The Minaret 11/10/11

MINARET UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA’S NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1933

THE

Volume 78 Number 10

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November 10, 2011

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theminaretonline.com

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HoJo Residents to Owe More Than $8,000 in Damages Broken lights, holes in walls adding up to costly semester repair bill

By CHELSEA DAUBAR Asst. News Editor

Since the beginning of the semester, over $8,000 worth of damages have been reported at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel. These damages have been caused by students and include holes in the hallway walls, missing or broken furniture, and tampering with the elevator systems.

Over the past two months, maintenance workers have repaired, patched, and painted over 30 holes in hallways and hotel rooms.

Holes range in size from a small fist to an entire body. The cause of the holes can be traced back to students rough housing in the halls, throwing footballs or Frisbees or putting too much of their weight into the soft spots in the walls.

When students sit out in the halls and lean against the wall, usually attempting to get a better Internet signal, the soft dry wall isn’t able to hold the weight, thus creating a hole. When a hole is made, workers have to repair the entire patch on the wall, not just the spot where the hole was made.

Unless students who cause the damages come forward, the entire floor will have to divide up the costs, causing some students to grow frustrated with their neighbors.

“I don’t even cause the problem, yet

Samantha Battersby/The Minaret

The cost to repair holes like this one will be billed to students at the end of the semester.

I’m going to have to pay for it,” said Sara Johnson, a freshman living on the 7th floor of the Howard Johnson.

“Some students that don’t even live on our floor come up here and they are drunk and fall into the walls and then we have to pay for what they did. It just isn’t fair,” she said.

The damage fees that will be split among the floor unless individuals come forward will have to be paid at the end of the semester. Any additional costs from new damages from now until that time will

Samantha Battersby/The Minaret

Maintenance has repaired over thirty holes in the walls of the Howard Johnson this semester.

be added to the total cost of damages.

Area Coordinator of the Howard Johnson, Amanda Adas, explained, “As on campus, fees for damages occurring in residence halls are charged to the responsible individual or group. When this is not possible, all residents of the hall or

floor become collectively responsible for the costs involved.”

Fines caused by students are not only coming from damages to the hotel, but also

See REPAIRS, Page 4

Festival Reminds Students of Their First Amendment Rights

By MIA GLATTER NEWS REPORTER

Enticed by the promise of free food, glitter tattoos and balloon animals, roughly 400 University of Tampa students agreed to symbolically sign away their First Amendment rights on Monday and enter the roped-off foreign land of Sparta.

While inside the censorious state, located in Vaughn Courtyard, students were subjected to the brutality of a student “goon squad” who made sure nobody had any rights.

If students were caught assembling, speaking or doing

Katie Magruder/The Minaret

To get free food, students gave up their First Amendment rights.

In Other News...

anything protected by the First Amendment, they were forced to enter jail-- typically for 60 to 90 seconds.

Student improv actors also staged several religious, press and political protests that were quickly broken up.

UT freshman Tevin Christopher was told he could not sit with his friends while eating, because he was wearing a black shirt and all the people wearing black shirts had to sit together.

“I didn’t like being forced to sit somewhere based on my shirt color, it was prejudiced,” Christopher said.

But he also believed that the event was worthwhile.

“A lot of different students gathered together with free food as the incentive,” he said. “It’s a great way to teach because everyone takes their First Amendment rights for granted.”

The First Amendment Free Food Festival (FAFFF) was created in 2006 by Michael Koretzky and Michele Boyet to get students in colleges across the country thinking about their free speech rights.

The event is the premiere effort of UT’s recentlyformed First Amendment Organization (FAO)-- helped by Student Productions and the university’s Law Club.

Richard Solomon, president of FAO, believes all students should know their rights.

“Our main goal was just to educate people on their First Amendment rights,” Solomon said. “We’re born into these rights and we don’t know what we have rights to. In other countries, people don’t have this.”

Also present at the FAFFF was Matthew Saintsing,

6 A Student’s Best Friend 8 Paninoteca Offers Delicious Mediterranean Sandwiches Close to Campus

Katie Magruder/The Minaret

Student actors playing members of a “goon squad” arrest a “protester” for breaking the rules by trying to speak his mind.

See FESTIVAL, Page 3

12 How to Kardashian Proof Your Relationship

News..................................2 Diversions.........................5

20 Key Basketball Player A+E....................................6 Dismissed Due to Grades Opinion............................ 11 Sports..............................16

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MINARET

2 NOVEMBER 10 2011 | THE MINARET

‘I See My Students Like My Family’: A Profile of UT Housekeeper Willie Patton

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Mike Trobiano

mike.trobiano@gmail.com

MANAGING EDITOR Joshua Napier

joshua.napier90@gmail.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Daniel Feingold

dfeingold91@gmail.com

NEWS + FEATURES

Shivani Kanji, Editor Channing Hailey, Asst. Editor Chelsea Daubar, Asst. Editor minaret.news@gmail.com

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT Amanda Sieradzki, Editor Natalie Hicks, Asst. Editor minaret.arts@gmail.com

OPINION

SPORTS

Miles Parks, Editor John Hilsenroth, Asst. Editor minaret.sports@gmail.com

ONLINE

Rebecca Ruffer, Webcaster rruffer@spartans.ut.edu

Kyle Bennett, Social Media Director kbennett.ut@gmail.com

PHOTOGRAPHY

Samantha Battersby, Head Photographer minaret.photog@gmail.com

ADVERTISING

Katelyn Goodwin, Ad & PR Coordinator Jill Rosenblum, Assistant Ad & PR Coordinator minaret.ads@gmail.com

ADVISER

Daniel Reimold, Ph.D. dreimold@ut.edu

COPY EDITORS

Jennifer Bedell, Head Copy Editor 1jennifer.bedell@gmail.com

Alysia Sawchyn, Copy Editor

alysia.sawchyn@spartans.ut.edu

REPORTERS

Brittany Moulden Kadee Jo Carpenter Kelly St.Onge Mia Glatter Kirby Jay Shantora Perkins

STAFF WRITERS Michael Paonessa Sophie Erber John Hilsenroth Joe Beaudoin April Weiner Laurel Sanchez Stephanie Crocco

MORE INFORMATION

THE MINARET is a weekly student-run publication at the University of Tampa.

Letters to the Editor may be sent to editor@theminaretonline.com.

To reach THE MINARET call 813.257.3636.

Your first two copies of THE MINARET are free. Each additional copy is $1.00

By BRITTANY MOULDEN News Reporter

No matter faculty, staff or student, all members of the University of Tampa community followed a unique path that brought them to this school. Despite race, creed or occupation, it is our stories, however unexpected, that reflect the diverse journeys of us all.

Take Willie Patton for example. Patton was born and raised in Tampa, Fla. Her grandmother raised Patton’s six sisters and one brother in a big house in Bellman Heights, the neighborhood where she still resides.

“She was my role model,” Patton looked up and said.

“Addie Lee Coleman, she was beautiful. I miss her.”

Her grandmother was born in Alabama, then moved to Georgia where she had Willie’s mother. She then came to Florida where she worked as a nanny for white families, ironing, cooking and cleaning.

“One of them was so nice,” she recalled. “She would give my grandma food and she’d give it to us and we were so thankful.”

She said that they often relied on the generosity of strangers. Her neighbors would save bottles for them and all of her siblings would go door to door with a wagon collecting them so they could trade them in for money and get themselves something to eat.

“We were poor and we still poor,” she smiled. “At the time I was angry. I learned how to ride a bicycle by using my friend’s bicycle; we couldn’t even afford a bicycle. Now I understand it was more important to keep the family together, roof over our heads and have food.”

She recalled times that she would go to the ice skating rink

with her family and watch others skate for fun.

“It’s a curse being black.”

She paused after that. “No it’s hard it really is, but it made me a strong black woman.”

She began telling the story of her life of hard work. “Well see, I worked in the fields. I started when I was about 8-years-old, picking tomatoes, oranges, potatoes, any kind of fruit.”

Even though her mother “didn’t have time for kids” she still had control over them. “My mother would pull us out of

]

minaret.commentary@gmail.com

Samantha Battersby/The Minaret

Willie Patton began working at UT in the 1980’s. After leaving for a decade, she returned two years ago and happily works once more among the students that she calls her family.

when I was a teenager. We’d share a small bed and you’d wake up with someone’s arm on your face.”

Patton started working as a housekeeper at the University of Tampa back in the 1980s for about eight years. For a decade she held a factory job operating a machine that packaged thousands of loaves of bread a day. She came back to UT after the closing of the Wonder Bread factory more than two years ago. Before that she worked two eight-hour shifts peeling shrimp

[

Richard Solomon, Editor Hannah Webster, Asst. Editor Mikey Angelo Rumore, Asst. Editor

“I love my students. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have a job. And when I’m not around they say ‘I’ve missed you!’ I see my students more than my family, so they are like my family.”

school for two or three weeks at a time to go work in the fields. Sometimes we’d go up to Virginia and pick strawberries.

We’d take a school bus and live in these ‘camps’.”

She said she saw everything there, people being beaten up, stealing, fighting, and raped.

“Then, we’d be two or three weeks behind in school and then people would look at you and think you’re stupid, and the teacher asks you a question and you don’t know. It was hard.

That’s why I quit school when I was about 13 or 14. I just got tired of it.”

It was in the fields where she met her only husband. They got married when she was 15 years old and he was 23. They divorced later because he was “one of the crazy ones.”

“Now looking back, I don’t think it was love,” she said. “I wanted to grow up so fast. See, I never had my own bed, even

-Willie

Patton

to support her family.

She said, “I’m a jack of all trades. I’ve done a little bit of everything.”

Patton starts her mornings Monday through Thursday at 7 a.m., cleaning bathrooms in Urso, Austin and Vaughn’s first floor.

“You know I never really thought about counting [how many toilets she cleans],” she said. “I just don’t want to start thinking about how many I got to do, just rather go and do it.”

Later she said she cleans 75 bathrooms in four days during weekdays. “Every dorm has about two maids, sometimes if one doesn’t show up you got twice the work.”

On Saturdays she drives about four miles to get to campus at 8 a.m., sometimes to learn that she’ll be doing all of the work alone. She admits, “Truthfully though I’d rather do my work by myself.”

Patton empties the trash,

disinfects, sweeps and mops in McKay, the security building and Stadium.

“I love my job. They call me a clean freak,” she said, laughing. “I just love the smell of clean, boy it smells good.”

Everyday when working she wears a blue uniform with a white undershirt. Under that, blue gloves, and black pants with black shoes all provided

by UT. “That’s a blessing,” she remarked. She also wears a back brace, “Otherwise my back hurts from bending down and with it I can work up a storm.

“When I was being brought up I used to say I’d never clean anybody’s toilet when I was grown. Be careful what you say,” she said as she flushed down the toilet bowl cleaner, “Because now I love it.”

Students walk by and see her blue uniform and yellow cart. Her eyes widen when she says hello to them while she mops. “I love my students,” she says. “If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have a job. And when I’m not around they say ‘I’ve missed you!’ I see my students more than my family, so they are like my family.”

Patton is a mother of three, two girls and one boy; a grandmother of 14 and a great-grandmother of 15 children, the youngest being 6-month-old twins.

“I don’t get to see them as much as I’d like to,” she said.

“I hope to retire in maybe five years, hopefully, and work with children here [at UT] for a couple hours a week in housekeeping and as a temp cook.”

She lifted her shirt slightly and showed me the back brace she wears to work to keep her back from hurting. She said, “I’m getting old, I’ll be 59 in January.”

Brittany Moulden can be reached at brittany.moulden@ spartans.ut.edu.

3 Honor Council Event Raises Money for American Cancer Society NEWS + FEATURES

THE MINARET | NOVEMBER 10 2011

By SHIVANI KANJI News Editor

On Thursday Nov. 3, the UT Honors Council held the first annual Battle of the Bras. The event took place in the Vaughn courtyard from 7pm-9pm. About 150 students enjoyed food, music, raffle prizes, and a bra fashion show.

Students entered their decorated bra into the competition at $15 for each entry and all proceeds went to the American Cancer Society. By the end of the night, the Honors Council was able to raise $400 for the cause.

Junior Kristine Zambito, Community Service Chairperson to the Honors Council, feels that overall, the event was a success.

“It was all about increasing awareness. I

think that the breast cancer survivor, Janeen Stokes, gave a speech that really impressed upon the crowd how drastically breast cancer alters lives at the personal level. Her words and presence were inspirational.

Our celebrity speaker, Tino Martinez, took time out of his busy schedule to come speak at the Battle of the Bras, signifying the importance of the cause. Also, I've had a lot of people contact me asking how they can get involved in doing honors council community service.”

The Honors Council Community Service Committee, who is dedicated to community service, chose to host the event “to bring students to realize the struggles of breast cancer, and give them a medium through which they could help the cause.

We wanted to be a part of fighting breast

cancer, meanwhile letting people know the mission of the Honors Council, and encourage their participation in community service.”

The winners of the bra decorating competition were split into 6 categories: First place: ‘Everyone Should Show Support’ by Logan Cummings Second place: ‘Breast Cancer... this looks like a job for Superman’ by Chris Boyd Third place: ‘I <3 Boobies’ by Lauren Acri Most attention to detail: ‘Wildcat Pride’

by Nikki Mandi Creativity: ‘Pink Flamingo’ by Santana Manning Funniest: ‘Sigma Phi Epsilon Wonder Bra’ by Brandon Amberger Shivani Kanji can be reached at shivani. kanji@spartans.ut.edu.

Tiffany Corrada/The Minaret

A student models the bra she decorated for the charity event.

Festival: Students Sign Away Free Speech Rights for Food From FESTIVAL, Front Page a junior and an intern at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida. His job was to pass out handheld constitutions and other literature about the rights students have.

“Everyone is signing their rights away and I’m here to give them information about what their rights actually are,” Saintsing said.

It’s just driving the point of all this home.”

Saintsing’s passion for rights also stems from being in the army for six years.

“I know firsthand that people have fought and died for these rights,” he said. “It’s a really good educational experience for everybody I think.”

Dan Reimold, a UT journalism professor, was the chief staff organizer for the FAFFF. He first heard about the event being successful at other schools and decided it would be perfect for UT to try.

“We’re building a journalism program at UT and I am

personally so passionate about getting students excited for journalism,” Reimold said. “This event seemed like the perfect storm: music, food, free shirts and even glitter tattoos and at the foundation of it was a bit of learning about press and free speech.”

Reimold, who is also The Minaret’s adviser, believes that the event was successful in teaching students what their rights are and what can happen if they are taken away.

“It opened their eyes to various freedoms in a way a class could not,” he said, “including by watching the student improv actors being thrown in a fake jail and being told something simple as the clothes they wear might not be an allowable form of expression.”

