Issue 29, April 28, 2010

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a&t mourns student, two staffers the a&t register Staff Reports

On Monday, April 26, Melonnie Starr Johnson, 24, a senior history major at North Carolina A&T died of injuries suffered from a car accident. Johnson was set to graduate in December 2010. Funeral arrangements have been made for Saturday May 1 at noon at Hood Memorial AME Zion Church, 2801 Rosehill Rd, Fayetteville, N.C.

James “Chico” Williams died on Monday, April 26. For over 40 years, Williams served as a biology professor at A&T, and served in many volunteer leadership capacities with Aggie Athletics and Aggie Homecoming.

While at A&T, Williams was the director of the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program, and chair of the A&T Board-of-Control of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Funeral arrangements have been made for Sherri Hailey, manager of Aggie Tech Support (Help Desk). They have been set for Thursday April 29 at United Institutional Baptist Church on East Market Street. Visitation will be from noon – 1p.m. Services will begin at 1 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the National Foundation for Transplants at www.transplant. org

edItOr’s nOte: the A&t register would like to express its deepest condolences to the families of the three fallen aggies. they will be missed.

-dexter r. Mullins editor in Chief

hailey

Johnson

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welcome home, Where in the chancellor world is Lambda laPorsha lowrY& dexter mullins A&T Register

North Carolina A&T installed its 12th chancellor, and first Aggie alum, on Friday, Apr. 23 in the Corbett Sports Center. Before the actual installation, there was a series of events throughout the week that helped to celebrate the theme of this year’s installation, “North Carolina A&T: Making a Difference.”

The week began with a community service initiative of A&T students planting trees and installing light bulbs in local area housing developments.

Earlier that day, the chancellor read to elementary school students.

The Lyceum Series Committee sponsored a black film festival on Tuesday, followed by a ladies luncheon that honored A&T first lady Davita Martin on that Wednesday.

Later that evening and earlier the next morning, there were two panel discussions about HBCUs reaching out into the community and how they make a difference. Thursday evening culminated with an Afro-Cuban jazz concert.

The Chancellor’s Installation Lyceum Series hosted “Making A Difference:  See chancellor on Page 2

No texting while driving marcus thomPson Senior Reporter

A single gray car with the driver’s side door smashed in and its passenger seat removed, sat idly in the shade of a tree by the Holland Bowl. A small teddy bear sits nearby it and a wreath of flowers hangs in the jamb of the ruined car door. On the hood of the car, posters are attached to raise awareness of the Texting While Driving: The Wake Up Call program, which was held Wednesday, April 21 in the New Classroom Building auditorium.

The program, organized and presented by James Shropshire of the Student Union Advisory Board (S.U.A.B.), was inspired by a segment on the Photo by monterius smith • The A&T RegisTeR/The AYANTee YeARBOOK Oprah Winfrey Show and ran on the slogan, “Don’t tempt sideswiPed students saw the affects of texting while driving as they walked past the holland Bowl and saw a car in a texting accident. fate. That text can wait.”

“I always try to do a so- lic relations major from Char- by that. At the time I didn’t re- ran with it and I just put all cially conscious program ev- lotte. “This year, I didn’t know ally see the whole thing, but I my time and energy into it.” ery year, solely individually what to do and I saw a show on knew it was important to talk based,” said Shropshire, a pub- Oprah and I was really moved about so I took the idea and I  See texting on Page 2

Chi Alpha? dexter r. mullins Editor In Chief

After struggling to gain a presence on campus, Lambda Chi is now fighting to keep active.

Walk down the uneven and cleverly decorated hills of North Carolina A&T’s Greek lane and you’ll see many different organizations, each laying claim to their various plots of land. On a good day, you may even catch some members practicing for a step show or cleaning up their territory. But search and search as you may, there is one thing you won’t find right away, Lambda Chi Alpha.

A social fraternity based in Christian values, Lambda Chi has struggled to make a significant presence on campus for the organization. Once over 35 members strong, the Pi Iota chapter has found themselves in a unique situation: induct a minimum of 20 members to restore their charter or lose their presence on campus.

The organization has temporarily rebranded themselves as the Lambda Chi Alpha Interest Group, which allows them to still have activities on campus and try to build interest in aspirants to boost there numbers.

As they sat in the Memorial Room of the Memorial Student Union on April 24 around 6 p.m., roughly 20 people enjoyed an end of the year banquet with sautéed chicken breasts, salad and mashed red potatoes. For the interest group, this dinner was not only a reflection on the end of the year, but a charge to continue their efforts next year.

