February 26, 2016

THE HILL NEWS e s t a b l i s h e d i n 1 9 1 1 at s t . l aw r e n c e u n i v e r s i t y

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2016

VOLUME CVI, ISSUE 4

Antonin Scalia Dead at 79, Creating a Legal Battle for the Ages

By ANDREW WATSON STAFF WRITER Antonin Scalia, the first ItalianAmerican Supreme Court Justice and longest serving Justice of the current Court, died on February 12 of natural causes at the age of 79 at a Texas Ranch. Scalia’s death came as an enormous surprise to Washington and the country, however, his death turned political only hours afterward. Majority

Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said in a tweet shortly after news of Scalia broke, that the next president should nominate a Justice and current President Barack Obama should not. This sentiment has been widely circulated in conservative circles and condemned in liberal ones. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others said it would do the CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BUSINESS INSIDER and HARINDA VIDANAGE

Dr. Harinda Vidanage video conferences with students for one of his hybrid courses.

Classic Classrooms Plug In PHOTO COURTESY OF TARA FREEMAN

Colin Dowd ’16 hugs his head coach Mary Lawrence at Clips for Cancer

The Team That Plays Together Goes Bald Together

By GRACE KING STAFF WRITER

Colin Dowd ’16 has participated in St. Badrick’s Foundation Clips for Cancer event every year during his time at St. Lawrence. For him, the event is extremely personal. “I was once a childhood cancer patient and the kind of cancerous tumor amazed doctors around the country to the point where they had no name for it,” Dowd says. Throughout his four years as a ‘shavee,’ the St. Baldrick’s designated term for those who shave their heads for the cause, Dowd himself has raised an incredible $9,000 for childhood cancer research.

However, in his fourth and final year participating in Clips for Cancer at St. Lawrence, Dowd had the extensive support of his teammates and coach behind him in a re-

Contents:

Opinions pg. 2 News pg. 4

Features pg. 6 A&E pg. 8

Sports pg. 11

markable way. This year, the entire men’s golf team joined their captain and teammate in “braving the shave.” Ten heads shaved and over $10,000 raised. Head coach Mary Lawrence also joined in the cause, one of the few women to participate in the event. She says she knew nothing of St. Baldrick’s or Colin’s fight before he arrived to St. Lawrence as a freshman, however, by the end of his junior year, she promised that if he were elected captain in his senior year, she would shave her head. The rest, as they say, is history.

“Having the whole team and coaches participate in the event with me this year was one of my most meaningful memories from my time at SLU,” Dowd said. “It was so special and heart warming to see how excited the guys and CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

By REBECCA DOSER NEWS EDITOR The “digital classroom” is simply a defined advancement of the already tech-savvy students using cell phones, tablets and various other digital devices that are becoming necessary school supplies in today’s world.

• Paper and pencil • Dry erase boards • Printed copies of assigned readings or purchased hard copies of literature • A traditional classroom setting All are rapidly being replaced.

• A laptop • Smartboards • Kindle downloads and online Sakai texts • A hybrid course involving information communication technologies St. Lawrence is slowly becoming one of many universities to take technology in the classroom to the next level in just a few of its courses.

Associate Professor of Sociology Stephan Barnard has been teaching with Twitter for many years, though not in every course or in the same capacity. His teaching incorporates a variety of digital tools to facilitate learning in correspondence with technology.

“As someone who teaches with as well as about technology, I’ve found that it’s really important to set clear expectations--whether it’s for student assignments, or for faculty uses of digital media--and to model those expectations by practicing what we preach,” Dr. Barnard says. “Digital technologies are here to stay, and the more we can do to raise awareness of the academic potential of these tools, the better off we will be.”

Dr. Barnard emphasizes that the internet sure does pose an amazing opportunity for people to be “life-long learners,” although he continues that “this requires a set of literacies that we should take very seriously going forward.”

As a Senior Fellow in the Digital Initiatives Faculty Fellowship here at SLU, Dr. Barnard will be working with Leila Walker and Eric Williams-Bergen (among others) to develop more innovative ways to engage students in self-directed and digitally mediated forms of learning. This semester, he is teaching his sociology capstone seminar, Twitter and Society, where he will focus on collecting and analyzing Twitter data to see what he and his students can learn about a variety of sociological dynamics, like social movements and (citizen) journal-

I S S U E S N EA K P EA K Page 3: #FlashbackFriday: Titus 50 years in the making.

Page 7: Trap-rap for the white frat in Kirkland’s Column.

Page 5: Commemorating America’s most legendary recluse, Harper Lee.

Page 10: SLU students in Denmark react to the country’s refugee policy.

ism, he says.

“Like last spring, I intend for this course to resonate strongly with my research agenda, giving students an opportunity to actively participate in the research process, and for me to learn from the group’s successes as well as its failures,” he says. “We are spending much of the semester learning to work to conduct research using social media data—beginning with word clouds and targeted searches, and moving on to more complex methods like digital ethnography, content analysis, and social network analysis.”

Victoria Leimgardt ‘16, who is a sociology major, took Dr. Barnard’s capstone seminar during the Spring of 2015.

“During this course, we had to create a Twitter account surrounding the Ferguson trial,” Leimgardt says. “ We learned how hashtags worked to enhance social upheaval and also learned a lot about coding in a general sense by engaging in the digital world.”

Leimgardt says that it was the most digitally-inclined course she has ever taken thus far at St. Lawrence and it allowed her to realize that Twitter’s advancement is “definitely a positive element of the digital age because especially durCONTINUED ON PAGE 5

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Page 12: SLU Women’s Hockey wraps up the season.

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OPINIONS

2 | THE HILL NEWS

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

Dear Dub: Who’s Winning the “Biggest Loser”?

By KRISTEN JOVANELLY COLUMNIST Since Body Beautiful Week is doing a great job reminding us to be kind to our bodies, this article will be about a way that society is telling us not to be. Women and men alike are being manipulated, shamed, and blatantly coerced into a normalized manner of thinking about themselves.

The thought of writing an article about weight loss makes the tendons in my wrist tighten, and a guilty knot wrenching my stomach.

I’m ashamed of the struggles I’ve endured to hide behind slanted smiles and quiet folds of a napkin of half-eaten bread. I am ashamed for falling into these terrible narratives we fit ourselves into, and I am ashamed by how I deny myself so much and feel it is still not enough. I am ashamed of how long it took me to seek help and how I let others let me think it wasn’t bad enough. I cannot deny that I feel incredibly hypocritical at times, as I am in awe of the beauty of other women’s bodies but cannot find it within myself to hold myself in such regard.

I have the distinctive memory of watching daytime television with my grandma and, as Golden Girls transitioned a parade of commercials about weight loss products and diet foods, I became increasingly cognizant of my thighs, sticking and expanding over the plastic sheet on the corduroy couch. These products boast they can discipline the female body as they plump the influence of one corporation or another. We are taught to swoon at aspartame and calorie snack packs. We are

taught to feel guilty. We are taught to watch one another because we are besieged with the impulse to keep track of other women in the media, whose weight fluctuations are tracked like stocks--they are the physical epitome of market value for women.

The Biggest Loser serves as an ultimate manifestation of the manipulation of media to distort our perceptions about ideal bodies and sustainable weight management. Don’t get me wrong, I watched this show for years and bawled, laughed, and did crunches at all of the appropriate moments. For a country struggling with crippling obesity and media obsession, the Biggest Loser offers the ultimate fantasy--retreat to a “ranch” for a few months and lose the weight you’ve never been able to lose on your own by exclusively and doggedly dedicating your mind and body to shedding pounds with advanced fitness equipment and constant media attention. Undeniably, it’s entertaining, heart-breaking even, but for reasons that illustrate the dark undertones and prevailing narrative of bodyshaming in the United States.

The contestants are constantly mortified for their bodies, and trainers and medical professionals wag fingers about how near death obese contestants are. People are turned into spectacles, filmed as if they’re animals, sweating and purging their bodies and minds of pre-determined weaknesses that haven’t permitted them to obtain happiness. Despite the show’s slick marketing that convinces viewers it is about empowerment through fitness, it is headlining the dominant and CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

THE HILL NEWS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Emma Cummings-Krueger ‘16 MANAGING EDITORS Elle Lucas ‘16 Thomas Mathiasen ‘16 NEWS Rebecca Doser ‘16 Emery Younger ‘17 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Alexa Mitchell ‘16

FEATURES Olivia White ‘17 Annie Wilcox ‘17

DIGITAL Brandon DiPerno ‘16

SPORTS Louie Freda ‘17

DISTRIBUTION Drew Watson ‘17

PHOTOGRAPHY Amanda Brooks ‘17

CHIEF COPY EDITOR Katie Pierce ‘17

FINANCE Frazier Bostwick ‘17 Ben Brisson ‘16

OPINIONS Emily Liebelt ‘16 EDITORIAL POLICY The Hill News is published every Friday of the school year, except during holidays and examination periods, by the students of St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY 13617.

Unsolicited manuscripts, articles, and letters to the editor must be typed and signed. Copy and advertisement deadlines are 12:00 p.m. on the Monday prior to publication. All materials submitted for publication are the property of The Hill News and are subject to revision.

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We have the ability to receive e-mails at elcumm12@stlawu. edu. The comments and opinions of our readers are welcome.

COPYRIGHT 2015 — VOLUME CVI, ISSUE 4

COPY EDITORS Lauren Soule ‘18 Grace Galanti ‘18 Kathryn Wilson ‘18 Claire Mendes ‘18 LETTER SUBMISSIONS

Letters may be no more than 500 words in length. All letters must be typed, signed by the author, and include the author’s full name and telephone number. The name of the author may be withheld only for compelling reasons, and after discussion with the editorial board. The Hill News reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity, style, and taste. The printing or omission of letters is entirely at the discretion of the editors and The Hill News. Any letter received after deadline will not be considered for publication in that week’s issue.

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MAGGIE CUMMINS/STAFF CARTOONIST IS FEMINISM, LIKE PASTA, ALWAYS CUSTOMIZABLE?

The Values of Millenni als

By MATT THIBAULT STAFF WRITER It’s a popular opinion that our generation is the “entitled generation.” People think that we’re soft, that we think we deserve everything, and that we cater too much to social media and technology. I’m here to tell you that simply isn’t true.

I see pieces all over the place.

They say that we’ve been coddled, that we’ve been brought up soft, that we’ve been raised on awards for participation, all around effort. They think that because of this, we’re not prepared for the real world. I’ve seen posts about how people are solely focused on image, how we care about what others think about us, and how we prioritize likes and opinions over concrete and intrinsic beliefs and motivations. I’m here to tell the people who think that we’re soft, that we care too much about opinions, that we’re connected to our technology at the limbs, wir-

ing running figuratively into our brains, that they need to listen.

We are not what you think we are.

I will concede a point. There are definitely outliers amongst this generation, people who do fit the stereotype, and that they can’t be used as representatives of the whole. The majority of us see ourselves as hard workers, people who strive to do well for ourselves in a relatively struggling economy that we were left to salvage.

