and improve education and minimize the violence that’s happening in the area. It’s very old and has been around since the 1800s.”

Baker said there is a lot of domestic violence and drunk driving in the area where students be helping out.

“Last year our job was to build a rock wall around the living room area of a house to stop drunk drivers from driving into [a — Break, Page A2

Mindy Carter / IC

The University of Toledo is attempting to increase recycling around campuses as part of the second annual RecycleMania Tournament.

UT enhances recycling effort for RecycleMania

By Vincent D. Scebbi Features Editor

Courtesy of McCurdy.org

High school students read to elementary students at McCurdy School in Espanola, N.M. Next week, participants in the Alternative Spring Break through Toledo Campus Ministries and the YMCA will be assisting in repairs and interacting with students.

“

I’m going to Virginia Beach.

Fresh., nursing

“We hope to get the numbers we had last year, but we have to do it in a more creative way,” the senior majoring in pharmacy said. “We’re looking for the support from other student leaders, faculty and staff.”

— Recycling, Page A2

What are your plans for spring break?

“ Abbey Roalef

As the University of Toledo participates in the second annual RecycleMania Tournament, leaders of Student Government are looking for new ways to match and surpass numbers from last

year’s contest.

SG Vice President Jordan Maddocks said in a phone interview, older honors theses were recycled during last year’s renovations of UT’s libraries, making a dent in the pounds UT recycled during the contest.

”

“

I’m going to Myrtle Beach.

Logan Mains Fresh., history

”

Having fun and partying in Cleveland.

William Savage Fresh., pharmacy

”

“

“

I’m going to be here working out and preparing for UT’s NPHC annual step show.

Jasmine Aaron

Senior, psychology

Check out our story above on students giving back over spring break.

”

I’m going home with my friends for spring break.

Tamas Geczy

Fresh., communications

”

A2 Police Blotter The following events occurred between Feb. 17 and Feb 20. Anyone with information regarding these events should contact UT Police at 419-530-2600.

Theft

On Feb. 17, a police officer was dispatched to BowmanOddy Laboratories to take a theft report. The victim reported her laptop and case had been stolen. The victim stated she left her laptop in the hallway outside of room 1089 briefly and when she returned it was gone. The total value of stolen property was $1,220.

On Feb. 20, a police officer was dispatched to the Center for Performing Arts to take a theft report. The victim stated his laptop had been stolen a few days prior. The victim stated he did not immediately report the theft because he was hoping it would turn up.

The laptop was valued at $1,000.

Burglary

On Feb. 17, a police officer was dispatched to Carter Hall East to take a theft report.

The victim stated he left his room unlocked while he went to take a shower. When he returned from the shower his laptop was missing from the room. The victim stated he left the laptop sitting on his bed. The laptop was valued at $600.

Theft from motor vehicle

On Feb. 19, a police officer was dispatched to parking lot 19 to take a theft from motor vehicle report. The victim stated someone had stolen his radio from his truck. The victim stated he parked his truck in the lot the day before and then went into Olde Town University Square Apartments. He returned to his vehicle the next morning to find glass from the driver’s side window on the ground. He later noticed his truck’s column had been stripped. Police also discovered the driver side front door locking mechanism had a hole next to it and it appeared someone had tried to punch the lock. The missing property was an allin-one navigation system, radio, CD and DVD player valued at $1,300.

Learning From Page A1 from student surveys and transcript analyses to show that many college students have minimal classwork expectations.

The book tracks the academic gains of 2,300 students of traditional college age enrolled at a range of four-year colleges and universities.

The results of the survey were not encouraging.

According to the survey, 45 percent of students “did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning” during the first two years of college and 36 percent of students “did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning” over four years of college.

In the survey, very few students showed signs of moderate improvement in their learning capabilities.

“Those students who do show improvements tend to show only modest improvements,” according to the Chronicle. “Students improved on average only 0.18 standard deviations over the first two years of college and 0.47 over four years. What this means is that a student who entered college in the 50th

The

Independent Collegian

Break From Page A1 family’s] living room,” she said. “Drunk drivers had come right through their window so many times.”

Baker said this is the Alternative Spring Break group’s third or fourth time helping the New Mexico area.

Student Government Vice President Jordan Maddocks has participated in an alternative spring break since he was a freshman at UT. Now in his senior year, Maddocks reflects on his past experiences building houses in impoverished areas for less fortunate families in the United States.

“Not only do you see the conditions that are truly happening around the country whether it

Recycling From Page A1 Maddocks said one initiative set up by SG was a week dedicated to faculty and staff cleaning out their offices. The event was last week and Maddocks said he is still waiting on the numbers of materials recycled.

A second program being set up involves competitions between different student clubs, Greek organizations and residence halls.

“I just spoke with the president of [Resident Student Association] Stephanie Gurgol about having a recycling competition between the different residence halls,” Maddocks said.

One of the things that may help this year’s RecycleMania is getting more recycling bins in computer labs throughout campus., “One of our other initiatives was to put recycling bins in all of the computer labs in the libraries and stuff. Obviously there is a lot of waste printing in those areas,” he said. “I noticed at the beginning of the year, there were no recycling bins in the computer labs. That was a common complaint heard in the College of Business and Carlson Library. Those are key places to recycle and those are going to be the hubs of where we recycle.”

be poverty or hurricane devastation,” he said. “You can’t get that in the classroom.”

Maddocks has participated in the Alternative Spring Break program through the Toledo Campus Ministry and YMCA as well as the Habitat for Humanity spring break service project.

As a freshman, Maddocks went to re-build a house in Louisiana.

“There was a one-story mobile home that was devastated and it was molding; the foundation was coming off,” he said. “We went in and gutted everything out of the house. The first few days we were just tearing everything out.

Then we put in flooring, we did insulating, rafters, we were hammering, putting in windows, anything

A specific place he noted was the pharmacy lab on the Health Science Campus. One reason there was no bin there is because it takes one day for Lott Industries, who takes care of recycling around UT, to replace full bins.

According to Maddocks, SG’s biggest responsibilities are to educate students about recycling and its effects. He added educating students on the benefits of recycling will ultimately get more people involved in the recycling process.

“I don’t want to say people don’t want to recycle, it’s just more of a nuisance,” Maddocks said. “If there’s one thing Student Government can do, it’s to convince students to think about when they throw something away, is it recyclable. We have the capabilities, we have the students, we have the waste to recycle; it’s just a matter of going from A to B to C. We’re out there every day trying to educate students how to recycle, the proper methods of recycling.

“A couple of months ago, there was a recycling bin in McComas Village where students were throwing non-recyclables in there and threw up in that bin and a lot of problems with it. We’re just trying to educate the student

percentile of students in his studying in peer groups see or her [class] would move up diminishing gains. to the 68th percentile four Students whose classes reyears later -- but that’s the flect high expectations, which 68th percentile the study deof a new group fines as more Students who than 40 pages of freshmen who haven’t struggle to pay for of reading a experienced week and more any college college and emerge into than 20 pages a tough job market have of writing a selearning.”

Arum told a right to know that they mester, gained the Chronicle, more than oth“the problems have learned something. er students. outlined in the The study albook should Richard Arum so shows stuProfessor, be viewed as a New York University dents who moral chalspend a lot of lenge to higher time in fratereducation. Students who nities and sororities gain less struggle to pay for college and knowledge than those who do emerge into a tough job mar- not. ket have a right to know that Students who engage in offthey have learned something,” campus or extracurricular ache said. “You can’t have a tivities including clubs and democratic society when the volunteer opportunities have elite — the college-educated no notable gains or losses in kids — don’t have these abili- learning. ties to think critically.”

The study also breaks down how students studying different fields learn and shows Study Habits The book also shows the students majoring in liberal pros and cons of studying arts fields see “significantly habits and how they affect a higher gains in critical thinkstudent’s ability to learn and ing, complex reasoning and writing skills over time than retain information.