“This year we set our goals pretty high for this year. We wanted to re-colonize the Pi Iota chapter,” current President Matthew West, a 21-year-old junior business education major with a concentration in computer technology, said.

“In an effort to drive interest, we’ve sponsored more programs such as professional leadership programs with focuses on the 7 core values of Lambda Chi Alpha. Through the Lambda Chi Alpha Interest Group we can plan programs without having to work through our headquarters as a fraternity.”

Those seven core values; loyalty, duty, service & stewardship, respect, honor, integrity and personal courage, are the foundations of the organization and drive all the programming.

West admits, they are similar to the values that most all fraternities share, but he says they still have a level of distinction.

“There’s always a different way to implement values in people,” West said. “I would say that as a group we are a social fraternity and we will teach the 7 core values and that those 7 cover values will make you a better person in life.”

“We will continue to put out more programs that interest the campus. Our other programs have been internal; study sessions to help the aspirants and members improve their grades, workout sessions to improve their physical character as well, and informational sessions to get to learn more about Lambda Chi Alpha. I did want to plan a class step show since the Student Government Association and Student University Activities Board already have different step shows for the dorms but their isn’t anything for the classes.”

Keeping interest high in the group has been difficult, but the ef See lambda chi on Page 2

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Take a look at the rush of the new Starbucks in our inFOCUS shot this week.

It’s time for the black community to step up and take responsibility for each other.

The Lady Aggies Softball team won this weekend with two shutout victories over Savannah State.

Jennifer Lopez’s new movie The Back Up Plan earns an ‘A’ grade for being funny but also corny.

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The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Texting From page 1 Shropshire alluded to his student conservation project last year titled the “End of Semester Paper Trail Shropshire Initiative,” in which 250 pounds of nonrefundable books, posters, projects and old papers were collected from students and recycled and students were awarded C.A.S.E. hours in return.

Students who attended this year’s program and completed a small survey at the end were also able to obtain community service hours.

Students were given fact sheets with teen driving statistics compiled by Allstate representatives as they entered the auditorium.

The program began with a public service announcement from England that depicted a devastating accident caused by a teen that was texting while driving, which provoked a mixture of shocked reactions from the audience.

Shropshire then gave an opening speech for the occasion where he likened texting and driving to playing a game of Russian roulette.

Following the student leader’s speech, Attorney Lawrence Egerton, Jr. presented a clip of the Dr. Phil Show featuring a teenager who frequently texted while driving. Egerton also presented his own statistics, knowledge of the laws regarding texting and humorous stories about a girl who fell into a manhole while walking and texting, and his own daughter’s “sexting.”

Students were then allowed to have a brief question and answer session with Egerton before Shropshire turned the floor over to Alexis Mack, a senior speech communication studies major from Raleigh, who was involved in a wreck on Easter weekend, caused by a driver texting.

Mack’s appearance, with her left arm in a sling and a neck brace, only compounded her words in her emotional testimonial that moved audience members.

After the testimonial, Shropshire engaged the audience in a Q&A once more so students could talk about their own personal experiences and offer possible causes and solutions for the “texting while driving epidemic.”

As the event drew to a close Shropshire offered students to sign a “No Phone Zone” pledge stating they would not drive while texting. Any who signed the pledge would be eligible to have their name entered in a drawing for an unknown, valuable prize. In the end, Shropshire lit a single candle for Alyssa Grace Burns, a high school

student who lost her life as a result of a driver texting and others who died from the same cause.

“Like I was telling someone else before, it’s not about when you put a poster out, it’s about the execution as well. Basically, I was just moved to tell the stories of people who had been victimized by texting and driving because a lot of people think that it won’t happen or can’t happen to them, like it’s impossible, or they have a halo wrapped around their heads,” said Shropshire.

Patrick Mills, a freshman animal science major from Raleigh said, “[The program] has made me very aware of how devastating texting while driving can be.

It made me more conscious and aware, especially having Alexis come in and tell us her story. I’m going to try to stop texting and driving and try to prevent others from doing it as well.”

Shropshire made a reference to a statistic that claims that texting while driving is now more dangerous than driving drunk as thousands of people lose their lives every year simply by texting while operating their vehicles.

The Charlotte native said that even though the event did not go perfectly as he had planned it, he felt students received the intended message that texting and driving was a danger, which is a step to breaking the chain as students change their own habits and influence others as well.

“Before I didn’t really realize how texting could be very deadly, but now that I came to this program and saw how people text and got into such fatal accidents it really hit home to me,” said Sonya Stanley, a junior chemical engineering major from Raleigh. “This can happen to me or anyone else so this was a really good program, very impacting and something everyone needs to hear about.”