Christopher agrees that the event was a success for the student attendees. “This was a great, engaging way to show students what losing the First Amendment would be like,” he said. “This is what other people in other countries deal with every day.”

Mia Glatter can be reached at mia.glatter@spartans. ut.edu.

Katie Magruder/The Minaret

A “goon” attempts to contain free expression during the festival.

Student Leader of the Month

By LAUREL SANCHEZ News Reporter

From the Oct. 17 to Oct. 30 reports Happy Halloweed At 12:10 a.m. on Oct. 31, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and alcoholic beverages were found during a room search on the fourth floor of Brevard Hall. The students received a judicial referral.

Would You Like Handcuffs With That?

At 11:57 on Nov. 3, information was referred to UT by the Hillsborough County Sheriff Office of the arrest of a Sodexo employee.

Smells like Teen Spirit At 3:45 a.m. on Nov. 1, an underage student was found in possession of alcoholic beverages and several incense burners and candles on the eighth floor of Urso Hall. The student received a judicial referral.

A Bunch of Bull At 1:23 p.m on Nov. 4, a Red Bull vehicle was impounded and removed from campus.

Motivation to Run Faster At 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 1, a student reported that he was attacked by an unknown person off campus while running. A report was made to the Tampa Police Department.

Stolen Time At 3:50 p.m. on Nov. 2, a student reported the theft of his watch from his room on the third floor of Austin Hall.

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s ….

Miscellaneous Items At 11:07 p.m. on Nov. 5, security responded to a report of miscellaneous items being thrown from an 8th floor window of Brevard Hall. No injuries or damages were reported.

Snitches get Stitches At 7:25 p.m. on Nov. 6, a room search was conducted on the third floor of Vaughn Center based on a Silent Witness Report.

Reports compiled by Channing Hailey

Every month, a University of Tampa student leader is nominated and selected for the Student Leader of the Month (SLOM).

Any student can submit a name of who they believe is a student leader. The President’s Leadership Fellows, comprised of about 100 student leaders, and the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement look to recognize a student in the UT community.

According to the SLOM website, these leaders must have “exemplary leadership traits, go above and beyond to contribute to the UT community, serve as a role model to other students and display a high sense of personal responsibilities and morals.”

All nominees receive recognition for their entries. The winner gets a letter from President Vaughn, an award certificate and the choice to have lunch at Panache with either the Dean of Students or the dean of their college of study. For the month of October, the SLOM was Samantha Pelletier.

Pelletier is a sophomore studying psychology and art with hopes to be an art therapist.

She was nominated for her display of leadership with PEACE. Pelletier works at the PEACE Volunteer Center as a Volunteer Coordinator and also is the president of Spartans in Service. Spartans in Service was formally known as PEACE Club. “Spartans in Service is a student organization made up of members who are actively committed to making our community a better place through volunteer service,” she said, “We also try to educate members as well as others on current social issues in the UT and Tampa community.” Pelletier, along with two other PEACE members, reorganized this club to allow more students looking

to be involved in service. She is involved in planning and organizing service events through these organizations and isn’t afraid to lend a helping hand in taking on additional responsibilities.

Pelletier actively fulfills her leadership role by getting others engaged in the events that they are participating in or getting them to participate. According to the SLOM committee, “She serves as a role model for those around her through her volunteer service, involvement in the UT community, devotion to academics, professionalism and personal areas of life.”

Pelletier believes that a good leader should be “knowledgeable about the task at hand, communicate effectively and be adaptable when faced with new challenges.” She also says that time management and a friendly attitude is important for leaders. “I think taking on Spartans in Service and the job as a PEACE Volunteer Coordinator has given me lots of great leadership experience,” she said. Through this experience, Pelletier says she learned to communicate and engage effectively with her peers. “I try to build a sense of community and friendship within the groups I’m working with,” she said. “I also like to be resource for students whether it involve volunteering, academic, or personal things.”

Know of a student who fulfills their leadership position? Nominate them for Student Leader of the Month. Go to the UT website and do a search for “Student Leader of the Month” to submit a form available the first of every month. The due date for the applications is the last Friday of each month. For November, fill out those applications before Thanksgiving break! Any questions, comments, or concerns, e-mail the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement at studentengagement@ut.edu.

4 NOVEMBER 10 2011 | THE MINARET UT Partnership Brings New Opportunity to Minority Students

By KIRBY JAY News Reporter

The Helios Education Foundation has invested 1.3 million dollars in a new plan called “Student Success Responding to a National Imperative.” Helios and the University of Tampa have worked together to make this possible and hope to increase student success at the university.

The Helios Grant targets students who are studying mathematics, education, technology and science related disciplines. They are mainly full time students who are members of minority groups, from Florida and are usually the first ones in their families to attend college. These

students need additional support, and this grant provides opportunities to them that they never thought possible.

A freshman attending UT who is on the Helios Grant commented on how the grant has impacted her. “The grant provided me with a lot of different options for jobs that I was able to apply and interview for over the summer before starting,” said Heather Lopez, a first year science major. “That gave me assurance that help support myself more than what my parents could provide for me, and give me a structured schedule that would keep me from getting off task with school work.”

Preparing these students for college is not the only goal of the Helios Education Foundation. Paul Luna, the President of the Helios Educations Foundation, in a recent article regarding the Helios Grant, stated, “preparing students for the academic rigor of a college education is only part of the equation.”

A big part of this investment is making sure students stay in college and successfully complete their education.

Since most of these students are the first in their families to attend college, they need the extra help and support to lead them in the right direction.

With increased graduation rates of the cohorts and student engagement in the college experience, the program will succeed. UT’s goal is to increase graduation rates up to 17 percent within the selected population. This program also aims to help the students with academics, interaction with the staff and supporting their campus.

Heather Lopez commented on her interaction with the staff, “I can definitely say that the Helios grant allowed me to meet fellow students and faculty members. My fellow co-workers have been very supportive of me and all have become really great friends.” Students enjoy the exposure and as of now, there are 282 of them that are part of this selected group.

Many investments have been made over the last 15 years to support these students. UT is extremely committed to boosting this program to make this initial cohort the best it can be to give students as many options as possible.

The Helios Grant has made a huge impact and helped students like Heather become who they want to be. “I truly believe that if it was not for this grant, my employer, my co-workers and I would have been very lost here at UT.” Kirby Jay can be reached at kirby.jay@spartans.ut.edu.

Campaign Raises a ‘Red Flag’ about Relationship Violence

By KELLY ST. ONGE News Reporter

Say something! This is the message being sent out by the Red Flag Campaign that encourages students to speak up when they witness a “red flag” or violence in a friend or fellow schoolmate’s dating relationship.

According to the Red Flag Campaign’s website, violence is present in 21 percent of college dating relationships. The Red Flag Campaign is a project created by college students, personnel, and victim advocates to raise awareness of the violence in college relationships.

Gina Campbell is the president of the Red Flag campaign on University of Tampa’s (UT) campus. “Hopefully this will decrease the vast amount of victims who are currently suffering in silence,” she said.

Campbell wanted to put a twist on the Red Flag Campaign and make it more personal to the UT campus. She went to many of the organizations on campus to educate them about the violence that exists in 1 out of 5 college dating relationships.

She got organizations on campus to take pictures holding red flags. “Instead of just signing a pledge I felt that taking a picture holding the red flag was a more

creative way to show support for the campaign,” Campbell said. UT’s campaign launched on February 14, 2011, and has been non-stop ever since. Throughout the spring semester the Red Flag Campaign at UT hosted 2 major events as well as many “tabling events,” to raise awareness of the Red Flag Campaign and help those in violent relationships.

This fall, the Red Flag Campaign continued its efforts with the “Red Flag’s Red Carpet” event. The Red Flag Campaign rolled out a red carpet for students to have their pictures taken, and female students were treated to free pedicures and manicures. At all of their events there is always a positive voice present to talk with the students from UT professors to representatives from the Spring of Tampa Bay, a safe haven for those in violent relationships.

The Red Flag Campaign’s website focuses on all types of violence in relationeships. The violence is not limited to physical abuse, but also includes other types of violence such as mental abuse or complete control of a relationship. Anyone can visit the site for information on a healthy relationship and how to spot a “red flag.” The front page of the site has a picture of a woman with her face covered with a

Price of HoJo repairs adds up From REPAIRS, Front Page tampering with the elevator systems.

A rule has been set into place that no more than 8 people may ride in an elevator at a time.

Last week, a group of 23 tried to fit and caused the elevator to break down on the 7th floor. There is also a $750 fine for students that press the Fire Department Call button without reason.

These problems with UT students at the Howard Johnson return every year, some years worse than others.

“Look at floors like the 14th, that don’t have students on them. All of the floors looked like that before the students got here. And now were are patching holes, some in the same spots

more than once, at least 4 times a week,” said a maintenance supervisor that wished to remain nameless.

“We ask that residents remember that they are responsible for their actions. If other residents come forward with information about incidents, we are able to appropriately address individuals or groups who are responsible for damage,” Adas said.

Any students living at the Howard Johnson that wish to come forward with information about the damages can speak with either RA on their floor and can remain anonymous.

Students can also report information anonymously at commondamage@ ut.edu.

Chelsea Daubar can be reached at chelsea.daubar@spartans.ut.edu.

Samantha Battersby/The Minaret

The Intervarsity student group was one of many that posed with red flags in a campaign to raise awareness of dating violence among college students.

red flag. On the red flag is the statement “He said if I really loved him, I’d have sex with him.”

Campbell made the Red Flag Campaign on the UT campus more personal by making posters with pictures of UT organizations holding red flags, rather than using only the posters provided by the Red Flag Campaign itself.

Campbell has organized a more personal event to wrap up the fall semester.

On November 22, 2011, the Red Flag Campaign on campus will host “Sharing Our Stories” (SOS). Students are invited to share stories related to relationship violence. “There will be sketchers present to sketch images that come to mind while the person is sharing the story,” Campbell said. “We want this to be a beautiful ceremony of hope.”

Kelly St. Onge can be reached at kst. onge@spartans.ut.edu.

Howard Johnson Damage Fees Failure to clean room Failure to return key(s) Furniture damage or missing Internet AP/ antenna Failure to restore furniture back Improper trash deposal Late Departure (after 11 a.m.)

Paint room Patch and paint holes Sand/varnish door Remove stickers Replace window screw(s) or policy cling Replace (1) window pane Replace door Replace blinds Replace (1) ceiling tile Carpet cleaning Replace door peep hole Replace signs or artwork Tampering with fire safety equipment Replace garbage cans and plants Replace floor tiles Replace cabinet/wardrobe doors Vandalism Tampering with elevators

$25 or more $100 lock change +$15 per key Cost of replacement + $100 $289 or more $50 or more $25 per bag $100 each hour $200 or more $100 per wall/area or more $200 $50 or more $50 or more Cost of replacement + $50 Cost of replacement + $100 $100 or more $50 or more $100 $25 $100-$1000 or more $750 or more $500 or more $150 or more Cost of replacement + $50 $250 or more $750 or more

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

THE MINARET | NOVEMBER 10 2011

Diversions

Crossword

by Allan E. Parrish / Will Shortz ©The New York Times Across

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1. Wager 4. Gush 10. Willie of the 1950s-'60s Giants

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14. Israeli submachine gun

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16. ___ vera 17. Atomic energy org.

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18. *Popular Sunshine State vacation destination

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20. Prepare to shoot

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22. Docs

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54

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28 34 39

30. Austrian affirmatives 33. "The Thin Man" pooch 34. Rim

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Week of the

Jake Patterson/The Minaret

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61

28. The "I" of I.M.F.: Abbr.

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25

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10

22

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26. Dartboard, for one

9

19

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23. Stop for the night, as soldiers 25. Daughter's counterpart

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15. Last words of the Pledge of Allegiance

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Picture

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The women’s volleyball team celebrate after winning the SCC this past weekend.

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45 50

53 58

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36. Put (down), as money 38. Theater focal point 40. Select, with "for"

66. U.K. record label

41. Language akin to Urdu

67. Newspaper essay

42. Serious drinker

68. Mascara goes on them

43. Arnaz of "I Love Lucy"

69. King, in old Rome

45. Depression-era migrant 46. "But I heard him exclaim, ___ he drove ..."

47. Take too much of, briefly 49. Objected to 51. Brouhaha 52. Keep just below a boil 54. Not deceitful

11. One of the Baldwin brothers

39. Wore away

12. Toy that might go "around the world"

48. ___ fin

13. Period in Cong.

Down 1. Part of a suicide squeeze 2. Poet Pound 3. *Material for an oldfashioned parade

19. Coach Rupp of college basketball

6. Erich who wrote "The Art of Loving"

55. Breakfast restaurant letters

29. Basketball rim attachments

61. *Like players below the B team

8. Slender 9. Firstborn

31. Actress MacDowell

63. "This means ___!"

10. "___ Whoopee!"

(1920s hit)

32. Schussed, e.g.

64. Sets of points, in math

7. Bygone Mideast inits.

65. "Relax, soldier!"

53. N.B.A. coach Thomas

24. *Sties

30. Location for the ends of the answers to the four starred clues

58. Deck covering to keep out moisture

51. Pungent 54. Normandy town

27. Fur trader John Jacob ___

5. Decorate with leaves

50. Representations

21. Take on 26. One of the five senses

4. Wipe off

44. Really, really big

56. "Good shot!"

57. Kett of old comics 59. Designate 60. Cereal whose ads feature a "silly rabbit" 62. ___ ipsa loquitur

35. Dumbbell 37. Hampton of jazz fame

Horoscopes

By Linda C Black / Tribune Media Services

The Weekend Update Composer Festival

Oxfam Hunger Banquet

p.m. - 9 p.m.

Where: Fletcher Lounge What: Renowned composer and conductor Mark Sforzini, the executive and artistic director of the St. Petersburg Opera Company, will be the featured guest at the fourth annual composer festival presented by the Department of Music at The University of Tampa. Sforzini will be on hand to present his music and conduct a faculty chamber ensemble.

Admission: Free

p.m.

Where: Grand Salon What: Join us in a discussion of the unequal distribution of food and resources in today’s world as well as in our own neighborhood for Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.

Admission: Free

When: Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 7:30

Extreme Bingo

When: Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, 9:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m.

Where: Vaughn Lobby What: This isn’t your Grandmother’s Bingo... this is EXTREME Bingo!

Come to Vaughn Lobby Friday night for the chance to win AWESOME prizes. Enjoy free food and other giveaways at the event!

Admission: Free

When: Monday, Nov. 14, 2011 6 - 7:30

Night Without A Home When: Friday, Nov. 11, 7p.m. -

Saturday, Nov. 12, 7 a.m.

Where: Vaughn Courtyard What: An opportunity for students to spend a night outside to learn about, discuss and reflect on homelessness.

Students will be educated through a variety of activities including a panel of homeless and formerly homeless speakers and a documentary about homelessness in Hillsborough County.

