The Rocky Mountain Collegian, Tuesday January 29, 2013

ENTERTAINMENT | PAGE 6

NEWS | PAGE 8

future funk

THINKING INSIDE THE BOX STUDENTS DECIDE STUDY CUBE A WELCOME ADDITION

SYNTHETIC SOUNDS HIT THE MUSIC SCENE

THE RO CKY MOUNTAIN

COLLEGIAN

Fort Collins, Colorado

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Volume 121 | No. 90

www.collegian.com

THE STUDENT VOICE OF COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1891

CSU CERTIFICATES NOT REAL State to university: cannot issue them at undergraduate level, must rename programs

By AUSTIN BRIGGS, SEAN MEEDS and KATE SIMMONS The Rocky Mountain Collegian After years of campus departments and faculty issuing informal certificates, CSU recently received clarification from the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) about rules surrounding use of the term “certificate.”

Ian Macgillivray, assistant deputy director for academic affairs at CDHE, wrote in a letter to university officials that CSU’s undergraduate campus does not have the authority to offer certificates. Only graduate schools, community col-

leges and technical colleges can issue formal certificates.

Upon hearing the news, many undergraduates expressed confusion, anger and shock.

“I felt this initial shock where I said to myself, ‘That’s a huge issue,’” said Becky Ewing, senior chemistry major and former director of academics at the Associated Students of CSU. After hearing the news, she checked the College of Business certificate web page and realized it never said anything about being state certified, so she assumed the certificate program was used more as a

Video

See CTV’s coverage tonight at 8 p.m. on channel 11.

Documents

Visit Collegian.com to view the letter sent to Provost Rick Miranda.

DYLAN LANGILLE | COLLEGIAN

The Colorado Dept. of Higher Education recently clarified the rules surrounding who can issue official certificates. Colorado state law declares that certificates can only be handed down by two-year institutions and graduate programs.

“resume booster.”

Kendall Hershey, a junior business major currently pursuing a certificate within her marketing concentration, said the bigger issue lies in how employers will respond to seeing the word “certificate” on her resume.

“I think that if employers are expecting us to have a certain level of experience because of the label ‘certificate,’ then it’s important that

Situps at sunrise

By CAILLEY BIAGINI The Rocky Mountain Collegian

W

See ROTC on Page 3

Start your engines, Rammies Online registration available for oldest race in Northern Colorado

By KATIE O’KEEFE The Rocky Mountain Collegian

PHOTOS BY AUSTIN SIMPSON | COLLEGIAN

Retired Colonel Harold Johnson encourages and counts pushups for a cadet in the ROTC to do his best at the physical fitness test in an auxiliary gym

by Moby early Monday morning.

The ROTC is required to work out at 5:30 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

STRIP CLUB

After discovering that the certificate you’ve earned at CSU is not valid, you may be wondering what to do with that scrap of paper you’ve worked so hard for. While the paper is inconsequential, the education you accrued in its pursuit is invaluable, and is where your focus should be. But what to do with that certificate?

See CERTIFICATE on Page 7

HORSETOOTH HALF MARATHON

CSU Army ROTC students participate in 5:30 a.m. semesterly fitness test hile the rest of campus was likely fast asleep at 5:30 a.m. Monday, Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) students met up to take their semesterly Record Army Physical Fitness Test (RAPFT).

Each ROTC student must find within him or herself the motivation to excel in a test of situps, pushups and a two-mile run.

Lt. Col. Channing Moose described the overarching attitude of the training sessions.

“We don’t let up, we don’t stop, we are never good enough,” Moose said.

Even if the students “max out” their fitness scores, they are expected to continue to work even harder, Moose said.

The students who are attracted to this disciplined environment were found to possess common reasons in choosing this career path.

Junior Alex Coslow joined ROTC because he wanted to serve his country.

“Camaraderie is probably my favorite aspect of it,” Coslow said. The knowledge that his buddies will also be up early by his side motivates him to work hard.

Senior Kraig Bergner said that the military has always been a part of his family and he likes the challenge the program presents.

One of the few women present at the test Monday morning was senior Erica Wade. Wade explained that the standards are the same for the women of ROTC. “We’re definitely in a man’s world, but I think women are making large headway in the military and making a good name for themselves,” Wade said.

Wade said she is looking forward to using the skills she has gained from her ROTC experience in a civilian career, while serving once a month for the U.S. National Guard.

the university distinguishes between the experience we’re actually getting and the

the

When the first hill of a race is called “Monster Mountain,” it seems to be no secret that the course is going to be difficult.

The challenging course is one of the most unique aspects of The Horsetooth Half Marathon, the oldest race in Northern Colorado and the second oldest race in the state. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the event, which takes place April 21.

Online registration is now available at www.horsetoothhalfmarathon.com and is $70 for the half marathon, or $65 for those who register in person at Runner’s Roost or Altitude Running. Registration for the full marathon is $85.

“We have grown every year; we have not had a down year,” said Steve Cathcart, race director for the event.

Cathcart said he has seen a steady increase in the number of runners since taking over the race almost nine years ago.

This was not always the case, though. There was a time when the race was nearly canceled as The Horsetooth Half Marathon found itself competing for runners among a growing population of running events in Northern Colorado, Cathcart said.

That’s when Cathcart, also the owner of Runners Roost in Fort Collins, and a close friend of his, CSU Hall of Fame runner Jon Sinclair, decided to step in.

Cathcart said he and Sinclair asked Fort Collins See MARATHON on Page 3

Things you can do with your CSU undergraduate certificate Origami crane.

Everyone loves a good origami crane.

Confetti. Rip it into shreds, throw it in the air and jump through it.

Love note. The certificate is fake, but what we have is totally real baby.

Pick up device.

Use that sucker as a tool to pick up guys/girls while bar hopping. How will they know if the certificate is valid or not?

Kindling. wCan’t use it to start a career, so start a fire.

Toilet paper.

Enough said.

The Strip Club is written by the Collegian staff.

2 Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Community Briefs

Hosted in conjunction with the Bohemian Foundation, CSU presents a series of local contemporary musical artists including SHEL –– an all classically trained sister ensemble. The event will take place Thursday, Feb. 7, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the University Center for the Arts in Griffin Concert Hall. Come enjoy a night of music while supporting local bands.

Pulitzer Prize winner to speak at CSU

Pulitzer Prize winner George F. Will will be speaking at Moby Arena at CSU on Jan. 31, at 7 p.m., sponsored by the Monfort Lecture Series. Tickets for this unique event may be purchased at Lory Student Center Box Office, online at csutix.universitytickets. com or by telephone at 970491-4849.

Find a

Roommate

Spring Study Abroad Fair on Friday Ever thought about studying abroad? Would you like to learn more? This Friday, Feb. 1, in the Lory Student Center Main Ballroom will be the Spring Study Abroad at CSU. Through exhibitions and booths hosted through study abroad alumni and exchange students, this fair will be able to satisfy questions you may have to begin your adventure abroad.

CSU vs. Wyoming basketball game sold out

Tickets for the Border War CSU versus Wyoming basketball game scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 2, have officially sold out. The game, which will be held at Moby Arena at 5 p.m., is expected to fill all 8,600 seats.

-- Collegian Staff Report

Dylan Langille | COLLEGIAN

Students pass through the Lory Student Center in between classes Monday afternoon. Although construction is taking place throughout the LSC, students still have full access to the space for commuting, eating or studying for the time being.

