OLD GOLD&BLACK W A K E
F O R E S T
U N I V E R S I T Y
T H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 6 , 2 0 0 8
VOL. 92, NO. 12
“Covers the campus like the magnolias”
Campus police warn students about recent robberies By Cheryl Johnson | Contributing writer
On Oct. 27, a man, unassociated with the university was robbed after he got out of his car and began walking home on Brookwood Drive just off Polo Road. A university student was robbed the very next day, Oct. 28, at Deacon Ridge. She was in her car in the Deacon Ridge parking lot, which is just north of the campus on University Parkway, when a man approached her with
a handgun. After the robbery, the attacker fled the scene, leaving the young woman uninjured. On Oct. 30, another university student was robbed in parking lot R2, near the Polo Residence Hall. According to her statement to the University Police, she was about to leave her car when a man with a handgun approached her. He told her to drive him to different ATMs around Winston-Salem. After withdrawing
Howler’s future in question
money, he instructted her to drop him off in Kimberly Park near downtown Winston-Salem. During this incident, the victim said that the robber struck her, but fortunately she was not seriously injured. A recent string of break-ins has also surfaced in the community. In one situation in early October, a university student was at her off-campus house when a man suddenly broke in. According to the student’s statement, she pushed the man
outside and locked the door. She was not injured during this incident. So far, there have been no arrests in these cases. The University Police are investigating the on-campus robbery with help from the Winston-Salem Police Department, which is investigating all three of the robberies. All of these incidents occurred between 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
See Robbery, Page A4
Statistics
• The FBI defines robbery as the
taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.
Pro
on cti
By Ashton Astbury | Contributing writer
See Howler, Page A3
• The average dollar loss per robbery offense was $1,321.
Outside the Bubble... Obama becomes first African-American president Senator Barack Obama beat Senator John McCain with 359 electoral votes to become the first African-American president in U.S. history. North Carolina and Missouri have yet to be declared for either candidate. A number of traditionally “red states” gave their electoral votes to Obama. Among these was Viriginia, which hadn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964.
Radcliffe and Gomes Win New York City Marathon
By Katie Phillips | Staff writer Two students, seniors Velvet Bryant and Trayonna Floyd, were awarded grants by the Women’s Fund of Winston-Salem for their summer internships at Experiment in Self-Reliance and the Children’s Law Center, respectively. Thirteen students in total participated in the Non-Profit Summer Internship Program, coordinated by the Pro Humanitate Center and the university’s Lilly Endowment program for the theological exploration of evocation. University staff members Michele Gillespie and Beth Hoagland, director and associate director of the Pro Humanitate Center, lead and mentor interns in the program and into desired fields of work. The program is designed to “encourage vocational exploration and discovery.” While giving students an opportunity to intern at a local, non-profit organization. The
internship also allows for work one’s intended career field. The program includes weekly vocational reflection meetings that allow for discussion and exposure to the various nonprofit organizations. The interns also received personal, spiritual, and financial support from the university. Senior Ashley Merrill, a student intern at Forsyth Medical Center in the summer of 2007, describes the weekly reflection period. “Meeting with the other interns on Thursday of each week made me feel like I had seven different internships instead of just one,” she said. “It was great to be able to visit each intern’s site, hear from supervisors at the different locations, and listen to each intern reflect on achievements, struggles, and questions.”
See Pro Humanitate, Page A2
Calloway revises popular major By R. Hunter Bratton | Staff writer
The Calloway School of Business and Accountancy recently announced that the business major, a popular program of study among many university students, will be changed this semester to the business & enterprise management (BEM) major. The BEM major will begin with the class entering Calloway in fall 2009. Pat Dickson, associate professor in the Calloway School of Business and Accountancy, said the purpose of revising the major was to provide future business school graduates the means to pursue their desired employment. Concurrently, Dickson stressed how important it was for the university to remain loyal to their core commitment of educating the entire person. The BEM major both plans for flux in organizational requirements by the employment market and provides students the
prospect of setting themselves apart in their vocation, said Gordon E. McCray, senior associate dean of the Calloway School of Business and Accountancy. “The new major is about far more than getting a job – BEM majors will carry with them an array of formative experiences that will pay dividends for many, many years into their careers,” he said. Within the current requirements for a business major, students must complete no less than 30 hours of core classes and an additional nine hours of general management courses. The new BEM major will continue the 30 hours of core requisite classes, but it will also require the completion of 22.5 credit hours that will enhance the education of a BEM student. “Some students have not opted for the business major in recent years because it did not allow them to clearly define for potential employ-
Life | B7
INSIDE:
cur on a street or highway.