Admission: Free

Aries (March 21-April 19) There’s passion in the air today. It could be an artistic awakening, calling you to create. Or it might be a more personal connection. Words come easily. Indulge it.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) You may not like to admit it, but you could be avoiding responsibility somewhere. Check what your true commitments are. Prioritize those. Reschedule the rest.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Don’t hold back. You have no trouble getting the message across. Express your deepest feelings. Leave your money in the bank. You won’t need it anyway.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) It’s a good time to ask for money. How’s that marketing campaign going? Express the value.

Get very clear about it. Do it all for love.

Gemini (May 21-June 21) Be careful what you wish for. Others want to do what you ask. Now’s a good time to consult with your partner. Someone’s sharing kindness. Spread it around.

Cancer (June 22-July 22) Stop putting it off, and get what you need for your home! You’ve been making do, and it’s time to break down and get it. Direct action is called for.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) Send support to someone on the front lines today.

Even simple words of encouragement go a long way. Whatever the battle, let them know you’re on their side.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Listen to your core values. There could be a big change at home. The money will come for what you need. Let your community know, and get in action.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Let go of a pre-supposition, and abandon yourself to romance. What if you had no idea how it was going to be? Embrace the mystery. Discover harmony.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Love is in the air (and not only in a romantic way).

Bring passion and creativity to your work, and to your play. What you have to say is important.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) A new collaboration with a family member is possible, even if it requires some time to work things out. Set up a long-term plan. Words come easily now. Write a love letter.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) Your finances are on the upswing. If you play the game and choose your next moves well, you could also move ahead in love, through open and clear communication.

6 NOVEMBER 10 2011 | THE MINARET

Arts + Entertainment

A Student’s Best Friend: Woof Stress Away

By AMANDA SIERADZKI Arts + Entertainment Editor

Gatsby, a black retriever-mix, is lapping up all kinds of attention in his cherry red bandana. He frolics around an open lounge at Indiana University with friends Kodiac, the long-haired husky, and Maddie, the brown, white, and tan bespeckled coonhound mix.

A constant stream of students throw backpacks aside as they enter the echoing space filled with barks and squeals.

Undergrads chill on the tile floor giving dogs belly rubs, while others watch giggleworthy puppy horseplay between a tiny yorkshire terrier and Freia, a colossal mastiff mix.

Colleges these days seem to be going to the dogs.

For IU graduate students Courtney Wennerstrom and Karalyn KendellMorwick, that’s the way they like it. They started animal advocacy group Revitalizing Animal Well-Being, or RAW, and it’s program Furry Finals Fix (FFF) at IU in 2006 after seeing that undergrads were suffering from a little recognized affliction: pet-homesickness.

It’s not just undergrads’ lack of interaction with animals that bother them, it’s the fact that a viable source of stress relief is being ignored by universities.

Dr. Kathleen Adamle, a professor of nursing at Kent State University, would whole-heartedly agree. She started Dogs on Campus in 2004, and it’s the only university-sanctioned program in the country that allows students and dogs to interact for therapeutic purposes.

ThE buzzword is pet therapy. According to the Delta Society, the non-profit organization that provides volunteer pets and people to Dr. Adamle’s program, pet therapy is “advancing human health and well-being through positive interactions with animals.”

]

refreshed and ready to study again,” Banas said.

Though IU and Kent State are separated by hundreds of miles, Dogs on Campus’ beginnings started very similarly to RAW’s. Dr. Adamle, and graduate students Wennerstrom and Kendell-Morwick were met with the same reactions from homesick students when they walked their dogs on campus. Dr. Adamle would get stopped every few feet by students wanting to pet her golden retrievers, while Wennerstrom and Kendell-Morwick’s husky, retriever, and coonhound received just as much love and attention from IU undergrads.

Thus, their respective programs came to fruition out of student need.

“As a researcher, it just was blatant to me that there’s something missing for students, especially freshmen coming into a college campus,” said Dr. Adamle. “They can have their parents visit, they can meet new friends, but there’s still something missing from their social life and that is their pet.”

In 2009, Dr. Adamle and her colleague, Director of Undergraduate BSN programs Tracey Carlson, published their research in the American Journal of College Health showing that out of 246 college freshmen, students said they were consoled 90 percent of the time by their pets during stressful times. Only 41 percent knew about pet therapy, but an overwhelming 96 percent expressed interest in having a pet therapy program.

Kent State departments like Residence Life simply have to have a closed-in space before they can call Dogs on Campus volunteers to schedule a pet therapy appointment. One of the 15 available dogs will arrive and carry out their laborious assignment: playing, rolling on the floor, and jumping on couches with the students who flock to these programs searching for a release; sometimes wearing nothing but their flip-flops and pajamas.

Photo Courtesy of Karalyn Kendell-MorwickThe Minaret

A student surrounds herself with puppy love in order to rid herself of college stress.

moment and mentally and emotionally recharge,” said Kendell-Morwick. “I know how much walking or playing with my pets can help ease my own stress and remind me of what really matters, so I wanted to bring that same feeling to IU students.”

The program was eventually banned from IU residence halls by the director of Residential Programs and Services due to possible damage and allergy concerns.

When Banas attended FFF, it was held outside on the school’s tennis courts. They didn’t stay there long however, since dogs were constrained by tangling leashes and foot-pads were ripped bloody by the courts’ rough surface.

Current president and student, Beth Reinke says that RAW is trying to get the FFF program back by finding a spot on campus where the administration will allow the dogs to go off-leash.

Similarly to IU, a Whittier College student was also met with opposition from administration against pet therapy. The program proposed by Claire Thomas called Poet Pups would’ve installed a permanent pet therapy dog in residence halls.

According to Quaker Campus, the student newspaper, the program was rejected by Dean of Students Jeanne Ortiz for being too risky considering allergies, possible building damage, and space.

Unlike Ortiz, the new Dean of Wellness at the University of Tampa, Gina Firth, believes that programs like Dogs on Campus or Furry Finals Fix could be the solution for stressed-out students. “One of the key issues that we have on our campus right now is excessive stress,” said Firth.

“I am always open to finding new and innovative ways to help students de-stress.”

]

It’s not just undergrads’ lack of interaction with animals that bother [RAW], it’s the fact that a viable source of stress relief is being ignored by universities.

The University of Wisconsin started their own permanent pet therapy program in Fall 2010 as a part of their counseling center on campus. According to uwosh. edu, the counseling sessions help student victims of trauma or tragedy. Dr. Adamle’s program however, addresses a very different student need: “Why do you have to be sick or why does something bad have to happen for you to enjoy pet therapy?”

Kathryn Banas, an IU graduate, attended FFF in 2007. She was feeling overwhelmed by freshman year, being far from her family, and having a heavier workload. After attending the programs, she became involved with RAW first as treasurer and then president.

“I never really thought of it as ‘pet therapy’ but that’s exactly what it was. Dogs have a very calming effect, and after being at FFF, it was like my batteries had been recharged and I felt

Karalyn Kendell-Morwick/Special to the Minaret

“Everyone is catching on to this,” said Dr. Adamle. “I had 65 emails from different universities who said they all wanted to start a program.”

Yale Law Library experimented with a three-day pilot pet therapy program in April 2011 where Monty the border-terrier mix greeted swamped graduate students.

However, Yale hasn’t been the only school to catch onto the cuddly craze.

Rutgers University, the University of Scranton, Wesleyan University, Whitman College and Temple University have all jumped on the Fido wagon by holding programs with everything from “Woof therapy” to “Canines on Campus.”

According to these university’s websites, an influx in these types of programs started in Spring 2011 and don’t seem to be slowing down.

“Being around animals, dogs in particular, can really help you be in the

UT students interviewed reached a consensus; if their campus were to have programs similar to FFF, they would absolutely sign up. Senior KC Shaffer said she’d be a happier person if dogs were around campus. She misses her border terriers Darby and Clancy. “Me and Clancy watch TV together. It’s always Animal Planet, because he gets mad when it isn’t.

He’ll literally step on the remote control until I change the channel.”

Sophomore Cody Eskew requires his family to text him pictures of shitzus Chloe and Peanut at least once a week whether they’re getting a bath or eating table scraps.

He pulls out his phone like a proud papa showing off the white and caramel fluff balls. “I miss my dogs so much,” he says, “It makes me happy to see them.”

Though Banas is no longer an undergraduate at IU, she still feels that dogs play a big role in everyone’s lives, college students especially.

“My dog, Lizzy [a black lab and border collie mix], is usually fairly wild and energetic, but somehow, when one of her ‘family members’ is upset about anything, she is extremely calm and will just sit by you for hours. It is very calming and a good reminder of how linked we are with animals.” KendellMorwick believes that FFF served students in a way that some universities still might not fully understand. To some, the scene in the lounge looks a lot like doggy mayhem with all the scampering and pandemonium, but to students, these pet therapy programs make a world of difference for their psyche.

“The point is they have a dog at home, or a pet,” says Dr. Adamle. “I’m filling that gap while they’re on campus.”

Amanda Sieradzki can be reached at minaret.arts@gmail.com.

THE MINARET | NOVEMBER 10 2011

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

7

DIY: Eat Your Heart Out This Thanksgiving By Being Mindful

By TARA TEMKAR

Arts + Entertainment Writer

It’s almost Thanksgiving, which means the biggest feast of the year is about to go down. Thanksgiving Day, which originally started out as a feast to celebrate the good harvest of crops between the

Native Americans and the English settlers, is the best excuse to pig out and not feel guilty.

It’s also a great excuse to not have school for at least five days.

After all, it’s about giving thanks for having a cornucopia of food, so stuffing yourself with plenty of

turkey is the best way to get into the festive spirit.

Now usually when I think of Thanksgiving, I think about a long table with a huge turkey in the middle, and loads of food on either side of it. And then I think about how badly I want to eat it. When

Tips for Mindful Eating 1. Focus on the food in your mouth, not on your plate 2. Be aware of food’s taste, texture and smell 3. Eat smaller portions 4. Chew slowly

Tara Temkar/The Minaret

This Thanksgiving, try mindful eating, which is chewing food at a slow and thoughtful pace. Your digestive system will thank you.

actual Thanksgiving Day comes, I have the urge to stuff all the food in my mouth, but I have to stop myself because I know I’ll have a terrible stomach ache later. My dad always uses a technique which he eats called mindful eating.

It’s supposedly better for your health because when you eat smaller portions slowly, only a small amount of food is going into your stomach, and you get to savor the taste.

This technique allegedly helps lower stress, and can even help you lose weight. According to tcme.org, which is The Center for Mindful Eating’s official website, mindful eating has “the powerful potential to transform people’s relationship to food and eating, to improve overall health, body image, relationships and selfesteem.” All you have to do focus on the food in your mouth by eating it slowly.

According to zenhabits.com, eating slowly has many health benefits. When you eat slowly, you consume less calories. It takes 20 minutes for us to realize that we are full, so eating slowly can help us reach that point.

Eating fast can cause us to overeat, and we may end up eating past our full point. This goes for any food that we eat. Of course eating healthier foods is better for our bodies nutritionally, but eating anything slowly can help us lose weight. Also, you have to factor in exercise, otherwise you may just end up putting on more weight instead of losing it.

As you eat slowly, you tend to savor your food more, so you enjoy the experience of eating more. By paying close attention to the texture and the flavor of the food in your mouth, you “cultivate the possibility of freeing yourself of reactive, habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and acting (tcme. com).” Basically, you release

yourself from your normal habit of hastily eating all of your meals, especially when you’re under many stressful conditions.

Chewing slowly is great for the digestive process. By chewing your food thoroughly, it makes the food easier to pass through your stomach.

The digestion of starches and fats starts in the mouth.

The breaking down of the food particles will now be easier for your stomach to handle since they’ve already been partially broken down by your saliva, and the small particles will easily pass through the intestines. This is a nice technique to use to avoid those embarrassing gassy moments.

The final reason why mindful eating is so powerful is because it helps lowers stress. My father has a very stressful job, and by eating mindfully, he is able to fully relax and enjoy himself.

In a way, it’s sort of like meditation, but you’re eating instead of chanting with your eyes closed. Being in the moment of enjoying your meal can help you relax more, rather than rushing through it.

So be sure take some time to enjoy your Thanksgiving feast rather than stuffing your face with everything you see. You’ll enjoy your weekend more without that painful stomach ache.

Tara Temkar can be reached at taratemkar.minaret@gmail.com.

Kim Kardashian Was Married?

How Kim Sent Me On A Psychological Rampage

By MIKEY ANGELO RUMORE Arts + Entertainment Columnist

My editors here at The Minaret wanted to hear my take on the whole Kim Kardashian/Kris Humphries divorce thing, probably hoping I’d say something irreverent, as I am wont to do. “Can you believe it?” I heard. “Her marriage only lasted 72 days!” Another editor told me that #ThingsLongerThanKimsMarriage was trending on Twitter. And, finding myself thoroughly confused, I replied, “Wait, Kim Kardashian was married?”

People around the office were shocked to hear me say this. Don’t you remember?

Then, my memory slowly returned. I began to recall images of a Kardashian marriage.

Then memories of media hype followed. As my recollection became more vivid, I came to a startling conclusion. I cared so little about Kim Kardashian’s wedding that my mind literally rejected it. I thought about asking around for a good psychiatrist.

Instead, I scoured Wikipedia. The entry for “Denial” shed some important light onto my celebrity-induced amnesia: “Denial (also called abnegation) is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead.” Yes. It explained so much. I wasn’t as oblivious to the Kardashian wedding as I had thought. The mere fact that people cared so deeply about an obviously superficial celebrity wedding felt so offensive that my mind suppressed it.

But, now, thanks to Wikipedia, I could see through my ego’s dirty tricks. In truth, however, I wished I couldn’t. All of the awful celebrity culture I had kept hidden

from myself suddenly became lucid. Charlie Sheen started “winning” in my cerebral cortex. Lindsey Lohan snorted cocaine off my occipital lobe. Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie all made appearances at various places around my cerebellum. It was all a bit much for my mind to take. If only my Minaret editors would have kept their mouths shut.

Hoping to get these awful celebrities out of my head, I tried to work on a paper for my World Literature class, to no avail. Instead of typing about great literary figures, as I intended, my fingers involuntarily produced sentences about the Britney Spears and Bethenny Frankels of the world. I found myself writing sentences like: “Can you believe what Sharon Stone wore to the Oscars?” or “So HOT? I think so NOT!” Mentally paralyzed, I figured it was time to see that psychiatrist about re-repressing my knowledge of celebrity culture. So I called a doctor and told his secretary over the phone about my mental emergency.

“You better come in right away,” she said.