Sell Your

Junk

THE RO CKY MOUNTAIN

COLLEGIAN Lory Student Center Box 13 Fort Collins, CO 80523

This publication is not an official publication of Colorado State University, but is published by an independent corporation using the name ‘The Rocky Mountain Collegian’ pursuant to a license granted by CSU. The Rocky Mountain Collegian is a 8,000-circulation student-run newspaper intended as a public forum. It publishes five days a week during the regular fall and spring semesters. During the last eight weeks of summer Collegian distribution drops to 3,500 and is published weekly. During the first four weeks of summer the Collegian does not publish. Corrections may be submitted to the editor in chief and will be printed as necessary on page two. The Collegian is a complimentary publication for the Fort Collins community. The first copy is free. Additional copies are 25 cents each.

Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@collegian.com.

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EDITORIAL STAFF | 491-7513 Greg Mees | Editor in Chief editor@collegian.com Kevin R. Jensen | Content Managing Editor news@collegian.com Hunter Thompson | Visual Managing Editor design@collegian.com Andrew Carrera | News Editor news@collegian.com Emily Smith | News Editor news@collegian.com Caleb Hendrich | Editorial Editor letters@collegian.com Emily Kribs | Entertainment Editor entertainment@collegian.com Lianna Salva | Assistant Entertainment Editor entertainment@collegian.com Kyle Grabowski | Sports Editor sports@collegian.com

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Editor’s Note: News Editor Andrew Carrera interned with the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. this summer. He has removed himself from all political coverage including writing, editing and discussions – this include’s the paper’s daily editorial “Our View.”

The Rocky Mountain Collegian | Tuesday, January 29, 2013

“The best thing to do is get a good warm up in before the race and take the hills easily.”

Connie DeMercurio | president of the Fort Collins Running Club

Marathon|

More than 1,700 raced in 2011

Continued from Page 1 Running Club, the group that owns the rights to the race, if they could take over in order to help save the race.

Since then, the number of participants has increased each year.

The finish line is at New Belgium Brewery in downtown Fort Collins, an aspect Cathcart helped to add when he became the race director.

“It’s kind of evolved a little bit,” said Connie DeMercurio, president of the Fort Collins Running Club.

“It used to start and end at Hughes Stadium.”

“Now (the course) starts at the stadium and you do the hills first and then wind up in downtown Fort Collins,” DeMercurio said.

The finish line ends with

ROTC |

an after-party at the brewery where race participants can enjoy New Belgium brews and live music.

In honor of the race’s 40th anniversary, a full marathon will be added to the event this year.

“It’s a hybrid (course),” Cathcart said. “There’s not a marathon like it where you run a lot of trail and a part of it is on the road; most of them are either all road or all dirt, so it’s sort of unique.”

While the half-marathon is not capped at a certain number, the full marathon will be capped at 200 people.

The thin trails are the reason for the cap number, Cathcart said.

Last year, more than 1,700 people signed up for the half-marathon, and this year, with the addition of the full marathon, Cathcart

hopes that number will reach 2,000 registered runners.

DeMercurio, who has run the half-marathon numerous times over the past 15 years, knows first-hand the difficulty of the course.

“It’s very challenging,” DeMercurio said, who has also run 26 marathons. “The thing people need to know is you need to warm up before you start because if you just start cranking up those hills, you’re gonna burn out.”

“The best thing to do is get a good warm up in before the race and take the hills easily,” DeMercurio said. “Because, if you take the hills easily and you’re conservative on the hills, you save it for the down hills and you will be faster on the down hills.”

Steve Wade, a physical therapist at CSU, ran the half

-arathon for the first time last April. Out of the four he has run in Colorado, the Horsetooth Half Marathon has been the most difficult, he said.

When asked if he would recommend first time half marathon runners to start with an easier course, he disagreed.

“I would start with that one, because nothing is going to be harder,” Wade said.

Although the course is difficult, Wade said he enjoys the scenic route.

“It is nice being at the top of the hill and being able to look down and see (the view), and being able to look at the runners in front or look out east, or look at the reservoir,” Wade said. “It’s just a fun run.”

Collegian Writer Katie O’Keefe can be reached at news@collegian.com.

Learning more the second time around

Continued from Page 1 Lucas Musseau, who has already served for four years in the Army, decided to join CSU ROTC so he can be-

come an officer through the Green and Gold program.

Musseau said that, while it is hard for him to adjust now without the structure of the Army, his younger peers have

a great attitude about everything, which makes it easier.

Musseau said that his fellow students are gaining important lessons from his previous experiences, but

they are also teaching him a lot of stuff that he had no idea about in the Army.

Collegian Writer Cailley Biagini can be reached at news@collegian.com.

your daily fix

3

Sept. 11 defendant says process of prosecution discourages defense Staff Report The McClatchy Tribune BEIRUT _ A U.S.-supported push to form military councils across Syria to unite the hundreds of groups fighting to topple President Bashar Assad and coordinate the provision of aid to secular rebel groups appears largely to have failed.

Rebels said U.S. officials pressed for the creation of the councils in each of Syria's 14 provinces in response to rebel demands for arms and other support. In December, representatives of various rebel groups met in Turkey and elected a 30-member Supreme Military Council, which then selected defected Syrian Gen. Salim Idriss as its head.

But Syrian activists say the councils have become the subject of derision and mockery inside Syria in the weeks since and that other groups, including the al-Qaidalinked Nusra Front, have assumed the central coordinating position that

U.S. officials had hoped the military councils would have.

"I do not hear much about the military councils," said Jeff White, a military analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "I also do not see yet any indication the Supreme Military Council or regional commands are doing anything yet."

Members of the military councils have blamed the United States and other nations for failing to provide support, saying that without aid, the councils were unable to gain influence over the fighting inside Syria.

"They had this plan, but no one received any support," said Mahmoud, a Syrian-American who has set up a small rebel training camp in northern Syria and says he receives support from individual donors. He asked that his full identity not be revealed because of security concerns.

U.S. officials in Washington on Monday continued to voice support for the anti-Assad opposition.

COLLEGIAN

OPINION Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | Page 4

YOUR TWO CENTS

6%

0%

13% 25% 56%

YESTERDAY’S QUESTION: What is the worst building on campus?

56% Eddy 25% Visual Arts 13% Clark 6% Education 0% Guggenheim

TODAY’S QUESTION: Do you think women should serve in combat positions?

*16 people voted in this poll.

Visit Collegian.com to give us your two cents.

This is an unscientific poll conducted at Collegian.com and reflects the opinions of the Internet users who have chosen to participate.

“Turn on almost any news channel and you’ll see a pompous white man talking about how much weaker women are than men.”

Women are fit for combat Last week Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took to the capitol for the Benghazi hearing and rocked the show. After weeks of being criticized for being sick with the “Benghazi flu” — which was what Republicans were calling her cerebral blood clot that resulted in the hearings having to be postponed — she showed up recovered and more awesome than ever.

Clinton was ready to take on

By TYANNA SLOBE all of the haters who were more interested in finger pointing than trying to figure out how to prevent something like the Benghazi attack from happening again. Arguably the best part of the hearing was when Clinton yelled at Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin. If you haven’t seen it yet, look it up on YouTube. It’s excellent.

After such an outstanding and combative performance on Clinton’s part, it was really no surprise that the next day, last Thursday, the Secretary of Defense lifted the ban on women serving in combat positions.