Shropshire said that he hopes that students will be the ones to take the initiative, not to just gain favor or boost their resumes, but to make a difference.

“I was just a student with a dream and plan who was able to work with administrators and students to put that plan into action,” Shropshire said.

“We can have fun and have programs where there’s entertainment and laughing and playing, but what happens if you’re going to a concert and you’re texting and driving and you don’t make it? That’s tragic.

So we must learn to be socially conscious and make positive changes in life, and take life to another dimension and not care about what people are doing or what people may say about you or your program. If it’s helping people then it’s a good thing.”

lambda chi From page 1 forts of the organization are beginning to pay off.

While the group may be losing one student to study abroad next year, and two are graduating in the fall, there are 12 new faces that are truly interested in joining.

Freshman journalism and mass communications major Taylor James has a concentration in broadcast productions, and is excited to be a part of the resurgence of the Lambda Chi’s.

“I’m interested in Lambda Chi Alpha because of the true feeling of brotherhood-I felt it immediately,” he said.

“I remember walking in the room and feeling accepted by everyone despite my hair, shoes, clothing or finances.

I was interested in being around people who share the same values I do and the organization does that. “ “I enjoy being around people who share the same values as I do, so the people I hang with should also feel accepted bus as an organization we have to be on our p’s and q’s as far as recruitment.”

“To say the least I’m very excited to be a part of getting this charter back and bringing back the brotherhood and making it big on A&T’s campus,” James said.

While the excitement among the aspirants is brewing, what’s more interesting is the strange set of circumstances that led to Lambda Chi’s current troubled state.

“There were some internal issues before my line actually crossed and with those issues were the problems that got us removed such as financial issues,” West said.

“People not paying their dues to the national office.

Most Greek letter organizations have this problem, but the difference is that the majority of us were having financial difficulty with pay-

ing. The people we recruited were also having financial difficulty.”

It’s not common for the majority of an organization to be delinquent in financial obligations. Mix that in with attitudes towards dedication and you have a recipe for failure.

“Also personal attributes, from what I remember here, were some personal attitudes that caused the downfall of the chapter such as commitment to the organization in 2008. My line came in spring 2009,” West said.

But despite the challenges the group faced earlier, out of the 37 members they once had, several still remained.

“The most memorable thing was meeting everybody. I remember thinking ‘this is not for me’ but this has created a very universal experience in my life.

I’m truly glad to be a member,” said current A&T student Meshach Jackson. He, along with others, gave reflections on their experiences with Lambda Chi that were focused on how much they benefitted from being a member and the level of brotherhood they all shared.

“We have earned the right to be here,” said A&T student Derrick Waller. “It’s been a very interesting situation since I’ve joined Lambda Chi Alpha.

I’ve had a moment with every brother in this fraternity.

I’ve interacted on various levels with each and every one of them. I’ve become a better person than I’ve ever been.”

Even alumni of A&T and of the chapter came back to participate in the celebration.

A&T alumni and first year UNC Charlotte graduate student William Saunders joined Lambda Chi Alpha in the spring of 2009, the same year the charter was terminated.

He says that it was tough, but that despite the challenges the group knew they faced, he continued on. He shared with the group his most cherished moments, and spoke with a confidence and aurora of hope for the future.

“One memorable moment would be the night of our initiation and the silent dinner we had,” he said. “We had numerous friends, classmates, and others trying to talk to us and we could not talk.

It’s important because we were unified. Also if it had not been for my brothers my last semester would not have been as great as it was.”

No matter what they may face as a group, the Lambda Chi boys seem determined to find their niche on campus.

Dr. Cliff Lowery, a former A&T administrator, helped to start the chapter and was also present to reflect on the status.

“Watching you guys pull all of this together. When you guys were applying for the charter, all the support you provided for each other was extremely memorable,” he said. “ A lot of folks didn’t want to change tradition and let these ‘bad’ organizations on campus, even when I was at UNCG. “The students passed the resolution to get 20 members and even the national level had an appreciation for the students because the national office said that they couldn’t override the students. It just showed me how much the students drove this organization. When something means a lot to you, and to have that taken away…has a significant impact.

Those of you that stuck around, that’s significant. I remain confident in spite of the have been willing and I obstacles but somehow you all have been willing and I hope that you will continue.”

Lowery wants what once were only 37 to become a strong 50 or more.

The organization faces a long road ahead. They still have to a gain 20 members by the next intake period, and get their standing right with the university and their national office.

But that doesn’t seem to be much of a concern for anyone.