We believe that we have to work for what we want. To the people of St. Lawrence, you already understand this. To get here, we had to work like hell in high school, work hard in the classroom, and put all of our efforts into maintaining a college education. To say that we expect to have everything handed to us is absolutely wrong. We don’t expect everything to be handed to us. Hell, we worked to get here.

As for technology, that’s more of a perspective issue. Technology

is a wondrous thing; we all hold in our possession devices that can answer virtually any question that we have. These devices can connect us with friends from across the hall, or across the world. I don’t think that it’s all about likes and shares and retweets and favorites.

Nor is it about social status, about whether we want to impress people. It’s about expression. It’s about letting the world know who we are.

If you read this, and you disagree, then that’s fine by me.

We’re all entitled (there’s that word again) to our own opinions. I can respect what you believe. I just hope that if you took the time to read this, my words resonated with you. We aren’t assholes. We’re people with access to technologies and ideas that generations before us weren’t able to see. We work hard, and we go for what we want, instead of wanting it to be handed over. We aren’t entitled, and we’re proud of it.

OPINIONS

FEBRUARY 26, 2016 Saint:

Chivalry isn’t dead when you carry bae over

Saint: #ShowMeYourTitus

Saint: Senioritis, engage

puddles

Purgatory: When bae still Purgatory: Bus tickets

gets wet... running out on a Tuesday

Sinner:

When knee-high boots still aren’t high enough

Sinner:

Freshmen asking

“what’s Titus?”

Purgatory: Getting your first round of exams back with a class-wide fail

Sinner:

Actual deadlines= actual grades

THE HILL NEWS | 3

DUB FROM PAGE 2 corrosive discourse that fat is an enemy, an infection that must be eradicated. This is a show about disruptive bodies that must be controlled by any measures, and then the obese might become more acceptable members of society.

The 2014 winner of the biggest loser, Rachel Frederickson, weighed in at the final show at 105 lbs., having lost 60% of her body weight in a few short months. Her body instantly became available

for public scrutiny, as now she had disciplined her body too much.

Frederickson was doing exactly what we asked of her and what too many of us would if we could.

We have so many rules for the body, often unsaid and constantly in flux. By no means am I an authority on this; I am struggling to overcome constant media inundation just as much as you and pretty much every other person in our society. But one of the firmest decisions I am personally making is turning off the television.

Dear Trustees: It’s Time for SLU to Divest!

By SATCHEL TOOLE GUEST WRITER The divestment of fossil fuels is one of the most important techniques being used in the fight against the global climate crisis.

What started as a movement on university campuses has expanded to cities, pension funds, foundations, and many more institutions. These groups have joined a worldwide campaign to rid investment portfolios of holdings in fossil fuel companies, under the direction of environmentalist Bill McKibben. To date, $3.4 trillion has been divested worldwide. Luckily, these stocks have been sold at the perfect time.

Global trends, including economic, social, and legislative tendencies, point towards a fossil fuel free future.

In early February, BP laid off 7,000 workers after revealing a

historical loss of $6.5 billion. This occurred within a month of Shell reporting a 58% decline in quarterly earnings. Although divestment does not always involve sustainable reinvestment, it is interesting to note that Europe’s three publicly traded wind-turbine makers, Vestas, Gamesa, and Nordex, all doubled in value in 2015. While correlation does not equal causation, it is clear that global markets are starting to move away from a carbon intensive economy. On Friday, February 26, DivestSLU is meeting with the Board of Trustees in hopes that St. Lawrence will take a step towards a more sustainable future.

The stress for change at St. Lawrence is coming from within.

Led by DivestSLU, a club founded in 2012, students have stood up in an effort to pressure the institution to invest in our future. The online

petition written by the club has gathered nearly 1,400 signatures, representing over half of the student body. Other organizations across campus, such as the Thelomathesian Society, the Outing Club, the Panhellenic Council, SLU Democrats, and the Alpine Skiing team have all signed on to support the campaign as well. The voices speaking for a brighter future, however, have not been restricted to university groups and campuses.

In an op-ed to the Los Angeles Times, Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, a member of the “first family of fossil fuel,” writes, “I lost faith in Exxon Mobile’s future value…

Exxon’s valuation is based largely on the immense untapped reserves of oil and gas it owns. And yet if future generations are to inherit a livable world, most of those reserves must stay in the ground.”

Such a statement, coming from a perspective inside the industry, speaks to the fragility of fossil fuel companies who have obscured our nation’s democratic policy making for centuries.

Through donations and lobbying, the fossil fuel industry has actively influenced legislative measures and governmental policies in an attempt to protect their destructive practices.

In 2013 alone, fossil fuel lobbies spent $140 million to fight climate policy. In the same year, these companies contributed over $40 million to congressional campaigns.

By taking this money, government representatives bet against the future of our environment.

International agreements like that of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris last year, however, have realized the detriment of carbon emissions to

our planet and thus have agreed to limit its use. This puts enormous stress on many fossil fuel companies, whose value could fall substantially in the near future. Do we really want our endowment to rely on these corporations? We can no longer stand idle ignoring a worldwide crisis. Action must be taken.

DivestSLU plays only a small part in the global campaign to protect our planet through policy change.

Schools including Georgetown University, the London School of Economics, and Stanford University have sold fossil fuel holdings, paving the way for other institutions like St. Lawrence to follow their lead. They have financial boards, all with the same intention of preserving their endowment, and yet still make the choice to divest. So why shouldn’t SLU? Enough is enough; the time for change is now.

Thelmo Goes Nu ts For Diversity

By DANIEL BANTA STAFF WRITER Amid campus wide discussion on diversity, Thelmo recently unveiled an initiative to promote diversity on campus.

The initiative, officially called #we<3diversity, has increased the amount of black squirrels on campus by three, bringing the total number of black squirrels to 10. In a campus dominated by grey squirrels, many see the increase as a step in the right direction.

A high ranking member of Thelmo lauded the program.

While in a room completely composed of one type of squirrel, he said that, “diversity at SLU is like really good now.”

He indicated that Thelmo was seriously concerned with promoting diversity and saw this as the crowning achievement of the semester. He pointed out that around 14.1 percent of the squirrel population were squirrels of color, an increase from years past. “I’m even friends with a black squirrel now,” he bragged.

A representative for admissions said that plans were underway to update an admission brochure to include the new black squirrels. “Nothing captures St. Lawrence better than a picture of an ethnically diverse group of squirrels jumping off a bench!

We want other black squirrels to see the new brochure and come to SLU,” said the representative.

Others welcomed the initiative but were skeptical of its overall impact. “Diversity is about more than just numbers,” said a black squirrel that resides around the trees of Sykes. “If the black squirrels do not feel like they are a part of the St. Lawrence community, then an increase of three percent is meaningless.

Many squirrels of color cannot relate to the grey squirrels.”

Another black squirrel echoed these sentiments: “Sure, there are more black squirrels on campus, but are we really part of the community? How many black squirrels do you see in trees around the BETA house? There are more grey squirrels from private parks here than black squirrels in general! More needs to be done to foster a sense of community between squirrels of color and the rest of the squirrels.”

Statistics seem to support this squirrel’s point, as around 31.5 percent of squirrels on campus came from private parks, while only 14.1 percent of squirrels are minorities.

“When you look around, this school is, clearly, mostly made up of grey squirrels,” stated a grey squirrel who possessed the capacity to count. “Next time

you’re around the trees close to Dana, count the amount of grey squirrels. And then count the amount of black squirrels.

You’ll notice a difference.”

In addition, many critics argue that a lot of grey squirrels simply do not know what diversity means. A black squirrel pointed out that, “here at SLU, 94 percent of grey squirrels grew up in neighborhoods that were mostly grey or entirely grey. They just have not been exposed to diversity.”

Thelmo disagrees however.

Another representative for the student government said, “we have had about five black squirrels in Thelmo meetings during the fall semester. During the previous spring semester we had two black squirrels, which translates to a 2.5 percent increase.”

Since Thelmo had planned for a 2 percent increase in black squirrel attendance of Thelmo meetings (in an initiative called #realdiversity=percentages), the student government sees the extra .5 percent as more proof of the strides made to improve diversity.

“Just like Kony 2012 stopped the warlord Josef Kony in the country of Africa, #we<3diversity will finally end conversations about diversity here at SLU. Effective social activism is a hashtag away,” finished the Thelmo representative.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: Fifty years ago, SLUdents

boarded school busses with skis in hand, and spent the day at their own private mountain. But it wasn’t the Annual Great Mount Titus North Country Global Cooldown Wicked Weekend Ski Event! Instead, ski bunnies drove to the SLU-owned Snow Bowl near South Colton, NY. The above and below photos were featured in a 1966 edition of The Hill News to capture the snowy moments. Our celebration of Titus has gone through a few changes since then; read more about the history of everyone’s favorite weekend on PAGE 7.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIA THOMAS, UNIVERSITY COLLECTIONS

NEWS

4 | THE HILL NEWS

Security Blotter Feb 12, 12:56 AM Student observed urinating outside Java Barn.

Feb 12, 2:40 AM Quiet hour violation in Whitman.

Feb 12, 2:42 AM Unresponsive student seeming to be sleeping in Dean Eaton. Evaluated and signed off.

Feb 12, 2:47 AM Fire alarm activated in Sykes Hall caused by debris on top of stove with a one-two inch flame.

Feb 12, 9:32 AM Another drug policy violation in the townhouses.

Feb 13, 2:43 AM Report of vandalism to a light dome in Lee Hall.

Feb 14, 2:54 AM Large wooden bar and beer park table set up in 48 Park. Alcohol violation.

Feb 14, 11:45 AM Report of leak in a water pipe in Johnson Hall of Science.

Feb 14, 1:45 PM Report of pipe burst in KDS. Feb 14, 7:06 PM Report of main water pipe burst in Whitman Hall.

Feb 15, 1:39 PM Report of sprinkler broken in Hope House.

Feb 15, 9:52 PM Injured student in Newell Fieldhouse. Student evaluated and transported to CPH. Feb 16, 12:00 AM Report of gate coming down atop a vehicle at Facilities Operations.

Feb 16, 11:11 AM Report of passed out student in Carnegie Hall. Student evaluated and signed off.

Feb 16, 1:00 PM Report of injured student at 76 Park.

Student evaluated and transported.

Feb 16, 7:00 PM Report of many tree branches fallen on a car at 77 East Main Street.

Feb 17, 2:00 PM Report of minor motor vehicle accident at Facilities Operations.

Feb 17, 8:04 PM Report of drug policy violation in Dean Eaton.

Feb 19, 9:52 AM Covered smoke detector observed in Arts Annex. Fire safety violation.

Feb 19, 11:00 AM Report of crack in front fender of car to Facilities Operations.

Feb 19, 12:02 PM Fire alarm due to burnt bacon in 1 Lincoln.

