How do Obama, Romney differ on women’s rights? Page 3
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Interracial Dating Black African American Culture Center hosts “Real Talk”
THE RO CKY MOUNTAIN
COLLEGIAN
Fort Collins, Colorado
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Volume 121 | No. 51
www.collegian.com
THE STUDENT VOICE OF COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1891
the
STRIP
Happy Birthday, UCA HUNTER THOMPSON | COLLEGIAN
By LIANNA SALVA The Rocky Mountain Collegian If the University Center for the Arts were a college student, it would be freshly graduated and in the market for a job. That’s because this fall marks the fourth anniversary of the opening of the UCA, which houses 1,100 students daily and more than 100 faculty members for the music, theatre and dance departments. Before the UCA was the UCA, though, it was the old Fort Collins High School. Current FCHS Assistant Principal Joe Ahlbrandt, is a fourth generation graduate of the old high school and has fond memories as both a student and a football coach. Ahlbrandt graduated in 1982 and started teaching and coaching in 1994. “One of the funniest memories when I was a student was when one
kid tried to get up to the tower and fell through the ceiling into the third floor,” he said. “I think going up to the tower, being there as a student in ‘79 through ‘82, was huge. When I was there as a coach, it wasn’t as big of a deal. The mystique was gone.” The entrance to the tower has since been closed off, but graffitied names of past students still remain. While the building was still a high school, CSU performing arts majors were spread throughout campus for their classes and performances. Most of the performances were in the Lory Student Center Theatre with theater classes in Johnson Hall, dance in the General Services Building and music for the Artsin in what is now the TILT building. “Not only does the UCA provide five state-of-the-art performance spaces and classrooms, but allows the performing arts areas to collaborate and cross-train, both on-stage
and in the classroom,” said Jennifer Clary, UCA Director of Marketing. Although the UCA builds a sense of community for the performing arts departments, the location poses a challenge for the rest of the CSU community. “It takes longer for non-arts students to find out about us because they don’t see the building every day,” Clary said. The building was sold to CSU in 1995 and began renovations to be turned into a performing arts complex. Through increased student fees and large donations from The Griffin Foundation and The Bohemian Foundation, the UCA was opened in the fall of 2008. Griffin Foundation President and Chairman of the Board, David Wood, expressed pride in the building as a past and present icon in the Fort Collins Community. The Foundation donated $2 million for the renovation of
David Scott | (ecology graduate student)
Negative political ads increase 60.9 percent from ‘08 election Political advertising crops up in the least – and most – expected places, and at this stage of the presidential election season, most people, like freshman McKinnley Witty, are simply tired of them. “I think they’re annoying, I think that instead of focusing on what the other person’s doing wrong they should focus on what they’re doing right,” Witty said. “...I don’t think that they’re that necessary. Personally I don’t want to hear the bad things about them, I want to hear the good things that they’re going to do.” Negative advertising is nothing new in a presidential election, but the 2012 season’s ads from candidates and interest groups increased from the 2008 election, according to the Wesleyan Media Proj-
We have now entered the “Hurricane of Negativity” phase of the campaign. Both candidates are going to be spending as much money as possible trying to bury the other in nastiness. Here are some of the biggest lies told in attack ads.
Former Fort Collins High School transformed and celebrating its 4th year anniversary.
“So I see negative ads as sort of essential and inevitable, but I wish there was more balance between positive ads and negative ads.”
By KATE WINKLE The Rocky Mountain Collegian
CLUB
ect, which analyzed Kantar Media/CMAG data. By April 2008, 9.1 percent of ads put out by candidates and interest groups were negative, but in the 2012 election season so far, 70 percent have been negative. As of Oct. 10, $262 million was spent on ads supporting Obama and $282 million went toward ads supporting Romney. Of all the ads run, 83 percent of ads supporting Obama were negative and 90 percent of ads supporting Romney were negative, according to a Huffington Post study. Part of the increase is because of the 2010 Supreme Court decision (Citizens’ United vs. the Federal Election Commission) that allowed corporations, unions and other organizations to use as much money as they want to run ads independent of a campaign, according to associate professor of politi-
cal science Sandra Davis. Like many voters, ecology student David Scott finds it difficult to take negative ads seriously because of the prevalence of mud-slinging, but recognizes them as a necessary evil. “You can only say so much about yourself and be effective. I feel like politicians also need to give you a reason not to vote for the other guy,” Scott said. “So I see negative ads as sort of essential and inevitable, but I wish there was more balance between positive ads and negative ads.” Negative ads disillusion and alienate voters, but many groups creating them can reinvent themselves each election season, making it difficult to hold them accountable for inaccurate or misleading campaign ads, See ADS on Page 3
Biggest Lies in Negative Attack Ads
COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO
the building, specifically the addition of the Griffin Concert Hall. “We were consulted in the planning stages, but we were most interested in the concert hall out of consideration that the acoustics were top notch,” Wood said. “The building for its present purpose is one of the best in the country.” Clary promised a celebration next fall for the the UCA’s fifth anniversary. The faculty also have plans for expanding the University Art Museum and the Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising. “The faculty, staff and students at the University Center for the Arts have accomplished a lot in the last five years since the building was completed – it has gone by quickly and there is much to recognize and celebrate!” she said. UCA Beat Reporter Lianna Salva can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com.
Famous GLBT rights speaker comes to CSU Zach Wahls takes center stage By BAILEY CONSTAS The Rocky Mountain Collegian Nationally-renowned GLBTQ rights activist Zach Wahls will speak in the Lory Student Center Theater Wednesday at 7 p.m. as part of national GLBT history month. The event is sponsored by CSU’s GLBT Resource Center and ASAP. “It’s a month to celebrate and educate the community through music, speakers, performances and dialogue,” said Jennifer Nival, program coordinator for diversity and social justice programming at Campus Activities. Nival said that Wahls, the son of two mothers, is known for addressing the Iowa House Judiciary Committee when he was 19 years old, in a public hearing on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Iowa. Wahls is famous for saying, “the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero impact on the content of my character.” After his address went viral
on YouTube, Wahls made appearances on the “Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” the “Ellen Degeneres Show,” MSNBC and CBS. “He will speak about his experience growing up with two lesbian mothers, why the struggle for GLBT rights is so important, and his activism work,” Nival said. Wahls wrote a book titled “My Two Moms” released in April 2012. He is an environmental engineering student at the University of Iowa and an Eagle Scout. “He’s an Eagle Scout and he’s thinking about how the world can be more just and equitable,” said Foula Dimopoulos, director of CSU’s GLBT Resource Center. Dimopoulos thinks that we need more spaces that cultivate dialogue without assuming that we know something about someone’s lives. “Zach and other people that we’ve brought to campus have the ability to bring people See GLBT on Page 5
“Thomas Jefferson is an Atheist”
The 1800 election was a nasty one. Federalist John Adams claimed that his Democratic-Republican challenger Thomas Jefferson was an atheist and an anarchist who supported incest. A 204 year precursor to the Tea Party attack ads!
“Andrew Jackson is: All of the Above”
Here is just a sample of the quality of the 1828 election: murder, alcoholism, cockfighting, slaving, cannibalism, bigamism and WHORING! 2012 is tame by comparison.
“Barry Goldwater Will Nuke Kids!”
President Johnson was not a subtle man. In the“Daisy” ad Johnson made the claim that if Barry Goldwater was elected, nukes would drop. The Daisy Ad has since gone down in history as the granddaddy of modern negative advertising lies. The Strip Club is written by the Collegian staff.