Okay, maybe these two events aren’t exactly related.

What they do have in common, however, are the absurdly sexist reactions to both stories in many segments of the media.

Clinton was reprimanded left and right for standing up for herself during the Benghazi hearings. The New York Post, for example, published a close-up of Clinton’s face as she was shouting with a huge title reading, “No Wonder Bill’s Afraid: Hillary explodes with rage at Benghazi hearing.”

Basically, as they usually do when women do something strong and impressive, these outlets made Clinton seem like an overly emotional monster incapable of making rational decisions.

Instead of criticizing Clinton’s points, those opposed to her views criticized her emotions — because she is a woman. White heterosexual male politicians yell at each other all of the time, but take note that no one in the media treats them with the same lack of respect.

Then there are the arguments against women serving in combat positions. Turn on most any news channel and you’ll see a pompous white man talking about how much weaker women are than men, how we are too sexy and distracting (yes, people are really saying that), and how everyone is more likely to die if we are around.

My favorite completely idiotic point against women in combat came from presumptuous white man extraordinaire Professor Kingsley Browne of Wayne State University Law School. Browne argued on CNN that “large numbers of women fail to deploy with their units because of pregnancy: large numbers of women are shipped home because of pregnancy; something caused that pregnancy — and my guess is it was sex!”

Oh okay, so women are too busy in sexual positions to serve in a position of combat. Woe is me — if only we were capable of making rational decisions about sex; maybe we could be trusted!

Sex in the military is a very serious issue. A woman in a combat zone is in fact far more likely to be raped by a fellow American soldier than die because of an irrational, overly emotional, hormonally-driven accident. According to statistics from the film The Invisible War — a documentary that highlights the epidemic of rape in the US military — in 2011, there were 3,192 reported sexual assaults in the military. Only 191 people were convicted at courts martial for these assaults.

It would seem then that the monsters in the military making the most irrational decisions are not the women, but the rapists and pigs who refuse to prosecute them. The most dangerous thing about a woman’s sexuality being anywhere near a combat unit has nothing to do with the woman herself. Imagine that.

These sorts of arguments — that women are too irrational, too emotional, too sexual — are not new to Clinton nor the women in today’s military. I’ve heard the same argument explaining why women should not be able to vote.

So whether we are exploding with rage at a senator or exploding with sexiness in the military, it seems that there is little we can do to avoid the stereotypes and victim blaming that the media clings to. All I can say is keep fighting the good fight, ladies.

Tyanna Slobe is a senior English Language and Spanish double major. Her column appears every Tuesday in the Collegian. Letters and feedback can be sent to letters@collegian.com

OUR VIEW

Certificates to emphases What’s in a word? Turns out quite a bit.

CSU offers a variety of opportunities for students to earn a certificate in a specified area of study which requires less credit hours than a minor.

The catch? The certificate is imaginary.

State statutes prohibit CSU from offering certificates below the graduate level, reserving that power for graduate schools, technical colleges, and community colleges.

How does this affect students who have earned certifications or are in the process of gaining one? It doesn’t.

Although many departments and faculty on CSU’s campus have offered certificates for spe-

“CSU should not be condemned for this mistake; it was not malice that spawned the usage of the term ‘certificate.’” cialized areas of study, the certificates have never been officially endorsed by the university and

do not appear on student’s transcripts.

CSU should not be condemned for this mistake; it was not malice that spawned the usage of the term “certificate” and our university was one of the first to reach out to the Colorado Department of Higher Education last month for clarification.

However, it’s important to realize that CSU cannot and never could issue certificates below the graduate level. So when listing any “certificates” you’ve earned at CSU on your resume, be sure to use the legal — and more accurate — terminology: an emphasis.

The Collegian Editorial Board is responsible for writing the staff editorial, “Our View,” and for the views expressed therein.

Letters and feedback in response to the staff editorial can be sent to letters@collegian.com.

Greg Mees | Editor in Chief editor@collegian.com Kevin Jensen | Content Managing Editor news@collegian.com Hunter Thompson | Visual Managing Editor photo@collegian.com

Andrew Carrera | News Editor news@collegian.com Emily Smith | News Editor news@collegian.com Caleb Hendrich | Editorial Editor letters@collegian.com

Emily Kribs | Entertainment Editor entertainment@collegian.com Kyle Grabowski | Sports Editor sports@collegian.com Kris Lawan | Design Editor design@collegian.com

ANGELINA BADALI | COLLEGIAN

Oath shouldn’t be taken to receive a diploma You would think that the one basic requirement for graduating high school would be meeting the minimum grade requirements for graduation. That seems to be a no-brainer; make

By CALEB HENDRICH the grades, receive the diploma. Nothing hard about that.

Arizona, however, is in the process of drafting a bill that would require high school students to recite an oath of loyalty to the United States of America in order to receive their diploma.

Students would, if the bill is passed, have to make the following statement if they wanted to graduate: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose or evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge these duties; so help me God.” There are a number of issues with forcing students to make this sort of oath.

First, it is a pretty blatant violation of the Establishment Clause. Students who are ostensibly not Christian (Muslims, atheists, Hindus, etc.) would have to lie about their faith or lack thereof in order to graduate. The state of Arizona could also face legal trouble from other faiths (specifically Jehovah’s Witnesses and pacifist Quakers) whose faith discourages them from engaging in such practices.

This is different than the Establishment Clause objections to the Pledge of Allegiance. Those of us who do not believe in the Christian God can choose to opt out of saying the phrase “under God.” Hell, we also occasionally substitute our own satirical deities into the pledge. The Pledge is — more or less — optional. You can say it, or not, without much consequence.

That changes instantly when saying the Pledge every day became a requirement for graduation in Arizona. It is a ridiculous requirement that serves next to no purpose with regards to education.

Second, the oath, in and of itself, is disingenuous. You cannot, repeat cannot, take an obligation of loyalty to the United States freely if your diploma is being withheld from you. It sort of ruins the point of “doing something freely” if you are being coerced into doing something. It also cheapens the oath a bit and ruins any credibility (if any) that is given by the oath.

And third, forcing high school students to take an oath of loyalty to the United States has no point whatsoever, at least in regards to public service.

High school students are not public officials. They are not police officers, lawyers, state representatives or anyone who would need to be taking such an oath.

High school students are not involved with intimate issues of the state, nor do they have any influence with the law (at least, not that I know of).

Most high school seniors are (probably) worried about two things: getting out of high school, and getting into college.

What, then, is the point of requiring them swear allegiance to the country?

It certainly has nothing to do with

academic requirements. Making a student swear an oath does not help them improve their grades. It does not even help you learn anything substantive about civics or the political process. If anything, taking the oath is not even going to be seen with the gravity that the Arizona legislature would want it to be seen with. It is just one more thing to be checked off on the graduation requirement list.

I suspect it has much more to do with instilling a sense of national pride, or at the very least enforcing a certain belief about the United States in the minds of students in Arizona.

That could go both ways, either as a well-meaning attempt to remind the students of their potential responsibility to the nation, or as a paranoid attempt to stave of perceived anti-American thoughts that the students might have picked up.

Even here, an oath is pointless.

Even if one of those students graduates and goes into public service, the oath of loyalty would be given at the appropriate time –– when they are about to be given the position. If they do not go into public service, then the oath was just a meaningless phrase of words they had to say back in the day to graduate high school.