Feb 22, 3:20 PM Report of ill student in Griffiths Art Center. Student evaluated and signed off.

Feb 23, 7:40 AM Vandalism to a stairway in 78 Park.

SEMESTER RUNNING TALLIES: Bike Thefts: 1 | DWIs: 0 Open Containers: 6 | Alcohol-Related Transports: 3

SCALIA FROM PAGE 1

constitution an injustice to not nominate someone immediately to fill the vacancy. President Obama has stated that he intends to nominate a judge and expects a vote on the Senate floor. It will be a large role for the next justice to fill, whenever that time comes.

Antonin Scalia was appointed

by Ronald Reagan in 1986 and confirmed by a unanimous 98-0 senate vote, per The New York Times and was seen as the most staunch and brilliant conservative mind on the bench. A prominent follower of “originalism,” Scalia believed that the constitution should be interpreted exactly how the writers would have when the document was first written, according to The New York Times.

This meant siding with the conservative side of the court during nearly every case, and writing the most fiery and linguistically intense dissents the court has ever seen. Only two justices in the history of the court have written more dissents than Scalia, and no one wrote them with more force. Per Politico, in the King v.

Burwell case, which upheld part of the Affordable Care Act, Scalia called the majority opinion “pure applesauce.” He also said that the majority opinion in Obergefell v.

Hodges that made Gay marriage legal “has to diminish this Court’s reputation for clear thinking and sober analysis.”

Many terms have been used in the weeks since Scalia’s passing.

“Legal Titan,” “brilliant conservative mind,” and “definition of a patriot” are all among them. Even though democrats almost always disagreed with his opinion, they saw Scalia as one of the great voices of the Court. Bill Clinton said he liked Scalia’s ability to have “honest arguments” and current Vice President Joe Biden said he admired Scalia for their “shared belief that sharp debates, tough

FEBRUARY 26, 2016 questions and deep respect for the adversarial process,” which were important to the “rule of law,” according to The Los Angeles Times.

Oddly enough, one of Scalia’s best friends was Supreme Court Justice and Liberal hero Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She called them “best buddies” and said that Scalia made her a better Justice of the Court. It has also been reported

by NPR and the Washington Post that Scalia and Ginsburg were very close outside of the Court, sharing laughs and meals.

Scalia’s death has implications for the next quarter century at the very least. If a new judge is not nominated and confirmed, it will leave the court with eight members and no potential tiebreaker that could foster a 5-4 decision.

Democrats say that it is the duty of the senate to confirm a justice so that the Court may continue to take cases. Republicans say that it should be the voice of the American people who help choose the next Justice, which would mean waiting until January of 2017.

Democrats want a Justice now in case a Republican takes the White House, while Republicans hope that they will win and can appoint a conservative judge come 2017. Needless to say, the debate has become glaringly partisan, with accusations of obstructionist behavior and pettiness flying from both sides. Per The New Republic, mathematically it will be virtually impossible for President Obama to get a judge confirmed due to the Republican majority in the Senate. Multiple Republicans would have to not vote the party line, a move seen as increasingly unlikely in this bitter partisan fight.

At the center of that fight are Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and McConnell. Schumer is on video giving a 2007 speech saying that the Democrats should deny any attempted confirmation of

Bush court nominees. According to Politico, this is coming back to bite Schumer, as he has been on the front lines of the battle to get a vote on the Senate floor. Republicans are using Schumer’s speech to justify their own refusal to hold a confirmation hearing. Mitch McConnell responded in 2007 by saying that “all of these judges deserve an up or down vote,” per Politico, a quote the democrats are using to show that McConnell is flip-flopping on the issue.

Schumer is the presumptive successor to Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and it remains to be seen if he can weather this storm of criticism.

A short list of potential nominees has been compiled by many different publications. Some of the standout names include current Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and former Attorney General Eric Holder. Both of these nominations would stand virtually zero chance of being confirmed. On the more moderate side is Sri Srinivasan, who was unanimously confirmed 97-0 to the Federal Appeals Court in D.C. Additionally, there is Paul Watford who is a Judge for the 9th circuit and has moderate appeal.

Both of these choices are 48 years old and minorities, with Srinivasan an Indian-American and Paul Watford an African-American.

These young moderates could hurt the public view of Republicans if they were to block their nominations.

Although he has said no, there is one nomination that Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton believes would make a great choice. Who? Our current President, Mr. Barack Obama himself. He studied Constitutional Law at Harvard and Clinton said she loved the idea of him as a nominee. Of course, Mr. Obama ruled it out immediately, but it makes for an interesting conversation if Clinton finds herself in the White House in 2017.

Presidential Primaries Indicate Trump, Clinton Leading Into Next Contests

By THOMAS MATHIASEN MANAGING EDITOR The Democratic and Republican primary season has thinned out the herd, most recently on the Republican side with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush dropping out after a less than stellar performance in the South Carolina primary. The next contests are setting the stage for a long battle in both parties as candidates fight to win key delegate votes in upcoming contests.

Republicans will square off against one another in “Super Tuesday” next week, a day that hosts 11 primary elections in different states.

Following a dominant win in Nevada, Trump currently leads most polls of Republican candidates, with the remaining candidates jockeying for second place. Currently, Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida most viciously fight that battle.

For the Democrats, Saturday’s South Carolina primary is the next step towards the nomination. After a win in Nevada, Clinton leads Sanders in the polls with 56% and Sanders trailing by 26 points falling in at 32% in South Carolina, according to a poll conducted by the Washington Post and Huffington Post. While Sanders has continued to tote his rising poll numbers, a Politico article published earlier this week notes that Sanders has essentially conceded a loss in South Carolina and will look to gain more traction against Clinton on “Super Tuesday.”

With the first contests already completed and important primary dates coming up for both parties, it is important to look at where the candidates stand not in the polls, but in their progress to actually securing the nomination. On the Republican side, the required number needed to secure the

nomination is 1,237 delegates.

The Associated Press reports that Trump leads Republicans with 82 delegates, Cruz with 17, Rubio at 16, Ohio Governor John Kasich at 6 and former neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson at 4.

On the Democratic side, the party is using “superdelegates.”

These superdelegates can include prominent party leaders, elected officials in individual states or members of Congress. These superdelegates have the ability to

support any candidate they wish.

With the influence of the superdelegates, Clinton leads with 505 delegates to Sanders’ 71. For the Democratic candidates, they need 2,383 overall delegates to win the nomination

GRAPHIC by EMMA CUMMINGS-KRUEGER/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Delegate votes at press time Thursday morning (Democratic chart includes superdelegates).

NEWS

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

Harper Lee, Author of the Novel We Have All Read, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dies at 89

By BRENDA WINN NEWS EDITOR Harper Lee, the acclaimed author of To Kill a Mockingbird, died on Feb. 19, 2016 at 89 years old in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. By the time they graduate, there is almost no U.S. university student who has not read Ms. Lee’s famous novel. Mockingbird was published in 1960, and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the following year. This instant success turned Ms. Lee into a literary celebrity, a role she did not take to, causing her to withdraw from public life soon after. Then, just last summer, Ms. Lee reemerged with the July 2015 publication of Go Set a Watchman, a novel she wrote prior to Mockingbird, but was set in fictional time after the events in Mockingbird.

In 1962, a film version of Mockingbird was released staring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, the father of the protagonist Jean Louise (‘Scout’) and her brother, Jeremy (‘Jem’).

The novel and movie focus on racial injustice in a small Alabama town quickly became a beloved work and one of the most taught novels ever written, according to The New York Times. The novel focuses on Atticus Finch, a Southern lawyer, defending a black man on trial who was falsely accused of raping a white woman.

Almost every reader can identify with Scout in Mockingbird. She is a tomboy, who spends her summers chasing after her brother Jem and a neighborhood friend, Dill. The New York Times remarks how Ms. Lee was able to write about “simple pleasures of an ordinary small town in Alabama” as well as act as a “sobering tale

PHOTO COURTESY OF USA TODAY

Harper Lee passed away in her hometown in Southern Alabama.

of race relations in the Deep South during the Jim Crow era.” The depiction of Atticus standing against racism struck a cord with many Americans, many of who were becoming aware of the civil rights movement for the first time.

Mockingbird sold 10 million copies by 1970, was being taught in 74% of secondary schools by 1988, and was named a best novel of the 20th Century in 1999, according to The New York Times. The story is deeply personal to Ms. Lee, and in fact can be seen to tell a sort of story about her childhood. Ms. Lee was born in 1926 in Monroeville, a small town in Southern Alabama. Her father, A.C. Lee was a prominent lawyer, and definitely served as the model for Atticus. The character Dill is modeled after Truman Capote, who spent his summers living next door to Ms. Lee while staying with family. The two began a life-long friendship throughout these summers, and both began their literary careers together, making up their own stories on an old typewriter and dictating them

PHOTO COURTESY OF TARA FREEMAN

Colin Dowd ‘16 and his coach Mary Lawrence getting shaved.

ST.BALDRICK’S FROM PAGE 1 coaches were to support me and raise so much money for childhood cancer.”

The sixth annual event took place in the Winston

Room on Friday, February 12, hosted by the PreHealth Club at St. Lawrence.

In total, the event raised $13,500 through donations to those participating,

to each other.

There is no doubt that Ms. Lee has left her mark on our world, for generations to come.

Through countless documentaries, investigative novels, and spotty appearances, she has given a view to the South in a time period when many could not imagine what it was like to live there. In 1964 during one of her last major interviews, she said “I would like…to do one thing, and I’ve never spoken much about it because its such a personal thing. I would like to leave some record of the kind of life that existed in a very small world.” It is evident that Ms. Lee loved her town, her family, which is why she chose to keep such a closed life for so many years. “There is something universal in this little world,” she said, “something decent to be said for it, and something to lament in its passing.”

Well, Ms. Lee, there is no doubt that readers all over the world are lamenting in your passing. Your novel and the lessons it taught will live on for years, so Thank You, Harper Lee, for sharing your story. unexpectedly surpassing the club’s goal of $10,000, showcasing how truly important this cause really is. cause is According to The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, “more children are lost to cancer in the U.S. than any other disease—in fact, more than many other childhood diseases combined.”

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation works to fund research to find a cure to childhood cancers.

Since February 12, the temperature in wintery Canton has dropped significantly, and our campus shavees have all donned winter hats to cover what hair would have once protected them from the chilly air.

So, while their heads may be bare, the future for those fighting childhood cancer is full of promise thanks to their participation.

THE HILL NEWS | 5 DIGITAL CLASS FROM PAGE 1

ing the Ferguson trial, it was a medium that was used to bring people together to voice their opinions.”

Dr. Barnard began incorporating a variety of social media tools in his classes in 2011 — starting with blogs, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, and Tumblr — in order to make learning more relevant outside the academy, according to his article “Building Castles In the Air: Critical Digital Pedagogy and the Pursuit of Praxis” published in Hybrid Pedagogy.

“While we were certainly challenged by moments of failure, the majority of my students have found these tools to be a useful supplement to more traditional learning environments,” Dr. Barnard says.