Study results show students students in other fields of who study by themselves gain study.”

But students majoring in more knowledge — while those who spend more time business, education, social

“

”

you can think of with putting in a house for this family. It was pretty labor-intensive.”

As a sophomore, Maddocks helped build a house on an Indian reservation in South Dakota.

Maddocks said the service is rewarding not only in bonding with other students and helping others, but bonding with the people students help as well.

Maddocks said the natives in the reservation called the student workers “brother” in their native language.

“That was their way of thanking us,” he said. “They made us feel like we were their adoptive brothers.

They accepted us into their culture and we did a few Native American sacraments including a sweat, which is one of their sa-

Monday, February 28, 2011 cred acts.”

Other students feel it is their duty as Christians to help others.

“I feel like it’s a big part of my faith to go out and service other people and the alternative break is an awesome way for me to serve my faith,” said Laurie Coxe, a senior majoring in nursing.

Nick Bowman, a senior majoring in math education also going to New Mexico next week, said he doesn’t get anything out of going to the beach for spring break.

“When I just go home and go to the beach or something, I feel like that was fun but I didn’t get anything out of it,” Bowman said. “But when I do this, I come back with stories and experiences that last me the rest of my life.”

Campus Briefly Public Relations Student Service Association

PRSSA is hosting a Student Organization Gala tonight from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Student Union Building Auditorium. The gala is to celebrate and honor all student organizations, provide networking opportunities and to inspire collaboration between student clubs.

The gala will include DJ-Be from WXUT, a photo booth, free food, dancing, and keynote speaker Sammy Span.

For more information, contact Alison Toney at 440-667-4158.

4AW

4AW is hosting “My Little Pocketbook” tomorrow from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Student Union Building Room 2591. The event will be a discussion about women’s attitudes, perceptions and knowledge about the vagina.

For more information, contact Shanese Moore at 419-205-0900.

Catherine S. Eberly Center for Women

The ECW will host a brown bag seminar Thursday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Tucker Hall Room 0180. Ann Krause, assistant professor of environmental sciences, will give a presentation titled “Can Ecosystem Services be Sustained through Participatory Research?” For more information, contact Cheryl Skolowski at 419-530-8570.

UT Symphony Orchestra

There will be a free symphony orchestra concert Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Doermann Theater. For more information, contact Angela Riddel at 419-530-2452.

Mindy Carter / IC

UT Student Government set up a week dedicated to faculty and staff cleaning out their offices to increase recyling. as part of the RecycleMania Tournament. population.”

Maddocks described the process of getting students to become more recycle friendly is a “societal change over a procedural one.”

“Everything’s in place.

We’re just looking for the students to start recycling.

It’s something they teach in work and communication showed the smallest gains in the study.

Contributing factors

Some professors at UT put the blame on public school city budgets and other factors that affect students’ ability to actually learn while they are still in high school.

“I think students want to learn but often do not know how,” said Paulette Kilmer, professor of communication at the University of Toledo.

“The mistaken notion that class size is not a factor in high school student learning and the shrinking budgets have resulted in teachers being slammed with very crowded classes and totals across their daily enrollment that make closely monitoring written assignments impossible.”

Authors Arum and Roksa acknowledged large class sizes due to the impact of the economic recession as a factor affecting students’ learning in Academically Adrift, but said it is the students responsibility to somehow get “a leg up” on gaining information from their years in higher education.

“Students also read less and learn text messaging that denies them practice in writing

elementary school, middle school and high school. It’s something we hope they carry over in their collegiate studies,” he said.

Last year, UT finished third among other MidAmerican Conference schools, seventh out of all schools in Ohio and 172 out of 346 schools nationally.

UT Department of Film

“Carandiu” will be shown Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Center for Performing Arts Lab Theatre. Admission is free, but a $3 donation is appreciated.

UT Department of Music There will be a free Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble concert Friday at 8 p.m. in the Doermann Theater. For more information, contact Angela Riddel at 419-530-2452.

even casually,” Kilmer said. college.”

“They come to the university Many said students should woefully unprepared. Now, be adrift in a positive way. the legislature wants to in“I have no trouble with stucrease teacher loads at the dents being academically university level, the only place adrift,” he said. “Exploring where some teachers might new disciplines and becoming have the time with reasonable inspired by what one finds is a instructional requirements to useful activity in college.” grade closely and mentor stuMany agreed with some dents in grammar and parts of the book, stating stuwriting.” dents should be well rounded Kilmer said if students are and take a variety of courses “adrift, it is because of the if they want to learn. alarming loss of respect for “Especially in the first two learning and the academy.” years, which I understand is “The more hours teachers the focus of the authors’ spend preparing for classes study, students take a wide and teaching classes, the less variety of courses,” he said. hours remain “If colleges for deep gradtrain only in a ing, one-onStudents also v o c a t i o n a l one feedback, read less and learn manner, they and interperdo students a sonal interac- text messaging that de- d i s s e r v i c e tion that mod- nies them practice in since upon els networking writing even casually. graduation stufor students,” dents will be Kilmer said. going into a Paul Many, world of nearly professor of Paulette Kilmer continuous c o m m u n i c a - Professor, change. They Communication tion at UT said should learn “Liberal arts the undying colleges like the College of values of literature and phiLanguage, Literature, and So- losophy. The cultures of othcial Science at UT foster the ers as expressed in their lanidea of studying broadly. One guages is a better way to preis supposed to be inspired by pare students for the larger the idea of learning in such a world.”

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Kevin Sohnly / IC

Halftime Hoedown The UT cheerleaders, the Rockettes and fans dance during halftime of Saturday’s men’s basketball game as part of a flash mob organizeed by the cheerleaders.

A3

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Monday, February 28, 2011

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Monday, February 28, 2011

Jason Mack Editor in Chief

Elizabeth Majoy Business Manager

Randiah Green Managing Editor

Ethan Keating Forum Editor

- in our opinion -

Class warfare, cont.

Given that unions overwhelmingly contribute to Democratic and progressive candidates, this deep cut to unions’ budgets will invariably reduce the amount they can contribute and give conservatives and Republicans — those pushing the undemocratic bill — a huge advantage in all future elections.

Aside from the patent unfairness and deviance from true democracy this represents, it could set an even more dangerous precedent — the legitimized use of political power to defund the supporters of one’s opponents. In a country whose politics are monstrously impacted by contributions from super-wealthy corporations with no vested interest in the well-being of the citizenry, this ability to skew democracy with money is abhorrent and has farreaching consequences.

The numbers and realities of life for millions of Americans speak for themselves in validating the more accurate view of this country. The richest one percent of Americans control an ever-growing share of the country’s immense wealth, while more and more citizens fall into the working class, unemployment and dangerous levels of poverty.

The anti-union legislation up for debate in Wisconsin, Ohio and other states would accelerate this transformation of the nation to an impoverished peasantry lorded over by a tiny minority of disgustingly wealthy decision-makers. Will we continue to walk docilely to the slaughter, giving away our rights and potential for greatness to the wealthy and entrenched while they amass more and more money and power?

The massive and continuing protests in Wisconsin against Governor Scott Walker’s proposed union-busting bill reflect so much more than issues of collective bargaining. At stake are not only the livelihoods of state workers but the very democratic processes that have been used to push civil rights, personal equality and fair working conditions over the last century.

Despite the corporate media’s framing of this issue as an isolated battle of “unions vs. taxpayers,” this is just one battle in the larger socio-economic war being fought for the future of wealth distribution in this country.

The incredibly wealthy minority know that the only way they can maintain their elite social positions and exorbitant material lifestyles is to continue profiting from the tax code, which gives them incredible advantages over the average citizen.

Perhaps the most disgusting part of this “greed is good,” winner-takeall attitude taken by conservative politicians is their utter refusal to acknowledge how much they benefit from government programs and tax expenditure.