Bottom line, this requirement is absolutely unnecessary. There are more pressing education-related issues to pursue, and wasting time with the abstract notion of loyalty is not one of them.

Editorial Editor Caleb Hendrich is a senior Journalism and Political Science double major. His columns appear Tuesdays in the Collegian. Letters and feedback can be sent to letters@collegian.com.

Collegian Opinion Page Policy The columns on this page reflect the viewpoints of the individual author and not necessarily that of The Rocky Mountain Collegian or its editorial board. Please send any responses to letters@collegian.com.

Letter submissions are open to all and are printed on a first-received basis. Submissions should be limited to 250 words and need to include the author’s name and contact information. Anonymous letters will not be printed. E-mail letters to letters@collegian.com

Collegian

OPINION Tuesday Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | Page 5

Social networking:

a tale of narcissism and vulnerability

Yays and Nays Yay | to selling out general admission for the Wyoming Border War basketball game. Let’s go Rams! Beat the Cowboys!

Nay | to the first potential fatality in Winter X Games history –– a chilling end to a promising career.

Yay | to ROTC waking up really early in the morning to work out.

Mad props you guys, mad props.

Nay | to discovering that our certificates aren’t really certificates!

What will we put on our resumes now?!

Yay | to having women’s soccer as a Division I sport! Time to kick it with the rest of the Mountain West.

Nay | to no more water polo! Who knew that horses could swim?

Upload picture, add flattering filter, tweet whereabouts, post ambiguously self-indulgent status, bask in public admiration, repeat. It is nothing new to the social media

By Bryce Liedtke generation, and as many will admit as fact, online personas are an incubator for narcissism and self-obsession.

More so than ever, the masses are not only exposed to the social happenings of friends and colleagues, but we are forced to examine our own doings and aesthetics in extremely amplified fashion through media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. The type of scrutiny that social media subjects self-image to was formerly thought of as something reserved for A-list celebrities or young adults placing too much stock in beauty magazines.

Now, nearly every ensemble we wear out, event we attend and interests we have are immortalized on the web and subject to evaluation, regardless of gender or status.

In a recent study by Pediatrics Journal, it was concluded that about 40 percent of middle school and high school males now work out in hopes of attaining muscle mass, a dramatic spike in number that was formerly typified as an activity for college-aged men and above. This upward trend of seeking a picture-perfect body is evident in online communities, and you need look no further than our pop culture to observe the evolution of the ideal male physique to its current Herculean form.

Well, so what? Who cares if we end up having a population fixated on bulbous biceps and chiseled abs? There are plenty of people who wouldn’t complain about that — quite the contrary.

The danger is that it permeates something much deeper.

We have all fallen victim to an unbecoming selfimage that routs the sex appeal we believe ourselves to possess. The real question is, what happens when these insecurities start penetrating beyond our physical and attack things like our profession, education, residence or even our character?

The façade we create through social media has become a catalog of the good life, a manipulated advertisement to create the most desirable product: you. If you cannot express yourself through a quirky statement of 140 characters or less, if your photos do not evoke envy or reverence, if your personal interests or routine doesn’t coincide with what is thought conventionally desirable, are you doing it wrong?

When we are frequently compelled to compare our own dayto-day to that of the tinkered and polished online personas of those we know, we are pushed towards thoughts of inadequacy — whether sexual, professional, intellectual, cultural or social.

There is a caveat to this trend.

It is not universal. This is not to say that we are all either narcissists or coy introverts. The spectrum is filled from top to bottom, though it has been polarized.

Social media, by nature, attempts to create a world of absolutes, where success is derived and quantified by likes, shares, retweets, etc. It no longer allows subjectivity or a healthy distinction of my interest versus yours in a non-competitive environment. The net effect?

A decrease in vulnerability and a pigeonholed sense of vanity.

The idea of losing our vulnerability is perhaps the scariest of these consequences. Social researcher Brene Brown distinguished it best by saying that while, yes, vulnerability is the edge where we find fear, anxiety and shame, many of our toughest emotions, it is also the birthplace of joy, love, belonging and creativity, where we let ourselves be just that, ourselves. Diminishing this trait through hyper-analysis and comparison to our social networks, in essence, dulls what it is to be human.

When we allow our vulnerability to be tarnished, for our self-consciousness to thrive, we retract and attempt to beat any sort of rejection to the punch. This might come in the form of social withdrawal or overcompensating to a narcissistic point.

How big of an effect does this really have? According to research from Jean Twenge, Ph.D. of San Diego State University, those who exhibited narcissistic tendencies rose from about 17 to 30 percent from 1982 to 2009 among the college-aged demographic, a figure on par with that of our obesity epidemic. To be clear, these statistics are not the sole creation of online social networks, but they do have an influence.

Some may disagree and highlight the positives of social media; these networks allow us to communicate and coexist in a global community like never before. The tricky part is to block out the negatives, while utilizing such a powerful tool.

Bryce Liedtke is a senior finance major. His columns appear every other Tuesday in the Collegian.

Letters and feedback can be sent to letters@collegian.com.

illustration by annika mueller | COLLEGIAN

“I am a person who is tired of people not treating each other like people. So please take it upon yourself today.”

Got MLK?

Racism needs to go.

I am not talking about this because I am black. I am talking about this because this has been going on for too long and things need to change. I understand how the world works. I understand that these things are hard to alter, but nothing will change if people just sit back and wait for the change to happen on its own.

Everyone needs to take it upon themselves to do something. If every

By Holly Mayer person in the world decided to judge people, not “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, then racism cannot continue.

I am tired of stereotypes and their continued prevalence in our culture, despite the fact that everybody knows them to be inaccurate. Every black guy wants to be a rapper or a basketball player, you say? Look at who our president is.

Think that you are going to pass college algebra by paying the first Asian person in your class to do it for you? Sorry, they are actually an art major who is struggling just as much as you are.

Do you think that all Mexican people are here to steal our jobs? Unemployment rates have more to do with the economy than Mexicans.

When John Amos came to speak on CSU campus, not only did he have words of empowerment, but achievement as well. He also stressed the importance of not becoming a victim of a stereotype. If you act like a stereotype, chances are you are going to be treated like a stereotype.

Since when is going to school and getting a high paying job a “white thing?” I always thought it was just pursuing something you are passionate about, because you and only you can make a difference in your life.

The one thing that breaks my heart the most is when I hear people of color doubt themselves because they have been told to do so. I am shocked to hear minorities planning their unborn child’s name, and purposely choosing to name them a “white” name, in order for them to have better opportunities in the job force and in school.

It becomes even worse when parents are telling their children that the world will not like them, that the world will make them work ten times harder, just because they are different.

How can a black person say to another black person, I am better than you because I have a lighter skin tone?

How can a Spanish person tell a Latin American person that they are better because their language is not “dirty?”

How can minorities judge each other so harshly and then turn around and get mad when it is done to them by another race?

Who is anyone to tell a white person that they cannot enjoy hip-hop or rap music just because they are not black? Why is it wrong for someone who is white to become Muslim or Buddhist? Just because something is culturally defined as belonging to a certain race does not mean that race called fives. The world belongs to everyone and everything equally.

I am not white, I am not black and I am not a oneeyed-one-horned-flying-purple-people-eater. I am a person. And so is everyone else. I am a person who is tired of people not treating each other like people. So please, take it upon yourself today.