He typically uses Twitter, WordPress, and Storify, although the tools can vary greatly depending on the course, student, and project.

Another faculty member, Dr. Harinda Vidanage, is the Visiting Assistant Professor of International Relations and was formerly the Fulbright Scholar in Residence at St. Lawrence University. His course platform also engages the digital technological advancements of today similar to Dr. Barnard, but in a different manner.

This semester, he is teaching his course in it’s third year called Global Cyber Politics in which he delves into the Information Communication Technological Ecosystems and their necessity in every human interaction. His course is an attempt to locate important themes of “international politics” by exploring cyber space as the core of transformation in regards to political representation and political engagement across societies and cultures globally.

The course highlights competing themes that students face daily by living in a society where Dr. Vidanage says, “globalization meets global politics through ICTs (Information Communication Technologies), smart phones, and mobile communication backbones to the Internet.”

Dr. Vidanage hopes that his students grasp the ability to understand the impact of cyber space and cyber technologies in conjunction with mainstream politics, international institutions and security establishments. This class is designed as a hybrid delivery platform in which students will actively develop the course, potentially alter it throughout the semester both in the classroom (offline) and in online interactions. This itself is the nature of cyberspace, and according to Dr. Vidanage,“is the only hybrid course that has ever been taught at SLU. We had to fight hard for this course.”

By this, he means that he had to create a model that St. Lawrence would accept and deem compatible with the liberal arts values of critical thinking, presenting and more.

“Dean Val Lehr was really backing this and pushing hard while my department was also quite supportive,” Dr. Vidanage recalls. “When I started the course, I taught an inclass session and two outside class

components: a forum and a conferencing component, which began with Google Hangouts and has recently moved to a system called Cisco WebEx. I have four video conference groups with five students in each. We conference once per week for half hour sessions, and suddenly, I found I have created a class that is generating a lot of critical mass of knowledge.”

Technology and politics have a main intersection and are significantly affecting each other, which is something that Dr. Vidanage stresses in his coursework.

“Young people don’t realize how much power they have in an iPhone. You are tweeting, Youtube-ing, taking video footage of a protest on a smart device,” he continues. “My goal in academia is to make my students part of this not just learn it.”

Dr. Vidanage’s first attempt at this course involved students using their smart technology to create their final projects, which turned out to be a very successful component of his coursework platform.

Thomas Mathiasen ’16 is currently in Dr. Vidanage’s course and says, “It’s something I’ve never been a part of before and it’s interesting to see the new development of a class like this.”

While many students refer to a classroom setting, like the one Mathiasen is in, as a “digital classroom,” Dr. Vidanage disagrees with the term.

“I don’t agree with the term digital classroom because I want the students to experience how society is changing and I think students are very handicapped in using these devices for only certain reasons,” Dr. Vidanage states. “How do I make more generic conversation in a classroom? If I can make students engage in the material at their own pace and in their own manner, then I will be providing a classroom with more empowerment to the students because they are more accountable.”

Students who were very quiet in the classroom perform extremely well on the forum component on the course, Dr. Vidanage says.

Through the forum, one needs to be engaged and have done the primary and secondary readings in order to contribute worthy content.

It’s a great testament to their accountability.

“I’m not using technology for the sake of technology,” he says. “For me, it’s providing a space that is more comfortable for my students.”

The class will stand or fall based on how you take ownership, is what he tells everyone at the beginning of his class.

“It’s not just about the classroom, but it’s what you do when you leave here in real life and the corporate world,” Dr. Vidanage says. “You might have to talk with people a lot online and your responsibility is to work with them. That’s the experience you get here. You are working and engaging in this conference environment. The course is thus, most importantly based on what happens outside in the real world.”

6 | THE HILL NEWS

features

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

Kesha’s Battle with Assault Slows Music Career

By ALLISON PILCHER STAFF WRITER

Kesha Sebert, better known simply as the “Kesha” of awardwinning singer/songwriter fame, has been the center of attention amid recent controversy surrounding the rape allegations she made against her producer, Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald).

Kesha’s initial lawsuit was filed in California against Dr. Luke in October of 2014. This was shortly after she spent time in a rehabilitation center for an eating disorder, for which she blames years of abuse from her producer. Dr. Luke countered with a lawsuit claiming defamation and breach of contract, which has to be handled in New York due to a contractual “forum clause.”

On February 19, New York Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich denied Kesha’s request for a preliminary injunction. Kesha broke down in tears when the judge gave her decision. The requested injunction would have allowed Kesha to produce music outside of her current six-album contract with Dr. Luke’s label, Kemosabe Records (owned by Sony Music Entertainment), while awaiting the results of the ongoing legal battle. Kornreich’s decision on the preliminary injunction does not vindicate Dr. Luke, but it compels Kesha to uphold the contract pending the outcome of the lawsuits. Kornreich dismissed claims of abuse, viewing the issue as a contract dispute.

She explained that invalidating the contract through a preliminary injunction would be an “extraordinary measure,” one that lacked supporting evidence.

The decision has been criticized by enraged fans and fellow celebrities. Lady Gaga, Lorde, and Kelly Clarkson (who has also worked with Dr. Luke) have all publicly voiced support for Kesha. Demi Lovato tweeted that it is “Frustrating to see women come forward with their past only to be shot down, not believed & disrespected for their bravery in taking action.” Taylor

Swift went so far as to donate $250,000 to Kesha to help with legal fees and other expenses.

Kesha’s lawsuit accused Dr. Luke of nearly ten years of sexual, physical, verbal, and emotional abuse, beginning in 2005 when she signed on to Kemosabe Records at age eighteen. She cites at least two specific cases of drug-facilitated rape, although Dr. Luke’s lawyer, Christine Lepera, argues that Kesha has yet to provide factual details or formal evidence. Kesha recalls one incident, where Dr. Luke forced her to inhale a substance before boarding an airplane and then sexually assaulted her during the flight while she was drugged and incapacitated.

On another occasion, he made her take “sober pills,” which she later learned were GHB, a date rape drug. She woke up in his bed the following day, naked and sore, with no memory of how she got there.

Lepera cites the fact that Kesha had never reported abuse to law enforcement or Sony Music. In an unsealed deposition from a separate court case in 2011, Kesha stated under oath that Dr. Luke had never given her a roofie, testifying that “Dr. Luke never made sexual advances at me.” However, allegations of Dr. Luke’s emotional abuse include threats to Kesha’s career and the physical safety of her family if she ever told anyone of his misconduct. Those close to Kesha claim that he has manipulated and abused her constantly, harassing her for her weight and micromanaging her image. Dr. Luke is extremely wealthy and powerful; it is reasonable for her to believe him capable of executing his various threats.

Dr. Luke later took to Twitter to defend his name, stating, “I didn’t rape Kesha and I have never had sex with her. Kesha and I were friends for many years and she was like my little sister.” He has maintained his innocence by arguing that Kesha is lying in order to extort money from the company that has already invested millions in her career. He tweeted, “It’s sad that

she would turn a contract negotiation into something so horrendous and untrue.” Focusing on this neglects the fact that she cannot work during this time.

They also ignore the extensive costs she faces for legal support and representation. In an affidavit for the injunction, former Universal Music Group Distribution CEO Jim Urie explained, “If Kesha cannot immediately resume recording and having her music promoted, marketed, and distributed by a major label, her career is effectively over.”

Making false accusations would not be in her best interests. She has no reason to lie about such a serious issue.

According to the American Prosecutors Research Institute, only an estimated two to eight percent of rape reports are false.

Additionally, a U.K. report to the Director of Public Prosecutions authored by Alison Levitt and the Crown Prosecution Service Equality and Diversity Unit concludes that only 0.4 percent of rape accusations naming a specific perpetrator are false.

This is corroborated by a threeyear Australian study (Heenan & Murray 2006). Based on these statistics, a man in America is more likely to be struck by lightning than to be falsely accused of rape. To accuse someone of falsely reporting rape for money is a serious claim.

Unfortunately, the public image of Kesha created by Dr. Luke is of a wild party girl. She sings about drinking and sex, but as a female artist, her persona comes off less rock-and-roll and more like another young celebrity train wreck. This makes her an easy victim for her controlling producer because people will be less likely to believe her. Kesha says this perception is not really who she is. She continues to push forward, hoping to work with Sony, as long as she can avoid involvement with Dr. Luke and Kemosabe Records.

In the meantime, she has two choices: either put her career on hold or work with the man who has abused her for the last decade.

Wisdom from Elton John

By SARA MINOGUE COLUMNIST

“And it seems to me you lived your life/ like a candle in the wind/ never know who to cling to/ when the rain set in/ your candle burned out long before/ your legend ever did” – Elton John The words above are lyrics from my favourite Elton John song, “Candle in the Wind.” He wrote this song in 1973 as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe and then rewrote the song

in 1997 for the late Princess Diana.

This song highlights the doubleedged sword of celebrity life using the example of 1950s popular icon, Marilyn Monroe. What are the two edges of this sword? I will try to explain this using Ms. Monroe and others.

The public constantly scrutinized Monroe’s body image throughout her stardom. She was approximately 5’5’’ and 118 pounds, according to a general Google search. Despite her petite figure, she was never thin

enough for the beauty standards of the 1950s. This ever-present scrutiny led to her suicide in 1962.

Celebrities are not the only people to face criticism regarding their body types. I had a friend in high school who was easily the most aesthetically beautiful girl in our year. Though she tried her hardest to please others and conform to our rigid standards of beauty, the pressure became too strong and she developed an eating disorder. She has since recovered and is doing very

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAURA GAY

Bachelorette of the Week: Laura Gay ‘17 Zodiac Sign: Taurus Hometown: I grew up outside of Seattle, but now I live in Bigfork, Montana.

Major: Biology-Physics What is your spirit animal?

Jeb Bush.

What are your best traits?

I have precision with a pong ball, I can flip some mean flapjacks, I’ve got a wicked golf game, and rumor has it I’ve got buns, hun.

What is the soundtrack to your life?

It’s a tie between “Candy Shop” by 50 Cent and “Or Nah” by Ty Dolla $ign.

What are your hobbies?

Netflix, Netflix, sometimes some HBO Go, and maybe if I’m feeling crazy, a little more Netflix.

Tinder or nah?

I only swipe right.

What is your favorite drunk food?

Anything put in front of my face.

Plan a date in the North Country.

We would start with some sake bombs to ease the tension and then do the 6-hole loop on the golf course, then the loser would buy dinner at Blackbird.

Do you see yourself marrying someone from SLU? I’m only marrying the man who can pay my dowry.

Do you have any dating advice for the women at SLU? Tick Tock, body rock.

How could a possible mate get your attention?

Having a valyrian steel sword #GOT… or just come talk to me about gravitational waves.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten?

“Never make eye contact while eating a banana.”

If you could have a beer with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

Leo, after he wins his Oscar.

Do you believe in soul mates?