The doctor looked strangely like Sigmund Freud himself, with the white beard and round spectacles. He even smoked a fat cigar, which I found odd but didn’t say anything because one just doesn’t question a doctor like that. The smell of tobacco and persian rugs filled his dimly-lit office. “Tell me how you’re feeling,” the doctor said.

“It’s just,” I said, “I write for a school newspaper, and my editor asked me write about Kim Kardashian’s divorce. I found that I had repressed the memory, along with most other knowledge of celebrity-

tabloid culture. Now, it’s all flooding back.

I’m being driven to utter madness. Why do people care so much about misbehaving celebrities? Don’t people realize that their attention encourages the behavior? Don’t they feel disgustingly voyeuristic, like I do? Don’t they understand that this tabloid stuff, because of its popularity, works its way into real news and degrades it? Am I the only one that sees this?” I let out an anguished wail.

“Christ,” said the doctor. “It’s worse than I thought.” He took an otoscope from a drawer and walked over to examine my ears. He stared into the instrument intently as if scoping out my brain. “I’m going to have to commit you,” he added.

I wasn’t about to get roped into some One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest-type thing. I hadn’t the time; after all, this Minaret article was still unwritten, and I’m not one to miss deadlines. I darted for the door, but the doctor tackled me and yelled, “We’ve got a runner!” Three finelysculpted young men burst in. Two of them held my arms down and the third said, “Relax,” while he gave my neck a shot of something. Soon, I was out cold.

I’m writing from solitary confinement now. The food’s great (I think Sodexo caters this place, too) and the drugs are even better.

They don’t allow me tabloids here. It’s for my own good, they say. I’m supposed to be going in for a brain-scooping soon, and then my celeb-ridden knowledge will be gone. The procedure may have enormous consequences for the future of this column, but we’ll see. For now, a quote from fiction writer Denis Johnson keeps coming back to me: “You, you ridiculous people, you

expect me to help you.”

Mikey Angelo Rumore can be reached at michaelangelorumore@gmail.com.

Gage Skidmore/flickr.com

Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries notoriously married and divorced in 72 days.

Should we waste our time caring?

8 NOVEMBER 10 2011 | THE MINARET

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Female College Students Channel Coco Chanel

By KATELYN EDWARDS

Arts + Entertainment Columnist

“In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different,” Chanel said. And yet, everywhere that there is the English alphabet, one is bound to see the iconic interlocking C’s, stamped upon a Chanel purse or necklace, strolling through the grocery store or across a bustling street.

Chanel has become something ordinary and conventional, rather than extraordinary.

In today’s sartorial age, all women – be it an adolescent with braces or a CEO with wrinkles- aspire to embody Chanel’s characteristic essence of simple luxury. This past year, the Chanel dynasty amassed a net income of approximately $280 million, presumably with the help of women and their attempts to emulate the fashion house’s iconic Coco.

Notorious for her outspoken nature, menswear-inspired designs and luxurious simplicity, Coco Chanel was – and still is-- the archetypal modern woman. The cropped bob and red lipstick of Chanel in the 20s is relevant and often emulated today. Chanel’s classic little black dress and pearls have been worn to the Emmy’s more times than Coco had lovers. Each day, her trademark suit is donned like armor by powerful women across continents, just as it was 90 years ago.

In the early 1900s, Chanel, a failed coffee house singer, was taken under the wing of a young, French textiles heir, Etienne Balsan, who encouraged her to take her first fashion steps as a hat maker. In 1910, she opened an eponymous boutique at 21 rue Cambon, Paris. Named Chanel Modes, the boutique was made popular by the luxurious comfort of her jersey blazers.

In 1925, she introduced the now legendary Chanel suit: a collarless, boxy jacket paired with a trim, knee-length skirt,

shorter and much more liberating than the stricter prevailing fashions of the time.

Chanel’s pieces accentuated the female frame, rather than contorting the body like a corset. She was also the first to reinterpret the use of black, previously ordained as a color of mourning, with her iconic “little black dresses.”

Borrowing elements of menswear and emphasizing comfort over the constraints of a corset, Chanel was the harbinger of a new sartorial age, and, thus, her popularity has flourished across seas and generations.

Presently, the Chanel brand is seated as one of the crown jewels of the fashion industry, most notably for its tweed suits and luxury handbags. Clothing aside, Chanel has also ornamented its repertoire with the addition of skincare and make-up products to already booming jewelry and perfume industries. Whether the product is fake or genuine, Chanel’s influence spans cultural, social, and economic divides.

Chanel has essentially become the CocaCola of the fashion world.

However, now that Coco Chanel has become a fashion staple, she also has become conventional. Women don a Chanel suit and some red lipstick and believe they are the a modern day Coco. They fail to realize that the essence of Chanel was not captured through what she wore, but rather, through her extraordinary sense of style.

To don Chanel’s quintessential little black dress now as she did in 1926, festooned in pearls and costume jewelry, would be foolish: that fashion has since faded.

Following her decree that “fashion passes, style remains,” the originality of Coco Chanel’s trademark pieces has since passed, and yet, her style is still worth emulating. Instead of being sartorial outliers, the fashions of Coco Chanel have become traditions to be reinterpreted. It is imperative to own at least one little black

dress, but reinterpret it as Chanel would today, not in the 20s. Pearls are always a luxurious companion to an evening gown, but they can also befriend a casual v-neck. Instead of only emerging in the nocturnal hours, red lipstick can be worn during the day, with yoga pants, or a Chanel business suit.

In order to channel Chanel’s sense of style, maturity is essential. The mistake most women make is to believe that one is ready for Chanel too soon. To embody Chanel’s sense of casual luxury and daring originality takes years to perfect. Teenage girls parading about with a Chanel handbag in one hand and a bedazzled iPhone in the other fail to understand the beliefs behind the brand, the ideals regarding refinement and luxury. Young people often view Chanel as a stamp of the wealth and class they aspire to emulate, rather than a much larger ideal regarding personal awareness, nonconformity and style.

Each Chanel purchase should be a milestone for the life of a woman’s wardrobe. It is now an expectation to own a quilted Chanel shopper when one is wealthy enough to purchase it, but also wise enough to understand the sartorial tradition the Chanel logo entails. The interlocking C’s are a testament to an outspoken Parisian who smoked and wore men’s clothing with sex appeal.

In 1971, Coco left behind a legacy that sparked a sartorial revolution. Now, the brand Chanel reinvents itself each spring and fall, under the watchful eye of Karl Lagerfeld, forever reinterpreting Coco’s tradition. For Chanel represents more than a woman in history, she represents the ideal of a modern woman, a woman we so desperately seek to channel.

Katelyn Edwards can be reached at katelyn.edwards@spartans.ut.edu.

teadrinker/flickr.com

colros/flickr.com

Coco Chanel’s designs originally started a fashion movement, but now they are considered fashion staples in the 2000s.

Paninoteca Offers Delicious Mediterranean Sandwiches Close to Campus

By MELISSA SANTELL Arts + Entertainment Writer

Faultlessly uneven cobble stone streets pave the yellow brick road to those seeking a Mediterranean culinary refuge. Thriving on the busiest corner of downtown Tampa at 519 N. Franklin St., wandering city dwellers are allured by the aroma of fresh baked bread and homemade baklava trickling from Paninoteca.

As you approach the entrance, swing symphonies of Frank Sinatra’s greatest hits introduce you to this small café with a big metropolitan attitude. Known for its booming lunch business, Paninoteca recently tweaked its menu and attained a beer and wine license in hopes of attracting a dinner crowd. Treat yourself and order a bottle of vino for the table, the selection is vast.

Modern spherical IKEA lamps hang from the ceiling dancing in the reflection of the sleek black granite counter and glimmering sea foam green tiled columns.

Wine racks line the corridor of the kitchen that was once visible to customers, setting a more elegant tone.

The bright pink chalk on the specials board invites you to try something new and you’re ready to dig in. Don’t forget to request outside seating if you’re a hookah smoker, they have a wide variety of flavors.

Tapas plates of spanakopita, a Greek signature consisting of baked phyllo dough layered with spinach and feta cheese, and classic bruschetta, both priced at $7, are popular choices for starters. Everyone knows appetizers taste better when they’re shared, so be sure to score a dip for the table.

The taste and smooth consistency of the hummus garnished with a drizzle of authentic olive oil could possibly be the best $5.50 I’ve ever spent.

Of course, if you’re craving something new and more substantial there’s always

the roasted garlic and Greek feta spread.

Accentuating the menu, heaping portions of salads, sandwiches and wraps will never leave you hungry.

Italian bread baked in-house guarantees a fresh bite in every panino,

Melissa Santell/The Minaret

Paninoteca, a Mediterranean restaurant on Franklin St. in downtown Tampa, has many different traditional dishes such as pita chips and Caprese sandwiches. Unfortunately, the customer service does not match up with the quality of the food.

but tastes better untoasted. Buffalo mozzarella, tomato, salami and fresh basil, smothered in pesto aioli and topped with olive tapenade make up the traditional Caprese sandwich with a Paninoteca twist.

Don’t leave your appetite at home for this $7.50 meal, served with a mixed green side salad. Tap into your Italian senses and substitute salami for prosciutto, drycured ham with a fierce salty boldness.

The rustic flavors of the herb roasted lamb pita speak for themselves while the tender meat melts in your mouth.

Accented with a tzatziki yogurt sauce and finished with a dash of mint, ripe sliced tomatoes, mixed greens and onions, this $7.50 purchase will take your taste buds to their happy place.

Lamb Chop might have been your favorite childhood sock puppet, but don’t let that encourage you to make a regrettable dining decision.

Unfortunately, the customer service does not compliment the respectable food quality. It’s no secret that business hours peak during lunch for this tiny café, but the sense of urgency to flip tables weighs heavily on customers. Come in after 2 p.m. on a weekday if you want to relax, otherwise prepare to be rushed.

Open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily and conveniently in walking distance from the University of Tampa, this establishment is a must-try for students with Mediterranean pallets.

Switch up your normal weekend routine, try 2-4-1 Sangria Sundays and jam out with house DJ James Webb all day long at Paninoteca.

Melissa Santell can be reached at msantell@spartans.ut.edu.

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

THE MINARET | NOVEMBER 10 2011

9

Tyler, The Creator’s Concert Grungy, Yet Entertaining

By JENNIFER BEDELL Lead Copy Editor

I’m a hip hop fan myself, but I hadn’t given Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA) much of a chance despite recognizing the name.

The group consists of Tyler, The Creator (main man), Earl Sweatshirt, MellowHype, Hodgy Beats, Left Brain, Mike G, Domo Genesis, Frank Ocean, Syd the Kyd, Jasper Dolphin, Taco Bennett and Super3.

The alternative hip hop collective roots from Los Angeles, CA., and has been stirring debate with fans and critics involving their use of topics such as rape and murder.

Despite that, Tyler has gained recognition and was the winner of MTV’s Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 2011. The group grabs attention as soon as their mouths reach the mic. Tyler’s song, “Yonkers,” begins with, “I’m a f***** walkin paradox, no I’m not, threesomes with a f***** triceratops, Reptar.”

A few of my friends had tickets to Odd Future’s concert on Tuesday, Nov. 1, and let me tag along, (for free- thanks Becky!)

I wanted to see what these guys were all about and what kind of fans lurked around the Ritz in Ybor City hours before the doors opened.

We arrived at the venue at about 4 p.m. when the Ritz’s doors were set to open at 7 p.m. Perched near the main doors I found Danelle G., 16, who seemed oddly young to be allowed at this type of concert, as Tyler’s music can be considered somewhat satanic as he dons an upside down cross on his forehead on his Goblin album cover.

“I heard there’s going to be a lot of mosh pits, what you would see at a rock concert and people getting punched in the face.” Her accomplice to the concert went by his alias, Based God, 17, and he reassured me that everyone was going to have a good time.

My nerves began to rise. I knew little about Tyler, but I wasn’t exactly stoked to get punched in the face or spit on. Chances are, I would have held my own, but I was anxious for the concert to start and see what all the hype was about.

I didn’t exactly know what to expect as far as what type of fans he would have, but I came to find that it was a generalized group of hipsters who appreciate rap. In line, there was a huge variety of cultures, ages, ethnicities and types of Vans. Bright t-shirts with patterns of cats and upsidedown crosses swarmed 7th Street.

When the Ritz released posters, stickers and other OFWGKTA merchandise around 6 p.m., a flood of fans ran over to get them.

Within a minute, everything was gone.

Some guys began scaling stop signs and street signs to slap the stickers on there, marking their visit.

“He just doesn’t care. He raps for himself, and I can respect that,” said Spencer Johnson, 20, filling me in on what he thinks Tyler, The Creator has to offer the rap community. “Tyler just [raps] from the inside, not the outside.” Johnson used a black Sharpie to mark OFWGKTA complemented with an upside down cross on the tops of his blue Vans.

By 7 p.m., the crowd was shoving to get into the venue first as they began to chant and get restless. The Ritz’s security guards had to start yelling at the mob to get them to calm down and stop pre-moshing outside. One guard had to warn, “If you guys don’t stop shoving, I will stop the line dead.”

Needless to say, some couldn’t resist letting their excitement take over. We finally made it in the venue around 7:45 p.m. The main floor area to the stage had

Album Artwork

black and white tiled floors with a vintage feel. I enjoyed my $8 beer while I watched the crowd pour in, and act polite while passing. I spotted more scene and hipster kids sporting hats with the brims pointed up, bandanas, plaid and yes, more Vans.

It was past 9 p.m. by the time OFWGKTA came on stage and within five minutes of raging, there was a full-crowd mosh pit that left me in the middle of some guy’s arm pit and another guy’s elbow. It reeked of sweat, B.O. and a little blood.

I survived the mosh pit for probably 1520 minutes before I couldn’t squeeze out one more drop of sweat. Also, I couldn’t tolerate the guy behind me who seemed to be taking advantage of the “shoving” against my back side.

I escaped safely and remained by the bar and standing-area that overlooked the mosh pit I had been in, while still having a great view of the stage.

I talked to Shane O’Neill, a bartender at the Ritz, 26, who said, “There are a lot of younger people. The mosh pits are pretty typical; we have a lot of alternative music so this is actually mild. Usually people are leaving with bloody faces. I’ve never heard of [OFWGTKA], but they’re not very good live.”

Tyler stomped and marched around with swag as if he had built the stage with his own hands. He had true stage presence as he connected with his fans who were chanting “Wolf Gang,” “Golf Wang” or “Odd Future.”

The combination of loud, vulgar, honest rap and great beats that sounded somewhat horror movie-esque erupted through the Ritz. I could literally feel the beats traveling through my right ear and out of my left as if it was carving some sort of pattern through my head.

His alternative form of rapping is more in-your-face than Jay-Z or even Kanye could pull off.

Tyler spits a lot of random fiction lyrics that involves dissing other artists, mentioning that he can’t stand what they rap or sing about. He then stands up for his crew, OFWGKTA and what they stand for - harsh words paired with incomparable originality. Listening to his lyrics, he leans towards language that even offended me a couple times (which is pretty impressive).