With any luck, the Lambda Chi’s will be back in full swing before the end of 2011.

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Aggie Suites PVA- Drug Violation Case Closed with Arrest

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Vanstory Hall- Simple Assault Case Under Further Investigation

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MSU- Exhibit Hall 7 p.m.

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AFROTC Cadet Change of Command

Moore Gymnasium 3 p.m.

Enough is Enough

GCB Auditorium 6:30 p.m.

Let’s Talk About Sex Information Table

MSU- Lobby 7:15 p.m.

NY/NJ Connection

Full Body Meeting Marteena Hall Rm 103 7:30 p.m.

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Spring 2010 Young Educators Workshop New School of Education

Exhibit Hall 7 p.m.

saturday

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Lady Aggies Softball Complex 9 a.m.

sunday

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Softball Games

Lady Aggies Softball Complex 9 a.m.

University Bands Talent Exhibition

April 26

Hodgin Hall Rm 101 2 p.m.

Photo by kenneth hawkins • The A&T REgister

starbucks Students lined up Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. for the grand opening of the new coffee shop located below Williams Cafeteria.

The A&T

Couture Word showcase

Girl Talk Memorial Student Union

8:20 a.m.

Smith Hall- Breaking and Entering Case Under Further Investigation

Rhythms of the African Diaspora, ‘The Message in the Music,’ ” at 7 p.m. in Harrison Auditorium. The event was sponsored in part by WNAA 90.1 FM. Gail Wiggins, a Journalism and Mass Communications professor at A&T, served as the

GCB- Auditorium Rm 218 6 p.m.

Exhibit hall 7 p.m.

April 24

April 22

chancellor From page 1

JOMC Mock Court Trial

Robey Awards Night Memorial Student Union

1:30 p.m.

Cooper Hall- Burglary Case Under Further Investigation

12:05 a.m.

Moore Gym- Drug Violation Case Closed with Arrest

April 23

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Softball Games

8:35 p.m.

McNair Hall- Burglary Case Under Further Investigation

9:00 p.m.

Cooper Hall- Burglary Case Under Further Investigation

Wednesday

Rm 111, 112, 114 & 160 8 a.m.

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events

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master of ceremonies.

A short video called “The Jazz in Us” was played to set up the concert and explain the theme. Wiggins interviewed Delfeayo Marsalis and Mondre Moffett before their traditional straight-ahead jazz performance.

Marsalis, the trombonist and member of the legendary Marsalis jazz family, discussed the

significance of Afro-Cuban jazz today.

“Dance is universal and Afro-Cuban jazz brings that element to the music that most other genres do not. There has been a communication breakdown within African Americans and we have to bring back the definition of dance so we can ‘shake that thing’ like they did back in the day.”

editor in chief: Dexter R. Mullins Managing editor: Malcolm S. Eustache news editor: Jasmine Johnson opinions editor:Kelcie McCrae sports editor: Daniel Henderson ASSISTANT Sports editor: Lauren Morgan scene editor: LaPorsha Lowry copy desk chief: Anjan Basu Copy Editor: Ashley Reid, Chad Roberts photo editor: Kenneth Hawkins staff photographers: Michaela Edwards, Shanté Mathes

Moffett, trumpeter and the director of the Jazz Ensemble, talked about “engoma,” an African tradition where drums bring the power that drives the performance and can also be used for talking.

Friday morning was the official installation day. UNC-System President Erskine Bowles presided over the ceremony.

“Martin is not only from

A&T, he is of A&T. He knows this institution inside and out,” Bowles said.

A black tie gala Friday night ended the weeklong schedule of programs and festivities.

Martin continued the mission of “Making a Difference” the following day by leading the area’s March of Dimes walk.

editorial cartoonist: Evan Summerville ncatregister.com: Stacie Bailey, (Online Editor) Graphic artist:Cameron Z. Simmons senior reporter: Marcus Thompson reporters: Johnathan Veal, Alessandra Brown, LaRia Land, Sylvia Obell, Ricardo Lawson, Monterius Smith, Whitney MackObi, Jiril Clemons, Prince Askew PR Director: Kenny Flowers business manager: Jamia Harrison business staff: Carlton Brown faculty adviser: Emily Harris

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FINAL EXAMS BEGIN ALL CLASSES, VARIOUS TIMES

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The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, April 28, 2010

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OFF THE YARD

Tancredo calms down speech at UNC JESSE JAMES DECONTO MCT Campus

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.- At least 100 protesters walked out on former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., as he spoke Monday night on the values of Western culture at the University of North CarolinaChapel Hill.