Pizza + me = 4eva.

well. However, it was these horrifying standards that drove her into a very dark place.

Now let’s go back to John’s lyrics.

As is implied, the flame of a candle is at the mercy of a strong, directionless wind. Celebrities and regular civilians are trapped in a system of judgement that constantly tells them they are not good enough.

People, especially celebrities, will try to pretend that everything is okay and that life is perfect, which comprises one end of the sword I mentioned earlier; however, the other edge is not far down the blade.

People feel that they are never good enough, and many feel that they have no one to talk to about this, or in John’s words, they do not know who to cling to.

Why do we place such an emphasis on aesthetic beauty? Some might point back to the theory of “survival of the fittest,” or best looking in this case. But clearly even the most fit do not necessarily survive.

At what price must we all pay for beauty? My friend used her health as currency and Monroe, her life.

Where do we draw the line? When does this end? Will this ever end?

features

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

7 | THE HILL NEWS

Boot ‘n’ Paddle: Titus 2.0

By KLARE NEVINS COLUMNIST

Titus 2.0: If your friends aren’t thinking of going, they probably don’t like to be fast and fast is good. Be fast. The fastest.

Hey there everyone, did you happen to hear that Titus is this weekend? Well if you forgot, just keep your eyes peeled for twenty-three inter-vegetables dressed like Barney and one slick riding, pink onesie wearing moustachio curling ski brah wandering around campus (hint: those are members of the OC who would love to talk to you about this year’s 1st Ever 7th Annual Great Mountain Titus North Country Global Cool Down Wicked Weekend Ski Event).

Here is a little history to refresh everyone’s memory on just what is Titus and why it is one of the OC’s biggest events of the year.

Back before any of us students on campus began our St. Lawrence careers, the SLU ski team and Outing Club used to go to a mythical place called the Snow Bowl, located behind the Cold Brook on a winding section of Route 56 in South Colton. Snow Bowl was on the site of what we now know to be our beloved Titus, and one can only imagine the debauchery that must have gone on there back when liability wasn’t so much of a concern.

They consecrated an annual party that a piece written in the 1990s Playboy considered as one of the “Top 5 College Parties of the Year.” Yeah, makes you think it must have been pretty great if a small liberal arts school in the North Country could even be mentioned. In 2004, SLU sold the Snow Bowl, and after five years of dormancy, the members of the Outing Club decided to restore balance in the universe.

The Snow Bowl party would be

moved to the local Titus Mountain, and the OC would facilitate a party where one could combine two favorite past times on a privately rented mountain. This event was dubbed then and will forever be known as the 1st Ever [insert number here] Annual Great Mountain Titus North Country Global Cooldown Wicked Weekend Event.

This year’s Titus will be round two of the new and improved version of the event, starting out Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. with a rail jam and activities on the quad. On Saturday morning starting at 11:00 a.m. and going until 12:00 p.m., buses will be loading up and leaving for Mt. Titus Ski Mountain’s Upper Lodge, which the OC has rented out just for the use of St. Lawrence students (You will have either already bought your bus/ lift ticket or lift ticket, so make sure you do not miss that!) Yes kids, Christmas did come late this year. Once you get to the mountain you can ski and frolic to your heart’s content.

What does Brendan Collins ‘16 have to say about this? Well, he is excited about the lodge with live music, “the one and only Max Ryder Band,” and the “food, beverages, and bar” accessible to all those who are worthy. Apparently the counts are in from last year and there were well over 900 Jerrys in attendance. In Collins’ words, “It’s better than Christmas.” Once its gets too dark to see your ski tips, Titus will shut down the lift and buses will be raring to get everyone home safe and sound on campus by dinnertime. So, get out there, respect the space you are in, enjoy all you can, and pray to whatever greater being you believe in for some of the rain to turn to snow. See you out on the slopes!

KELSEY MATTISON/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

PSA: These girls are all at risk of frostbite and other ailments!

You Booze, You Lose [Heat]

By RAQUELL MUNIZ STAFF WRITER

Myth: Drinking alcoholic beverages actually makes you warmer, especially during the cold winter nights.

This a myth that many young adults, especially college students, live by for the cold weekend nights, more commonly seen in the north.

The truth? Drinking alcohol does not make you warmer, in fact, it lowers your body temperature even more. The short apparent heat wave is simply deceptive.

The science behind these findings are quite simple. Alcohol is a vasodilator, that is, it widens and narrows the blood vessels in your body, particularly the capillaries just under the surface of your skin. Therefore, when you have a drink, the volume of blood that is brought to your skin’s surface increases. This can have the result of making you feel warmer, which is also why intoxicated people may look ‘flushed.’

Also, people enjoying a drink

Feel the Beet: Efficiency

By JEFF MOGAVERO COLUMNIST

The past two weeks have wavered between bitter cold and unseasonably warm. During the bitter cold period of time, snow slowed down life on campus as facilities scrambled to get caught up on plowing and salting walkways.

As a result, I thought it would be brilliantly efficient to cross country ski to Java. I was under the impression that I practically flew from 70 Park Street to the warm, snackfilled haven of music at the Java venue. Or at least, I told myself I was so speedy, as I was trying to get to Java more efficiently. To my dismay, my esteemed colleagues whom I departed my abode with arrived at Java at precisely the same time that I did. And so at

12:03 a.m., I decided I had a few bones to pick with perceptions of efficiency.

My recent snow-filled adventures have served as stark reminders to me of the importance, and often misperception, of efficiency.

Efficiency is a nice buzz word that the environmental movement likes to throw around, right up there with “sustainability” and “green.” However, while I find sustainability and green to be of highly variable and generally vague definitions, efficiency is more straightforward.

To summarize various definitions, efficiency is how much work or effort is required to accomplish a task. Greater efficiency equals less work or effort. Oftentimes, I think focusing behaviors on increasing efficiency can yield results

that reduce our species’ impact on the earth. Not to mention, increasing efficiency by definition makes our lives easier. However, efficiency is not the end-all answer to environmentally sound decisions.

When I skied to Java, my intentions were to save time and energy transporting myself a certain distance through a snowy landscape.

Instead, I ended up spending the same amount of time, probably more energy, and much more hassle to arrive at Java. However, my intentions were rooted in ideals of efficiency. Frequently, I notice intentions conflicting with the realities of attempts to be more efficient. At a university such as St. Lawrence, it is easy to applaud our institutions efforts in reducing our collective environmental impact.

The fact that we source some of

in any cold weather feel warmer because of the extra blood that is warming his or her skin. However, this blood rapidly gets cooled due to the chilly air. Plus, the extra warmth that is being caused by the rushing blood to the skin will soon enough make the individual sweat, which in the end decreases the core temperature even more. This rapid drop in the body’s temperature happens without the drinker even realizing, making it dangerous to drink alcoholic beverages in extremely cold weathers. (Side fact: Caffeine can have a similar effect on the body).

As if this weren’t warning enough, The Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine conducted a study that proves that alcohol consumption can have other effects on the body as well.

That is, drinking alcohol in chilly weather reduces the body’s ability to shiver, taking away another method your body uses to keep warm.

Now how does this connect to SLU? First, we are located so up

north that winter has, sadly (for some of us), become our wellknown friend. Most of our time on campus is spent during the cold winter months of the North Country. With students attending events such as Titus, Winterlude, or even regular Thursday-Friday-Saturday nights, alcoholic beverages are, in most cases, more than likely to be involved. Knowing that these events will be cold, it is important to remember to always wear a jacket. ‘Feeling warm’ is a false perception and not wearing the appropriate clothing can do some real damage to your body and may even affect you in the long run.

Bottom Line: While alcoholic beverages may give you a slight moment of warmth, in the end, it lowers your body temperature, making you colder than what you already were from the beginning.

To maximize your experience at any cold event, simply put a jacket on. That way, your body is actually being kept warm and you will not need to worry about effects that may rise after a night of being out.

our electricity from renewable energy sources, for instance, is wonderful, which we declare to the world with much fanfare. While it is fantastic that we are paying to support renewable energy production, improving the efficiency of systems on campus could be an even greater benefit.

But before focusing on improving efficiency, we should focus on reducing the immediate need to improve efficiency. While this may sound contradictory, it is an example of how people often disregard aspects of how to reduce their environmental footprint.

For instance, hyper-efficient light bulbs are hardly necessary when you simply leave your lights off.

Far too often people forget that the first step to reducing your impact on the earth is to reduce. Consume less electricity, consume less gasoline, consume less heating oil – then worry about the efficiency of

how those services are being delivered. Especially as students, we can only control so much. We cannot control the fact that we have gas heating, but we can turn down the thermostat and put a sweater on.

We cannot (immediately) control what percentage of the university’s electricity comes from responsibly sourced production methods, but we can unplug power strips, turn off lights, and ditch the minifridge. By choosing to use less, you are being more efficient in your life, without making a point to directly change the efficiency of the things you are using. Be efficient in every way you can, but be sure to take a step back and ask yourself, “in reality, is what I’m doing actually efficient, and is there anyway I can increase its efficiency?” For starters, I would recommend not skiing to Java for the sake of efficiency. For the sake of fun, though, I highly recommend it.

8 | THE HILL NEWS

Arts & Entertainment

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

Behind the Red Picket Fences:

Spiritual Rez

By BRIDGET FLEMING COLUMNIST

PHOTO COURTESY OF SNDCDN

Trap-RapAnd Dabbin’ Down South

By COLIN KIRKLAND COLUMNIST “Look at my dab! Bitch, dab!”

Disclaimer: Dabbin’ is a dance move where one leans into the inside of their elbow like they are sneezing. It has recently become a big deal.

Here I was, experiencing the historical cultural celebration known as Mardi Gras in the place where Jazz was born — the melting pot of America, New Orleans, Louisiana! But I was not listening to musicicons like Jelly Roll Morton or Louis Armstrong. Instead, I was stuck in my friend’s ripped up fraternity house listening to Migos, watching his gritty rhymes take over these impressionable bros. Why do young white men love jamming out to trap-rap so much?

Some of my peers on campus in bumf*ck nowhere New York fall into this middle-upper class listening pool, often breaking up sentences to yell “ShabbaRanks!” or “Hannah Montana,” two of my favorite examples of ridiculous lyricism in popular music today.

I asked them, “But why…?”

They told me that when they are pre-gaming parties throwing back shitty vodka, and chiefing fat j’s, they like songs with heavy beats and simple quotable lyrics.

It occurs to me that it might be the overall frat mentality; that you are one large bond, literally calling each other “brothers,” all singing and getting weird under one roof. But fraternity life aside, the stupidity of lines like: “Sober as a gopher? (Nope) / Higher than a rollercoaster?

(Yup)” from E-40’s new jam, “Choices.” Or, “Soufflé, I’m straight, I steak my plate / Sade, I’m a smooth operator,”

from Rich Homie Quan’s, “Type of Way.” These lyrics make the bros laugh. Maybe it is not about that, though.