We all have the power to change.

Holly Mayer is a junior English major. Her column appears every other Tuesday in the Collegian. Letters and feedback can be sent to letters@collegian.com

guest column Last week, the Rocky Mountain Collegian published an op-ed by Rafael Rivero in which he claimed to explain the results of the status plebiscite held in Puerto Rico last November; however, his writing is full of inaccuracies, misleading assumptions and information that is simply not true.

Rivero is right to point out that the results of the vote were correctly reported, since in fact, 54 percent of voters rejected the current status in the first question, and 61 percent favored statehood in the second.

But that is where the facts end in Rivero’s column. He proceeds

to claim that a change over, the course of 14 years in voters preferences from a roughly 50-50 split between statehood and the current status is statistically iffy, while offering no evidence to back this up.

Now as to the structure of the plebiscite, described in the column as a drastic change, we found ourselves with a case of what people call in Puerto Rico as “buscándole la quinta pata al gato,” (or roughly translated, find the cat’s fifth leg — an idiom for looking for something that isn’t there).

Rivero calls the two-question plebiscite confusing. The reality

of the matter is that it has been known for years that a majority of Puerto Ricans wish to change the current status, which is responsible for a lot of the economic problems that Puerto Rico currently faces.

However, when you stacked the Commonwealth’s supporters against its opponents, the former would have achieved small pluralities, since status quo opponents became divided over which status option to pursue if a change occurred. This plebiscite is the first to address this political reality, by following the model of what is known as a recall election.

In structure, it first established the question of whether voters wish to continue with the incumbent (the ‘Commonwealth’ status), and if that incumbent were to be removed, which option voters would prefer.

Rivero also mentions that the blank ballots for the second question weren’t counted. Nowhere, not in Puerto Rico nor in any jurisdiction, are blank ballots counted as votes. Therefore, adding those numbers to the total is pure nonsense.

Let’s set the record straight: Not only is the math just absurdly wrong, but the sovereign associa-

tion option is not the same as the status quo. The current status is a territorial one, in which Puerto Rico exerts only local power and is entirely subject to the supreme power of Congress. In addition, the PPD never endorse the sovereign association option as a party.

Some members did, but not the party itself.

Will Puerto Rico become a state? Polls, history and these results show that is increasingly becoming an inevitability.

William-José Vélez González is the Executive Vice President of the Puerto Rico Statehood Students Association.

Collegian Opinion Page Policy The columns on this page reflect the viewpoints of the individual author and not necessarily that of The Rocky Mountain Collegian or its editorial board. Please send any responses to letters@collegian.com.

Letter submissions are open to all and are printed on a first-received basis. Submissions should be limited to 250 words and need to include the author’s name and contact information. Anonymous letters will not be printed. E-mail letters to letters@collegian.com.

6 Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Fort Collins welcomes the future of funk

A

By DAVIS ENGLISH The Rocky Mountain Collegian

new and unexpected music style has recently emerged and taken root in young audiences everywhere.

Sharp bass and drum patterns of ‘70s and ‘80s funk beats are being peppered into new musical compositions that are produced with the help of computer software, and being spread through Internet-based collaboration.

The genre, known as Future Funk, is unique yet diverse in its sound, ranging from spacey synthesizers to more drum-driven hip-hop beats and everything in between.

A common thread in most Future Funk songs is the inclusion of samples.

Sampling music is taking ‘70s and ‘80s, lesser-known B-side tracks from a specific genre and using certain aspects of them to create a unique new song.

To local Fort Collins Future Funk artist and CSU graduate, Dan Bombard — who goes by his stage name, Dinosaurus Rex — Future Funk sampling has been growing and changing for quite some time now.

“Sample-based music goes all the way back to early hip hop — like Dr. Dre digging up his parents’ old records and sampling them on his tracks. It’s cats like that who really started tying an older element into new songs,” Bombard said.

Another Future Funk artist and CSU student, Kevin Sjolin — stage name KEV// BOT — had some insights as to why Future Funk has progressed the way it has.

“The difference is that Future Funk focuses on the production of the music instead of the lyrics. It takes funk tunes and makes them relevant again. People try to categorize themselves in the larger term of Future Funk because of the Internet, but really, Future Funk is a subgrouping of a lot of genres with a somewhat similar sound,” Sjolin said.

Bombard and Sjolin are quickly becoming more popular artists in the world of Future Funk. They attribute their rise in popularity to the Internet and specifically music social media sites, such as soundcloud. com or bandcamp.com.

“Without the internet, my music probably wouldn’t

exist,” Bombard said.

“What’s cool about it is that you can find your target market pretty easily, and these people can be anywhere in the world. This accessibility to good music has got big record labels shaking in their boots, because now 17-year-old kids are able to make, produce and market their own music from their basement,” he said.

Sjolin agrees with Bombard on the use of social media to get an artist’s music to their audience, but he also said that they serve another important purpose.

“Idea sharing on these sites helps musicians grow, because people are building a bigger skill base the more they listen. They break the barrier of location, and everyone can learn from everyone. Standouts in Future Funk are those who constantly think outside the box and learn from the incredible availability of music online,” Sjolin said.

Bombard currently runs a music label known as Keats Collective, which releases single artist albums as well as mixtapes that feature songs from a variety of different musicians.

“Finding the right target market is easier with collaboration,” Bombard said.

“It’s not just Dinosaurus Rex and my fans, but it’s 24 other artists and their fans as well. The idea behind the collective albums that I have released is power in numbers,” he said.

Although the Internet is a big part of spreading music on a global scale, local promotions are helpful as well.

Brendton Manshel, the owner of the GNU Experience Gallery in Fort Collins, said that he has booked Future Funk artists to play at his venue in the past and that he looks forward to booking them again.

“I just like to promote local music, and we try to bring a modern art feel to the gallery as well. Future Funk music definitely falls under both of these categories,” Manshel said.

To check out some new Future Funk albums from the Keats Collective label, check out keatscollective. bandcamp.com and look under “Discography.”

Collegian Writer Davis English can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FUTURE FUNK

Future Funk artists Miles “Baby Boogaloo” Brown (left) and Bailey “B-Boy Bailrok” Munoz are a funk and soul influenced hip-hop dance group based out of California. The pair was discovered on the TV show “America’s Got Talent.”

Blogs www.community.collegian.com

The Rocky Mountain Collegian | Tuesday, January 29, 2013

7

CSU official: programs never endorsed certificates |

Continued from Page 1 experience employers are expecting,” Hershey said.

Alan Lamborn, vice provost of undergraduate affairs at CSU, said the university had reached out to the CDHE last month to clarify what the university could do, formally and informally, with the term “certificate.”

“The challenge is that it is very, very common across universities to use the word certificate in a generic or common sense way,” Lamborn said.

Lamborn emphasized that, while many departments and faculty on campus have offered certificates, they were not officially endorsed by the university and would not appear on a student’s transcript.

In a letter dated Jan. 22, 2013, Macgillivray informed university officials that state statutes prohibit CSU from offering certificates below the graduate level.

As an alternative, he suggested that in the future the university use different phrasing when acknowledging small, focused programs that in the past awarded students with certificates. He recommended replacing the word “certificate” with the term “emphasis.”

“In order for a 4-year institution to be able to offer certificates at the undergraduate level, state statute would have to be changed,” Macgillivray wrote in an email to the Collegian.