The group stood in unison, yelling, “No human is illegal,” before moving outside the Student Union and into the Pit, a concrete courtyard at the center of campus activity.

Kevin Deanna, founder of Youth for Civilization, the national group that sponsored Tancredo’s speech, laughed loudly at the group’s statement.

As the demonstrators filed out of the union auditorium, Tancredo said fear of debate was driving them away.

“No one here is afraid of you,” one yelled. But most were silent.

“They’re welcome (to leave), but there’s nothing democratic about this,” Tancredo said. “Believe me, this is a lot better than last time.”

Of the less than 100 left behind, most shared Tancredo’s pro-Western perspective. But when he suggested that conservative student activists never behave as badly as those who broke a window and disrupted his speech last spring, another protester shouted, “No, you lynched people.”

“I’m glad that they showed what they really do believe in, and that’s censorship,” Tancredo went on.

Thirty-six UNC public safety and Chapel Hill Police officers guarded the auditorium, four times as many as the officers who forced about 30 protesters out of Bingham Hall last spring.

Last year, officers threatened demonstrators with a Taser weapon and dispersed them

with pepper spray.

After the protesters left, Tancredo continued his speech and answered questions from a supportive audience.

“I kind of wish some of the opposers would have stayed around and had some ideas exchanged with him,” said Daryl Ann Dunigan, YWC’s campus leader.

The event was co-sponsored by the Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty and the Leadership Institute.

“There is a reason why Americas remains the destination of choice of people who are trying to escape oppressive governments everywhere,” Tancredo said. “We are the last best hope for mankind.”

Meanwhile, in the Pit, student groups held a pro-immigrant rally, accusing Tancredo of racism.

“Hateful discourse amplified by money and access to media

create the foundation upon which Minutemen and the KKK operate,” wrote Feminist Students United in a statement.

Raleigh, N.C., resident Ed Patterson asked Tancredo how the U.S. could continue to permit legal immigration when the 9/11 terrorists had exploited the system and so many Americans are unemployed.

“Why do we continue to allow immigration from Muslim countries?” he asked.

“It’s the cult of multiculturalism,” Tancredo said, adding that 180,000 legal immigrants per month were competing with Americans for jobs. He said Democrats view immigrants as potential votes and Republicans view them as cheap labor, sapping any political will to tighten borders.

Dire job market offers graduates hidden chances DIANE DREHER

MCT Campus

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - This spring 16 million college graduates will face a job market with nearly 10 percent unemployment and more than 7 million people out of work.

Finding a job, any job, will be challenging. Yet, paradoxically, this challenge offers a hidden opportunity to pursue a meaningful life, not merely a livelihood.

In stronger economic times, many graduates made hasty career decisions, picking the highpaying or prestigious job offered by recruiters at college job fairs without reflecting on their own strengths and values.

By taking that first job, they would jump onto a career track, only to wake up years later realizing they’d been living somebody else’s life.

Today’s challenging job market gives graduates time: time to focus on their strengths, ask important questions, and anchor their work to their deepest values. Used wisely, this time

can enrich their futures with discernment practices often ignored during times of job abundance.

Of course, we must all find work to support ourselves, but since work occupies nearly half our waking hours, it should mean more than a paycheck.

Research shows that people who find meaning in their work are happier and healthier, able to see new possibilities and make it through difficult times.

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl even found that a sense of meaning gave people the strength to survive in a Nazi concentration camp while others lost hope and died.

Finding meaningful work in these turbulent times takes strategic planning. By balancing purpose with practicality, graduates can make this time work for them. I recommend three key strategies.

One, don’t panic. Stress and anxiety only sabotage us.

Neuroscientists have learned that fear shuts down our capacity for long-range planning, impulse control, creativity, and

problem-solving _ skills needed to meet the current challenge.

Reduce stress by reflecting on your values, which a recent UCLA study found lowers cortisol levels and strengthens our immune systems.

Then begin a daily stress management practice: exercise, meditate, stay connected with friends.

Two, build positive momentum by discovering your strengths. Recent Gallup studies have found that most people dwell on their weaknesses, but when we focus on our strengths, we are happier, healthier, and more successful.

Ask “What am I good at?

What do I love to do?” Reflect on what brings you joy, take a personal inventory at the college career center, or find your “signature strengths” with the VIA-IS survey on www.authentichappiness.org.

Three, make a plan. Short term: get a temporary job to pay the bills through the college career center but don’t give up on your dreams. Chart a direction that combines your strengths

and values and set a specific “stretch” goal you could reach in six months. Map out three steps to your goal _ you might join a professional organization, do volunteer work, get advice from alumni, find an internship, or arrange an information interview in your field.