They decry taxes and the programs they fund while ignoring the fact that every important industry benefits from publicly-funded research and development, utilities and infrastructure such as the interstate highway system. Few of the wealthiest Americans today could have amassed their fortunes without any help from government works and subsidies.

Another glaring issue completely overlooked by the media is the effect this legislation could have on contributions to future political campaigns.

Resistance against atheist student groups shows social progress yet to be made groups. All manner of hostility has been used to deny students their right to assemble, from comparing them to Stalin and pressuring faculty to refuse to advise such a group, to vandalism and threats of layoff or physical violence upon families.

Atheists who are called to philanthropy do so because they espouse a worldview that recognizes the necessity of human cooperation. Most religious philanthropists give because their religious institution extols the virtue and posthumous rewards associated with charity. While this isn’t damning evidence of moral superiority, it does demonstrate a key difference between the religious majority and the secular minority.

The non-religious seek a society in which all are welcome regardless of race or religion, in which each person is judged on their merits and not their family’s faith — since the vast majority of people follow their parents’ religion. As with raising awareness of any disliked group, the most important thing we can do is bring attention to the many atheists in our society who want nothing more than a peaceful, happy life, like anyone else.

“While the law is certainly on our side, we would rather have social understanding than legal victory.”

This statement, made by Secular Student Alliance’s executive director August Brunsman, demonstrates the true but largely ignored goal of minority representation and advocacy groups: to bring tolerance, understanding and harmony to a society often torn apart by ignorance and prejudgment.

Atheists are the last sizable minority without mainstream advocates or widespread efforts to promote their rights. A 2003 American Mosaic Project study found that atheists are judged to be “least likely to share everyday Americans’ vision of society,” ranking below even immigrants, gays and lesbians, conservative Christians, Jews and Muslims. Even those characterized as aggressive religious extremists are not viewed as poorly as the deliberately non-religious.

Perhaps this explains the fierce resistance from high schools nationwide against students forming secular or atheist student groups, despite the legal requirement for publiclyfunded schools to provide students equal opportunity to form such

The

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This is a publication of the Collegian Media Foundation.

Copyright 2011, Collegian Media Foundation

The Independent Collegian encourages your letters and welcomes the chance to publish as many as possible.

Letters must be typed and include the author’s full name, rank, college and telephone number.

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The editorials contained on this page represent the opinions of the student editors or the column’s listed author and not those of the Collegian Media Foundation.

- in Your opinion Journalistic advocacy Two Collegian articles in the February 24, 2011 edition were examples of journalistic advocacy of one side of a story. These articles contained extensive positive coverage of the pro-union side of the debate. There was little or no positive coverage of the other side or of prob-

Collective bargaining essential This letter is in response to the articles covering the protests by the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association {OCSEA}/American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees {AFSCME} against the attempt by Governor John Kasich and the Legislature to eliminate collective bargaining.

Public employee collective bargaining is defined as a good-faith process between management {Ohio Governor John Kasich } and a public employee union {OCSEA / AFSCME} representing its employees. The two parties negotiate wages, working hours, working conditions, etc.

It benefits both parties — the Governor is able to negotiate with one set of people and it gives the State Employees

lems associated with publicemployee unions.

The headline “Faculty collectively support collective bargaining” lacked any basis in fact. This headline implied that UT’s faculty are “collectively” behind unionization at UT. It has been almost 15 years since UT’s faculty narrowly voted for unionization.

Since that time, the faculty has not allowed to vote on the question of union repre-

sentation by the AAUP. It is true that many of UT’s faculty members are AAUP union members. However, this does not necessarily imply strong support for the union, as dues are required of both union members and non-members. In fact, only a minority of UT’s faculty are union members. Fewer still are active union members.

Union bargaining-power.

Collective bargaining is the quintessential idea upon which the state union system is based.

The key word here is “goodfaith” and it appears to have been breached.

Evidently it wasn’t good enough for the Union to agree to so many concessions that already affects the quality of life for thousands of employees and their families.

Now the Governor and Legislature want to take things a step further.

Kasich was quoted as saying “if lawmakers don’t dismantle public employees collective bargaining then I will.”

Is this really the only solution? Has the Governor/Legislature considered all the ways and means of reducing government waste before destroying the very critical role collective bargaining has played for so many years?

How about increasing the payroll tax on certain Ohio professional sports teams? After all they sure put out a great product or service that benefits us all.

It’s easy to make decisions affecting other peoples’ lives when those decisions do not affect your livelihood; something that is shared by the private sector as well. Why must the employee continue to be punished for the mistakes of Government/Corporate leadership {or lack thereof}?

When will these “leaders” finally own up to their mistakes and share in the pain as well?

Governor Kasich, show some compassion. There are better ways to deal with the budget shortfall. OCSEA / AFSCME, continue to protest and know that all unions across the land are coming to support you.

Douglas Oliver

Joe Bialek

Generalized identity Given the same circumstances and the same background, would we all act the same? While some philosophers argue that we are simply the results of random forces of nature and their influence on us, others argue that we are something more deCarmen terminate.

Awad I believe we are a combination of both external circumstances and innate qualities.

Whichever stance you take, defining who we are is a challenging task that has many implications.

Fields like economics and finance study people’s rationality in their actions to predict their buying behaviors and patterns. Some believe this rationality is a psychological result of environmental events. Others believe this rationality is not unique in its conception. Our rationality could be random speculations of what seems to fit a particular event.

On the other hand, rationality could be a deeper part of our personality. It could be patterns of sophisticated subconscious thought that on the outside seem like incidental behavior. The attempt to find out where our rationality comes from can help us answer an even more difficult question. It can help us solve the age-old question of who we are.

The answer to this question could mark new frontiers when it comes to many fields. It could acquit a criminal from his wrongdoing. Society seems to make a difference when prosecuting a criminal who is a victim of a bad environment

versus a criminal of innate bad character. This requires us to find the line that separates environmental influences from a simple personality flaw.

Answering this question helps us narrow down the qualities that define our character. What does it mean to describe someone as “nice”? Should that description be executed by default to all or should it be an exception that we impose on people who choose to be nice?

Using the word “nice” then becomes a question of whether it is deemed a personality trait or a civil gesture society picked up along the way through life events.

Marking those sensitive

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We are limited by the descriptions we impose on each other. It is circular — we become who we say we are, and we say we are what we become.

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lines in defining character and civility means we are shaping society and what is expected from people living in society.

Is character defined by relativity or objectivity? If a person lives in a society where everyone is honest by default, then does honesty become a description?

Or does it only become a description when dishonesty exists?

Defining someone by saying “she is honest and has ears” would entail that being honest and having ears are rare enough qualities for a person to have, that’s why they are brought up as

descriptions. It can also mean that society has a very superficial definition of people and/or produces very limited types of people. So it can be a problem of inarticulacy or a problem of stereotypes.

If dishonesty exists when honesty is used as an exceptional term, then should society raise its caliber when it comes to describing qualities to eliminate their antithetical effects? If traits are defined when they are relative to other traits, then objectivity does not exist when it comes to human characteristics.

If someone who has black hair lives on an island where everyone has black hair, then the objective description of that person as having black hair would not exist since it would not be pointed out by those who all have black hair. We are limited by the descriptions we impose on each other. It is circular — we become who we say we are, and we say we are what we become.

Society has the option of defining character through the ever-changing actions of a person. This is an easier approach than searching deeply for some innate quirk that, according to some, might not even exist.

However, this approach generalizes masses of people that from a distance seem the same because of their similar walks of life.

This convenient method has an expensive trade-off that confines society in a soulless life of events. Instead, society can transcend beyond this simplistic version of defining identity to find an underlying truth that answers the question of “who are we?”

—Carmen Awad is an IC columnist and a junior majoring in business administration.