He also discouraged the practice of faculty and departments at CSU from labeling focus areas as certificates.

“Furthermore, CSU faculty should not take it upon themselves to print up and essentially ‘offer’ certificates on their own,” wrote Macgillivray.

Lamborn said the uni-

What’s changing?

“It will not be appropriate for people to offer a formal thing called a certificate at the undergraduate level. And so what we are working on now, is what is the appropriate nomenclature.” CSU Vice Provost Alan Lamborn

Who was offering undergrad certificates?

CSU Online Plus Core Business Competencies Fire and Emergency Services Administration Interior Design for High School Teachers Residential Interiors Seed Technology Training College of Business Customer Relationship Management Entrepreneurship Financial Analysis (Finance majors not eligible) Human Resource Management Information Technology (CIS majors not eligible) International Business Supply Chain Management

WHy were people calling them certificates in the first place?

“The challenge is that it is very, very common across universities to use the word certificate in a generic or common sense way.

And so what we were trying to do was to identify when it was appropriate to use the word certificate in a communication to students that might look formal, as opposed to actually being informal ... and by the way, while the letter was written to CSU, this is something that the Department of Higher Education is going to be discussing later this month when it meets with representatives of all the public institutions in the state.

Really, it’s because we asked for clarification first that the letter happened to come to us.” CSU Vice Provost Alan Lamborn

Why should i Care?

Editor’s note: An exhaustive list of all of the certificate programs offered out of each of CSU’s colleges and departments could not be found by time of print. Above is what could be found by extensively searching the university’s homepage, www.colostate.edu.

“The moral hazard we all have is, what happens if an employer looks at a resume and sees the word certificate and thinks, ‘Aha, formal stand alone credential offered by the community colleges. (When) did you go to the community college? I see no community college on your transcript. What do you mean you have a certificate?’ So this is the area that we were trying to clarify. What’s the right word to use to help students at the undergraduate level?” CSU Vice Provost Alan Lamborn

versity is looking into replacing the word “certificate” with a term that can be formally recognized by the university, the CDHE and future employers, to indicate students have completed course curriculum with an emphasis smaller than a concentration, within a major or a minor.

As that process moves forward, Lamborn said the University Curriculum Committee would engage with students, faculty and other

stakeholders to propose and define the new term. Then it would go to faculty council for final approval.

“The critical thing for students, at least the generation of students that have these informal things called certificates, is to be aware of the fact that this is an informal designation,” Lamborn said.

Senior Reporters Austin Briggs, Sean Meeds and Kate Simmons can be reached at news@collegian.com.

New Semester

NEW Weekender Every Friday

8 Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | The Rocky Mountain Collegian

HUNTER THOMPSON | COLLEGIAN

The Study Cube starts to dwindle in capacity as the night progresses and students finish with their studies Monday. The Cube has 24/7 access with a student ID, wireless Internet, and laptop checkout.

That moment you realize the construction was worth it Students sleep and study in CSU’s newest on campus addition, big enough to fit 85 people

By HALEIGH HAMBLIN The Rocky Mountain Collegian Nine months since its completion, are students taking advantage of the 24/7 access provided by the Morgan Library Study Cube?

The completion of the Study Cube in April 2012 marked the end of 18 months of Morgan Library renovation efforts. The

$16.8 million library project started in March 2011, and created a new study location on campus.

Sophomore hospitality management major Nick Hunter commented on his only experience in the Study Cube.

“I slept in the Study Cube the night before President Obama spoke on campus,” Hunter said. “The Study

Cube is a great addition to campus and offers paying students a late night location for last-minute cramming.”

Although, he said, he wished that the money could have gone to a new project.

“Tuition fees are so high, what was so bad about our old library?” Hunter said. “ ... I do not have any friends that study in the cube; it is always just a place to sit

when it is cold or class is cancelled.”

The Study Cube is open to the public during regular library hours, but specifically designed for RamCard access after hours.

“We were going to a quiet study space, but more importantly a space where students could stay for 24 hours,” said Oscar J. Raab, Morgan Library manager of access services. “It has been a 18-month project and has received great feedback since the opening in April 2012.”

“The Study Cube is a friendly place to study and offers more to students that the main library cannot,” Raab said.

The Study Cube provides a mix of study tables and lounge seating for 85 people, plus elevator access, heating and air-conditioning.

Freshman equine sciences major Katie Watts said she enjoyed the peace and quiet (of the Study Cube) after finding out her class was canceled.

“The Study Cube is appealing because it is quiet

STUDY CUBE SPECIFICS

ID

Study Cube Specifics: 24/7 access Late night access with student Wireless Internet Laptop Checkout

and less crowded than the library,” Watts said. “I think that the construction is worth it. It looks nice from outside and is quiet inside.”

Collegian Writer Haleigh Hamblin can be reached at news@collegian.com.

The Rocky Mountain Collegian | Tuesday, January 29, 2013

9

#Room-Antics

Daily Horoscope Nancy Black

JADE

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (01/29/13). You can transform old habits now. You’re in a six-month creative phase. Explore, invent, have fun and get involved with other partners in the same game. Home changes may prompt a remodel or move. Expect a profitable rise in career status.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

David Malki

Wondermark

Tim Rickard

Brewster Rockit

Kid Shay

Welcome to Falling Rock

Rochelle Peeler

Meh Comex

ARIES (March 21-April 19) ––7–– When it comes to productivity, you’re on fire. But don’t push yourself so hard that you get ill. Rest is especially important now. Don’t forget that a bird in the hand is worth two who are not.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) ––9–– If you discover you have more than enough, leave it where it is for now. Follow the rules to the letter. A conflict of interests knocks at your door.

Discuss possible solutions privately.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) ––9–– Prioritize now. Delegate a difficult job to someone with experience. Visit a gallery for inspiration, but otherwise stay close to home for comfort.

And discover something new about yourself.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) ––8–– Get that gift for yourself that you’ve been thinking about. See where your ideas take you. Something doesn’t add up, though. Trust your intuition on this one.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) ––7–– Make sure you’re aligned.

Compromise may be required, and you’re good at it now.

When you’re at a loss for words, find a friend to support you.

It helps to put all your ideas on a list.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) ––9–– You’re more connected to your community than you think. Use your newly gained power to advance together through the challenges and be surprised by a breakthrough.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) ––6–– Embrace your mistakes.

Creativity grows from the broken pieces. Expect to be pleasantly surprised. Happiness shows up sooner or later. Love your lover.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) ––8–– The more you work, the more you make and save. Just keep plugging away, even if you don’t see immediate results. Resist impulses, and keep costs down.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) ––8–– Expand boundaries to discover new career opportunities. Play with fire and learn about burns ... push the envelope cautiously. Friends help you make the connection needed.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) ––8–– Venture farther today and tomorrow, well equipped and in the right company.

Advance slowly and steadily. Make a beneficial discovery in your own garage or closet.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) ––6–– Pay special attention to finances and revise your budget. Add glamour to your event without breaking the bank. Friends offer valuable, objective, insights.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) ––8–– Consider that you don’t have the answer, but rather plenty of questions, and that’s the fun part. Open your mind. Enhance your community and improve your quality of life. Romance is available.

RamTalk

compiled by Kris Lawan

Daily cartoons and games available at Collegian.com. Send feedback to design@collegian.com.