• Firearms were used in 42.8 percent of robberies based on supplemental data received from law enforcement agen• There were 13,548 robberies cies. in 2007 in North Carolina. Source: Department of Justice
a t i t e n a i n m A u H
In an Oct. 29 meeting of representatives from the Student Life Committee, Student Government, the Media Board and the university’s yearbook The Howler, it was established that a study committee would be formed in the next few weeks to consider and evaluate the future of The Howler. Membership of the committee has not yet been established, but according to Kenneth Zick, vice president for Student Life, there will “certainly be membership from students and faculty advisors of Student Life, Student Government, the Media Board and The Howler staff, as well as alumni.” The move to institute the study committee is a response to nearly a decade of declining involvement of students on the yearbook staff and lowered interest in the publication. According to Mary Gerardy, associate vice president of Student Life, the Media Board designed a survey to supplement the consideration of the future of The Howler earlier in the fall. Of the 180 students who participated, results yielded a 50/50 split in whether or not students would be interested in the yearbook, and that only 8-9 percent of students would be willing to pay for the yearbook, which previously had been free of charge On Oct. 20, the Media Board, a committee consisting of the heads of the student media outlets and their advisors, had voted 12-0-4 to suspend the 2009 edition of The Howler in light of a decision from the Student Budget Advisory Committee (SBAC) to cut The Howler’s budget. In previous years the SBAC had allotted approximatelly $100,000 toward the production of The Howler. Due to a budget cut from $100,000 to $40,000, The Howler could not produce its 109th volume for the 20082009 academic year without working on a deficit. According to junior Saket Munshaw, Student Government treasurer, the SBAC holds budget hearings every February to plan allocations for the following fiscal year. Every chartered student organization, exempting Student Union and Greek life, has the option of presenting a budget proposal before the committee for approval. Last year, the Office of Student Life provided the SBAC with about $592,000 dollars to be allotted to the 130 student organizations on campus. According to Munshaw, the administration recommended that the SBAC cut The Howler’s budget to $40,000 and
• 43.8 percent of robberies oc-
Baby it’s cold outside
Brieflies
A2
Police Beat
A2
Spotlight
B2
A look at this winter’s upcoming movies, both the blockbusters and the Oscar contenders.
The Hot List
B8
In Other News
Sudoku
B8
• President Hatch gives annual speech | A2 • Feminist speaks on the effects of porn | A5
ers who they are in terms of capabilities and skills nor did it help them see as clear a path to employment as we believe the new degree will facilitate,” Dickson said. The business school predicts the change of the once stigmatized requirements to the program will strengthen individual education. For the new BEM major, nine credit hours will be required as part of an elective concentration whereby students will have the freedom to chose from a wide range of approved areas of study such as marketing, international business and new business development. From these nine hours, BEM students will now have the ability to construct a concentration in areas of study that will advance competitiveness in their desired career paths. BEM majors will additionally be asked to participate in Professional
See BEM, Page A3
Sports | B1 Hearing the waves University grad’s vision comes true as his sports broadcasting company has become “American’s home for college sports.”
Paula Radcliffe of Britain won the New York City marathon Nov. 2, successfully defending her women’s title. Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil, the 2006 champion, charged past a fading Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco in the last mile to win the New York City marathon Nov. 2 for his second triumph in the race.
Study links teen pregnancy to sexual TV shows Researchers at the RAND research organization concluded a three-year study that linked viewing of racy television programing to risky sexual behavior by teens. The study covered 718 teenagers during the three-year span. There were 91 pregnancies. The subjects who watched the sexual programing were at double the risk for pregnancy compared to those who watched the least amount of such programing. The researchers recruited adolescents aged 12 to 17 and surveyed them three times between 2001 and 2004, asking about television viewing habits, sexual behavior and pregnancy. The study focused on 23 free and cable television programs popular among teenagers including situation comedies, dramas, reality programs and animated shows.
Bin Laden’s publicist sentanced to life in prision Ali Hamza al Bahlul, a Yemeni prisoner at Guantanamo, was sentanced to life in prison Nov. 3 for conspiring with al Qaeda, soliciting murder and providing material support for terrorism. Bahlul was Osama bin Laden’s media secretary. The military tribunal’s jury of nine U.S. military officers reached its verdict after a weeklong trial in which Bahlul and his lawyer refused to participate. FBI interrogators testified that Bahlul videotaped wills of two September 11 hijackers and boasted of making al Qaeda commercials designed to recruit suicide bombers. These videos were filled with bloody images of violence and praised the suicide bombers who drove a boat full of explosives into the side of the USS Cole.
Opinion | A6 Bubble not safe Friend of victim decries the inadequate level of safety on campus.