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A well-deserved round of thank-you’s

From time to time, I enjoy stealing a page from the Jimmy Fallon playbook and sharing my thank-you notes with you. It’s important to show appreciation in the form of a thankyou, and this column respects that tradition.

I’ve been pretty busy Anthony recently so Russo I have some notes backed up.

—First off, thank you Egypt and Libya for seeking revolutions. In your attempt to improve social conditions and government institutions, you have sent oil prices soaring to near $100 per barrel. As a result of your selfish actions, citizens of our helplessly oil-addicted country are paying ever-higher prices at the pumps. Swell.

Just swell.

—Kudos, University of Toledo, for failing for the eighth straight semester of my being here to install a pedestrian bridge or some other means to ensure safe passage from the Bancroft Parking Garage (Lot 2) to the other side of the intersection just off of Bancroft and relieve traffic congestion. This

Toledo I ask myself, is this the year you’ll finally pull the trigger and go?

—Thank you, Rocket Solution Central, for my first pleasant experience in quite some time. When the lines aren’t long, I’m not nearly as stressed out and this time I found myself having a nice chat while requesting transcripts. Keep up the good customer service.

—My most sincere gratitude to UT for having perhaps the most confusing process for applying to graduate school. Kent State’s process

calamity of backed up traffic, skittish pedestrians and extreme frustration is clearly too complex of a situation to be addressed any time soon.

—Thank you to my editor for printing that last thankyou note even though I copied and pasted it from my previous round of thank-you notes. Maybe I need to find another avenue for getting my point across to the university.

—Well-played, Subway, for your FebruAny promotion.

I’ve probably eaten far too many subs in the past month, but who can really help it when there is so much variety and value with each and every foot-long? Here’s to MarchAny and AprilAny. —Thank you to the movie “Space Jam” for bringing Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Bill Murray together on the big screen — not to mention Charles Barkley! I had almost forgotten about “Space Jam” until I saw it on TV the other day. The only question is which Bill Murray cameo is better: “Space Jam” or “Zombieland”?

—Thank you, Huntington Center, for hosting Monster Jam in March. Who doesn’t want to see giant trucks flying through the air, crushing cars and spraying mud all over the place? Every time Monster Jam comes to

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bit of insight into how I write my columns from Steve Martin’s Saturday Night Live monologue, vintage 1978: But… this is what I really love — standing up live in front of people. So, I wrote a little comedy monologue, and, uh… I hope you like it!

So, here it goes. [ clears throat ] Have you ever been shopping? Well, uh… the other day, ah… I was in the supermarket, and I’m pushing the… cart down the aisle… [ laughs ] ...and you know how tough that can be! With those… crazy

The only question is which Bill Murray cameo is better: “Space Jam” or “Zombieland”?

has been no picnic, but I feel like Toledo’s could be a little more efficient. But I want to be accepted so I’ll stop typing.

—Excellent work, patrons of the recreation center who clog up all of the machines for the two to three weeks before spring break. I hate to discourage anyone from exercising, but why not try to change your lifestyle two or three months before break?

A little consumption-smoothing, if you will.

And now I leave you with a

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carts! And I turn the corner, and I’m in the aisle… with the soups! Well! There’s so many different varieties of soup, you know, I really can’t make up my mind! Because it’s, like, a whole area… of… soup! [ laughs ] [ Steve freezes in place, as his inner self emerges to evaluate the situation ] Steve’s Inner Self: Oh… boy, oh boy… this supermarket bit is dying! How can it be so bad? I mean… when did I come up with this supermarket bit? [ thinking ]

Hmm…? [ dissolve to footage of Steve pushing a cart at the supermarket, with his two bodyguards in tow. He stops in the soup aisle, and loads his cart with soup. Close-up on Steve’s face as a realization hits him. ] Steve Martin: I’ve got my monologue! [ cut to Steve discussing the idea with SNL’s writing staff ] Steve Martin: …And I’m at the checkout stand… and I’ve got a cart… filled… with soup! Because I couldn’t decide on which kind! And the cashier’s looking at me, you know, like I’m crazy! [ SNL’s writers laugh politely ] Steve Martin: Doesn’t that sound funny! [ cut to Steve explaining the set-up to an NBC Page ] Steve Martin: Me in a supermarket, and I’m trying to buy some soup. But there’s so many different varieties, you know? I don’t know which one to buy! So I’m loading up the cart — does that sound funny to you?

NBC Page: [ politely ] That sounds… very funny…! [ cut to Steve explaining the monologue to Lorne Michaels ] Steve Martin: So, first I talk about, you know, it’s an aisle completely filled with soup!

Big laugh.

Lorne Michaels: Ri-ight.

Steve Martin: Then I do… the names of the soups. You know — laugh, laugh, laugh, applause.

Lorne Michaels: Right.

Steve Martin: Now, here’s my question. Which is funnier — chicken with rice… or gumbo.

Lorne Michaels: [ thinking ] Gumbo.

Steve Martin: Chicken gumbo… or just plain gumbo?

Lorne Michaels: Just plain gumbo.

Steve Martin: [ pleased ] Yeahhh… [ laughs ] Yea-ha-ha-yeahhh! [ dissolve back to Steve performing his bad monologue in front of the audience ] Steve Martin: …And… gumbo! [ continues ] So, now, I’m back at the cashier… and she’s looking at me like I’m nuts! You know! So much soup!

It’s like when I write my columns. In my head I’m just thinking, “Doesn’t that sound funny!” Have a good week and enjoy your spring break.

—Anthony Russo is an IC columnist and a senior majoring in economics.

For-profit fallacies For-profit colleges and universities are higher education’s boom sector. From 1999 through 2009, student enrollment — either by mail, online or at various officepark “campuses” — skyrocketed 236 percent. That’s 10 times the rate of growth at public colleges and universities and non-profit private institutions.

The schools’ bottom lines have grown just as fat, with federal student aid the source of roughly two-thirds of their revenue. During the 20082009 school year, they soaked up about $20 billion in student loans and $4.31 billion in Pell Grants.

For-profits boast that they provide access to higher education to low-income and minority students. Indeed, about 20 percent of black students and nearly one of every four Pell Grant recipients enroll in a for-profit college or university.

But the educational benefits to students are not clear, and taxpayers deserve an explanation.

The Education Trust, an advocacy group for low-income students funded by major philanthropies, has assembled troubling data. The graduation rate for first-time, full-time students seeking four-year bachelor’s degrees is just 22 percent. The University of Phoenix, the nation’s largest

The

IC

for-profit college, had a 9 percent graduation rate for these students in 2008. The rate at its St. Louis campus was 6 percent.

Two-year programs in which students receive associates’ degrees or certificates have higher completion rates.

But these programs aren’t cheap, and they are marketed aggressively.

“

The University of Phoenix, the nation’s largest forprofit college, had a 9 percent graduation rate for these students in 2008. The rate at its St. Louis campus was 6 percent.

”

The College Board, a nonprofit group that helps students access higher education, says the average annual cost of tuition and fees at a community college is $2,700. It is $7,605 at a public four-year college. It is $27,200 at a private four-year college. And it is $13,900 at a for-profit college.

For-profit university students end up carrying huge debt loads, and they account

Wants

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for more than 40 percent of all federal student loan defaults even though they make up only 12 percent of enrollments and 24 percent of federal loan dollars.

The U.S. Department of Education has proposed rules that would protect taxpayers and students. They are called “gainful employment” regulations. Their purpose is to hold schools accountable for the supposed economic benefits of their career-training programs.

Under the proposed rules, schools that saddle students with excessive debt and have loan repayment rates below 35 percent no longer would be supported with Pell Grants and Stafford Loans.

But this publicly subsidized multibillion industry has plenty of political clout. On Friday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives — with the help of some Democratic members — voted to defund any attempt to implement, administer or enforce the Department of Education’s proposed rule.

This cynical vote is the “job killer.” It dooms students to heavy debt for training that provides dubious prospects of gainful employment.