Despite that, I am able to appreciate his music for what it is, art and controversy.

Tyler goes along with the stereotypes that are slapped on his music and himself. In his song, “Goblin,” he clears up any question of whether he is satanic or the devil, “The devil doesn’t wear Prada, I’m clearly in a f***** white T.” OFWGKTA provided an experience, however, not everyone was impressed by. “I heard [Tyler’s] record and that was OK. So I came to hear it live and I was thoroughly disappointed. I came all because of this song, [“Yonkers”]. said Jamie Stewart, 32. “There are too many other people on stage with a microphone drowning out the reason [Tyler] we’re all here.”

Tyler’s passion for his lyrics was clear

Rebecca Petoello/The Minaret

Above: Tyler, The Creator pumps up the moshpit-ready crowd with shirt off and abs out.

Below: Tyler and his rap group, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, fulfill their concerts’ reputation of being rowdy and unexpected.

]

]

“He just doesn’t care. He raps for himself, and I can respect that. Tyler just [raps] from the inside, not the outside.”

when he was speaking out to the audience, “Have you ever sat down and really listened to the lyrics of that song [“B**** Suck D***”]? That happens to be the dumbest s*** I’ve ever written and the sickest s*** I’ve ever written about life,” Tyler said during the concert.

An artist who reflects on their own music and speaks out to their fans about the journey or point of a record is one who should be appreciated.

“That s***’s crazy. I really don’t listen to his music but after this concert, I will,” said Paul Bryant, 18. “It was very crazy but still good music … It’s like he’s from another planet.”

While the venue may have smelled like a sweat-soaked gym, Tyler and his crew’s

-Spencer Johnson

swag was impressive. They all stressed that you just need to listen to their lyrics and try to understand them rather than judge them.

They described their music as what they truly feel and think. My advice, check out Tyler, The Creator and the rest of the guys from OFWGKTA and judge for yourself.

I probably won’t be involved in any more mosh pits at their concerts but you may spot me cruising down Kennedy with my windows down listening to OFWGKTA’s vulgar, alternative form of rap.

I was able to explore a new form of hip hop that opened up my views on music in general. I guess Based God was right after all.

Jennifer Bedell can be reached at 1jennifer.bedell@gmail.com.

10 NOVEMBER 10 2011 | THE MINARET

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THE MINARET | NOVEMBER 10 2011

Opinion

11

Patent War Between Companies Has Become an Industry

By ALEX CARABALLO Columnist

The patent war has been brewing for years and has recently hit a boiling point.

In September, a German court sided with Apple and banned the sale of all Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablets in Germany citing patent infringement on the part of Samsung.

The patent in question was for a rounded, rectangular and minimalist tablet that was around 10 inches in size.

Germany is not the only country in which these courtroom battles are taking place. The Galaxy Tab was also banned in Australia in October and Samsung is fighting back by trying to get the iPhone banned in South Korea. The lawsuits between Samsung and Apple have escalated into a full-blown war.

The tablet market isn’t the only tech field facing large legal battles.

Every tech company is being faced with the threat of patent infringing lawsuits, so much so that Google essentially purchased Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion just for its patent portfolio.

That is a serious amount of money just to protect themselves from future lawsuits against the Android platform. That money could have been used instead to invest in a plethora of new ideas or inventions.

It doesn’t end there; Microsoft receives a licensing fee for every Android device sold even though the company had nothing to do with the inception or manufacturing of the Android platform.

How did we get to a point where companies are earning revenue for products they did not create? Why are products being taken off store shelves based on flimsy patents?

The patent process has always been a way to benefit society. It lets inventors share their ideas while also protecting those inventors from having their ideas stolen.

This patent process is considered so essential that the United States Patent and Trademark Office is an explicit power given

to the federal government by the Constitution.

The United States Patent Office is part of the problem.

The problem we are now facing essentially breaks down to a broken patenting and enforcement system.

This is due to a severely underfunded and understaffed United States Patent Office.

On an annual basis the USPTO receives over 450,000 patent applications and currently has a backlog of over a million patent applications.

What’s worse is that there are only 9,500 employees to handle the entire application process and the office is only funded through the application fees it collects. This has led to sean551/ Photobucket thousands of useless or abstract patents being approved due Should companies be allowed to create a monopoly on generic technology such as tablets? to the inability to effectively evaluate patent applications.

Many patents are duplicated in nature or claims the defendants are infringing on The patent system was not designed aren’t original ideas, such as the patent for Innovatio’s patents. T to accommodate hardware and software the slide to unlock feature used by Apple in he patent rights in question were only manufacturers. Software patents are their iPhone. purchased by Innovatio in February of this especially difficult because they are a This idea was not invented by Apple and year and pertain to overly broad patents written language like a book or newspaper had been used two years before the iPhone dealing with technical terms for wireless article but cannot patent a written work. came out after a previous competitor transmission of data.

That is what copyright is for. had been running a version of Windows Patent trolls such as Innovatio use these The patent process was conceived to Mobile. overly broad patents to sue legitimate spur innovation and now it seems to be Despite this, Apple still uses that companies and often it is for a minimal having the opposite effect. It is stifling particular patent to sue developers of figure. start-up companies by placing an almost Android handsets for anything even The amount requested is usually around insurmountable burden of endless licensing remotely similar. a few thousand, so most defendants settle agreements.

An entire industry has evolved to take for the amount requested because it is Consumers are also being hurt by losing advantage of the broken patent system cheaper than hiring an attorney and fighting diversity of choice especially in the case of and they are derisively called patent trolls. the lawsuit in court. This is an extremely Samsung and Apple.

These patent trolls are a serious threat to destructive process that undermines the There needs to be a serious patent legitimate companies and consumers. actual intent of a patent. reform that tackles the heart of the issue A company called Innovatio, an There was an attempt to reform the and eliminates patent trolls and excessive oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one, has been patent process this year that was passed litigation.. suing dozens of restaurants and hotels for by Congress but it fell short of ending the Alex Caraballo can be reached at using Wi-Fi hotspots because the company current abuses of patent law. acaraballo21@gmail.com

The Erosion of Modern English: Pop Culture Degrades Our Language

By DARRIN CLINE UWIRE.com

When did Vinny and Pauly D replace Webster and Roget? Popular words and phrases always change from decade to decade and generation to generation. In recent years, however, our generation has contributed to the degradation of the English language.

There is a growing push to have more Americans become bilingual, but how can we be expected to do that when we can barely master spoken English?

Instead of expanding our vocabularies and aiming for eloquence, our verbal skills are focused on being hip and slovenly. We may no longer use “sit on it,” “necking” or “daddy-o,” but the slew of recent hip terms that have arisen in the past few years would make the script of “Clueless” sound like a Thoreau poem.

Bro, broski or brah — If we cross paths out on the town and I do not know you, this is not an acceptable form of introduction; this rule also applies to dude or chief. When I go to Hy-Vee and ask for help, I expect to find a helpful smile in every aisle, not somebody directing me where to go followed by the term “dawg.”

Awesome or sick — At some point in time, these became the only two adjectives

used to describe anything. Everything you saw, did or accomplished was not sick or awesome. At least awesome was meant to be used in a positive light, but when did something being “sick” signify glory?

Face palm, fail, epic fail — Perhaps the slang for which I have the most personal contempt, this collection of terms has become so ubiquitous among young adults outsiders would think all we do is fail. Obama’s stimulus plan may have been an epic fail, but an attempt to ride a laundry basket down a set of stairs hardly qualifies as epic in any sense.

TXT speak — It is acceptable on Facebook, Twitter and in a text message, not during a conversation. A prime example of our current level of laziness, speaking with text abbreviations is an insult to the expanse that is the English language. Is it that much harder to use the full words instead of LOL, IDK or TTYL? Movie quotes — Who doesn’t love “Napoleon Dynamite,” “Anchorman” or the Hangover movies? They are comedy staples and some of the funniest films of our era. Nonetheless, no matter how funny Will Ferrell or Zach Galifanakis may be, every one-liner they delivered has a shelf life.

Like, um, like — The epitome of squalid verbal talent. Not like in the sense

of a Facebook status, but like in the sense of every other word of an unprepared class presentation where like, every, like, other word, like comes out minced between likes. Everybody hears it, everybody hates it, yet no one makes an effort to stop it.

Words are beautiful things. They can

tortuguita1877/ Photobucket

Popular Culture has added to the common parlance, but does it degrade language?

make us stop and think or motivate us to action. They evoke emotion or anger.

Words and language evolve and grow so that we may better ourselves, not so we can relegate them.

Unfortunately, our vernacular gives a representation of the time. In 2001, Merriam-Webster added “bromance” and ”tweet” to their official collection, along with the pop culture definition of a “cougar.”

While many remember dictionaries as a reference for expanding vocabularies, their basis for inclusion is usage. Thus, the eroding quality and simplicity of commonly used words has forced the utmost authorities in language to select these putrid terms.

The president of Webster’s even called “fist bump” as the “champion of the group.” This coming from the company that previously honored respectable terms such as admonish and insipid among its words of the year.

How many times has quixotic or quagmire been used in daily speech by a college student?

Slang terms come and go. Some terms are inescapable, and it is difficult to not let a few slip. They may be popular, but does not mean they are fashionable. Take pride in eloquence and use originality in speech.

12 NOVEMBER 10 2011 | THE MINARET

How to Kardashian-Proof Your Relationship

By DOMINIQUE BARCHUS Columnist

It seems like society today is reverting back to the old days when it comes to relationships. Regardless of the fact that “hooking-up” is popular, many people are getting married young and starting families sooner.

Whirlwind weddings are on the rise, especially in places like Hollywood, where the wedding ceremonies tend to last longer than the actual marriage.

One of the biggest reasons why these relationships don’t last is because the length of courting does not last very long.

The problem is many people don’t even know what it means to court or be courted by someone.

Courting someone includes doing things like getting to know your love interest on a deeper level, going on dates and having intimate conversation before becoming an item.

These days, that does not happen as much. Many people become attracted to someone they meet, go out together once and before the week is over, they are in a relationship.

Sadly, as fast as their Facebook status changes from “single” to “in a relationship,” it’s back to “single” again.

Kim Kardashian knows quite a bit about this. Her recent marriage to Kris Humphries ended after merely 72 days.

They met, dated, got engaged, married and divorced all within eight months. I find that pretty impressive. That is a skill only a woman like Kim Kardashian possesses.

There are ways to Kardashian-proof your relationship’s future to ensure it actually has one.

First off, although love at first sight can happen for some people, don’t think that every relationship you get into will follow that pattern. This may cause for a long trail

BS130/photobucket.com

Kim Kardashian’s marriage to Kris Humphries lasted a mere seventy-two days. With any luck and a little bit of skill, your relationship could last longer, but you won’t make as much money.

of exes and a ton of wasted time. Don’t assume that just because you like someone and they like you that you will be together forever.

Here’s a crazy thought: take time to actually really get to know the person you are with. This does not mean only knowing their favorite color, food or TV show, it means knowing something with a little depth. It’ll actually add substance to the relationship.

Also, guys beware of the girls that tend to fall in love quickly and are in the search for their prince charming or future husband, much like Kim K. Yes, it may be a nice

fantasy to have a girl that will be at your beck and call, but be prepared to soon ask the question “Will you marry me?” because that is what she will be hoping for.

So guys, make sure to participate in the courting process and really talk to her and make sure she isn’t crazy. If she is, at least you’ll know from the beginning and it won’t be a surprise later on. This way, you’ll be able to escape before you’re stuck in a relationship that’s impossible to get out of.

Another thing to be mindful of is if all her friends are in relationships. She might have been the girl that was always

anti-relationships because she was hurt so much. Now, she is just lonely and wants someone to fill the void.

Think about it, all her friends are in relationships and she isn’t; that is going to take a toll on her at some point. There are two kinds of independent girls in this world.

There are the independent girls that are capable of being by themselves and do not need the comfort of a man, but want it. Then, there are the girls that seem independent, but only until they find a guy to become dependent on.

The second kind are the ones to avoid.

The relationship will not end well for either person. Each person needs to be content with their current situation before they can take on the task of entering a relationship with another person.

Maybe if Kris Humphries saw these traits in Kim, things might have turned out differently. It’s not entirely his fault. The Kardashian women are known for their whirlwind relationships.

I thought Kris would have been a shooin as an addition to the Kardashian clan. I mean he can handle the limelight, his name starts with a K and he even has the same name as her mother.

On the other hand, maybe those were the things that kept him from keeping a permanent spot in Kim’s life. He should take some lessons from Kim’s brotherin-law, Lamar. He didn’t try to make his marriage to Kim’s sister, Khloe, a big production, although it was, and he lacks a K in his name.

Although Kim’s marriage didn’t last too long, she can say she stuck it out longer that Britney Spears’ 55-hour marriage.

That’s one accomplishment.

Now that she was married once, she may get it right the second time.

Dominique Barchus can be reached at dominique.barchus@spartans.ut.edu

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THE MINARET | NOVEMBER 10 2011

OPINION

Recent Tensions It seems like every week I read something new in The Minaret about administrationfaculty problems. Talk about dysfunction at its finest. There are two specific instances that need addressing. In the end, they both come down to the same issue: ineffective leadership and cronyism.

The first case of dysfunction here at this school is the recent shakeup of the Criminology Department. Dr. LaRose and Dr. Smith are as dedicated to their students as the students are to Dr. Smith and LaRose. I would be hard pressed to find two more respected, more genuine professors here at the University of Tampa.

Yet, that does not stop Ron Vaughn and Co from leaving these two outstanding people and professors basically in occupational limbo.

They can’t vote for the Chairperson and they don’t have a say in curricular decisions.

Instead, not only do they get strong-armed into moving to another department by the Administration without a clear reason, but the Administration then hides under the umbrella of confidentiality when the Minaret tries to find out what exactly is going on. Furthermore, the unnamed faculty source saying that professors not going along with the reorganization would be fired is entirely believable. They’ve

railroaded Dr. LaRose and Dr. Smith in thi! s case, and as I will discuss shortly, Dr. Maddan as well. What purpose does this unnecessary reorganization really serve?

Certainly not the students who complete most of their coursework within the Criminology Department.

In the end, the University of Tampa has become more about the Administration doing whatever they so choose rather than making sound, logical decisions that benefit the students of the University of Tampa. Dr. Smith and Dr. LaRose represent the best this institution has to offer. Having them getting treated this poorly by the Administration just proves the point that the students are no longer the Administration’s number one priority.

Another fine example of the utter dysfunction is the recent incidents involving the Administration and Dr. Maddan. Instead of addressing Dr. Maddan’s concerns, the Administration and their crony Evan Chiporas have gone on the offensive, with the latest move being the censure of Maddan. Dr. Madden has, in essence, been punished for exposing these strongarm techniques used by the Administration that I asserted previously. That should be of great concern to the students here at the University of Tampa.

