Boone’s best deals
A focus on fundamentals
Learn how to go out for food and drinks while still surviving on a student budget by taking advantage of these weekly specials.
Mountaineer football focused on improving their passing game during last weekend’s bye week. They face Georgia State this weekend.
see PAGE 9
see PAGE 10
The Local The Local opened on Howard Street earlier this semester and has been a hit among students with $2 beer specials and live music.
TheAppalachianOnline.com
The Appalachian Appalachian State University’s student news source since 1934
10.28.14 Partnership formed to diversify Appalachian
by Nicole Caporaso
Senior News Reporter
A
student advisory committee for diversity recruitment is being formed by Chancellor Sheri N. Everts in hopes to increase the diversity rates at Appalachian State University. Everts said the committee, made up of 12 to 15 student leaders, will work with her to help recruit more diverse students to the university. The expectation is for the committee to be formed by the end of October. “The student leaders will represent the various multicultural student organizations, as well as several members at large,” Everts said. “Members will be chosen based upon their leadership in the multicultural student organizations, as well as their previously expressed interest in serving the university in this capacity.” According to www.forbes. com, 87 percent of Appalachian’s students are white. Additionally, 4 percent of students are of Hispanic descent, 3 percent are African American, 2 percent are ethnically unknown, another 2 percent are two or more races, 1 percent is nonresident aliens and the remaining 1 percent is Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. Everts said to accomplish the goal of a more diverse enrollment, a welcoming environment that values acceptance and understanding must be created for all students. “The purpose of creating the Chancellor’s Student Advisory Committee for Diversity Recruitment is to create an opportunity for students to share their experiences, create suggestions for recruitment and retention activities and actively recruit diverse students to Appalachian,” Everts said. “Appalachian’s vision states that we will shape students into ‘engaged, responsible global citizens’ and our mission states that we will ‘develop individuals who are eager to embrace diversity and difference, and to become contributing members of society.’” While Everts said she believes the university’s environment is inclusive to all, she also believes that improvements can be made. “I believe that we have a welcoming environment at Appalachian, but I have listened to our students and have learned that we can do better,” Everts said. “As our racially diverse student enrollment is only 12.6 percent of our total student body, I know that we can do better in enrolling more diverse students at Appalachian.” Everts said the recruitment of a more diverse student body would not affect the admissions process.
Vol. 89, No. 17
Zombie apocalypse hits Belk Library by Thomas Culkin News Reporter
Stemming from an idea by three university librarians, a humans vs. zombies NERF gun war took place Friday at Belk Library and Information Commons. The Belk Library, in partnership with the Nerd Network, hosted the event after Jewel Davis, Beth Cramer and Scott Rice came up with the idea. Davis said they got the idea at the start of the semester when they heard of other universities putting on similar events. The participants were split into two factions – zombies and humans. The humans were armed with NERF guns and had to shoot zombies to send them to “respawn zones” to wait for five minutes before returning to the game. The zombies had to tag humans with two hands to also send them to a respawn zone, after which they would subsequently play as a zombie. “I was just here to have fun,” said Alexandra Higgins, a junior English major and member of Nerd Network. “A bunch of people took it pretty seriously, but it was still fun.” Although a large number of people played the game very
SEE ZOMBIES PAGE 3
Cara Croom Appalachian State University students face off in Belk Library on Friday night during the humans vs. zombies event sponsored by the Nerd Network. Students were given NERF guns and were able to play in the event on each floor of the library.
Women’s rugby wins Rucktoberfest tournament James Johnston
Appalachian State University’s AHO women’s rugby team takes on the University of South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday at State Farm Field during the Rucktoberfest rugby tournament. The Mountaineers prevailed over the Gamecocks 28-0.
by Chris Warner Intern Sports Reporter
The AHO women’s rugby team captured its third consecutive Rucktoberfest tournament this past weekend at State Farm Field in Boone. AHO was one of 12 teams from universities across the southeast to participate in the 15th annual tournament. AHO opened Saturday against NC State, falling behind by 12 points early after two successful NC State tries and one successful conversion by halftime. This was the last time AHO trailed for the rest of the day, however. The team rebounded, scoring 21 unanswered points to win the match 21-12. The team carried the momentum into the next two Saturday games, winning
28-0 against South Carolina and 47-0 against UNC Greensboro. Sunday, AHO started slow again, falling behind to UNC Charlotte early. Unable to recover in time, the team lost 25-10. Despite the loss, the team’s accumulation of seven points – two per win, one per loss – was enough to qualify to compete in a rematch against NC State for the first overall spot in the tournament and won 22-17. Junior captain Rachel Baker was the difference maker on the weekend, notching nine successful tries in five games. Baker said she believes the team’s chemistry played a key role in their success. “I think it was just our motivation and our team,” Baker said. “We’re like a family so we just work well together – it’s awesome.”
While AHO is satisfied with its performance at Rucktoberfest, the team is focused on preparing for its regular season, which begins in the spring. Baker said the tournament showed the team what they need to work on going forward. “I think we could improve our tackling,” Baker said. “I think we need safer tackles and to definitely work on wrapping around [opponents] to tackle them properly.” Last season, the AHO women’s team qualified to compete at USA Rugby’s Division II Semi-finals in California in hopes of winning a national championship, but was unable to attend due to numerous injuries. To make matters worse, the team AHO beat to qualify, Mary Washington Univer-
SEE RUGBY PAGE 4
More than 1,000 votes cast in student union by Nicole Caporaso Senior News Reporter
Morgan Cook ASU students participating in early voting in Price Lake Ballroom Friday afternoon. Early voting began Oct. 23 and will continue until Nov. 1.
Over the first two days of early voting in Watauga County, there were 2,645 votes accounted for on Thursday and Friday, according to the Watauga County Board of Elections. The location with the highest voter turnout was Appalachian State University’s Plemmons Student Union. Exactly 1,124 votes were placed in the Price Lake Room.
Additionally, 1,062 votes were counted from the Watauga County Administration Building, 155 from Blowing Rock Town Hall, 85 from the Deep Gap Fire Department, 89 from the Meat Camp Fire Department and 130 from the Western Watauga Community Center. Anne-Marie Yates, Chairwoman of the Watauga County Republican Party, said as an alumna of Appalachian, she is proud of the civic-mindedness of the community.
“All members of our community, including those at Appalachian, deserve convenient access to the polls,” she said. “While there are concerns about voters being harassed by those electioneering for their candidates and access to curbside voting for the handicapped and elderly, the student union serves as one of the six early voting sites available to registered voters to cast their ballots.”
SEE VOTING PAGE 4