Then think strategically: come up with one possible roadblock and back-up plan for each step what you’ll do if that step doesn’t work out.

Maintain your motivation: see yourself achieving your goal, remember a time when you overcame a challenge, and tell yourself, “I can do this, too.”

Finally, keep your eyes and ears open. Learn from the process and build on your plan.

If something doesn’t work out, try something else _ but keep moving forward.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”

Northern Illinois University will offer class for sign language ANGIE LEVENTIS LOURGOS MCT Campus

CHICAGO- Twenty students are holding several animated smallgroup discussions, but no one in this Northern Illinois University classroom utters a word.

Their fingers weave in complex patterns as they converse in American Sign Language, which the university has declared an official foreign language.

To the students, the new label is fitting: They say that American Sign Language is distinct from spoken English and that its coursework provides a new perspective akin to the cultural immersion they’d experience in French, Spanish or other traditional language classes.

“It shapes how you view the world around you,” said Christine Theobold, a sophomore from Streamwood, Ill., who is taking the most advanced sign class at NIU. “I guess it’s how you view the word ‘foreign.’ “ But the practice of awarding foreign language credit for American Sign Language coursework has been fiercely debated at universities across the country.

Some educators argue an indigenous language by definition can’t be considered foreign.

Others say a language must have literature for proper study.

The University of MichiganFlint several years ago denied a student’s request of foreign language credit for American Sign Language proficiency, but the school reversed its stance in the past year after about 14 months of debate.

Students at Boston University are now able to apply American Sign Language credits in this manner, but for years some school officials were against the practice because they said it lacked the same elements of culture as other foreign language courses.

“It’s not a foreign language,” said Robert Belka, a former

chair of the foreign language department at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Belka, who is now retired, long opposed requests for American Sign to count as a foreign language, though he said the university eventually acquiesced.

“These are people ... dependent on the English language,” he said. American Sign Language “is not sufficient to sustain a culture.”

The Pizza Hut at NIU is loud during dinnertime, but one table of two dozen students is conspicuously quiet. The patrons don’t speak. They order by pointing at the menu.

This is a “silent dinner,” one of many extracurricular events American Sign Language students attend for additional practice.

NIU has offered American Sign Language since the 1970s as part of its rehabilitation counseling program, mainly for students in that program.

This semester, 155 students there are taking American Sign Language, about three times the enrollment in spring 2005.

The Illinois General Assembly in 2009 passed legislation declaring American Sign Language a fully developed language and encouraged schools to accept its coursework for foreign language credit.

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign allowed this long before the legislation was passed.

Eastern Illinois University accepts it as long as course work includes a cultural component, said Stephen Canfield, chairman of the foreign language department there.

He notes that many foreign language departments across the country are altering their names to “world languages” or “classical and modern languages.”

“The whole idea of language being foreign is kind of disappearing,” he said.

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The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Ariz. law targets immigrants AMANDA LEE MYERS & JONATHAN J. COOPER AP Writer

PHOENIX (AP) — The frustration had been building for years in Arizona with every drug-related kidnapping, every home invasion, every “safe house” discovered crammed with illegal immigrants from Mexico.

The tensions finally spilled over this month with passage of the nation’s toughest law against illegal immigration, a measure that has put Arizona at the center of the heated debate over how to deal with the millions of people who sneak into the U.S. every year.

A number of factors combined to produce the law: a heavily conservative Legislature, the ascent of a Republican governor, anger over the federal government’s failure to secure the border, and growing anxiety over crime that reached a fever pitch last month with the slaying of an Arizona rancher, apparently by an illegal immigrant.

“It’s something that should have been taken care of for years. It’s not something we can keep slacking on,” said Thomas Fitch, whose neighborhood was the site of a raid last month that netted 11 illegal immigrants in a safe house. “At the rate we’re going now, it’s going to get a lot worse.”

The new law makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally and directs police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal.

Critics warned that the law could result in racial profiling and other abuses, and they are

planning a legal challenge and a November referendum to overturn the measure. Supporters of the law say it is a commendable effort to combat what is fast becoming a scourge in the U.S. Arizona is the biggest gateway into the U.S. for illegal immigrants. The state is home to an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants — a population larger than that of entire cities such as Cleveland, St. Louis and New Orleans.

The Republican-dominated Legislature has backed a series of tough immigration measures in the past decade, only to have the most aggressive efforts thwarted by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat.

