www.sbstatesman.org
Volume 53, Issue 34 • Monday, February 22, 2010
STUDENTS ARE MORE INVOLVED AT PRINCETON REVIEW'S LEAST HAPPY CAMPUS By Erika Karp
Assistant News Editor
IN THIS ISSUE
Recently, student involvement is spreading as fast as a cold in a residence hall. Students who took a freshman seminar class or spoke to an advisor heard it before. The key to happiness at Stony Brook is getting involved. Tickets for the skitrip sold out in one day, free tickets to the Staller Center’s presentation of Groovaloo were gone in two minutes and Advisory Council meetings are packed with groups competing for the right to reserve event space. Susan DiMonda, associate dean and director of Student Life, has been at Stony Brook for the past 22 years. Since her days as director of Campus Recreation, she has seen the campus change and involvement grow. “SUNY students are more appreciative, more outgoing,” she said. “[They] see the responsibility to create community.” Bernie Lubell, an undergraduate member of the Student Life Advisory Council, started a group on Facebook for students who are against Princeton Review’s “Least Happy Students” list, in order to do “empirical research” on the issue enabling students’
voices to be heard. In the latest survey conducted by Princeton Review, Stony Brook ranked number three on the “Least Happy Students” list. The Student Life Advisory Council, a group of students, faculty and administrative staff members, aim to improve the quality of student life. “Students made very constructive comments,” Lubell said. “There is a stigma against Stony Brook. [The] stigma is fading, but it is still there. Something we are trying to counteract.” According to the Princeton Review website, the ranking is determined by students’ responses to the survey question, “Overall, how happy are you?” The 2010 survey is available online for students. The ratings do not seem to bother DiMonda too much. According to her, research has shown that student satisfaction has improved and her own personal observations further her proof. DiMonda saw students being turned away from the men’s basketball game against Binghamton because there were no more seats but thinks of it as a good problem. For students See REVIEW on 3
JC CHAN / STATESMAN FILE PHOTO
Student involvement is the key to a happy college experience, according to students and administrators.
Darwin Day: A Scientist's Holiday By Daniel Giorlando Contributing Writer
February is a month generally renowned for roses, hearts and chocolate. But on Darwin Day, Feb. 12, Professor Douglas J. Futuyma gave a lecture to about 300 people on the field of evolution and the progress that scientists have made in it. Scientists go largely uncelebrated for most of the year. Darwin Day, one of the few holidays recognizing the scientific community, is by no means a household name. Still in recent years, it has gained popularity. Stony Brook University has celebrated the holiday since 2007 and continued the trend this year with a number of Darwin-themed events. Among them was Futuyma’s lecture, entitled, “Evolutionary Biology: 150
Years of Progress.” The event was part of the Provost’s Living World Lecture Series and co-sponsored by the Department of Ecology. The lecture might best be likened to a State of the Union Address for evolutionary biology. Futuyma began by summing up Darwin’s original theories and the controversy they stirred. After “On the Origin of the Species,” Darwin was treated as a cult figure, and his theories disturbed many people. It was difficult for his theories to gain any acceptance at all. Darwin’s theories were placed under the intense scrutiny of the scientific method, and over 150 years scientests have expanded upon and refined his theories into modern evolutionary biology. Many are unfamiliar with the ways in which Darwin’s original theories differ from
modern ones. According to Futuyma, “The field has moved on in so many different ways” and has taken “immense strides,” so much so that even Darwin would not be able to understand a modern evolutionary biology lecture. Futuyma also addressed those who doubted the validity of evolution by saying that, even without a fossil record, we can be completely sure Darwin was right about all species evolving from a single organism. We know this by comparing modern species today. For example, humans share genetic similarities with creatures as different from us as flies. Both species share the gene Pax6, which governs eye development. Futuyma also noted that we now have hundreds of studies that demonstrate that certain genotypes survive better than others and direct
documentation of rapid evolutionary change. In closing the lecture, Futuyma expressed that we have learned much in the past 150 years, but there is still much we do not understand. Among the many mysteries evolutionary biology holds for us, we do not know definitively how species coevolve or why species die out if they possess the ability to evolve so rapidly. We may have to wait the next 150 years to find out.
MEDIA CREDIT: SCRAPETV.COM
Scorsese's "Shutter Island" is a hit
Seawolves gear up for big game
INDEX
The dramatic suspense thriller “Shutter Island,” hit theaters this weekend, after months of anticipation for legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s latest project. It is a rarity for a movie
In what might be the biggest game in its history, Stony Brook’s men’s basketball team will take on the Vermont Catamounts at home on Wednesday to solidify first
News................3 Opinion...............5 Arts.....................6 Sports...............11
to have both a superb cast leading an intricate storyline and an ingenious director to put it all together, but “Shutter Island” does... See ISLAND on 7
place in the America East Conference. Stony Brook is 20-7 overall and 12-2 in the conference, a full game... See BIG GAME on 12