—The preceeding appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday, Feb. 21.

The IC is now hiring the following positions: > Writers for all sections > Copy editors > Photographers

E-mail editor@independentcollegian.com

Results of extremism Political fanaticism fosters moral relativism. That’s the lesson we should all learn from the gruesome case of Shawna Forde, the Arizona anti-immigrant vigilante who was convicted last week of two counts of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors argued that Forde and two accomplices killed 29-year-old Raul Junior Flores and his 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia, in a botched robbery attempt meant to raise money to fund a splinter group of the anti-immigrant Minuteman movement.

Posing as border patrol and law enforcement officers, Forde and friends showed up at Flores’ home after midnight and invaded it with tragic consequences. Prosecutors pointed to testimony that Forde had bragged about her plans to steal the money to finance her vigilantism just weeks before the assault. Evidently, Forde’s political fixation overrode any belief in the injunction that “thou shalt not kill.”

It’d be easy to dismiss the Forde case as a crazy oneoff incident. And let’s hope it isn’t repeated. But her willingness to discard the most basic of moral standards for the sake of a political obsession is something we’re all too familiar with in the 21st century.

The South Dakota Legislature’s House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would have expanded the definition of justifiable homicide to include killing someone in the defense of an unborn child. The bill was shelved last week by cooler heads who feared it could provide legal cover for the killing of abortion providers.

During George W. Bush’s administration, the issue of the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” had the U.S. government employing one well-established evil in an attempt to combat another. The primacy of the

battle against terrorism allowed government lawyers to parse words and find loopholes in long-held legal standards protecting prisoners of war.

Of course, conservatives are not the only ones capable of ignoring one set of morals in the single-minded pursuit of another. I know scores of lefty believers in freedom who have condoned dictators — think Fidel Castro or, for an earlier generation, Josef Stalin — because they believe their ideological ends justify their repressive means.

“

Posing as border patrol and law enforcement officers, Forde and friends showed up at Flores’ home after midnight and invaded it with tragic consequences.

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Dostoevsky had this nailed in “Crime and Punishment”: His protagonist, Raskolnikov, justified the murder of his landlady, reasoning that his life was worth more than hers, that his grand mission to serve “humanity and the good of all” justified a heinous act.

What may be most interesting about all these Raskolnikovs is the way they betray their beliefs — in lawfulness, in the sanctity of life, in liberty — at the same time they think they are pursuing them.

The great irony is that many observers believe that the global rise in political and religious fanaticism is a reaction against the freedom, choices and moral relativism of modernity.

“Under modern conditions,” sociologist Peter

Berger has noted, “almost everyone lives in communities in which diversity has taken the place of consensus.” Some people react poorly to this “certainty scarcity.” They adopt fervent convictions — fundamentalism, if you will — as a coping mechanism.

But as the Shawna Forde story suggests, the illusion of absolute certainty can itself breed moral relativism, in which right and wrong are situational and do not apply to all people equally, especially the true believer.

University of Virginia social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has gone so far as to argue that our moral beliefs and our behavior aren’t really connected. He suggests that our sense of right and wrong is mostly based on emotional intuition, on how an action makes us feel. If it makes us “feel bad” to kick a dog, we’re likely to think it’s the wrong thing to do.

Such a disconnect between articulated moral stances and fundamental moral intuition helps explain how the former can ride roughshod over the latter. In Haidt’s words, people “reason their way to a judgment by sheer force of logic, overriding their initial intuition.”

What seems to happen to a Shawna Forde or an antiabortion legislator in South Dakota or a Castroat-all-costs sympathizer is that the convictions they brew up in their heads give them permission to ignore the sense of right and wrong that comes from their hearts.

If nothing else, the Forde case suggests that the embrace of absolutes is proving to be at least as morally dangerous as relativism. Utter certainty about one issue is a poor substitute for simply doing the right thing.

—Gregory Rodriguez is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

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Monday, February 28, 2011

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I have done a very poor job of building team confidence with this team. ... that’s clearly on me, but I need something from them to build off of.

Tod Kowalczyk UT Men’s Basketball Coach

Section B

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www.IndependentCollegian.com

Sports

Page

Monday, February 28, 2011

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Zach Davis – Editor

Rockets lose to Northern Illinois in overtime, 75-70

By Joe Mehling Assistant Sports Editor

Kevin Sohnly / IC

The Rockets fell to 4-25 on the season after sqaundering a late lead against Northern Illinois on Saturday night at Savage Arena.

Huskies upset Toledo, snap 9 game win streak

Freshman forward Delino Dear recorded his second The Rockets dropped their double-double of the season 11th straight game against with 10 points and a gameNorthern Illinois 75-70 in high 11 rebounds.

Toledo had just overtime on Saturday nine turnovers but night at Savage Arewas outscored 30-16 na. Toledo was outin bench points and scored 11-6 in OT and outrebounded 46-38. shot 1 of 7 from the Griffin committed floor. five of the team’s nine “There is no other turnovers after havway to put it, it was a ing 10 turnovers heartbreaking loss,” against Western UT head coach Tod Michigan.

Kowalczyk said. “I Griffin Huskie forward have done a very poor Tim Toler led the job of building team confidence with this team. I team with 19 points while told the team in the locker shooting 4 of 7 from beyond room that’s clearly on me, but the arc. Senior guard Jeremy I need something from them Landers notched 14 points while freshman Antone Christo build off of. tian scored eight “Maybe I need to points and had a just be a cheerleadteam-high nine reer— just cheer for bounds. Christian them every day in registered five of his practice and build eight points in their confidence. I 75 overtime. don’t know what it N. Illinois 70 “They just drove is, but we are such a Toledo us,” Kowalczyk said. defeatist team.”

Toledo (4-25, 1-13 Mid- “We have three guys that no American Conference) held a matter what when you bring 64-62 lead with 16 seconds them off the bench, they’re remaining in regulation but going to drive that guy. We got following a missed layup from driven a ton and we fouled NIU (8-19, 4-10) guard Antone too much because we got driven too much.”

Christian, teammate The Rockets trailed Tyler Strom tapped in 32-27 at the break but the putback to force took the 37-36 lead afthe extra period. ter an 8-0 run capped “We just had to off by a Griffin layup. make plays,” sophoAfter trading baskets more guard Jay Shunwith NIU on the next nar said. “They beat few possessions, the us to the 50/50 balls, Rockets stretched that’s what it came that lead to six points down too. We have to Wright with 5:44 remaining in get those boards and the contest. the game tying layup The Huskies chipped away was an offensive board. We down the stretch and forced have to get that.”

The Rockets were led by the overtime period after sophomore guard Malcolm Christian drove the lane and Griffin with 17 points while clanked a layup off the back Shunnar and senior forward — Overtime, Page B2 Anthony Wright each had 12.

Winless UT takes 2 of 3 from No. 16 Louisville

By Nate Pentecost IC Staff Writer

game-high 22 points and four steals. Classmate EboNorthern Illinois snapped ny Ellis (9 of 13) recorded a the UT women’s basketball double-double, with 19 team’s nine game winning points and 16 rebounds.

The Rockets led only streak as they fell 57-53 on Saturday in the Convocation once in the contest at 8-6 Center. The Rockets have early in the first half before lost in five of its last six the Huskies went on an 112 tear closing the games in Dekalb. period with a 28Senior forward 22 lead.

Melissa Goodall (5 NIU extended its of 10) scored a advantage to 10 team-high 14 points with five rebounds. N. Illinois 57 points at 39-29 Redshirt-freshman Toledo 53 with 12:52 remaining in the the secAndola Dortch (4 ond half. Northern of 11) added 12 Illinois would maintain a points and four boards.