But the political stars aligned this year for the GOP. President Barack Obama appointed Napolitano to his Cabinet, clearing the way for Republican Secretary of State Jan Brewer to take over as governor. The GOP made a headlong rush back into the immigration debate, and Brewer signed the bill last week.

The law reflects frustration with what many lawmakers see as inaction by the federal government.

“While the Bush administration dropped the ball on border security and illegal immigration, the Obama administration can’t even find it,” said GOP state Rep. John Kavanagh.

He said lawmakers also felt compelled to act because more immigrants will come to the U.S. as the economy improves and there is a “smell of amnesty in the air” under the Obama administration.

Over the past three years, Border Patrol agents have made 990,000 arrests of immigrants

crossing the border illegally in Arizona, or an average of 900 a day. The figures represent 45 percent of all arrests of illegal immigrants along U.S. borders.

Authorities routinely come across safe houses and vehicles jammed with immigrants across the vast Arizona desert. Last week, 67 illegal immigrants were found crammed inside a U-Haul truck — a fairly typical scenario in the state.

“We’re on a hamster wheel here. We’re chasing our tail until that border is secured,” said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, whose territory includes busy smuggling corridors.

The volume of drugs coming through the Arizona border is also eye-popping. Federal agents seized 1.2 million pounds of marijuana last year in Arizona. That amounts to an average of 1.5 tons per day.

Pot busts have become so common that until recently federal prosecutors in Arizona generally declined to press charges against marijuana smugglers caught with less than 500 pounds.

Phoenix has also been dubbed the kidnapping capital of the U.S. amid a surge of extortion-related abductions tied to drugs and human smuggling.

The city has averaged about a kidnapping a day in recent years — some resulting in torture and death. Victims’ legs have been burned with irons, their arms have been tied to the ceiling, their fingers broken with bricks.

The anger over immigrationrelated violence reached a boiling point in late March when a popular cattle rancher named Rob Krentz was gunned down along with his dog on his property near the border. With au-

thorities suspecting an illegal immigrant, politicians seized on the killing to argue that border security is dangerously weak.

There has long been strong public support in Arizona for a crackdown.

In 2004, Arizona voters easily approved a law that denies some welfare benefits to illegal immigrants. It passed with 55 percent of the vote.

In 2006, lawmakers put four immigration measures on the ballot, including ones that would deny other government benefits to illegal immigrants and make English the official language.

Each measure passed with at least 70 percent.

At the same time, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio carved out a reputation as a national leader on illegal immigration, routinely carrying out raids in Hispanic neighborhoods that have prompted a federal investigation. He was elected to a fifth term in 2008.

As the backlash grows over the law, people like Natalia Garcia are closely watching to see how it plays out.

She and her husband are illegal immigrants and are afraid that they will get swept up.

“It’s taking away our human rights because we have brown skin,” she said in Spanish while shopping at a Phoenix grocery store, adding that they will move their family back to Mexico if arrested. “Although we’ll live poor, it’s better to be together.”

Chavez accuses U.S. of ‘e-warfare’ CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER AP Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A day after saying he hopes to eventually cool tensions with Colombia, President Hugo Chavez charged that his neighbor recently allowed a U.S. military plane to carry out “electronic warfare” operations against Venezuela.

Chavez told a crowd of soldiers Monday that his intelligence services detected the American aircraft that he said took off from a Colombian base and flew along the border between the two South American nations, which have seen long tense relations worsen in recent months.

Without giving details, he said Venezuela’s military intelligence intercepted a conversation between the pilot and air traffic controllers in the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla. The aircraft conducted espionage operations, he said.

“Through our strategic intelligence, we detected an RC-12 airplane belonging to the U.S.

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Air Force,” Chavez said during a talk to an auditorium packed with military officers, rank-andfile soldiers and cadets.

“It was a plane specialized for electronic war, and it was carrying out electronic war operations,” he added.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Robin Holzhauer would not directly respond to Chavez’s accusation during a telephone interview on Monday, saying only that “the United States and Colombia engage in a number of bilateral activities,” all of which “respect the sovereignty of other nations.”

No one was immediately available at U.S. Southern Command in Miami to comment.

Chavez has made similar accusations in the past, saying in December that a U.S. military plane had entered Venezuelan airspace and was met by his military’s F-16s and escorted out. The P-3 plane took off from the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, he said.

The U.S. Southern Command denied it.

Chavez didn’t elaborate on

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the alleged spying incident, but the former paratrooper accused Colombia’s government of allowing the U.S. military to use its territory to mount what he called “an aggression” against Venezuela.

Relations between Venezuela and Colombia have been rocky for years, but frictions have intensified recently over Colombia’s agreement to give the U.S. increased access to its military bases — a deal that Chavez calls a threat to his country.