Migos in particular was the musical focus of the entirety of my trip down South, and since I did not have the cojones to break up the party (as an outsider), I decided to wait and ask my friends back home why this music is preferable to say, any song with more than a quick repeated snare and shattering bass? One of them, the creator of a Spotify playlist called “Ignorance Is Bliss,” featuring most of the songs mentioned above, said he likes Trap Rap because “The beats are hard as fuck.” Okay…I can see that, I guess. Another friend said that his favorite album growing up was 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin, ultimately influencing his desire to be like B-RAD from ‘Malibu’s Most Wanted,’ a white kid with a trust fund, truly trying to be a thug-inspired rapper.

That was probably when I was knee deep in Backstreet Boys albums, while trying to be the next Aaron Carter. Yes, I wore a Shaq jersey…No wonder why I do not understand this shit.

In New Orleans, I could not wait to be out of the house, void of Migos telling us repeatedly that he is in fact, “The Dab Daddy,” and that he’s “flippin dab like an acrobat.”

The parades offered a haven from all of that, with incredible marching bands and live jazz.

As I watched and cheered on the insanely young talented musicians, I stood dumbfounded, questioning the whole evolution of music. How did we go from this to Migos?

The bros next to me were shit-faced, trying to get the drummers to dab back at them.

“Me? Oh, I’m not religious, I just consider myself spiritual.”

Who said that? Picture this: an 18-24 year old, yoga pants, arms full of bracelets, sipping on a dirty chai at a dirty vegan café that is cool as hell. But HELL we are not going to admit that to the 18-24 year old in question. Ego boosts for the newly self-proclaimed spiritualists?

No, we can not have that.

I am totally fascinated by why most of us in this generation, and at this particular time of our lives, claim quasi-participation in the realm of spirits, ghouls, orcs, or what have you. I am not here to criticize your beliefs, your morals, your inclination to dress like a hippie and toss out the religious traditions you were once affialited with; but I was recently informed, by a nice tall sir, that I am obliged to challenge you to think about those beliefs and why you said them at the vegan café the other day.

The first question I have for you, in my efforts to challenge you as the reader, is this: “WHAT

exactly happened the other (other) Thursday night at Java?” Yeah I know, a startling claim coming from the person reporting on the scene of the Barn crime. Were we having too much fun? Did the (FREE) pizza just go straight to your hips and cause you to forget how many times you peed in the other gender’s bathroom?

Perhaps the reason our memories are foggy, and the impending question on spirituality, go handin-hand: we forgot because we drifted off into a loftier cloud-space of Canton, NY. Those hearts and those weird little plastic souls we are stuck with forever zoomed off into the incorporeal galaxy—mode of transporation? The galactic music spaceship best know as SPIRITUAL REZ. I have heard some great emotion comes out of some of the Rez shows in the Barn. Elena Pesce ’17, a babe who may or may not hail from Australia, swears that she had an other wordly experience at the band’s last show. Proof?

She MARKED the date on her CALENDAR. Vina Smith ’18 recalls this being the band playing

Barn side when she came on her overnight to visit SLU, and always makes sure to see them when they come back tah rock!

The kind of Rez experience, the spiritual fuzzy dance haze we all entered, included a lot, I mean A TON, of dancing. There was twirling and spinning, summersaults and booties dropping. The six members of the band were groovin’ that other (other) night, lettin loose some mad virtuous talent; this conglomerate of musicians, committed to the task and trials of fostering masterful experiences of funky reggae rock, inspired the crowd to lay down some of their finest. We got to see some of the rarer instruments on the set this week too, with members on sax-(ophone) and trombone; always nice to see some spitters (ja feel).

The details may not have all been there, but beauty is more than often perceived as an intelligent feeling, not as a list of monotonous facts from Sunday school. Hey, maybe that is why we lean on the spiritual side of the debate: there is no explaining, there’s just feeling. Now pass me that doobie.

Accidently MissedThe Bachelor? Never Fear!

By SARAH BERCOVITZ STAFF WRITER I am back Bachelor Fans and it is time to discuss my favorite episode of the season: hometown dates! The hometown dates are always full of major drama, awkward silences, and crazy families so I have chosen the top five best moments from Monday’s episode, read on!

1. Amanda’s children and Ben . I think the only girls that did not fall in love with Ben this season were Amanda’s two daughters. The date started with Charlie, Amanda’s daughter, rejecting Ben’s high five. He then tried to make a quick comeback by telling the girls they were beautiful. Sorry Ben, but Kinsley and Charlie are just not as easy to woo as the other 25 women. Oh, and P.S. Your sandcastle making skills could use some work.

2. When Ben tears up talking about his feelings for Lauren B. When Ben cries, I cry. I wish I was kidding, I really did shed a tear. I judge me too. Honestly though, either Ben really could not think of an answer to Lauren’s sister’s question “What makes Lauren stand out to you?” and had to pull out major dramatics, or he might as well just propose now, because Lauren B. is the clear winner.

3. The most boring Hometown date in Bachelor History. Ben and Caila’s date was so incredibly bland that I could not not mention it. I think this was the first time in Bachelor history that there was zero drama or excitement on a hometown date. However, we did learn two very important things. The first being that Caila’s father looks like a Q-Tip. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with this, he seems like a great man and all, but am I the only one who noticed this? Once you see it you can not unsee it.

Sorry Bachelor fans. The second was that Caila and Ben both had zero problem sexualizing the toy factory they visited and I am slightly disturbed by it. Between Caila stating that the toy house they made makes her fantasize about making out with Ben on their front lawn, and Ben saying he never thought he would find a toy factory so sexy, I have had about enough with these two.

4. JoJo’s mom hits the bottle. Right as JoJo’s brothers are attacking Ben about his intentions towards their sister, JoJo’s mom starts chugging a wine bottle in the background.

Can we really blame the woman? It is a stressful moment when your daughter’s boyfriend, who also happens to be dating four other women, comes to

visit while your sons begin to display inscest-like tendencies on national television. You do you lady, I am not judging.

5. Amanda’s Exit. To be honest, this is really a best/worst moment. Of course it was very upsetting to watch Amanda get her heartbroken, but let us be real: she is gorgeous, kind, and smart. She is going to find someone in no time, I am not worried. This was the best moment because it confirms the fact that Ben is definitely going to pick my long time fave. Lauren B. to be his wife.

I have a theory that for a long time Lauren B. and Amanda were neck and neck. After Ben had his hometown date with Lauren B. he knew she was the one. Even though he liked Amanda more than Caila and JoJo, he knows that Amanda has two kids at home, and it would be selfish to keep her knowing Lauren B. is his bae. Another very important part of Amanda’s exit was that Ben cried for the second time during this episode.

At this point it was a bit painful to watch. Hang in there Ben! Next week is fantasy sweet time! That means there is sure to be a lot more Ben tears, major drama, and boring Caila dates to come. So keep watching, Bachelor fans, and have a great week!

FEBRUARY 26, 2015

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

THE HILL NEWS | 9

Kendrick Lamar Steals The Show

PHOTO COURTESY OF STATIC SPIN

Ima LetYou Finish,

But First Check OutThisAlbum

By BRANDON DIPERNO BATMAN On Thursday, February 11, 2016, Kanye West held a massive fashion show at Madison Square Garden where he debuted his new clothing line “Yeezy Season 3,” and showed off his latest album, “The Life of Pablo,” for audience members. Like many, I expected the album to be available immediately following the show. However, following the show’s closing, the album was nowhere to be seen and most of the Internet panicked. Three days, many incoherent tweets, and a meltdown on SNL later, Kanye stopped playing puppet master with his fans and released “The Life of Pablo” on Jay Z’s Spotify clone, Tidal. Regardless of the sideshow that was this album’s release, it was worth the wait. This album is lit.

I have listened to this album numerous times since its initial release and revisited my own writing of this article as a result. My perspective on certain tracks have changed, and thus influenced my view of this album as a whole. This album may not be Kanye West’s greatest album, but it could very well be his most interesting. While West initially built this project as a gospel album, I would have to disagree.

While there are gospel influences throughout the track list, the only gospel-type song is the album’s debut track, “Ultralight Beam.”

Nonetheless, religious influence is present throughout the whole album in the form of his internal questions.

Like most of Kanye’s work, “The Life of Pablo” reflects his current position in life. Kanye is now obviously the parent of two Kardashian spawns, and makes it clear at various points in the album that he wants a simpler life free of the parties, drugs, and women that made him famous. For example, on the track “FML,” he raps: “God, I’m willing/ To make this my mission/Give up the women/ Before I lose half of what I own.”

This makes it clear that he does in fact want to settle down, be faithful, and raise his family properly. On the other hand, songs like “Highlights” make it clear that he is still drawn by the temptation of his erratic lifestyle.

On the track he explains that, “we the new Jacksons, I’m all about that action,” while also bragging about the extent of his sexcapades and how he should get a Go Pro for the bedroom.

This entire album is a reflection of Kanye’s inner turmoil, and perhaps that is why it seems so erratic upon the first listen. It really does seems as if someone who was incredibly sleep deprived made this, perhaps a response to the birth of his son or just his general craziness. However, where other albums would falter as a result, this album succeeds. The production values of this album are otherworldly, and there are

many tracks that I see becoming hits later (or at least getting regular plays at the Tick Tock). With that being said, I feel like I have to draw attention to how much Kanye has regressed lyrically. Comparing lyrics on Pablo to that of “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” make this inherently clear six years ago I highly doubt the man who wrote these lyrics of “Blame Game”: “With so much of everything, how do we leave with nothing.

Lack of visual empathy ecquates the meaning of L-O-V-E/ Hatred and attitude tear us entirely” would have ever lowered himself to rhyming asshole with asshole in 2016. Despite that, there are songs on “The Life of Pablo” for every type of Kanye fan or just casual hip hop fans. From the soul sounds of “College Dropout,” to the auto tuned screeching of “808s” and “Heartbreaks,” to the futuristic lyrics of “Yeezus” the album sounds very good.

Overall, the album is chaotic, eccentric, and laced with narcissistic; undertones, but it is also a deep and amazing self-reflection piece. Like “Yeezus,” this album will most likely only be appreciated after multiple listens, but I would say it is one of Kanye’s better ones. While he has made it clear that he will never stop boasting on Twitter or give up promoting Kimoji and Tidal, after this album I think he has certainly earned a Kanye Rest.

By ANNIKA WITT GUEST WRITER Kendrick Lamar knocked the Grammy crowd to the floor with his show-stopping performance of “The Blacker the Berry,” “Alright,” and a never before heard song to close the show. His performance began with him and his dancers walking onto the stage chained and cuffed, and set in a jail with his band members behind bars. The performance then transitioned to “Alright” featuring African dancers and lots of fire.

Finally, Kendrick closed out the performance with a new song which had flashing white lights and jittery camera angles to match the rage in his voice. It included the line , “On February 26th I lost my life too,” commemorating Trayvon Martin’s death: “On February 26th I lost my life too”. The final image onscreen, which was one of the most powerful images I have ever seen, showed a map of Africa labelled “Compton.” Not a soul in the crowd was not rocked to their core by his performance. It was certainly one of the most powerful, beautiful, and politically important performances.