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

If I didn’t suck at chugging beer, I would have made it to class on time...sorry professor, I have a Skeller problem.

To apologize for canceling class on Friday, my professor brought in Girl Scout cookies.

Apology accepted!

To the girl in my 8 a.m. who picked her nose and then ate it...I almost threw up.

Dear drunk girls: we are not Ramride and it’s probably not a good idea to jump into random white vans.

Text your rants to 970-430-5547.

Want more?

The first RamTalk Book is officially in stock at the Student Media office in the Lory Student Center.

Buy your copy for $10, or get one online for your Kindle or Nook.

Find out if you got in!

“Like” us on Facebook.

Search for The Rocky Mountain Collegian.

Follow us on Twitter @RMCollegian.

Submit RamTalk entries to ramtalk@collegian.com. Libelous or obscene submissions will not be printed. While your comment will be published anonymously, you must leave your name and phone number for verification.

Today’s RamTalk sponsored by:

Yesterday’s solution

Today’s Sudoku sponsored by:

Across 1 Bit of high jinks 6 Eastern European 10 Sounds of disapproval 14 Team leader 15 Hang (around) in a hammock, say 16 Dos cubed 17 Second-largest Indian city 18 Play parts 19 Say grace, say 20 *4-0 World Series win, e.g.

22 Salad fish 23 Make illegal 24 Spy for Moses 26 Bit of schoolyard disagreement 29 Gardner of Hollywood 32 Under the covers 35 “The Shield” force, briefly 36 Diabolical sorts 39 “Norma __” 40 Pooling vehicle 41 *Broom alternative 42 www bookmark 43 Org. with many specialists 44 Online newsgroup system 45 Nora was his mistress 46 Justin Timberlake’s former band 48 Fir feller 49 Bok __: cabbage 50 Nudges 53 Corrosive stuff 55 Cashless deal 57 Designed for two functions, and a hint to the answers to starred clues 63 Buffalo’s lake 64 Not nuts 65 Run to the window 66 Gave for a while 67 Malevolent 68 Great enthusiasm 69 Colony critters 70 Riga resident 71 Scatter about Down 1 Adapter letters 2 Carolers’ offering 3 Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s __” 4 Sleepy Hollow schoolteacher Crane

Yesterday’s solution

Today’s Crossword sponsored by:

5 Plates for company 6 Side with a sandwich 7 Bridal gown trim 8 Ancient Mexican 9 Italian scooter 10 David Letterman list 11 *Scouring aid 12 Genghis __ 13 Tofu source 21 Bureaucratic bungles 25 Speech therapist’s concern 26 Highway to Fairbanks 27 Sirs’ counterparts 28 *Graffiti maker’s medium 30 Clamping device 31 MetLife competitor 33 Turn a deaf __ 34 Airport annoyance 37 Carlsbad Caverns locale: Abbr.

38 “I’m listening!”

41 “Watch your head!”

45 Prevailed against, slangily 47 Common rental restriction 51 Four-wheeled flop 52 Dry Italian wine 54 Safecrackers 55 Ward of “CSI: NY” 56 Small songbird 58 Army division 59 Shot at the bar 60 Cold War country: Abbr.

61 Mal de __: Henri’s headache 62 “That hurts!”

10 Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Obama aleady nicking away at barriers for illegal immigrants Staff Report The McClatchy Tribune FORT WORTH, Texas — President Barack Obama will unveil his sweeping plan on immigration Tuesday in the midst of a rapidly shifting political environment. It’s his most ambitious move yet on the emotionally divisive issue after making a series of smaller steps over the past year.

Obama first came into office on the heels of Washington’s failure to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws. Those failures in 2006 and 2007 led many cities and states to adopt their own regulations to drive out illegal immigrants.

But exit polls find that views are changing, and a growing Latino electorate has emerged as a powerful force.

The political landscape has shifted so much that even before this latest proposal, the White House has been able to quietly unveil several policy changes that undercut communities’ ability to enforce federal immigration laws and that allow more illegal immigrants to remain in the country. Meanwhile, states are taking steps to welcome illegal immigrants by, among other things, allowing them to drive.

“The tide is turning,” said Frank Sharry, the executive director of America’s Voice, which advocates for comprehensive immigration legislation. “People sort of picked up on little pieces of it, but they’re not sure whether they believe it.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have taken notice. And both Democrats and Republicans

see the debate as critical to their political futures: Obama sees immigration as a signature issue that he feels could help him define his legacy; Republicans see immigration as a way to appeal to Latinos and help pull the party out of the political wilderness.

On Monday, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators got ahead of the president’s announcement by presenting its own immigration plan, though it is similar to past proposals that have failed. The key elements include greater border security, a guest-worker program and beefed-up employer verification, and a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country. The plan is expected to closely align with one the president will unveil Tuesday on a special trip to Las Vegas. The White House called the Senate proposal a “big deal” because it embraces a path to citizenship.

But quietly, a series of administration policy changes in recent months already has begun to transform how illegal immigrants live, work and go to school in the United States.

In addition to last summer’s announcement to defer deportations and give work permits to hundreds of thousands of undocumented youth, the White House announced last month that it was going to make legal permanent residency easier for many illegal immigrants who are immediate relatives of American citizens.

The Department of Homeland Security also announced it will no longer scoop up undocumented

immigrants arrested for minor offenses such as traffic tickets, and that it is phasing out a controversial but popular program, known as 287(g), which granted police and sheriff’s deputies the power to start the deportation process on arrested illegal immigrants.

Reaction around the country has been mixed.

Many undocumented immigrants, like 25-year-old Sandra Tovar of Forth Worth, are trying to be optimistic, but they also are wary.

On a recent evening, Tovar joined other advocates in strategy sessions at the Catholic Men’s Club in north Fort Worth, near the historic Stockyards, which is home to long-established Mexican-American families.

“There’s still that feeling of not knowing what is going to happen and being afraid,” she said at the club Thursday. “We know it can be everything or nothing.”

Anticipation is growing at the Kansas City, Mo.based Don Bosco Center, which offers immigrants and refugees free English classes. At the center, news of Obama’s policy changes for immigrant families has spread slowly from “cousin to cousin,” according to David Holsclaw, director of the English as a second language program.

Pedro Ramirez, the 24-year-old son of farm workers in Fresno, Calif., got a hug from his mom when he told her this month that he was granted deferred action and a work permit — and that his U.S.born brother could one day sponsor the rest of the family to gain their residency status.

“For the first time ever, there is more political risk in opposing immigration reform than in supporting it.”

Charles Schumer | U.S. Senator, D–N.Y.

Bipartisian group of senators lays out sweeping immigration plan group, as did Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, just starting his first Senate WASHINGTON — A term. bipartisan group of eight “It says quite a bit about prominent senators Monday our nation, about how many laid out an ambitious over- people want to come here haul of the nation’s patch- in this free country with this work immigration system opportunity for an expandthat would balance tougher ing economy,” Durbin said. border enforcement with “They want to be here in creating a path to citizen- America. But let’s be honest ship for millions of undoc- about it. ... Our immigration umented immigrants and system is broken. It has been new opportunities for sea- broken for a long time.” sonal farmworkers to gain Schumer said this may legal status. be the year Congress finds a The senators beat Pres- breakthrough on a problem ident Barack Obama to the that has vexed the nation’s punch, scrambling to un- leaders for a quarter-cenveil their plan a day before tury.