The Administration, with Chiporas as their henchman, has attempted to erode the

rights that we all should enjoy, both faculty and students. One right we all should have here is exposing injustices and acts of deception when warranted (certainly Dr. Maddan’s vote of no confidence reflects the exposing of Administration injustices).

It would be one thing to expose legitimate confidential information.

I can see punishment being warranted if that were the case. But it is anot! her thing to call something confidential just because you may not like the backlash that would come of it (as is the case with the Provost’s actions here). From what I have read thus far, the act of labeling things confidential is so arbitrary and overused that its almost laughable to think of some of the documents that would be considered “confidential” by the Administration. Dr. Maddan is one of the most respected professors around this campus, not only by his students but by his peers.

It is a damn shame to see him get hung out to dry for speaking up against the perceived wrongs of this institution. If Chiporas or the Administration disagrees, then they have the right to speak up, but I do not see them responding to the claims that I and the Minaret have made as they have had plenty of opportunity to do so thus far.

The policies of this school allow for, and in some ways encourage, deception and unfairness by the Administration. The Minaret quoted Anita Levy of the AAUP (an independent figure) by describing that the policies were ‘ “exceedingly brief, vague, and inadequate when it comes to setting forth specifics” and “disturbingly silent

13

with regard to faculty rights in [judicial] proceedings.”’ How much authority are we willing to cede to the Administration before we have absolutely no say in the things we are able to do here? If Ron Vaughn and company won’t listen to the students and faculty or do what’s best for the students at UT (as they have failed to do here), then I suggest he and all others who agree with his policies step down.

We cannot have the Administration’s power go unchecked as it has for too long.

Because if we do let them run free, we will see more honest, hardworking people like Dr.’s Smith, Maddan, and LaRose get treated unfairly without any consequences.

Students may not take interest in my piece because these instances deal with faculty, but I assure anyone reading that there is nothing stopping the Administration from trampling on the rights of students like me or you.

I want to graduate this Spring from the University of Tampa believing this is one of the greatest institutions in the country.

But unless changes are made, one of the lasting impressions I will have of this school will be one of dysfunction and mismanagement.

If any of the Administration takes offense to what I have said thus far, or believes that what I have said to be incorrect, then please take the time to respond in the Minaret. In the end, all that us students and faculty want is more transparency, an honest debate, the right to speak freely, and most importantly, the ability to be treated fairly.

-Anonymous

Unemployment Benefits Unable to Withstand Recession

By KELSEY ALLAGOOD Columnist

There’s been a lot of talk about bootstraps in the economic debate: pull yourself up by your bootstraps, get a job, quit whining, work harder. But what if that isn’t enough? By the end of this year, Congress is expected to vote on whether to extend unemployment benefits to 99 weeks.

Most states currently provide up to 26 weeks of benefits. Since the recession started, Congress has voted to allow up to 73 weeks in the hardest-hit states.

The reason for this is that our welfare system is not equipped to deal with a recession of this magnitude. The bootstraps argument, besides being physically impossible, is null and void.

Extending the benefit payments may not be the best answer. Putting some people to work through temporary projects such as those proposed by President Obama in September’s American Jobs Act would help. The AJA would also help keep teachers, firefighters and police officers in their jobs, which would greatly help unemployment numbers in fields that have been cut by struggling local governments.

Jobless reports now say that only 48 percent of America’s unemployed are receiving government benefits. This is down from 75 percent last year, meaning that a growing number of unemployed have been jobless for so long that they no longer qualify for government benefits.

Opponents of welfare may say that this benefit cutoff is a good thing, that now the unemployed who have lived off of government checks will actually get a job.

In order to respond to this argument, we need to bust some myths about welfare.

There has been a myth circulating that 50 percent of American households pay no income taxes. That number is not wrong, but it only looks at income taxes, not payroll taxes, investment taxes and many others. The stimulus programs that began under President George W. Bush and continued under President Obama increased the number of households who have claimed enough tax credits to avoid

paying income taxes. But if every other federal tax is included, only about 10 percent of households pay no net federal taxes.

There are fewer “free riders” than many people would like to admit.

There also seems to have been a misunderstanding on part of the middle class about Occupy Wall Street protesters’

economic policies that began under President Ronald Reagan has done more to hurt the poor than help them. What this means is that it is more difficult than ever to find and keep a job, let alone a job you are not over-qualified for.

In the last few decades there has been a push to encourage more and more students toward college. What we are saddled with

Mat McDermott/flickr.com

Detractors of Occupy Wall Street often say, “Get a job.” However, it’s easier said than done.

“99%” campaign. The OWS protesters should probably clarify that people who have started their own businesses, working hard to move up in life, who pay their taxes and live within their means are not part of the one percent.

The one percent are, perhaps shockingly to some, not very many. These are the bank CEOs whose incomes have spiked by almost 300 percent since 1980 while the rest of the country remained fairly stagnant. There is no fighting the numbers, which show that the gap between the rich and poor has widened to the greatest it’s been since 1928, the year before the Great Depression.

We can’t ignore that the neo-liberal

now is a large educated workforce and an economy with not enough jobs to go around, no matter how hard those college students have worked. No amount of bootstrapping will magically create jobs.

The fact is that it’s not the collegeeducated who have made the significant gains in this economy. It’s that pesky one percent again.

A graph from the Congressional Budget Office shows that while those in the bottom 80 percentile of income have lost 10 percent of average income shares since 1979, the top one percent have gained 10 percent.

Since the number of college graduates since 1979 is much larger than one percent of the population, it is easy to see that

working hard in college does not guarantee a passage to the one percent.

It is also important to note that recent college graduates are generally not entitled to unemployment benefits, because they are seeing full-time employment for the first time.

When I hear people calling the unemployed lazy, entitled or whiny, I wonder if they still buy into the Occupy Wall Street stereotype: the only angry ones are college bums looking for a handout.

Tell that to Jon Polis, a warehouse worker from East Greenwich, R.I., who lost his job as a warehouse worker in 2008.

Polis is 55 years old and has run out of unemployment benefits, which helped him pay for groceries and health insurance.

“Employers are crying out for qualified help,” Polis told Huffington Post reporter Christopher S. Rugaber. But the employers interviewing him were not willing to train Polis on the computer skills he needed for a job.

There are many like Jon Polis in America today. The unemployment rate for people aged 55 and older increased sharply since the recession began, to an average of around seven percent. Traditionally, people of this age were in steady enough jobs to weather economic turmoil. But this recession is so severe and has gone on for so long that even the most experienced and qualified workers worry about their job security.

So the next time you see Occupy Wall Street protesters, don’t think of dirty dreadlocks or Phish t-shirts. Think of people like Jon Polis, the ones who worked hard for decades and are losing out on what should be the peak of all their years of hard work. They have medications and higher health insurance rates now. But their benefits have gone to pay the salaries of the top one percent.

Think of him the next time you say you shouldn’t have to help the less fortunate simply because you worked hard.

If that isn’t entitlement, then I don’t know what is.

Kelsey Allagood can be reached at kallagood@spartans.ut.edu.

14 NOVEMBER 10 2011 | THE MINARET

OPINION

Private University Faculty Forced to Sign

By JESSICA KEESEE Columnist

There’s been a lot of talk about bootstraps in the economic debate: pull yourself up by your bootstraps, get a job, quit whining, work harder. But what if that isn’t enough? By the end of this year, Congress is expected to vote on whether to extend unemployment benefits to 99 weeks. Most states currently provide up to 26 weeks of benefits. Since the recession started, Congress has voted to allow up to 73 weeks in the hardest-hit states.

The reason for this is that our welfare system is not equipped to deal with a recession of this magnitude. The bootstraps argument, besides being physically impossible, is null and void.

Extending the benefit payments may not be the best answer. Putting some people to work through temporary projects such as those proposed by President Obama in September’s American Jobs Act would help.

The AJA would also help keep teachers, firefighters and police officers in their jobs, which would greatly help unemployment numbers in fields that have been cut by struggling local governments.

Jobless reports now say that only 48 percent of America’s unemployed are receiving government benefits. This is down from 75 percent last year, meaning that a growing number of unemployed have been jobless for so long that they no longer qualify for government benefits.

Opponents of welfare may say that this benefit cutoff is a good thing, that now the unemployed who have lived off of government checks will actually get a job. In order to respond to this argument, we need to bust some myths about welfare.

There has been a myth circulating that 50 percent of American households pay no income taxes. That number is not wrong, but it only looks at income taxes, not payroll taxes, investment taxes and many others.

The stimulus programs that began under President George W. Bush and continued under President Obama increased the number of households who have claimed enough tax credits to avoid paying income taxes. But if every other federal tax is included, only about 10 percent of households pay no net federal taxes.

There are fewer “free riders” than many people would like to admit.

There also seems to have been a misunderstanding on part of the middle class about Occupy Wall Street protesters’ “99%” campaign. The OWS protesters should probably clarify that people who have started their own businesses, working hard to move up in life, who pay their taxes and live within their means are not part of the one percent.

The one percent are, perhaps shockingly to some, not very many.

These are the bank CEOs whose incomes have spiked by almost 300 percent since 1980 while the rest of the country remained fairly stagnant. There is no fighting the numbers, which show that the gap between the rich and poor has widened to the greatest it’s been since 1928, the year before the Great Depression.

We can’t ignore that the neo-liberal economic policies that began under President Ronald Reagan has done more to hurt the poor than help them. What this means is that it is more difficult than ever to find and keep a job, let alone a job you are not overqualified for.

In the last few decades there has been a push to encourage more and more students toward college. What we are saddled with now is a large educated workforce and an economy with not enough jobs to go around, no matter how hard those college students

have worked. No amount of bootstrapping will magically create jobs.

The fact is that it’s not the collegeeducated who have made the significant gains in this economy. It’s that pesky one percent again. A graph from the Congressional Budget Office shows that while those in the bottom 80 percentile of income have lost 10 percent of average income shares since 1979, the top one percent have gained 10 percent. since the number of college graduates since 1979 is much larger than one percent of the population, it is easy to see that working hard in college does not guarantee a passage to the one percent.

It is also important to note that recent college graduates are generally not entitled to unemployment benefits, because they are seeing full-time employment for the first time.

When I hear people calling the unemployed lazy, entitled or whiny, I wonder if they still buy into the Occupy Wall Street stereotype: the only angry ones are college bums looking for a handout.

Tell that to Jon Polis, a warehouse worker from East Greenwich, R.I., who lost his job as a warehouse worker in 2008.

Polis is 55 years old and has run out of unemployment benefits, which helped him pay for groceries and health insurance.

“Employers are crying out for qualified help,” Polis told Huffington Post reporter Christopher S. Rugaber. But the employers interviewing him were not willing to train Polis on the computer skills he needed for a job.

There are many like Jon Polis in America today. The unemployment rate for people

ipdrome/photobucket.com

Shorter University in Georgia caused a controversy late last month when they required faculty to reject homosexuality.

Wall Street protesters, don’t think of dirty dreadlocks or Phish t-shirts. Think of people like Jon Polis, the ones who worked hard for decades and are losing out on what should be the peak of all their years of hard work. They have medications and higher health insurance rates now. But their benefits have gone to pay the salaries of the top one percent.

Think of him the next time you say you shouldn’t have to help the less fortunate simply because you worked hard.

If that isn’t entitlement, then I don’t know what is.and prospective admission numbers will inevitably fall as society

[

Assistant Professor of Sociology Sarah L. Jirek believes that the Shorter pledge is an issue rooted in social problems.

“Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the civil rights, feminist, and gay and lesbian movements, discrimination on the basis of social identities, including sexual orientation, remains a widespread practice within some organizations and institutions in contemporary U.S. society.

This instance highlights a tension that exists in the U.S. between individual, human rights and societal ideals regarding religious freedom,” said Jirek.

“If we acknowledge Him, He will make this university’s path straight.” -A statement released by Shorter University.

]

Nathaniel St. Amour/ The Minaret

Should a university, even a private one, have the power to require its professors to reject homosexuality? Shorter University says yes.

aged 55 and older increased sharply since the recession began, to an average of around seven percent.

Traditionally, people of this age were in steady enough jobs to weather economic turmoil. But this recession is so severe and has gone on for so long that even the most experienced and qualified workers worry about their job security.

So the next time you see Occupy

continues to evolve in its attitudes towards homosexuality.

The school has underestimated today’s changing society by implementing the pledge that is nearly blasphemous in itself.

These religious members of the Shorter University in Georgia are those to blame for the lack of individuals who proudly identify themselves with a certain religious affiliation,” Creedon insisted.

At the end of the day, Shorter University can and will do as it pleases. What it is doing however is discriminating and their actions are no better than those of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Actions such as these are only adding more barriers to the ongoing fight for equal rights for all in the U.S. Jessica Keesee can be reached at jessica.keesee@spartans.ut.edu.

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THE MINARET | NOVEMBER 10 2011

15

16 NOVEMBER 10 2011 | THE MINARET

Sports

Men’s Basketball Opens Season With New Lineup, Opportunities

By ANALISA TRSTENSKY Sports Writer

The season doesn’t officially start for another week, but it’s fair to say that the University of Tampa men’s basketball team has already faced its share of trials and tribulations.

With five players graduating in 2011 and another ineligible to play this season, Coach Richard Schmidt knew that recruiting the right players was essential.

Rashad Callaway and Anthony Griffis were responsible for almost 75 percent of the points last season, averaging 19.1 and 15.8 points per game respectively.

Recruitment started off smoothly when freshman Jon Riles signed a National Letter of Intent. The 6-foot-2 point guard averaged 10 points and six assists per game while attending high school at the Academy of the New Church.

Rounding out the freshmen class is 5foot-10 point guard Terrell Pritchett and 6-foot-8 Jason Brown. Of the freshmen, Schmidt said, “Both our point guards are freshmen. They better add a whole lot if we’re going to be good this year. Jason is a talented shot blocker.”

Additionally contributing to the team is 6-foot-6 senior Brian Wright. Wright transferred from the University of South Florida, but did not play for the Bulls last season.

However, since the Spartans lost six men last year, Schmidt recruited two other exciting students: a 6-foot-8 junior college transfer and a 7-foot-2 transfer from Mississippi State University. Due to the fact that the junior college was unaccredited, the Spartan hopeful was unable to attend UT. In addition, the MSU transfer only had

one year of eligibility left for the NCAA, so he decided to instead go to an NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) school where he would have two years of eligibility.

Despite losing these two recruits, Schmidt is confident in his team. “We have a lot of guys who are even in talent,” said Schmidt. “If someone is injured or in foul trouble, we can take him out and replace him with someone just as good.”