Kendrick took home seven awards out of the eleven nominations he received, including one for best rap album (which he was robbed of last year) and one for best rap song.

Many, including myself, thought he deserved Record of the Year for his album “To Pimp a Butterfly,” especially over Taylor Swift’s “1989.”

It is easy these days to just make songs that are entertaining and make you feel good. With apps such as iTunes and Spotify, you no longer have to purchase a whole album, you can just pick and choose which songs you like best. With this album though, you had to listen to every track from the first one to the last in order to understand Kendrick’s whole message. The artwork is incomplete if you were to only listen to certain songs from his album. Although Taylor Swift’s album had some great songs and was certainly dance worthy, she lacked the powerful emotions that were pulled out of me as a I listened to Kendrick’s album for the first, second, and third time. I honestly do not think they deserve to be considered in the same category.

I think “1989” is impressive for both Taylor’s ability to transform her sound and appeal to a large audience.

Also the number of hits that came out of it. Again though, Kendrick’s album was a whole other ball game.

That injustice aside, his performance was more than enough to win him the whole night.

Another highlight of the night was Adele’s “All I Ask.” Her album, “25,” delievered some of her greatest vocal performances to date and showcased her power and grace. I was looking forward to seeing her perform one of the many great songs from her album. However, I was disappointed when her performance was almost overshadowed by a microphone mishap that pushed her out of tune.

Although, in usual Adele fashion, she quickly recovered and made the most of the rest of her performance. A mediocre Adele performance is still better than almost any other artists’ best performance. And of course, she looked stunning in a beautiful red gown. She even treated herself to some In-N-Out for the stress it caused her so there was at least one benefit to the mishap.

Justin Bieber performed at the Grammy’s for the first time in five years. He started out alone on stage singing “Love Yourself” in a soulful acoustic rendition that made me wish he released a full version of it.

Bieber then faded out and the sons that won him his first Grammy’s for the best dance recording, “Where Are Ü Now,” started playing. I was curious to see how the song would be performed live considering that the song is electronic with no instruments. I was surprised to find that they were able to convert the song to all instruments and made it a really fun set to watch live with tons of energy from Bieber and Jack Ü. For the many who doubted Bieber and his ability to salvage his reputation, I think they were all squashed after that performance and his Grammy win.

For the country fans out there, I certainly enjoyed the duet between Sam Hunt and Carrie Underwood who did a combination of his song, “Take Your Time,” and her song, “Heartbeat.” They were both looking amazing and the two songs blended well together. Although neither took home awards that night, Sam Hunt has been a force on the country and pop charts with four songs from his album “Montevallo” charting. Carrie Underwood has also had a pretty good year with “Heartbeat” and “Smoke Break.”

Overall, the Grammy’s were pretty good this year. Kendrick Lamar’s performance definitely owned the night. Lady Gaga had a nice tribute to the late David Bowie. Miguel showed strong vocals in a cover of Michael Jackson’s song “Off the Wall.” Alabama Shakes had a strong performance of their chart topping hit “Don’t Wanna Fight,” which won them best rock song and their album, “Sound and Color,” won best rock album. Ellie Goulding showed off her pipes with Andra Day in a mashup of her song “Love Me Like You Do” and Days’ “Rise Up.” The performance left people wondering where the hell Day even came from.

Despite the continued politically fueled performances in the past couple months (The Superbowl and Kendrick Lamar’s performance, to name a few) I am surprised that it does not push political leaders to action. These performances, in addition to many other movements that have been going on across the nation, are cries for action. Enough is enough. I wonder how many of these performances it will take before America wakes up and realizes that it needs to change.

NEWS

10 | THE HILL NEWS

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

SLU Students Abroad Reflect on Gravitational Waves Detected Denmark’s Harsh Refugee Policy by Merging of Black Holes

By KATIE McGARRITY STAFF WRITER

By LAURA GAY STAFF WRITER

The U.S. is a country made of immigrants who came to this country scared, hungry, and in search of a “better life,” that generic umbrella term that brings people to countries like the United States. For most of us as naturalized citizens, the fear and the hunger has faded from our family memories as more and more generations come and go.

For the Syrians and other asylum seekers who are rushing into any country they can reach, this is a current reality.

Denmark has attracted thousands of refugees so far; in November, according to thelocaldk.com, 10,900 refugees came into the country in one week. Denmark’s political system is one in which the Danish people pay very high taxes, but these taxes cover their college education, health care, daycare, elder care, infrastructure, and much more.

In other words, the Danes pay as kind of a team in order to support themselves, and other citizens.

All people who live and work in Denmark are required to be a part of this “team.”

The crisis, then, lies in the fact that these refugees have no way to support themselves; many are fleeing their respective countries with nothing more than their children and the clothes on their backs. In order to shoulder this new debt that comes with supporting thousands of new people, the Danish government has issued a new policy that would allow the confiscation of the refugees’ valuables, such as jewelry- barring anything of “sentimental value.”

According to the UK Telegraph, the Danish government says this policy would make the refugees “equal” to the unemployed Danes, “who must sell assets above a certain value before they can receive benefits.” The Denmark ministry states that “The aim of the Danish integration effort is to support refugees in order for them to become participating and financially independent citizens.”

A chirp, a little blimp, a slight alteration in the signal is all it took for the theory of gravitational waves by Einstein to be proven and for the face of science to forever change. This tiny chirp was evidence for gravitational waves. The detection occurred on September 14th, 2015 and was announced recently to the world. The gravitational wave was first detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) at Washington State University and then at the LIGO in Louisiana 7 milliseconds later. The size and simultaneous detection of the gravitational wave at both facilities confirmed the first provable detection of gravitational waves. These observatories are massive L-shaped facilities with a single arm length of 2.5 miles.

Gravitational waves are disturbances in space-time.

Space-time is the combination of space and time creating a fourth dimension – time. At the time when Albert Einstein proposed his theory of relativity, Hermann Minkowski related the idea that space and time are part of the same reality; time itself and the rate at which time moves can be altered. Einstein expanded this idea to gravitational waves.

To simplify these ideas and what gravitational waves are, just think of the ripples created when you throw a rock in a pond. The rock being thrown in the water creates a disturbance in the water. In this case, the rock is the large source of energy that creates ripples (gravitational waves) altering the water (space-time).

On the small scale of the St. Lawrence campus, or even

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GUARDIAN

An illustration critizes Danes, comparing them to Nazis.

The approval of this law has caused explosive outrage in Denmark, and as someone who is currently studying in Copenhagen, I see the effects of both sides of the argument. Just this past Saturday, there was an anti-immigrant demonstration outside of the train station that I go home from, and seeing the police all over the city trying to keep order was like nothing I have ever seen before.

People are concerned about what kind of effect the refugees could, and probably will have on their economy. According to the UK Telegraph, a poll revealed that 70% of Danes see the refugee crisis as the biggest problem in their country today. If the refugees were to surrender their valuables in exchange for the government support, the idea would be that the burden on the economy wouldn’t be as great.

The flip side of this argument is even more interesting; many people are comparing this policy to the Nazis taking the wedding rings and even gold fillings from the Jews who were entering concentration camps. The UK publication The Guardian even went so far as to circulate an illustration of the Danish Prime Minister in a Nazi uniform, a huge statement with serious implications (illustration is shown above).

Laura Mink ‘17, a SLU student who is studying abroad in France,

states “Even though asylum seekers who are there will most likely still be treated humanely, it is somewhat morally unsound to take what little they are able to come with.” Mink also addresses the other part of the policy that increases the amount of time it takes to achieve asylum to three years or more, which implies that some families will be kept apart for that long, or more: “While the law does require that some valuables- none of sentimental of non-essential items be handed over to cover the cost of their time in the country, this law also prevents refugees who came without their children from applying to be reunited with them for three years, and also gives refugees from Syria only one year of protection.”

People are truly divided on this issue; there is a very real conflict between the need to support and integrate these asylum seekers, and a need for them to keep their dignity and humanity.

Regardless of what your view is of this law, we must be honest with ourselves: Denmark and other countries who are supporting refugees must find the means to do so. Sacrifices must be made by everybody in order to help these people begin a new and productive life. How countries go about this, however, cannot and will not please everybody. This is an issue that the United States may also potentially face in the very near future.

Center for Civic Engagement: Join us for Kick it for Stephanie!

By RAQUELL MUNIZ CCE CONTRIBUTOR

Kick it for a Cause is a great way to promote collaboration between the St. Lawrence University and the local community. Together, they help raise awareness and money for a local child or family in need.

On April 2nd, 2016, The Center for Civic Engagement is hosting its 5th annual Kick It for a Cause. This year, the recipient we are dedicating this event to is Stephanie Mckeel.

Stephanie is a seventeen-year-old girl from Massena who has been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

This hereditary disorder affects the

exocrine glands, which ultimately limit her ability to breathe. This restricts her from doing many things, mainly her love of playing basketball.

She is currently on the waiting list at Boston’s Children Hospital for a double lung transplant. Therefore, the funds that are donated will go directly toward helping the Mckeel family with the many expenses they will soon have, especially as they await Stephanie’s new lungs.

Kick it for Stephanie will be filled with great activities for all ages! It will be hosted in the Leithead Field house at St. Lawrence University from 12PM-3PM. It is a day of

filled fitness activities that is open for anyone who is interested. Our most successful event has been Zumba and we hope to continue the Zumbathon. Details of which activities will be offered will soon be announced.

If by some chance, you cannot make it to this event, there is always the option of donating online. Keep in mind that even the smallest donations can make the biggest difference. For more information on Stephanie or the event, please like our event on Facebook (Kick it For Stephanie) or contact the Center for Civic Engagement at St. Lawrence (cce@stlawu.edu).

the much larger, but still very small, scale of the solar system, gravitational waves are unable to be detected.

The gravitational force that allowed for the first gravitational wave detection in Washington and Louisiana were two black holes rapidly orbiting each other until the point at which they merged. The smaller of the two black holes 29 times greater than the sun and the other had a mass of 36 suns.

When the two black holes collided, the resulting black hole had a mass of 62 suns and the remaining mass of 3 suns was converted into energy that emanated into space.

This radial output of energy from the black holes consolidating caused the gravitational wave that was detected here on earth, a mere 1.3 billion lightyears away. Even with this exorbitant amount of energy, the alteration in space-time caused by this particular gravitational wave was miniscule; especially from 1.3 billion light years away. On September 14th, 2015, you probably did not even sense that space-time had been altered.

Regardless of the tiny amount gravitational waves change space-time, they are very important. Einstein predicted gravitational waves in his theory of general relativity. But, more importantly than supporting one of the most well-known scientists in history, confirming the existence of gravitational waves will help us learn more about the origins of the universe. The universe is continually expanding; understanding the inflation of gravitational waves (patterns in how the waves oscillates) will allow us to better estimate the amount of energy present at the time of the universe’s initial expansion.

