Which Degree? Learn all about some majors you’ve never heard of (and some you have). NEWS • Page 3
Faith and Basketball
Battle of the Bands Find out who won Friday’s Battle of the Bands! STYLE • Page 5
Alumnus Father Peter Nassetta knows a thing or two about Mason basketball. SPORTS • Page 10
George Mason University’s Student Newspaper www.broadsideonline.com
March 5, 2012
Volume 88 Issue 17
NCAA Tournament Dashed by Rams Mason Falls at Hands of Rival for Third Time in Three Years
Student Senator Resigns at Impeachment Hearing Resolution for Impeachment Process Passes Senate 26-2 Gregory Connolly Editor-in-Chief
Photo by: Stephen Kline
Senior guard Andre Cornelius scored 15 points during the CAA semi-final game against VCU. The Rams beat Mason 74-64 after starting the game with a 22-0 lead. The game ended Mason’s tournament run.
Cody Norman Managing Editor It happened again. For the fifth time in as many chances and the third time in three years, the Patriots were trumped by the VCU Rams in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament in the Richmond Coliseum. In the opening minutes of the first half, the Rams put together a 32-point onslaught in front of another sold out crowd that left the Patriots clawing for every basket. Bradford Burgess and Troy Daniels led the charge as VCU canned each of their first eight 3-point attempts, hitting Mason with a 32-4 deficit just nine minutes into the game. “We weren’t ready to start,” Mason coach Paul Hewitt said. “That falls on me. When they started hitting those threes, we should have made some adjustments.” But the Patriots fought back. Led by forward Mike Morrison for a second straight night, Mason scratched their way to within striking distance and went into the break trailing 48-32. Morrison had 12 of his 20 total points in the first half, keeping the Patriots’ conference championship hopes alive with 20 minutes left to play.
“Our guys climbed out of [the deficit] be- 30 minutes, outscoring the Rams 60-42 during cause they played extremely hard,” Hewitt that frame. said. “They’re extremely committed. But it’s With help from a double-double performance by forward Jonathan tough to defend live ball Arledge, who finished the game turnovers. And that really “One thing I credit with 10 points and 11 rebounds, killed us.” Morrison added: “One my team with is that Morrison, Cornelius and the thing I credit my team with no matter how much Patriots closed the gap to seven points late in the second half is that no matter how much we were down, we we were down, we never and threatened to steal a vicstopped fighting. At no tory despite the early deficit. never stopped fight“Everybody had confipoint in the game did we put ing. At no point did our heads down and give dence in me – my teammates, we put our heads the coaching staff, everybody,” up.” To begin the second Arledge said. “And that gave me down and give up.” confidence.” half, Hewitt put Andre CorDespite any effort made by nelius into the point guard -Mike Morrison, Forward role and put the ball in the Hewitt and his staff to get CAA hands of his senior guard for Player of the Year Ryan Pearson the remainder of the game. involved offensively, the senior Cornelius knocked down several clutch 3- forward could not find his rhythm in Richpointers, connecting on 4-of-10 total shots in mond and exited the weekend with just 10 an impressive 15-point effort. points, six of them coming in the loss on Sun“We just wanted to put some quickness day evening. on the ball,” Hewitt said. “That tempered their “We didn’t execute well in some of the sets where we tried to get him the ball,” Hewitt aggressiveness a little bit.” Anchoring the Patriots’ defense, the two said. seniors held VCU to just 42 points in the final
See Mason CAA Tournament, Page 12
Rector Says Goodbye, Talks Shop Ernst Volgenau Gives Final Address to Faculty Senate Justin Lalputan News Editor On Wednesday, Rector Ernst Volgenau of the Board of Visitors gave his final address to the Faculty Senate. His tenure as rector of the board will end this June. At the meeting, the add/drop deadline was also discussed. Volgenau said he admires the work President Alan Merten has done for the university. “Until you’ve run a public organization in a public domain, you don’t realize what management is all about,” Volgenau said. “Even if things don’t go wrong, there are so many issues that come up continuously. It’s a trial.” Volgenau also spoke about incoming President Ángel Cabr-
era and also addressed concerns that the Faculty Senate had about his election. On Feb. 8, the Faculty Senate called a special meeting to discuss issues they had with the manner in which Cabrera was elected, specifically the anonymous nature of the selection process, which violated section 1.2.5 of the faculty handbook. According to section 1.2.5, “The search and selection process must include opportunities for the General Faculty to meet with candidates who are finalists for the presidency.” In this election, the general faculty did not have this chance. “Indeed the Board of Visitors did not technically follow the rule of the faculty handbook,” Volgenau said. “I contend that it was an infraction, not a violation.