Schmidt is not only asking the new players to step up, but he is also expecting the same of his returning players. With only junior Callum Townsend and senior Ashton Graham returning from the starting line-up, they have a lot of pressure on their shoulders. Townsend had 8.7 points per game last year, and Graham had 8.4.

Schmidt believes that Graham, a guard, is the player to watch out for as he has improved tremendously in his two years as a Spartan.

Graham feels the same way. “I see this season as a personal opportunity to step up and emerge as a leader,” said Graham.

Recently, the Sunshine State Conference preseason poll was released with UT ranking a dismal eighth of nine teams.

Rollins College was ranked first with high expectations of winning its third consecutive SSC Men’s Basketball Championship. Eckerd College and UT rival Florida Southern College rounded out the top three teams.

Although the Spartans closed their record breaking 2010-2011 season (they won their first 16 games) ranked No. 4 in the conference, Schmidt was not surprised by the drop at the beginning of this season.

“We lost everyone who played a lot,” Schmidt said. “We lost our two biggest

scorers and there’s so many good teams in our conference.”

Even with everything seemingly going against the Spartans, they still have hope for the season. “There’s no clear cut best team,” said senior Osby Kelly. “Anyone can win the conference.”

Graham feels optimistic.

“We have potential,” said Graham. “Even though we’re a young team, we can see that things are coming together.”

Of course, there are things that the team still needs to work on. While both Schmidt and Graham believe that the team’s biggest weakness is its transition from offense to defense, Kelly doesn’t question the teams’ quickness.

“We have the quickness, we just need to utilize it better,” he said.

Although Graham and Kelly hope fans support the Samantha Battersby/The Minaret team every game, the two had Head Coach Richard Schmidt draws up a play for the opposing opinions as to which Spartans during a timeout last season. would be the “can’t miss” game of the season.

In fact, the Spartans haven’t beaten the Kelly believes that the game against Moccasins since the 2007-2008 season, and Eckerd hosted in the Martinez Center on it was the Mocs who handed UT their first Feb. 15 is the one to be at, as it is always loss of the season last year. That matchup a close game. Last season, UT beat the will take place at home on Jan. 18.

Tritons by seven points and then lost to As for right now, the team’s main them by five. focus is winning its first game of the Graham has a personal reason in season against NAIA school Southeastern choosing Florida Southern as his most University. The game is set for Nov. 14 at looked-forward to game. “Since I’ve been 7:30 p.m. in Martinez. at UT, we haven’t beaten them,” he said.

Analisa Trstensky can be reached at “It’s our turn to win.” atrstensky@spartans.ut.edu.

Herman Osby Kelly III, a senior criminology major at the University of Tampa was not highly recruited. In fact, his high school basketball coach said he was not good enough to play at the next level. He continued to work hard, he worked with a personal trainer and a shooting coach. His senior year in high school he was voted his team’s the most improved player by his teammates. His dream was still to play college basketball. He joined the National Collegiate Scouting Association and some small Division III schools began to contact him, but he felt he could play Division II basketball. Osby continued to work and dream. One spring afternoon he asked me if he could contact the University of Tampa regarding an open tryout.

We drove to Tampa after spending some time with his grandfather in Jacksonville. He was selected as a walk-on on the team. He played 10 games as a true freshman, 17 games as a second-year player and last season he earned a scholarship as he was a key reserve for a team that broke several school records. This season he has been selected to be the team captain. I wanted to share this story, because maybe, there is another young person, who had dreams like our son, Osby... Never give up on

your dreams.

-Herman Kelly II, Osby’s Father Originally Published on NCSASports.com Edited for Print in The Minaret

THE MINARET | NOVEMBER 10 2011

17

Griffis Hopeful About Improving GPA, Returning to UT [From Back, Griffis]

Rudy Jean, a former UT basketball player who played alongside Griffis during the ‘10-’11 season, said his teammates and coaches were aware of Griffis’ troubles and tried helping him with his schoolwork.

“We all knew that he was struggling,” Jean said. “He was getting a lot of help.

Just, at times, he just didn’t take it that seriously. That was the problem.”

Jean clarified that Griffis’ problem with his schoolwork was about not understanding its importance.

“He just didn’t think it was as serious as it is, so it messed him up,” Jean said. “But it wasn’t like he was stupid or anything, he just didn’t think it was all that work.”

Coach Pecka said he would help Griffis with his schoolwork on nights while Griffis also participated in study sessions with teammates. But after being dismissed from the university, Griffis visited a psychologist and was diagnosed with a learning disability, which Schmidt clarified as ADD. Griffis believes that had he sooner known about his problems with concentration, his academic problems could have been avoided altogether.

The dismissal comes on the heels of a ‘10-’11 season when the Spartans went 22-7 and were already losing threetime All-SSC guard Rashad Callaway to graduation.

Although the Spartans will miss their top two scorers, Coach Schmidt said it is more than just offense the team will miss from Griffis.

“You hate losing possibly your best player, but it wasn’t that as much as we hate not seeing Anthony around,” Schmidt said.

He was appreciated by his teammates as well.

“He’s a fun kid, he’s a good person, and

everything,” Jean said. “He’s a friendly person, he knew everyone on campus, [and] everyone knew ‘Ant.’” Attending a university was a major accomplishment for Griffis and his family.

“This was the greatest thing that’s ever happened to Anthony,” Schmidt added. “To get into a really good school, get settled in and it was a big thing for him. His family was real proud of him, that he could maybe get a college degree. This was a real blow to them.”

Griffis and his family are not giving up on his chance to graduate from UT. He is currently enrolled in online courses as a part-time student at Louisiana State University while living at home.

Griffis, along with his coaches, hopes he can return to the university next fall.

The UT catalog states, “Students dismissed . . . for academic reasons may apply for readmission after one academic year (two regular semesters) has elapsed.”

His application will first go through the Office of Admissions, and then be referred to the Academic Appeals Committee.

Associate director Reyes estimated that out of 100 students who are academically dismissed, 20 apply for readmission, and approximately 10 to 15 are accepted.

Meanwhile, Griffis continues to work on his academics with tutors as the UT men’s basketball team prepares to open its season. He said he plans on visiting Tampa in January to support the team during its conference play. Five months removed from his dismissal, Griffis acknowledges and is working to overcome last year’s mistakes.

“It’s a lesson learned,” he said. “I think it’s just a lesson learned for me and my family. I think my eyes are open now and I think I’m well prepared.”

Daniel Feingold and Miles Parks can be reached at minaret.sports@gmail.com.

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Anthony Griffis appeared and started in all 29 of UT’s men’s basketball games last season. He averaged 15.8 points a game, along with five rebounds per game and totaled 27 assists on the year.

18 NOVEMBER 10 2011 | THE MINARET

SPORTS

Pro Sports

Crunch Time: Separating NFL Contenders from Pretenders

By SHAWN FERRIS Sports Writer

Sometimes when you’re watching an NFL football game early in the season, there are teams that win games unexpectedly and upsets that no one could have predicted.

That’s why the NFL is so popular. It’s that unpredictability that attracts fans and makes every game, and every season for that matter, so exciting.

So when you’re watching a team that finished in the bottom of the league the past few years or a team you think doesn’t have the talent, leadership or experience to contend start to string together wins at the

beginning of the season, it starts to make you wonder.

Is this team for real?

The 2011 NFL season has been an unbelievable ride for a lot of teams thus far.

Now over halfway through the season and creeping toward Turkey Day, it’s time we delve into which teams are contenders and pretenders through Week 9.

Cincinnati Bengals (6-2) Rookie quarterback, rookie wide receiver, young defense. We’ll contend in a couple of years. Forget that, we’ll do it now. Andy Dalton didn’t need much seasoning to get his feet wet, and AJ Green is a star in the making. Who needs Chad Ochostinko

AJ Guel Photography/flickr.com

Arian Foster leads a Houston offense that ranks second in total yards, fourth in points scored and first in rushing yards. Foster is averaging 93.7 yards-per-game.

and Terrell “watch me do sit-ups in my driveway shirtless” Owens anyways? The schedule gets a lot tougher, with four of their remaining eight games against the Steelers and Ravens, but heck, at six wins already, who’s to say they don’t have a shot at an AFC Wild Card spot?

Verdict: Contender Houston Texans (6-3) It seems that every year the Texans start off hot, force Peyton Manning and the Colts to play catch up in the AFC South and then inevitably crumble down the stretch. That’s not happening this year. The Colts are too busy “Sucking for Luck” while Peyton Manning stands on the sideline and the Titans forgot to tell Chris Johnson to stop playing like Lendale White. The Texans may finish the year with two 1,000 yard rushers in Ben Tate and Arian Foster, and when Andre Johnson gets healthy, this team has a chance to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

Verdict: Contender Buffalo Bills (5-3) A team that’s only had one winning season in the past 11 years (9-7 in 2004), the Bills started off 2011 hotter than anyone, winning three straight games, including an upset of the Patriots in week three at home. The Bills rallied from a three score deficit and forced Tom Brady to throw four interceptions in that game. Fred Jackson, who was undrafted out of Coe College, is having an MVP caliber season and is second in the NFL in yards from scrimmage (only Matt Forte has more). However, Harvard grad Ryan Fitzpatrick hasn’t been very smart with the ball lately, and has now thrown six interceptions in his last four games.

The defense is filled with mostly practice squad guys and castoffs (yes, I’m talking about you, Shawne Merriman), who have overachieved.

Verdict: Pretender Detroit Lions (6-2) All aboard the Lions bandwagon! Matthew Stafford has been able to stay on the field for eight games now, and that’s a victory in itself (19 touchdown passes is nice too). Calvin Johnson has taken his play to new heights while leading the NFL in touchdown catches, as well (11).

On the defensive side of the ball, the Lions are third in the NFL in sacks with 24 and are led by second year defensive linemen Ndamukong Suh, who has three sacks on the year. Already close to being a lock for a playoff berth, a meeting with the undefeated Green Bay Packers in week 12 could determine whether this team is ready to make a legitimate run at a title.

Verdict: Contender San Francisco 49ers (7-1) What do a picture of Bill Belichick smiling, a unicorn and Alex Smith playing well have in common? They’re all things I thought I’d never see. Through eight games he’s done just that, turning the ball over only twice all year and throwing 10 touchdowns.

Also, running back Frank Gore has now rushed for over 100 yards in five straight games and is currently third in the “Kim Kardashian’s next hubby” sweepstakes behind only Blake Griffin and Derek Jeter (you heard it here), and the defense is holding opponents to a measly 14.9 points per game, tops in the league.

Although I still have my doubts about Smith, especially in the playoffs, a first round bye is a likely possibility for a team that seems to be putting it all together under first year coach Jim Harbaugh after years of disappointment under Mike Singletary.

Verdict: Contender Shawn Ferris can be reached at sferris@spartans.ut.edu.

How To Be An Athlete and Not Go Broke - For Dummies

By TIM SHANAHAN Sports Writer

Mike Tyson has earned close to $400 million in his professional career. Scottie Pippen has made approximately $250 million. Evander Holyfield has grossed upwards of $225 million. These world championship athletes have one analogous trait in common; they have all reached the point of broke after their career has ended.

Here is a stifling statistic; according to an article by Sports Illustrated, 60 percent of NBA players go bankrupt within five years of retiring.

Even worse, somehow 78 percent of NFL players go bankrupt or experience financial troubles within just two years of retirement. Numerous reasons lead to the empty pockets of the washed up.

When these athletes first begin their career, they enter into a lifestyle in which they have never experienced. They now have heaps of money and are looking to spend.

Talk of the Town Professional Sporting News in the Region

Let’s say I just signed a monster six year, $75 million contract. The first acquisition I make is going to be that fresh new Range Rover. Next up is the crib. I’m talking about a mansion with a tennis court, indoor pool, even a waterfall. Additionally, some nighttime celebrations are going to be essential. I plan to gather all of my boys and indulge in a VIP weekend in Miami.

Once I’ve taken care of myself, it’s time to go back to my roots. Mom comes next.

The family has always struggled and now they can have a brand new two-story house to move into.

However, the family members aren’t the only humans who have gotten me to where I am. My friends have always been behind me through the years. My two best friends deserve one sports car apiece.

These are some ways in which improper budgeting can force these athlete’s money to stream out before their eyes. They fail to realize that once the income stops, the monthly payments on the luxurious items do not.

Additional ways of going broke include producing 11 children like Evander Holyfield. That many children equates to expensive monthly child support payments.

Marriage and divorce is also a significant contribution to having an empty wallet.

Players agree to split assets with their wives. When these players get caught with the girlfriends they have from every city in the United States, they are no longer going to be “loaded.”

What it comes down to is these players need to take care of their money with more efficiency and effectiveness. Players need to recognize this lifestyle is not going to last forever. Sport careers can be decapitated with a sudden injury or a string of unproductive games.

For some of these players, sports are all they have ever known. An opportunity for life after sports is going to rally around an education. Athletes can go back to school after their pro career is over. A guy like Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Buffalo Bills has a degree in economics from Harvard when he

@ According to mlbtraderumors.com, the Rays are going to be open to trades this offseason. They’re willing to listen to offers for pitchers Wade Davis and Cy Young Candidate James Shields.

The Bucs host the Houston Texans on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Raymond James Stadium. The Texans, 1st in the AFC South with a 6-3 record, bring one of the top offenses in the NFL.

hangs up the cleats. Rarely are they able to pounce onto the announcer or analyst scene unless they have had a notable career.

Athletes have had a competitive edge over their opponents in sport for their entire lives. Nothing will change once their sports career is over. Michael Jordan is an example of a brilliant success during and after his career. He launched his Air Jordan sneaker line in the mid 80s and it’s still immensely popular today. George Foreman has created an extremely successful indoor grilling machine since his retirement from boxing.

With proper budgeting and education, famous athletes can become infinitely rich for the remainder of their lives following their career in sport. As long as they can eliminate some of the unnecessary, luxurious items, the numerous children with different mothers and additional girlfriends while married, athletes have a better opportunity to avoid bankruptcy.

Tim Shanahan can be reached at tshanahan@ut.edu.

@ The Lightning sit at third place in the Southeastern Division, behind Florida and Washington. They battle the Blues on Saturday in St. Louis. Steven Stamkos leads the Bolts with 10 goals.

THE MINARET | NOVEMBER 10 2011

SPORTS

19

The Black Eye of College Football Recruiting

By KYLE BENNETT

Social Media Director

You are a top high school running back. Your name appears on all the top recruiters’ boards. You are two months away from national signing day and you have offers from all the major Division I programs.

Every school you have ever dream of playing for wants you. With 20+ college offers, what puts one of those schools over the top?

There is no denying that players are offered improper benefits by coaches, boosters and agents who have no physical tie to a particular university in an effort to bring the top talent to their respective schools.