What is Thelmo up to?

Wednesday, February 24 Office Hours: President Joe Nickerson— Monday, 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Vice President of Senate Affairs Mark Jannini—Monday 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.

NEW BUSINESS: – Working on the outdoor hockey rink – Board of Trustees on campus this week – Model United Nations Organizational Status

– Applying to go to NYC

– Request for organization status passed – Sustainability Resolution tabled MEMBER’S TIME – Black Week – Java – Oscar’s in Winston Room

Saints Sports

LATEST RESULTS

2/24 NBA Warriors 118 Heat 112 2/24 NBA Pacers 108 Knicks 105 2/23 NCAAM Kansas 66 Baylor 60 2/24 NHL Bruins 5 Penguins 1

WWW.SAINTSATHLETICS.COM

Botched Deadline Trade between Houston and Detroit Causes NBA Drama

Failed physical by Donatas Motiejunas has led to the cancellation of multiple trades.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ESPN

trades were voided due to a failed physical.

Originally, the trade worked like this: The Pistons would acquire forwards Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton from the Houston Rockets in exchange for two time NBA Champion Joel Anthony and a 2016 first-round pick. To complete the trade the

Rockets (in an effort to get under the salary cap) would ship Joel Anthony and a second round pick to the 76’ers and they would in turn waive wing player JaKarr Sampson. For the Sixers, the plan was simple: secure the second round pick, waive Anthony, and reacquire Sampson. However, less than 48 hours later it all blew up.

Motiejunas who had recently

BY BRANDON DIPERNO DIGITAL EDITOR The 2016 NBA trade deadline was less than spectacular.

However, as teams cope with the fallout of new acquisitions, there appears to be more drama on the horizon. On Monday February 22, two deadline

underwent back surgery to remove a herniated disk failed his physical despite the Pistons being awarded an extra 72 hours to either complete the physical or try again. As a result, the trade is nullified, Thornton and Motiejunas will remain with the Rockets, and Joel Anthony will once again be with the Pistons. Sampson however accepted a two year deal in Denver after being waived, thus leaving the Sixers the real losers of this deal. What makes this incident so intriguing is how rare occurrences like these are, especially in the NBA. It will be incredibly interesting to see what becomes of the first round pick that Houston originally acquired as this could have ripple effects similar to those of the vetoed Chris Paul trade though it’s unlikely.

As mentioned before, though this was not a very eventful trade deadline, the Pistons were clear winners even with the voided trade. Detroit’s Coach and President, Stan Van Gundy, performed admirably during the trade deadline after acquiring Tobias Harris from the Magic in exchange for the broken down Brandon Jennings. So perhaps losing Motiejunas is actually a

blessing in disguise. With the trade voided the Pistons retain their 2016 first round draft pick, and can continue to add to their young core of Andre Drummond, Stanley Johnson, and Reggie Jackson. Currently the Pistons rank ninth in the Eastern Conference. While they have a chance to make the playoffs, but it is obviously enticing to tank for a potential lottery pick. Whatever the case, the Pistons are a team to watch going forward and are comparable to the Minnesota Timberwolves in young raw talent.

Underdogs in the Premier League Does Leicester City Have What it Takes to Finish on Top?

BY GRANT HAFFENDEN STAFF WRITER Thirty-six years ago this week, a group of American college kids did the impossible and beat the Soviet Union in a hockey game dubbed “The Miracle on Ice.” Fast forward to the present and a similar miracle is beginning to take shape across the pond in the English Premier League.

The upstart club of Leicester City is in a good position to win English soccer’s top flight, something the club has never done in its 132-year history.

Typically in English soccer, the championships go to the teams that spend the most money. The usual teams of Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal are always battling for the league title in May. Leicester hopes to break this trend this year with many players that would have been reserve players for the big clubs going into this year.

Leicester’s top player, Jamie

Vardy, originally signed with the club for £1 million in 2012.

Currently, Vardy leads the Premier League in goals with 19. Leicester’s other top player, Riyad Mahrez, joined Leicester in 2014 after playing in the lower French league and is now second in the Premier League with ten assists.

What is most incredible about Leicester is the fact that the club was not even in the Premier League three seasons ago. After getting promoted for the 201415 season, Leicester was able to escape being relegated and finished 14th in the league table. After hiring former Chelsea and Greece manager Claudio Ranieri this past summer, Leicester has exceeded expectations from the start of the season.

As of this week, Leicester owns wins over Manchester City and Chelsea as well as a draw against Manchester United. The best comparison would be if a minor league baseball team was

Jamie Vardy (3rd L) of Leicester City celebrates scoring against Norwich City.

allowed to play a season in the MLB and won its division and found itself winning the World Series.

Something like this rarely

occurs in sports, where the underdog is able to string together a miracle season like what Leicester is going through.

Even if Leicester is unable to win

PHOTO COURTESY OF GETTY IMAGES

the Premier League this year, what they have accomplished already this season is something truly remarkable in international soccer.

Saints Sports

LATEST RESULTS

2/24 Men’s Basketball vs. Union, W 91-85 2/24 Women’s Basketball vs Clarkson, L 54-63 2/20 Women’s Hockey vs Brown, W 3-0 2/20 Men’s Hockey vs Brown, T 2-2

WWW.SAINTSATHLETICS.COM

Women’s Hockey Ranked 6th Heading into ECAC Playoffs

Reyes led the Saints with 2 goals .

BY JACK LYONS DIGITAL EDITOR On the final home weekend of the year, the St. Lawrence women’s hockey team took a crucial three league points from Yale and Brown. Thee Saints also locked up the sixth seed in the ECAC playoffs setting up a date with Princeton at Hobey Baker Rink this weekend, The saints also honored their nine seniors.

Before any of this was decided, the Saints took to the ice against Yale on Friday just one point ahead of the Bulldogs in the ECAC standings. The teams traded goals through the first forty minutes, and in the third period and overtime, the teams’ goaltenders took over the game, resulting in a 2-2 tie.

With a playoff spot all but assured, SLU returned to action the next day against Brown on senior day, looking to

PHOTO COURTESY OF JACK LYONS

definitively secure their spot in the tournament before sending their seniors off in their last game at Appleton.

The Saints received a goal per period from their underclasswomen to take the 3-0 victory. First year Justine Reyes netted the first two goals for the Saints, her first off a deflection and her second off a rebound from her own shot.

Her second goal was assisted by senior Amanda Boulier, whose point brought her to 100 for her career.

Kennedy Marchment iced the win for the Saints in the third with a nice goal of a strong drive to the net down the right wing, and rookie Grace Harrison finished with 22 saves for the shutout, though senior Mikaela Thompson played the last 2:45 and made one save.

After the contest, the festivities began, and the Saints honored their nine seniors: Boulier,

Thompson, Abbey McRae, Dominique Korakianitis, Kailee Heidersbach, Jenna Marks, Victoria Leimgardt, Megan Armstrong, and Sydney Bell.

In their four years, the seniors amassed 971 appearances, 116 goals and 312 points. Boulier was also a part of the 2012 ECAC tournament championship team, before redshirting her sophomore season with an injury.

Though their Appleton careers may be over, the seniors and the rest of their teammates still have games to be played.

A first round tournament matchup with Princeton looms next weekend.

The Tigers swept the Saints in the regular season series, winning 3-2 at Appleton in November before claiming an overtime victory by a score of 4-3 just two weeks ago.

Princeton finishes the year ranked eighth in the national polls with a record of 21-6-2.

Princeton has one of the best goaltenders in women’s college hockey, Kimberly Newell, who boasts a 1.6 GAA and a .943 save percentage. The Tigers have a lot of scoring depth as well, lead by rookie Karlie Lund, who had 37 points in 29 games.

Their blueline is patrolled by a dangerous set of offensive defenders led by Kelsey Koelzer, who had 30 points in 27 games, and Stephanie Sucharda, who posted 14 points in 29 games.

Overall, Princeton is a strong puck moving team with plenty of depth and one of the best goalies in the country. The Saints can match them blow for blow in terms of depth and defender mobility, so the matchup will likely come down to goaltending.

Chris Wells already confirmed after the game on Friday that, barring an injury, he will continue with Harrison as his starter. A strong performance from her will make this an even series. Puck drops at 3:00 p.m. on Friday in the first game in a best of three series.

Track and Field Q & A with Bryce DeBoer ‘16

By KRISSY DI PERNO STAFF WRITER Name: Bryce DeBoer Age: 22 Hometown: Oxford, NJ Sport: Track and Field Indoor- Thrower Event Outdoor- Discus Major: Math How long have you been a member of the track team for?

I’ve been a member of the track team since freshman year so this will be my fourth year.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

What inspired you to join the team here at St. Lawrence University?

I was looking at a lot of schools because I knew that I wanted to play track before hand, and St. Lawrence was a great fit from the first day of practice. After a while we became a family and I couldn’t imagine myself not being on the team!

What is your favorite memory of being on the Track team at St. Lawrence University?

I have two favorite memories! The first memory is personal, last year at state I came in seated at 21st out of 24 and then I had a 2 1/2 meter personal record and placed fourth overall in the meet so that was a really great moment! I also beat Scott for the first time, which made it even better! The second was when we won Liberty League’s sophomore year indoor at home we ran around rang the Liberty Bell it was fantastic!

Did you play any other sports before committing to track and field?

I started doing track in middle school and I’ve been doing track ever since. The first time I ever did in outdoor track was actually here at SLU. Before committing to the track and field I played football in high school for a few years and decided to just focus on track.

Who is your biggest fan and why?

Lucy Chaplan is my biggest fan. She’s always been there supporting me on and off the track. Pretty much whenever I had a meet or when I had a down meet she was always there to cheer me up!

How do you feel track and field is different from other sports on campus?

Track and field has so many individual events so it is a team made up of a diverse group people like long distance runners, sprinters, throwers but somehow we all manage to be cohesive and be this unique personality and dynamic. A lot of competitions are individual so we focus on ourselves but we still come together were a team with some getting that team championship it’s a team goal so we definitely still take pride in that.

Do you have any big plans for this semester - bucket list fulfillment’s, etc?

My plan is to try and get a job and this might actually be the first year that I get to go to Springfest!

Do you have any superstitious pre-match rituals?

My funniest ritual is before I throw I listen to Mariah Carey song, “We belong Together.” When she goes into the high notes and says, “When you left the lost part of me” I am amped up and ready to go!

What is a skill that you have your learned from track and field that you have been able to apply in everyday life?

Hard work and a good work ethic pretty much. My freshman year I was the worst thrower in indoor Liberty Leagues, but I worked my way up and placed this year. Hard work can be translated into anything and get you where you need to be!

Do you have any advice for student athletes?

Make sure to spend time with your other friends because being a part of a team you can create that bond but it’s also important to spend time with people that you live with and expand out friendship wise!

Boulier earning her 100th career point assisting on a Saints goal.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS