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, M A RC H 4 , 2 0 1 0
VOL. 93, NO. 23
“Covers the campus like the magnolias”
Program formed for high schoolers
Outside the Bubble...
By Katie Phillips | Staff writer
Top court considers reach of gun rights The Supreme Court appeared likely to extend the federal right to own guns to state and local governments on March 2, but some justices said firearms still could face regulations and restrictions. Gun rights cases have been among the country’s most divisive social, political and legal issues. Some 90 million people in the United States have an estimated 200 million guns, according to a study cited in the case.
The university has announced its plan for the inaugural high school study program during the summer of 2010. Utilizing the acronym LENS, the program will give students a glimpse into the college experience from a liberal arts perspective. LENS stands for Learn, Experience, Navigate and Solve. The purpose is to demonstrate to high school students, rising junior and seniors, that cross-disciplinary study and a balanced multi-disciplinary course load is pertinent in one’s education. And not only for the sole purpose of education is a diverse course load important: it is pivotal in realistic problem solving in our world.
According to LENS, this multi dimensional perspective is something that is often overlooked in a high school education. Kline Harrison, associate provost and professor of business, said, “It’s a holistic experience. It’s about learning what it’s like to be a college student while exploring and helping to solve a contemporary problem. The kind of student we are looking for is interested in taking up these challenges.” In its opening year, the LENS program will examine the challenges of sustainability — specifically in the areas of food and water systems and climate change — from a biological, ecological, political, economical, social and legal perspective. Lucas Johnston, a teacher and post-doctoral fellow in religion and environmental studies and
co-director of the program, says participants will also use technology to tackle climate change questions. “We’ll use existing climate data to do some computer modeling of future scenarios, and discuss how energy production and consumption may or may not be related to shifts in the earth’s carbon and nitrogen cycles.” High school students will not only be applying these critical thinking skills inside the classroom. Activities outside of the classroom are included. Students will have the opportunity to visit a farmer’s market to purchase locally grown foods for a group meal, and visit the Yadkin River, Forsyth County’s primary water source, to meet with representatives
See LENS, Page A7
Local rules lessened to encourage more walking Future development in Winston-Salem could encourage people to walk or bike to shops and restaurants after two decisions made by the Winston-Salem City Council on March 1. The council voted unanimously to cut back on the number of parking spaces required for restaurants, to allow more outdoor seating for restaurants and to shrink the amount of space that had been allowed between businesses and sidewalks or streets.
Post office looks to cut costs as total amount of mail dips The Postal Service, faced with less mail and bigger shortfalls, plans to cut Saturday delivery and overtime, raise prices and trim its workforce by about 30,000, its chief financial officer, Joseph Corbett, said on Feb. 27. Because of e-mail and private delivery companies, traditional mail volume is expected to be down from last year by about 10 billion pieces in 2010 with first class mail expected to drop 37 percent by 2020, leaving the service with a cumulative shortfall that could hit $238 billion by 2020.
In the Triad only 87 cases of H1N1 reported thus far According to a study released by the N.C. Division of Public Health on Feb. 25, the Triad and Northwest North Carolina have accounted for 21 percent of the state’s confirmed cases of H1N1 during the current flu season, which began in October. The 14-county area had 87 of the 407 cases statewide. The division said that 89 people statewide have died from the virus in the past five months.
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Welcome Center draws concerns over trees By Renee Slawsky | Asst. news editor
Artistic Rendering Courtesy of Keith Callahan
An artistic rendering shows what the new welcome center will look like once completed in 2011.
As the new Welcome Center enters the first stages of construction faculty, students, and residents from the surrounding area have expressed worries. One concern is about the number and types of trees that are being cut down to make way for the new building. To help address these concerns a series of information sessions were held on March 2 to address and explain the process thus far. Everyone either entering or leaving the university campus via the main entrance on Wake Forest Road has noticed the large amount of clearing that has occurred in preparation for the construction of the new Admissions and Welcome Center. The amount of forestry has decreased significantly in that area and this decrease has caused concern within the university’s community. The event was hosted by various members of the team with the job of planning and executing the construction of this new building. This team includes members of faculty, administrators and members of
Life | B5
INSIDE: Brieflies
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Police Beat
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Spotlight
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The Hot List
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Sudoku
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Procrastination has always been a student’s worse enemy – Life has tips to prevent a meltdown.
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• Michael Hyde publishes a new book | A2 • Lecture on Metaethics of Gay Liberation | A7
the admissions department such as Martha Allman, director of admissions, and Tamara Blocker, senior associate director of admissions. Jim Alty, associate vice president for facilities and campus services, opened the discussion by outlining “the basic sequences of events that led to this decision.” Alty gave a basic timeline: the idea came about in November, 2007, the construction plan was finalized in August, 2009 and the scheduled completion of the construction will hopefully be sometime in February 2011. Moreover, Alty also stated that one of the points of the presentation was also to dispel some of the circulating myths that the construction was totally disregarding the plant life and basically that the constructers “slash and burned” the entire area. Alty then went on to say that the “actual landscape impact was a deliberate process.” Overall, the purpose of the presentation was to “make public” the plan of action regarding the construction of
See Admissions, Page A3
Sports | B1 Olympic Diary University sophomore Laven Newsom shares his personal experience at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver
Council focuses on Greek life By Bobby O’Connor | News editor
The All-Greek council met Feb. 26 in a special session to address the university concerns over the rush process on campus stemming from pledge night. The event, held in the Benson University Center, included the presidents, vice presidents, academic chairs and risk management chairs of each of the fraternities and sororities. The first portion of the event included presentations followed by a question and answer period focused on the pledge night in January. President Nathan O. Hatch, Provohst Jill Tiefenthaler, Director of Student Leadership and Organizations, Steve Hirst, Associate Director of Campus Life, Peyton Risley and Vice-President of Student Life, Ken Zick all participated in the question and answer portion. The main focus during this session was to gather student input on ways to improve safety and academics on campus in terms of Greek life. The largest student concern was related to possibly delay of rush to fall semester of sophomore year. The university has established a committee to investigate and research the benefits and drawbacks of instituting this delayed sophomore year rush. The preliminary information this committee presented from two separate studies stated that a delayed rush, till fall of sophomore year, gave college males more time to emotionally develop and thus they were more prepared to handle the demands of rushing. However during the meeting students were opposed to the possibility of delayed rush. Students argued that in actuality delaying the recruitment process would prevent students from assimilating into smaller niches their first year at the university and that this decision would decrease the revenue of the Greek organizations as well as possibly impact the level of applicants to the university. The university held the All-Greek council special session to try to address what went wrong at pledge night as well as create an open forum for Greek reform. Following the initial session and question and answer the group split into two separate groups. The vice presidents and academic chairs were grouped together and addressed how to combat the trend of lower grade point averages while pledging. The presidents, risk management and social chairs, with Hirst and Risle talked about policy suggestions to improving safety and Greek life in general. The general consensus of the group in finding solutions to pledge night, to prevent some of the issues that arose from last Jan. pledge night, was that bringing parties back onto campus would decrease heavy frontloading of alcohol.
Opinion | A4 God didn’t create a prefect world Kevin Jung argues that the presence of evil is not problematic but rather necessary