Corruption over recent years has taken a turn for the worst. More and more college programs are offering improper benefits and being busted for it. Look no further than the recent scandals at the University of Southern California and Miami University.

Both schools were caught offering improper benefits to some of the top talent in the country. Reggie Bush’s family was supplied with a 3,000-square-foot home which belonged to a New Era Sports & Entertainment representative.

Coincidently enough when Bush entered the NFL draft he hired marketing agent Mike Ornstein, who attempted to launch New Era. Bush was his first client.

Miami on the other hand was involved in a $930 million Ponzi scheme where a non-affiliated, self proclaimed, booster offered money and other gifts to at least 15 current and former Hurricane players.

Nevin Shapiro, who was the brains behind the Ponzo scheme, was pictured handing checks directly to Miami President Donna Shalala at numerous charity events.

Since he is not an affiliated booster of the school, this was illegal from the start.

Many of these extra benefits were not known until the players were already attending school or, in many cases, already in the NFL. Although these benefits were not known during the recruiting process, it would be ignorant to think that these deals weren’t discussed with these players beforehand.

“Yes, I do think that goes on,” said Craig Clements, a former high school Athletic Director at DeLand High School in DeLand Fla., In reference to extra benefits being discussed prior to a student attending

a certain university. “You [the university] do it until you get caught, or you do it until the rules change. And then you find other ways to get your advantage.”

A popular name that has popped up in recent months is Texas area recruiter Willie Lyles. According to an ESPN article Lyles told Texas A&M that it had to “beat $80,000 if it wanted to sign star recruit Patrick Peterson in 2007.”

These allegations and ensuing investigation did not begin, of course, until this year, after Peterson had already withdrawn from college and entered in the NFL draft.

“You can’t do that. If he is getting paid by a certain school, like reports are saying, then he is dead wrong,” Preston Jackson, a former Notre Dame defensive back and

[

the bump.

“I [as a member of the high school athletic department] know that you [the high school player] are an office aide in sixth period in the main office,” Clements described a hypothetical situation.

“I’ve got the coach [of the visiting university] with me and we may walk down the hallway and ‘bump’ into you.

I’m not calling you to my office and we aren’t all sitting down to have to talk, but this gives the coach a chance to introduce himself to you and a get a feel for how you are as a person.”

According to reports Lyles was taking the bump a step further. It appears that he was setting up meetings between players and those affiliated with certain universities.

]

“You would see guys go from talking to a college coach and then go talk to a booster or a ‘fan’ away from everyone else,” an anonymous college player said. “Later you would hear whispers in the locker room about this school offering someone this and that school offering something else. It ranged from cash, to free flights home [if the school was far away from family], to gifts, to just free things at local businesses.”

currently the owner of Big County Preps, a popular Tampa Bay area company that evaluates and provides scouting reports of high school football players, said. “That stuff happens though. The problem with this is that it got out in the open. Has it been going on? I’m sure it has. He wouldn’t be the first; I doubt he will be the last.”

The NCAA is currently investigating a $6,000 payment to Lyles’ scouting firm as well as a $25,000 payment made to Lyles’ firm a few weeks before a prospect decommitted from Temple and enrolled at Oregon. According to reports they’re still trying to track down where these payments originated from.

The NCAA has countless regulations in place to monitor when college coaches are allowed to talk to high school players.

These windows of opportunity are always changing and it is difficult for universities to keep up with them, which is why most have created compliance offices.

College coaches are allowed to meet with high school coaches and athletic personnel at any time during the season, according to Clements to discuss certain players.

He described a technique used by many high school and college coaches when they’re visiting with a college recruiter:

Livinglargela/photobucket.com

Reggie Bush has been asked to return his Heisman Trophy after an investigation proved that he and his family accepted improper benefits from the University of Southern California.

As a former athlete, Jackson described the difficulties of having to know the endless rules of the NCAA. “You don’t know who has your best interest at heart. Is there a list of boosters posted some place?” Jackson asked rhetorically.

“You don’t know who is who. You don’t know who has what kind of intentions. You don’t know the rules because there are bilaws, parts 1, 2, 3, 4. It’s unrealistic. Kids aren’t going to carry a rule book and list of boosters in their back pocket.”

This is the type of pressure put on an 18-year-old young man as he makes one of the biggest decisions of his life: where to attend college. These players have coaches, boosters, agents and ‘friends’ who they think they can trust guiding them in a direction that is, at times, illegal.

And when a player is discovered to have received improper benefits it is almost always too late.

Take Bush for example. He was already no longer at USC. Bush was asked to return his Heisman Trophy and his former school is banned from the post-season for two years.

The school also loses more than 20 scholarships and is forced to vacate wins.

So the question is: Who is affected by these strict sanctions? It hurts the school that the individual athlete is no longer attending The recruiting process itself can be extremely drawn out, even longer than the high school season. The highly touted recruits are not necessarily discovered during live football games.

“It’s all about the summer camps and combines,” Tom Bergeron, editor at RivalsHigh.com which is one of the largest high school football databases online and portion of Yahoo! Sports briefly wrote in an email. “That’s where these kids are discovered.”

Clements saw this first-hand during offseason practices. “We had over 80 schools coming to some of our spring practices,” he said. “That’s great for the kids.”

While it is great exposure for the student-athletes, it is also very difficult for high schooll administrations to keep track of all of these scouts as they generally do not have compliance offices and a much smaller budget to track everyone who

comes to look at the players.

“Spring practice was crazy,” one college football player said. “College coaches you know [the popular guys] are there.

Coaches you don’t know are there. And fans/boosters of every major university are there. No one knows who is who and guys are just being told this and that.”

While this player claims he wasn’t offered benefits he spoke cautiously when saying he heard of other high school players being offered things, outside of a college scholarship.

“You would see guys go from talking to a college coach and then go talk to a booster or a ‘fan’ away from everyone else,” the anonymous college player said.

“Later you would hear whispers in the locker room about this school offering someone this and that school offering something else. It ranged from cash, to free flights home [if the school was far away from family], to gifts, to just free things at local businesses.”

So how do we stop illegal recruiting?

Jackson describes the difficulties in legally paying college football players.

“The NCAA makes a killing off these kids and they don’t get anything back in return,” Jackson said. “The problem is if you pay the college football players, then you have to pay all college athletes. Right now, there is not a way they can do that without making it fair across the board.”

The problem stated by Jackson is exactly why the NCAA will never pay student-athletes. Universities already have enough trouble keeping eligibility due to regulations such as Title IX, which basically ensures you have as many female athletes as male athletes competing at the collegiate level.

You won’t be able to pay players based on their performance; it would have to be even to every college athlete, regardless of sport so the NCAA feels that no one is getting an unfair advantage.

Illegal recruiting of high school athletes will always be an issue as long as the NFL has a free minor league system.

As long as athletes are putting their bodies on the line and not being compensated, they will always find a way to make some money.

Use baseball and the MLB as an example. If you’re a top player in high school then we can assume you have a number of college scholarship offers to continue playing baseball at the collegiate level.

The players then also enter the MLB draft and if they are drafted then meet with their agents to discuss a deal. If the MLB team makes an offer the players likes then he has the option to take the money and become a pro athlete or he can forego the money and enroll at college to fulfill his college scholarship.

As it stands now the NFL has a free minor league system. They pay no money to the NCAA, which in turn trains these athletes for at least three years before they enter the draft.

If the NFL would purchase the United Football League, Canadian Football League or the Arena Football League and use it as their minor league system then we would have no issues.

The athletes that want the money and have the talent to go pro out of high school would enter the draft and if a team makes a substantial offer to the player then he will have the option to go pro or attend college.

“The money is more than there,” Jackson ensured. “They just have to find a way to allocate it.”

Kyle Bennett can be reached at kbennett. ut@gmail.com.

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Recruiting Scandals [19]

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Key Basketball Player Dismissed Due to Grades

By DANIEL FEINGOLD & MILES PARKS Associate Editor & Sports Editor

The University of Tampa men’s basketball team enters the 2011-2012 season without guard Anthony Griffis, a second-team All-SSC player who finished last season second on the team in scoring.

Following the spring Anthony Griffis s e m e s t e r , Griffis was academically dismissed from the university after finishing the school year with a GPA below 2.0. Per the university’s 2010-2011 catalog, “Failure to maintain satisfactory academic standing may result in a student’s dismissal from the university.”

His petition to continue his enrollment at UT was denied.

“When I wasn’t accepted, it was a little disappointing for me,” Griffis said. “It was a lesson learned. It wasn’t [anyone else’s] but my fault, so I really can’t be mad at the

university.”

According to men’s head basketball coach Richard Schmidt, Griffis transferred to UT last fall with a 2.7 GPA from Lincoln Trail College, a community college in Robinson, Ill. While his credits from Lincoln Trail transferred, his GPA did not; therefore, the grades he earned in his junior year at UT stood as the GPA he was evaluated by.

Following what Coach Schmidt described as a terrible first semester, Griffis was granted until the end of the year by the university to get his GPA above a 2.0.

Schmidt said that Griffis’ first semester ended much poorer than his second, but referenced a failed economics course that was the difference between a passing and not-passing grade point average.

“The first semester was just terrible,” Schmidt said. “And then we got him organized and he did much better the second semester. . . . I was hoping they would give him another semester. I think he realized that he was in trouble and he could do better.”

Coach Schmidt and assistant coach Justin Pecka hoped Griffis’ dismissal case would be reviewed after the summer sessions, enabling him to take two classes during that time to raise his GPA. But

according to the catalog, “A student whose cumulative grade point average falls within the academic dismissal range will have his or her record reviewed, and will be subject to dismissal following each regular (fall or spring) semester.”

Griffis petitioned to extend his enrollment another semester, but the

[ [ “He’s just a wonderful kid. A wonderful person. He’s funny, he means well, he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He’s just a good kid. That’s why we hated to see him go.”

-Richard Schmidt, Basketball Head Coach

Faculty Appeals Committee denied his request.

“I was disappointed with [the decision],” Schmidt said. “I felt like he should be given at least another semester of summer to see whether he could pull his grades up.

He had never been in a school as tough as this and some junior colleges are just not very tough.”

The committee wasn’t informed that Griffis was an athlete, so his academic performance was evaluated the same as any other UT student, according to Yovan Reyes, the associate director of the academic advising office.

“We don’t even tell [the committee] if they’re athletes or not,” Reyes said.

“Which is good. It’s unbiased.”

The only way the committee would have an idea is indirectly through the petition, which included contributions from his coaches. According to Reyes, these contributions are part of the petition in favor of the student’s case.

“We’re not cold-hearted,” Reyes said of the appeals committee members. “There are parameters in there to assist students.”

Both Griffis and Pecka alluded to the challenges that came with Griffis being unprepared as he transitioned from a community college to a university.

“It was just a major jump for me,” Griffis said. “I definitely should’ve put more time into the books. Definitely more studying and less partying, I would say.”

[See Griffis, 17]

Volleyball Wins Four Straight Following First Loss of Season At Eckerd

By GREG SPRACKLIN Sports Writer

Last week, the University of Tampa women’s volleyball dropped their first game of the season in a 5-set heart-breaker to Eckerd College. The game was hardfought by both sides, but Eckerd proved to be too much for the visiting Spartans to handle.

“At that point, we were just winning games. We weren’t rolling by any means,” Coach Chris Catanach said. “It’s going to happen against a good team like that. They exposed some things in us.”

Specifically, the Eckerd Tritons exposed a sense of complacency that the Spartans had developed over their 24-0 run. Catanach believes it’s better to lose now. If they lose in the Regionals or the National tournament, there isn’t any time to re-focus.

The AVCA, or the Coaches’ Poll for the best D-II volleyball teams in the nation Jessica Yingling had the Spartans as #1 before their loss.

They are now sitting at #5.

“It’s a coaches’ poll,” Catanach said.

“It’s not based on any real system, but it’s nice to see the top-tier teams grouped together.”

Regionals and the National tournament are coming up soon. However, the Spartans began a three-game home stand on November 3rd. After losing a conference game to Eckerd, Tampa needed to win out over the weekend and then beat Rollins on November 9th to secure the Sunshine State Conference.

On Thursday the 3rd, the Spartans handily defeated the visiting University of North Alabama.

All systems were clicking; serving was solid, the digs were there, and Jessica

Yingling was shining again. She led the team in kills with 13.

“Jessica is kind of a stabilizer,” said Catanach. “She keeps things balanced, she’s not likely to go out there and have 20 kills in a match.”

Thirteen kills is close. The game against North Alabama wasn’t a conference matchup, but a regional one, which could have an effect on the seeding in the regional tournament.

“The tournament is all regionally based,” Catanach said. “Teams like North Alabama are in our region, so we play them and try to secure the top spot in the region.”

The top spot in the region is a huge advantage for the Spartans. Being seeded first out of eight in a regional tournament means the Spartans would host the tournament. That means many things to Coach Catanach.

“Well, there’s no travel,” he said.

“That’s a lot of pressure off the girls right away. It’s a big advantage, keeping them in their comfort zone.”

On Friday night, game two of the Spartans’ triple-header, UT stomped Nova Southeastern 3-1.

Eight members of the team recorded at least five kills, including Danielle Selkridge, Yingling, Brianne Yeates, and Eva Dupay. Production from all of them has grown considerably over the season.

“Eva’s a spark plug,” Catanach said, laughing. “She’s a big contributor and she can fire the whole team up. She’s a ‘tear your head off’ kind of player.” Finally on Saturday, to round out their three game stand, the Spartans shut the door quickly on a spunky Florida Tech team.

Their record stands at an impressive 261, and 14-1 in conference play. Saturday night, the Spartans won at least a share of the SSC title. They still have November 9th’s game against Rollins.

If they pull that off, they win the title outright.

“We need to win against Rollins on Wednesday,” middle-hitter Danielle Selkridge said. “Once we do that, we win the title outright.”

After that conference title win, the Spartans will have their eyes set on Regionals.

“We went 3-0 this weekend,” libero Julie Howlett said. “We win again on Wednesday, and we win the conference and there’s about a 99% chance we top the region and host the tournament.”

Howlett has been an important contributor all season. Because she plays on the back line, she doesn’t always seem as glamorous as others; no big kill numbers

or block numbers.

But as the team’s libero, she captains the team on the court.

“Julie goes unnoticed,” Catanach said.

“She is, without a doubt, one of our top players.”

The Spartans have rebounded well from their close loss to Eckerd College, and are one win away from sole ownership of their 7th straight SSC title.

With all of the pieces in position to take the Spartans deep into the postseason, Catanach seems comfortable. Selkridge, Yeates, Yingling, Dupay and Howlett are all healthy, and are hungry for more success this season.

Greg Spracklin can be reached at gspracklin@spartans.ut.edu.

Jake Patterson/The Minaret

Eva Dupay (4), Holly Reschke (10) and Danielle Selkridge (16) celebrate as the Spartans win.