The Rockets (21-7, 13-2 multiple-possession lead Mid-American Conference) until a 6-0 Rocket run cut leading scorer, junior guard the lead to 44-41 with 4:36 remaining in the Naama Shafir (17 game. ppg), had just 11 With 59 seconds points and one assist left in the contest while turning the and Toledo trailing ball over a gameby five, Goodall high six times. Shafir connected from befouled out with 1:17 yond the arc to remaining in the bring UT within two game with UT trailat 50-48. Northern ing 49-45.

Illinois responded Toledo shot under 40 percent (19 of 48) Dortch by making 7-of-8 free throws to close from the field, including 25 percent (3 of 12) out the Rockets 57-53.

Toledo will play its final from three-point range. UT also recorded 17 turnovers, regular season game on matching the Huskies (12- Wednesday when it hosts Central Michigan (19-8, 1116, 6-9 MAC) for the game.

Senior guard Marke Free- 4) at 7 p.m. in Savage man (6 of 20) led NIU with a Arena.

By Tony Bibler IC Staff Writer

File Photo by Nick Kneer / IC

Jim Vahalik went 1 of 4 for the Rockets on Sunday in their game against No. 16 Louisville.

After dropping its first three games of the season, the Rockets took two out of three games on the road at No. 16 Louisville this weekend at Jim Patterson Stadium. A masterful eight-inning start on Friday by sophomore Mike Hamann and a ninth-inning rally highlighted the weekend for Toledo.

“As a whole we pitched pretty well,” UT head coach Cory Mee said. “We came out and executed well, played good defense and had hits in the clutch.

I’m proud of the way we played this weekend. Now the challenge is becoming more consistent and keeping it going.”

In addition to Hamann’s pitching and Saturday’s rally, junior outfielder Mark Lapikas excelled for the Rockets as he went 5 for 11 over the weekend while classmate and first baseman Matt Delewski had four hits in 11 at bats.

“I saw some positive things offensively against a tough pitching staff,” Mee said. “We do need to battle more and score more runs to be able to put teams away. I’m confident though that our guys will get it done. We just need to work hard every day to get it done.”

After wins on Friday and — Louisville, Page B2

B2

Overtime From Page B1 iron but the heads-up play by Storm sent the game into OT. Christian opened the extra period with a triple but was answered by Griffin on the next UT possession. Following another basket from Christian and two free

The

Independent Collegian throws from Landers, the Huskies took control and held off the Toledo comeback.

“I just don’t see anybody out there that rallies the troops and has an identity of ‘Hey, we’re going to get a stop,’” Kowalczyk said. “The team personality is something the head coach is re-

sponsible for. Our team personality, well there isn’t one.

“It has been a problem all year and that’s why we can’t win close games.”

The Rockets return to the court on Tuesday at Savage Arena as they square off against Central Michigan (919, 6-8) at 7 p.m.

Courtesy of UT Athletics

Swimming finishes 2nd in MAC Championships Junior Claire Leichty was named First-Team All-MAC taking first place in the 1650 Free

Louisville From Page B1 Saturday, the Rockets (2-4) had thoughts of sweeping Louisville (4-2) heading into Sunday’s game. Junior righthander Lincoln Rassi (0-1) started the series finale and was tagged with the 4-2 loss after working five innings and allowing three runs on five hits. Freshman Ryan Wilkinson and juniors Alex Radon and Tyler Scott combined to work the final three innings and allowed one run.

Toledo jumped out to a quick first-inning lead on Sunday as senior second baseman Chris Dudics grounded into a double play scoring Lapikas. UT pushed the score to 2-0 in the fifth when Delewski singled in sophomore Wes White. However, the scoring ended there for the Rockets.

Louisville’s Ryan White hit a solo home run in the home half of the sixth to cut Toledo’s lead in half.

Rassi walked the next batter and then gave up an RBI double to Cade Stallings before being replaced with Wilkinson.

After a sacrifice bunt that moved Louisville runners to second and third, Wilkinson

was replaced with Radon.

The junior pitcher would get the final two outs of the inning, but not before allowing a run to score on an RBI groundout by J.J. Ethel. The Cardinals added to their lead in the seventh on an RBI single from Stewart Ijames to take a 4-2 lead.

Saturday’s 4-2 victory was punctuated with a three-run comeback in the ninth inning.

Down 2-1 in the ninth with two men on base, junior designated hitter Jeff Cola singled in two to give UT the lead. Lapikas then singled in Cola to add an insurance run.

Senior closer Matt Zahel closed the door on Louisville in the ninth to seal the win.

Freshman reliever Adam Tyson (1-1) earned his first collegiate win in relief after going an inning while Zahel was credited with the save, his second of the year.

The Rockets earned their first win of the young season after taking a 3-1 decision on Friday. Hamann started the game and pitched eight full innings, allowing one run while striking out six. Zahel worked the ninth and earned his first save on the year.

“Mike [Hamann] was excellent this weekend,” Mee

said. “He challenged hitters, pounded the strike zone and made them swing the bat. It was an excellent effort by him, Kyle Shaw, Lincoln Rassi and the rest of the staff.”

Toledo struck first in the first inning, scoring on a throwing error. Louisville answered back with its only run of the game in the second to tie it at one. UT took the lead for good in the third on an RBI single by Dudics.

The next inning, senior left fielder Dan Sherwood added an insurance run with a solo homer that pushed him into second place on the all-time home run list in school history with 31 dingers.

“The guys did a great job,” Mee said. “Our goal is to be better at the end of the season than what we were at the beginning and with the improvements we made from last weekend to this weekend it’s very encouraging.

They came out and played very hard and very well.”

The Rockets return to action next weekend with a three-game series at Samford. Friday’s game is scheduled for 6 p.m. while Saturday and Sunday’s games will begin at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.

Side Lines Courtesy of UT Athletics

Rockets finish 2nd in MAC Title Defense In second place at the day’s start, the University of Toledo women’s swimming and diving team battled to two event titles on the final day of competition, but couldn’t overtake Ohio and finished second at the 2011 MAC Championships.

In the first final of the day, junior Claire Leichty pulled a stunning upset in the 1650 Free, surpassing her teammate and incumbent champion Jacy Dyer to take first in a pool and meet record time of 16:16.33. Dyer finished fourth with a time of 16:29.56, while two other Rockets finished in the top eight, Laura Heckroth (sixth, 16:40.77) and Louise Smyth (seventh, 16:43.92).

“I’ve been looking forward to this event all year, and training with these girls has been wonderful,” said Leichty. “It was great that we all performed well when it counted. All in all it was a great experience for me, and I’m so proud of all my teammates.”

The day’s second event was the 200 Backstroke. Freshman Christina Noens battled to a near-school record with a thirdplace finish (1:58.39) that hit an NCAA “B” time and surpassed the pool record.

The day’s next three races were all down-to-the-wire. First in the 100 Free, sophomore Carly Harter finished just .28 seconds behind the event champion to finish second with a new school record time of 49.95. The time also hit NCAA “B” time. Also placing in the event was senior Amanda Thompson in 11th (51.03).

The next event was even more competitive. In the 200 Breast, junior Laura Lindsay went backand-forth with Miami’s Kelsey Vehr but came up just short for the second-straight day. She finished in second place with a new UT record-time of 2:10.63 and also eclipsed the existing MAC, meet and pool records. Also placing for the Rockets was senior Kelsey Atchison (seventh, 2:16.37) and freshman Meredith Gibbon (ninth, 2:17.86, B Final).

In keeping with the theme, the final of the 200 Fly again finished in extremely close fashion.

Freshman Beth Rogers came up just short, finishing in second with a new UT record-time of 1:59.57 and getting out-touched by just .18 seconds. Also placing in the event was Laura Benevento (seventh, 2:01.92) and McKenzie Bagan (ninth, 2:01.25, B Final).

The final event of the day was the 400 Free Relay, an event won last season by the Rockets. Toledo successfully defended its title as the team of Harter, Thompson, Heckroth and Dyer won in a school-record time of 3:21.57 to close out the meet.

The Rockets finished with 630.5 points to finish in second place. The Ohio Bobcats won the title with 669.5 to narrowly edge out the resilient Rockets. Toledo will have one more competition on Sunday, competing in the Ohio State Last Chance Qualifier in preparation for the NCAA Meet on Mar. 17-19 in Austin, TX.

Rockets top two top40 ITA opponents The University of Toledo men’s tennis team scored a pair

of wins against two teams ranked

Monday, February 28, 2011 in the ITA Top-40 for Division II on Sunday at the Shadow Valley Tennis Club. The Rockets defeated No. 40 Ferris State 5-2 and No. 38 Wayne State 6-1 to finish the weekend 2-1.

In the first match of the day against FSU, the Rockets (11-7) swept the doubles point and took four of six singles matches to earn the win. In doubles, Sven Burus and Terence Weigand scored an 8-6 win at No. 1 while Bryant Dudzik and Mircea Dimofte won 8-4 at No. 2. The third doubles match was pushed to the tiebreak, but Nutthavit Likitkumchorn and Bobby Brooks prevailed 8-7(5).

In singles play, Burus dropped his first set but battled back to earn a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 1.

Likitkumchorn won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 and Dudzik picked up a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win at No. 5, while Weigand picked up his second of four wins on the day with a 7-6(4), 6-2 victory at No. 4.

Against Wayne State, the Rockets again swept the doubles point and picked up five of the six singles matches to down the Warriors 6-1.

Dudzik and Dimofte picked up their second win of the day with an 8-7 decision at No. 1. Likitkumchorn and Brooks also won again at No. 2, 8-2, while Weigand and Ben Brocker won 8-3 at No. 3 to sweep the point.

The Rockets dominated in singles play, dropping only one match which went to the tiebreak. Likitkumchorn, Dimofte, Gursher Harika, Weigand and Brocker all picked up victories to wrap up the Rockets’ second win of the day.

“Against Ferris State we were undisciplined, however, our match against Wayne State was one of our best of the year in terms of full-team participation, on-court intensity, lock-down focus and a killer attitude,” said Head Coach Al Wermer. “Nice full-team day with some ups and downs, but that’s how the season goes and we’re getting better from the journey.”

The Rockets are off to Florida next for their spring break trip in Orlando. They will have four matches, facing St. Cloud State and Vincennes on Mar. 6, and St. Francis (IL) and Creighton on Mar. 8.

UT sees seven match streak end The University of Toledo women’s tennis team saw their impressive seven-match win streak come to an end Sunday night with a 5-2 loss to Michigan State in East Lansing. The Spartans took the doubles point and four of six singles matches to drop the Rockets to 7-3.

The Rockets battled in three close matches in doubles play, with all three ending in 8-6 decisions. Amanda Border and Silvia Carvajal picked up the lone doubles win at No. 3, defeating MSU’s Silesova and Lingl.

Though the Spartans claimed four of the six matches in singles play, Toledo fought hard and nearly kept its streak alive.

Kelsey Anonsen and Christine Coffman claimed the two Rocket victories at Nos. 4 and 6, respectively. Anonsen picked up a tiebreak win over Guentert, 3-6, 7-5, 1-0(5), while Coffman won 6-3, 6-4 against Lingl. After losing the first set, both Polina Guimaraes and Alexandra Cristello fought back to win their second sets at Nos. 1 and 5, respectively, but each were ultimately defeated as the Spartans claimed the match.

“I really feel like the difference in this match was the doubles

point,” said Head Coach Tracy Mauntler. “We were up big on all three courts and could only close one. When you play a team like Michigan State and you are up, you have to close. MSU clawed their way back to take doubles, but singles was tight and we battled well again tonight. I’m disappointed about the loss but I’m proud of the team we are becoming.”

Up next the Rockets head to Florida for a trio of matches.

They will face Florida Gulf Coast on Mar. 7, Barry on Mar. 8 and Troy on Mar. 9 for their Spring Break trip.

Rockets lose to Northwestern State The University of Toledo softball team rallied for three runs in the seventh inning to push the game to extras, but fell in the eighth inning to Northwestern State 4-3 on the final day of the Frost Classic Sunday in Chattanooga.

Trailing 3-0 in the top of the seventh inning, the Rockets (0-5) surged back to knot up the score and send the game to extra frames. Sophomore third baseman Courtney McCarthy led the inning off with a single up the middle and advanced when sophomore right fielder Lindsey Tobias beat out an infield single.

Junior first baseman Jillian Spink then blasted a two-run double to the gap in right to bring both runners home and cut the lead to one. After a hit batter and a walk loaded the bases, junior left fielder Kattie Palmer knocked a seeing-eye single up the middle to bring home Spink and tie things up.

The Rockets held NWLA scoreless in the bottom half of the frame to send the game to extra innings, but were unable to procure a run in their half of the eighth. In the bottom of the inning, NWLA picked up the gamewinning run on a fielding error to cut the Rocket comeback short.

Toledo received an outstanding effort in the circle from freshman hurler Jen Solanics . The Rocket rookie pitched 7.2 solid innings, allowing just six hits and four runs (three earned) while striking out three in the extra-innings loss.

Neither team tallied much offense over the first three innings as the game remained scoreless.

The Demons struck first in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly to go up 1-0. With the bases loaded, Solanics picked up a key twoout strikeout to strand the runners and escape without further damage.

An RBI double in the bottom of the fifth inning gave the Demons a three-run advantage before the Rockets surged back in the seventh with three runs of their own, but their effort would fall just short as NWLA walked off with a win in the eighth.

Spink led the Rockets at the plate, going 1-for-3 with the game-rallying two-run double in the seventh frame. Palmer also went 1-for-3 with the game-tying RBI single.

With their first tournament of the season concluded, the Rockets will next head to Clearwater, FL for a pair of tournaments hosted by USF. The first tournament is the Under Armour Invitational running from March 4-6.

Toledo will face Wagner in the opening game at 5:30 p.m. followed by an 8 p.m. matchup with Bethune-Cookman.

B3

The

Independent Collegian

Monday, February 28, 2011

Fashion Show From Page B4

Cornieles From Page B4 and they have to go to rehearsal or work.

IC: What kind of difficulties come up when you collaborate with the writer or actors?

CC: The actors will do whatever your writer tells them to do. I haven’t run into too many problems with that. We’ve had one of the best casts. It’s wonderful for them to get together as a group and have them know their lines. Feliza’s great at knowing their lines. One of the issues we deal with is that we rehearse it one way in a different space and it looks like something different then where we were supposed to film it in.

Acting in front of a camera is different than acting on a

stage. We’ve trained our actors to not look at the camera. We haven’t had to deal with this for a while. It’s a learning process for everyone.

Nick Kneer/IC

‘West Bancroft Side Story’ producer Carina Cornieles (left) and writer and director Feliza Casano (right) joke around during an IC photo shoot.

IC: What are some of the upcoming plans for WBSS? FC: We plan on recording three songs this week. We may potentially be getting five songs out of the week, which is great because normally it’s about two a week.

That’d be a majority of the music we need to get finished.

CC: We owe WXUT chocolate cake and cookies. That’s our payment because they work with us and they understand. We also have recording Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’re off for spring break, then filming Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through April.

Morrison Wilson/IC

(Above) The ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ strut their stuff on the runway set up in the Student Union. (Below) The entire cast of the fashion show dons the stage for a final number .

Nick Kneer/IC

Hookah From Page B4 par. To her, a traditional environment is far more preferable than a spot chock-full of “trendy college kids.”

Roze has also found that folks in New York tend to smoke hookah as a social event, while in smaller cities it is simply looked upon as “something novel to do.”

In July, a stabbing took place near well-known hookah spot, Maxwell’s Brew on Bancroft Road next to UT’s campus. According to Maxwell’s, business was affected “for the first few weeks, but not now.”

Compared to last year, their business has been better.

“We tried to explain it’s going to happen everywhere,”

off as creative.

Lust was, to the joy of the audience, quite explicit as well.

Being that this event was a fashion show, it was not expected that all of the clothing should be modest. However, acting played a large part in the entertainment value of the show and many of the models were instructed to behave in a way that many would consider less than respectable.

In the lust segment, the objectification of several wellbuilt male models was extremely high.

It should be noted, though, that this is a large part of the reason why the show was so entertaining for many members of the audience, much of which was dressed less than modestly as well.

Dressed perfectly appropriately, however, Matt Rubin, Student Government President, made a special appearance on the catwalk, sporting a red faux-hawk. Cheers playfully erupted from the audience as he took off his black suit jacket.

The high amount of crowd interaction, loudly resonating popular music, and a noble monetary incentive made up for a bit of the fashion show’s objectivity and whacky accessories.

Two scholarships were awarded to two deserving students from the proceeds of the show. Although these students may not have the opportunity to try on the beautiful rainbow-feather pants presented in the show, useful and practical money with origins in the fashion industry is certainly a success in and of itself.

said Maxwell’s. “We’ve brought more security.”

Meanwhile, Sukit, the newest hookah go-to in town, has been increasing their business steadily.

According to Sukit, their sales are “turning upward,” and January’s business increased 63 percent over December. The same is predicted for February.

There hasn’t been a largely

visible amount of growing or shrinking in hookah culture in Toledo, but that’s not to say it isn’t popular, particularly among college students.

With the opening of more hookah bars and lounges, however, the hookah scene could perhaps begin making a larger impact on the local community for both business and entertainment in the near and distant future.

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Arts and Life

Page

Monday, February 28, 2011

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DC Guastella – Editor Kevin Sonhly/IC

Toledo Hookah Culture

found the hookah hobby to be “more popular down south.”

In addition, Sam noted that hookah usage, for the most part, has remained constant. To him, it appears that hookah business has not increased, particularly “when it’s cold and business is slow.”

Ashley Johnson, a sophomore majoring in psychology, is a hostess and waitress at The Oasis.

She is accustomed to the demographic of mostly college students who come through the doors to take advantage of the hookah bar, as well as customers in their late 20’s.

Hookah shops have been appearing in college towns and around universities for several years, and the popularity amongst students have shifted the target market.

New flavoring for hookah tobacco include “Tutti Frutti” and mint chocolate chip, though most lounges carry traditional seasonings such as rose and grape.

The intrigue for all age groups seems to be fairly similar. Johnson said that the draw for most customers when they come to The Oasis to smoke is “being here with their friends, but also the flavors [that are offered].”

“We have a ton of flavors,” she said.

Since the customers who frequent The Oasis are simply looking for a place to hang out, Johnson has found that the people she waits on tend to be “pretty friendly.”

Madison Roze, a freshman majoring in visual art, is also well-versed in hookah knowledge.

Roze at one time owned three hookahs herself and has also experienced hookah culture in New York while she lived there.

“I like hookah because it’s very social,” she said. “Everyone is real chill when they’re in a hookah circle.”

Roze finds that social interactions are heightened when people are smoking hookah together.

“It opens everybody up to talk to each other, but not like being drunk does. That’s sloppy,” she said.

While Roze enjoys hookah lounges with cushions and an authentic atmosphere, she finds most hookah spots in Toledo are not up to

By Weslie Detwiler IC Staff Writer

Hookah has easily become one of the most well-known pastimes associated with socialization.

Sitting at a table, in a lounge or on the floor with nothing between you and your friends but an exotic-looking smoke contraption makes shooting the breeze a bit more intimate than an expensive night out to dinner or the regular bar-centered group activity.

Hookah bars and lounges embrace this intimacy, attempting to create a hangout geared toward casual conversation surrounded by less-than-suffocating flavored smoke.

Hookah, first smoked in India, is a water pipe that filters tobacco treated with flavoring through cooled water.

The resulting smoke is less harsh on the throat of the smoker than a cigarette and is meant to be tasted and exhaled, much like cigar smoke.

Hookah culture exists around the world, primarily in the Middle East, Central Asia and Northern Africa. Today though, loyal hookah smokers can find lounges in nearly every major city from Melbourne to Anchorage.

While hookah culture in Toledo is just a fraction of what it is in larger cities, there is still a market here for that everpopular tobacco product. Many of Toledo’s Middle Eastern immigrants have brought the market here from their homes in Lebanon, Egypt and elsewhere.

Sam, who wished for his last name to be left out of the article, is in hookah retail at the local restaurant and hookah hotspot, The Oasis.

Sam has been involved in creating and marketing hookah flavoring for about two years, and in that time at The Oasis, he has come to see “the art of it.”

While he said that hookah is growing across the country, he has failed to see much of an increase in hookah sales in the Toledo area in recent years. He has

— Hookah Page B3

Kevin Sonhly/IC

Morrison Wilson/IC

(Right) Friends at Maxwells enjoy a hookah. (Center) The door to the hookah lounge at Oasis. (Left) Exhaling smoke at Maxwells.

Catwalk Outrage: BSU fashion show

By Barb E. Dahl IC Fashionista

On Friday, Feb. 25, the Student Union Building Auditorium was transformed into a catwalk for the Black Student Union’s 40th Annual Fashion Show.

“The Elements of Fashion: 7 Deadly Sins” was the daunting yet creative theme for this year’s show. Envy, wrath, greed, lust, sloth, pride and

gluttony all made appearances on the stage in the form of clothing that was, for the most part, planned accordingly.

While the show was advertised as displaying clothes that would be hot for the spring, many of the outfits, although fashion-forward, would simply be inappropriate for actual wear. Big-time designers are notorious for outrageous collections, but I was caught off-guard and, at times, pleasantly surprised by the same idea on a college campus.

Jeans ripped dangerously high on the thigh, sparkling costume-like bikinis and barely-there skirts were just a few examples of the many raunchy outfits presented on stage.

Other fashion staples may

not have been quite as risqué per se, but may better be referred to as silly. Puffy tutus, bulky neck adornments, enormous bows and even a novelty belt streaming with newspapers would, in real life, all certainly be given a number of interested double-takes.

The two most intriguing sets of the show were the sins of gluttony and, not surprisingly, lust.

The idea of presenting gluttony in the form of fashion is mildly humorous. Mix in some outfits that make models look like cupcakes while holding an actual cupcake, frosting provocatively licked off, of course, and the obviousness almost comes — Fashion Show, Page B3

Kevin Sonhly/IC

An interview with the creators

The IC sits down with Carina Cornieles and Feliza Casano

By Vincent D. Scebbi Features Editor

Throughout the filming of West Bancroft Side Story, producer Carina Cornieles and writer Feliza Casano caught up with the IC for a quick interview.

IC: What kind of experience did you have before working with WBSS? CC: I did a lot of experience with UT:10 News. I’ve taken basic production. That is my forte, production and television.

We just go around and ask different organizations if they

are interested in participating in different commercials. I’ve worked with [Pi Kappa Alpha], Relay for Life, Ballroom Dancing. It’s something new we do for UTTV to give [new members] experience so that when they tackle a huge project like “West Bancroft Side Story,” they’ll be ready for it.

IC: How do you think your prior experience prepared you for WBSS? CC: It has its differences because news is a specific formula. “West Bancroft” deals with dialog, emotions and singing and dancing. It’s a

completely different animal than I have ever dealt with, but I like the challenge.

IC: What kind of obstacles do you generally encounter when filming?

CC: Scheduling. Just because we’re all very busy and we’re all trying to make sure our homework’s done, make sure our extracurricular are in order and then we’re trying to film. I’m an RA and I have certain obligations to perform. It’s very difficult. I know some of our actors are in some other productions — Cornieles, Page B3