We gave the faculty the opportunity to interview one candidate, not the finalists.” “We tried to honor the spirit of the faculty handbook,” Volgenau said. “And I’ll say that the faculty handbook is not a contract. It is a policy that is put in place by the Board of Visitors, and the Board of Visitors has the right to change the policy. The board in its wisdom chose to change that policy on Dec. 9,” Volgenau said. “As the rector I apologize, but I don’t think we’re compelled to follow the faculty handbook.” Questions were also raised about the upcoming provost search, which will not be handled by the Board of Visitors. Volgenau said that the responsibility will be the president’s. A resolution from the Stu-
dent Senate regarding the add/drop deadline was brought before the Faculty Senate. The Academic Policies Committee had already decided to hear what the Student Senate’s position on the issue. Members of the Faculty Senate noted that the arguments set out in the Student Senate resolution for the add/drop deadline being pushed up were incorrect. The Faculty Senate advised the Student Senate to more fully investigate the reasons for the deadline change. The Faculty Senate’s resolution to change the add/drop deadline can be found in the March 3, 2010, minutes. The Faculty Senate will have its next meeting on March 28. President Merten will address the senate at that time.
A student senator resigned Friday at an Election Dispute Commission hearing after a resolution passed at Thursday’s Student Senate meeting called for an impeachment hearing. Senator Donald Garrett read his letter of resignation at the start of the EDC hearing. Questions remain about how his resignation relates to Student Government bylaws. “There are some discrepancies as to whether [Garrett’s resignation] is permissible [under Student Government rules],” said Student Government President Ally Bowers. “From my understanding, the resignation has to be approved, so there’s a chance there might still be a hearing.” Garrett has taken a number of legal measures, including giving notice to members of the Student Government that he will file a petition involving Student Government and Virginia FOIA Law. Garrett said he plans to file the petition Tuesday. Resolution 27, which passed Thursday 26-2 with one abstention, cited several reasons for initiating impeachment proceedings against Garrett. Among these reasons, according to the resolution, was an email from Garrett to Bowers in which he protested a proposed addition to the Election Code, Section 4.1, that
would prohibit candidates from running for both Student Senate and an executive position within Student Government. According to the resolution, Garrett said “4.1 needs to be taken out or else I will initiate legal action. Let this serve as your notice.” According to the resolution, Garrett also “broke the George Mason University Student Code of Conduct when, after being repeatedly warned to cease reading a prepared letter on an issue that did not pertain to the matter at hand, he intentionally caused a disruption in the learning environment of GMU’s Student Government.” According to the resolution, the reading took place Oct. 20, 2011. In his letter of resignation, Garrett said, “Although the debate in Senate yesterday was healthy, most of the comments made did not relate back to the allegations in Resolution 27. I do not trust the EDC to be a fair and neutral arbitrator and will not go forward having a hearing with that unjust body.” The 18 senators who submitted the resolution also mentioned Robert’s Rules of Order in the resolution, saying Garrett “disturbed the wellbeing of the organization by threatening and hampering the work of Student Government Members.”
See SENATE, Page 3
Committee to Revisit Add/Drop Deadline Students Protest Current Date Justin Lalputan News Editor The Government and Academic Affairs Committee of the Student Senate and Academic Policies Committee of the Faculty Senate are discussing the add/drop deadline. In fall 2011, the date was pushed forward, giving students only eight days to finalize their class schedule. In March 2010, the Faculty Senate decided to push up the add/drop deadline. This was done despite a letter of opposition from Devraj Dasgupta, former Student Government president. The add/drop date was pushed up for two primary reasons, said Janette Muir, associate provost of undergraduate education and former chair of the Academic Policies Committee. First, professors complained that two weeks was too long an interval for students to be absent from a classroom, Muir said. “They’ve missed quizzes, they’ve missed homework. They’re not in the same position to succeed as a student that [has] been in the classroom [from the start],” Muir said. The second issue concerns financial aid. If the add period is extended, students must wait longer to get money from [federal] financial aid, Muir said. This is because the money cannot be granted until the add/drop date has passed. For example, if a student were to complete a FAFSA application, theymust still wait for the add/drop date to pass. While that
student is waiting, students from other universities are already receiving federal funds. Dasgupta addressed both issues in his letter to the Faculty Senate in March 2010. “Our leadership disagrees with the assessment in that students cannot succeed or excel in the same way as if they start a class two weeks into the semester. As it is the first two weeks of any class are introductory and more often than not review for the student. Students have long complained about financial aid and the duration it takes to receive money so why not focus our efforts on the financial aid office and the processes instead of manipulating an entire system at the student's cost,” Dasgupta said in his letter. The Student Senate highlighted the issue of the add/drop date this semester due to a large number of protests from George Mason University students said Matthew Short, chairman of the Government & Academic Affairs committee of the Student Senate. “We started receiving emails last semester, particularly from performing arts majors,” said Leslie Cook, secretary of the Government & Academic Affairs committee. “They have auditions the first week of classes, and apparently they don’t receive their results [from their auditions] until the end of the first week [or] the beginning of the second week. [This] left them one day to put together a schedule and add classes.”
See DROP DATE, Page 4