The final games at Leighton for Wake tennis
Sarah Bareilles sings a ‘Love Song’
OLD GOLD&BLACK Sports | B1
W A K E
F O R E S T
Life | B5
U N I V E R S I T Y
VOL. 94, NO. 28
T H U R S D AY, A P R I L 1 4 , 2 0 1 1
oldgoldandblack.com
“Covers the campus like the magnolias”
Tiefenthaler’s new presidency surprises two universities By Patrick Kelly | Staff writer
Photo courtesy of Media Relations
Colorado College announced last week that Wake Forest Provost Jill Teifenthaler will become their next president. She officially leaves the university June 30.
Last week, faculty, staff and students were alerted via email that Provost and Professor of Economics Jill Tiefenthaler was named president of Colorado College, and would be leaving the university at the end of this semester. The move came as a surprise to the university community, as the provost’s office has recently played integral roles in sponsoring new and ongoing endeavors like this week’s Losing To Win symposium on race and sports. Colorado College is a small liberal arts college with approximately 2,000 undergraduate students in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is known for its progressive and unconventional educational approach, scheduling the year into eight “blocks” of only one class each. “I have loved my time at Wake Forest but I decided that it was time for the next step,” Tiefenthaler said. “I was looking to lead at a place that shared my values — great faith in the liberal arts, faculty-student engagement, experiential education, diversity, and community — and was also
Wait gives voice to Washington Journalists
willing to take a few risks, try some new things — with a goal of continually building academic excellence. Colorado College is such a place.” President Nathan O. Hatch praised Tiefenthaler’s contributions to the core of the university’s identity, calling her “an enormously gifted leader” leaving behind a footprint on everything from the establishment of new interdisciplinary centers like the Humanities Institute and the Institute for Public Engagement to strengthening the library, student affairs and student-faculty engagement. “We did everything we could to keep her at Wake, but she’s ready to be a college president, I have no doubt about that,” Hatch said. Her decision to leave came as a shock to the university community. Tiefenthaler and her husband, Professor of Economics Kevin Rask, are still listed on WIN co-teaching their Economics of Higher Education class for next semester. Apparently, the decision was as much of a shock to the Colorado College community as it was here.
See Provost, Page A6
Business team claims world championship By Hilary Burns | Asst. life editor
A team of four students from the Wake Forest University Schools of Business won the world championship title at the KPMG International Case Competition in Istanbul, Turkey, April 8. The team consisted of seniors Tim Rodgers, Afton Vechery, Swayze Smartt and Megan Petitt. This group represented the United States, as well as the university, and defeated teams from the Czech Republic, Russia and Sweden in the final round. The team formed in November and competed against numerous other teams on campus to represent the university at the regional level. The regional competition, which took place in Atlanta, Ga.,
By Rob Byrd | Staff writer As the final event in the Voices of Our Time lecture series for this academic year, seasoned political journalists and Washington, D.C., power couple Al Hunt and Judy Woodruff spoke to a strikingly student-less crowd in Wait Chapel April 13. Moderated by President Nathan O. Hatch, who established the lecture series in 2006, Hunt and Woodruff discussed the intertwining journalistic and political culture in the nation’s capital, as well as lent their insights into the current political landscape, upcoming
presidential election and future of the journalism industry of which they are so acquainted. A common thread that looped through much of the conversation is the fundamental shift that Hunt and Woodruff believe has occurred in politics since they arrived in Washington nearly 35 years ago: an increasingly negative, polarizing environment with little personal attention and far less civility. “Republicans and Democrats used to dine together and go to parties together, but not anymore,” Woodruff, a regular anchor on PBS NewsHour and former correspondent for CNN and NBC, said. “Reagan would
have Democrats over for cocktails. Somewhere along the way, things changed.” As members of both the political and journalistic realms, Hunt and Woodruff agreed that the relationship between media and politicians has changed far less over the years than the rapport among politicians. “The relationship between journalists and politicians, specifically the White House, is both symbiotic and adversarial,” Hunt, the executive editor of Bloomberg News, said. “The tension between the press and the politicians
See Voices, Page A6
Graphic by Ken Meyer/Old Gold & Black Photo by Holly Hinshelwood/Old Gold & Black
in January. There, the team competed against the University of Florida and the University of Georgia for a spot in the national competition. Having left Atlanta victorious, they traveled to New York City and competed against Boston College, University of Maryland, University of Illinois, University of Texas and University of Washington. “We won at the national level which resulted in the privilege of traveling to Istanbul to represent the United States and Wake Forest at the international competition,” Rodgers said. Vechery said that there were 19 teams from 19 different countries present at the competition, which totaled 2,500 students from 250 universities around the world. Rodgers explained that the international competition had two rounds. In the first round, they
See KPMG, Page A6
Student government runoff elections lock in next year’s executives By Ken Meyer | News editor
After the results of the initial Student Government elections sent two of four executive positions to a runoff, the undergraduate student body voted to elect their president and their treasurer April 7. These runoff elections became necessary after none of the six candidates for the two positions gained simple majorities in the initial elections on April 1. Three candidates ran for each position, which made reaching that 50 percent mark hard, as all three split the vote. In the runoff election for president, junior Nilam Patel defeated junior William McClure in an extremely close race. Patel commanded 1,065 votes, winning 50.74 percent, while McClure took 1,034 votes for 49.26 percent.
Patel looks forward to leading SG next year. “We’re got a lot of great plans for next year but we’re still dedicated towards our constituents and improving the communication that we often hear frustrations about,” Patel said. “We’re here to fix problems, frustrations and complaints because we want each student to love their time at the university. We have a challenging year ahead of us but I’m lucky to be surrounded by the positive energy that each member of Student Government possess. I’m looking forward to serving the student body next year.” In the runoff election for treasurer, junior incumbent VJ Cerniglia defeated junior challenger Daniel Richard. This race was similarly close, as Cerniglia won 725 votes for 52.27 percent while Richard
gained 662 votes for 47.73 percent. These elections locked in the executive staff of SG for next semester. Junior Ben Strickler was elected to the position of the speaker of the house and sophomore Tré Easton gained the position of secretary. Strickler and Easton join Patel and Cerniglia, as well as the recently elected legislators, Student Budget Advisory Committee members, and Honor and Ethics Council members Despite this step toward installing the future of SG, these runoff elections showed a poor turnout from the undergraduate student body. Out of nearly 4,500 undergraduate students, 2,099, or less than 50 percent, logged onto Clare Stanton/Old Gold & Black WIN to vote for the president. Meanwhile, 1,387 logged onto President Nilam Patel joins (from left) Speaker of the House Ben Strickler, Secretary Tré Easton and Treasurer VJ Cerniglia in preparing for the year ahead. to vote for the treasurer.