Obama was scheduled to “The politics on this isoutline his own proposal in sue have been turned upside Nevada, a Western state with down,” Schumer said. “For a rising tide of Hispanic res- the first time ever, there is idents. more political risk in opposWhile only in his first ing immigration reform than term, the star of the senators’ in supporting it.” group was Sen. Marco Rubio The new bipartisan overof Florida, a charismatic Cu- haul plan would allow the ban-American who has tied country’s estimated 11 milhis political fortunes and a lion illegal immigrants to potential 2016 White House obtain a green card only afrun to his dramatic life story ter fulfilling a number of reas the son of political refu- quirements: registering with gees from Fidel Castro. the government; passing a “I am clearly new to this criminal background check; issue in terms of the Sen- settling back taxes; and payate,” Rubio told reporters at ing a fine for having entered a Capitol Hill news confer- the United States improperence. “I’m not new in terms ly. of my life. I live surrounded If they met the first by immigrants. My neigh- standards, undocumented bors are immigrants. I mar- immigrants would get in ried into a family of immi- line behind green card apgrants. I see immigration plicants already pursuing every single day. I see the legal residency. They would good of immigration. I see then have to learn English how important it is for our and U.S. civics, show a refuture.” cord of past and current emThe high-powered group ployment, and pass another also included the second- background check. and third-ranked Senate The plan has a signifiDemocrats, Richard Durbin cant new element that was of Illinois and Charles not part of the 2007 initiaSchumer of New York, along tive: undocumented farmwith 2008 Republican pres- workers who “have been idential nominee John Mc- performing very important Cain of Arizona and Sen. and difficult work to mainLindsey Graham, a South tain America’s food supply Carolinian with a reputa- while earning subsistence tion as a maverick willing to wages” could earn a path to work across party lines on citizenship through a differtough issues. Democratic ent and presumably more Sens. Robert Menendez of lenient visa process for agriNew Jersey, also of Cuban cultural workers. descent, and Michael BenAnd the new package net of Colorado joined the would enact most of the Conference Services 3x5 0128.indd

Staff Report The McClatchy Tribune

long-stalled DREAM Act by providing less onerous requirements for the children of illegal immigrants.

Obama last year enacted parts of the DREAM Act via executive orders, offering deferments on deportation to young adult immigrants and angering Republicans who viewed the measures as political maneuvers aimed at drawing Hispanic voters.

The senators’ plan also would beef up enforcement with more border agents, increased use of drones and other surveillance equipment and completion of an entry-exit system to track visa holders better. And it would set up a commission of governors, attorneys general and community leaders from border states.

Obama met Monday with leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to brief them on his own plan.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the eight senators’ proposal contains “principles that mirror the president’s blueprint.”

In another sign of potential bipartisan progress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who will serve as host to Obama on Tuesday, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky each responded positively to the bipartisan plan from their colleagues.

Even if the new overhaul package gets through the Senate, it will face a major challenge in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where conservative Republicans have blocked major bills that have passed the Senate.

House Speaker John Boehner recently said the House should take up immigration reform, but Rep. Lamar Smith, an influential Republican from the key border state of Texas, criticized the eight senators’ bipartisan plan.

“By granting amnesty, the Senate proposal actually compounds the problem by encouraging more illegal immigration,” Smith said.

Paid Summer Positions CSU Office of Conference Services offers students an opportunity to discover summer positions available within one of the leading university conference operations in the country.

Students will be responsible for summer conference operations and welcoming guests to the Colorado State University campus while working with diverse conference groups of all sizes.

On-campus room and board will be provided as well as hourly pay.

Open Positions: • Residential Accommodations Assistant • Residential Accommodations Team Member • Student Conference Assistant How to Apply: Submit a completed application, resume, list of three references, and custom cover letter to explain your interest in the positions via email to Lisa.Lytle@colostate.edu. Applications may also be faxed to (970) 491-3568.

For full consideration applicants must attend one of the mandatory info sessions: • Thursday, January 31st @ 5 p.m. in LSC Room 211E • Sunday, February 3rd @ 5 p.m. in LSC Room 220-222 Application deadline is 4:45 p.m. on Friday, February 8th, 2013 (postmarks honored).

Interviews will be scheduled for mid-February.

Direct questions to Kelly Mason, Residential Accommodations Manager: (970) 491-2841

www.conferences.colostate.edu

The Rocky Mountain Collegian | Tuesday, January 29, 2013

11

CLASSIFIEDS www.collegian.com 970-491-1686

FOOD

EMPLOYMENT

atmosphere. Cafe Vino. 7 days.

1200 S. College. www.cafevino.com.

experience necessary. Training provided. Age 18+ ok.

1-800-965-6520 ex167.

Deadline to submit classified ads is 4pm the day prior to publication.

TOPLESS? !BARTENDING! To place an ad call 970-491-1686 or click “Classifieds’ at Collegian.com.

No, tapas. Great food, drinks, $300/day potential.

No

ROOMMATE WANTED Roommate wanted, available now. 425/month, utils included. $300 security deposit. 3 males.

Call Zack at 970-619-9299.

SERVICES CHEMISTRY TUTOR General and Organic Weekly and Group Discounts Joseph Miller 970.310.6029

SUMMER OF YOUR LIFE! CAMP WAYNE FOR GIRLS Children’s summer camp, Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania 6/15-8/11. If you love children and want a caring, fun environment we need Counselors, Instructors and other staff for our summer camp.

Interviews on CSU campus Feb 5th. Select The Camp That Selects The Best Staff! Call 1.215.944.3069 or apply at www.campwaynegirls.com Email classads@lamar.colostate.edu

CLASSIFIEDS

HAPPENINGS

COCKTAILS ANYONE? Daily fruit, herb, vegetable inspired specials. Fort Collins’ finest bartenders. Cafe Vino.

1200 S. College. Across from CSU track.

www.collegian.com 970-491-1686

Deadline to submit classified ads is 4pm the day prior to publication.

To place an ad call 970-491-1686 or click “Classifieds’ at Collegian.com.

the weekender LOOKFOR IT

every friday

FIND YOUR NEW HOME TODAY! 1117 C ITY P ARK A VE .

970.482.1054

A fford able L u xu ry L ivin g

• L uxury F lats,L ofts, and Penthouse L ofts • A llU tilities,C able, and Internet Includ ed • 1 B lock W est ofC am p us

1117 C ITY P ARK A VE .

2155 ORCHARD PL.

914 WEST LAKE STREET

A G reat P lace,A G reat P rice

M ou n tain V iew s,C ity C on ven ien ce

O n C am pu s L ocation O ff C am pu s L ifestyle

970.482.1054

• 146 E xtra L arge Stud ios, 1 bed room & 2 bed room ap ts.

• A llU tilities and C able Includ ed • 1 B lock W est ofC am p us

970.482.3898

970.224.3008

• 2 bed room ,2 bath ap artm ents • W asher/D ryer in your ap artm ent • A llU tilities Includ ed

Leasing for Summer and Fall!

• 1 bed room ap artm ents • A djacen t to Su m m it H all • A llU tilities,C able,and Internet Includ ed

914 WEST LAKE STREET

970.482.3898

C am pu s Settin g,M odern A m en ities

B ook Your H ard H at TourTod ay!

• www.ramscrossing.com

OPE MAY NING 201 3

12 Tuesday, January 29, 2013 | The Rocky Mountain Collegian