Colombia, meanwhile, accuses Chavez’s government of supporting Colombia’s Marxist rebels. Chavez rejects the allegation.

Chavez’s comments came a few hours after Colombia’s conservative president, Alvaro Uribe, accused the Venezuelan leader of meddling in Colombia’s presidential election campaign by trying to influence the outcome of the vote.

On Sunday, the socialist Chavez said he hoped for improved relations with Colombia’s next president, but warned that efforts to reduce tensions

ES S. EN C I D LESS C H O

MOHAMED OSMAN AP Writer

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan’s president won another term in office Monday with a comfortable majority in elections marred by boycotts and fraud allegations, becoming the first head-of-state to be re-elected while facing an international arrest warrant for war crimes.

Omar al-Bashir’s victory was widely expected after his most credible challengers pulled out of the race to protest alleged fraud.

It was unlikely to put to rest questions about his standing around the globe and among his opponents or ease Sudan’s isolation. Al-Bashir cannot travel freely because he risks being arrested to face charges before the Hague-based International Criminal Court for war crimes committed in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

Sudan’s first multiparty presidential, parliamentary and local elections in 24 years were a key requirement of a 2005 peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the predominantly Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south.

The fighting left 2 million people dead and many more displaced. The Darfur conflict, which began in 2003, is not related to that war.

The elections also opened the way for a 2011 referendum in which the south will decide whether it wants to secede.

International observers said this month’s elections failed to meet international standards because of delays, intimidation and faulty lists, but they did not call for a repeat vote. Instead the observers recommended that lessons drawn from the process be applied to next year’s referendum on southern independence.

Al-Bashir got 68 percent of more than 10 million valid ballots, according to Abel Alier, the head of Sudan’s National Elections Commission.

The president appeared on television shortly after the results were announced to declare that “the success of these elections is in essence a success for the Sudanese people.” He promised to reach out to all political forces in Sudan to form what he called a national partnership and vowed to make sure that the

referendum takes place.

“You gave us your trust,” he said. “I reaffirm I will go ahead with the southern referendum on time and complete the peace process in Darfur.”

The president of the semiautonomous south, Silva Kiir, also kept his post, winning nearly 93 percent of the votes in the south.

Kiir, who also heads southern Sudan’s largest political party and is a junior partner in the national government, had also been expected to remain in control.

The results for local governors, the first to be held in Sudan, also came in Monday.

The five days of voting, which began April 11, were marred by allegations of fraud and boycotts and raised concerns of new unrest. Violence was reported in areas of the south.

Election results were delayed amid difficulties in counting and transporting ballots from around the vast country.

Al-Bashir, who came to power 21 years ago in a military coup, was charged by ICC prosecutors last year with war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed in Darfur.

An estimated 300,000 people died of violence, disease and displacement during the fighting between government and rebel forces.

Al-Bashir was expected in neighboring Egypt on Tuesday, where he faces no threat of arrest. Most Arab and African nations do not recognize the ICC and its warrant for al-Bashir.

Ahmed Hussein, the spokesman for the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement, said his group will not accept the election results and has been conferring with other opposition groups on the matter.

Many Darfurians boycotted the elections, specially those in refugee camps.

“Things in our country are not going according to what the people of Sudan wanted. This is going to lead to tension and chaos,” Hussein said. “People are not going to accept al-Bashir for another five years.”

Mariam Sadiq, a senior member of the Umma party, which had pulled out of the race, said the election results are “morally more corrupt” than the coup that brought al-Bashir to power and called the voting “a costly and ineffective experience.”

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would face serious obstacles if Uribe’s ally — former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos — wins the May 30 election.

Chavez, who has repeatedly clashed with Uribe and Santos, also said Colombia’s government could become a threat to its neighbors if Santos was elected.

“It’s an insult to the Colombian people that a foreign government attempts to coerce their free political will to pick the next president,” Uribe said.

He accused Chavez of trying to “intimidate” Colombians by warning that a Santos victory could lead to armed conflict.

“The Colombian people are not going to accept this blackmail,” said Uribe, whose term ends Aug. 7.

Santos is among the favorites to win Colombia’s presidential election.

After lambasting Santos on Sunday, Chavez denied he is trying to influence the outcome of the vote.

Sudan leader re-elected despite war crime charges

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The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, April 28, 2010

5

GOP circulates alternative regulatory plan JIM KUHNHENN AP Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano were critical Tuesday of Arizona’s new law on immigration and Holder said the federal government may challenge it.

Napolitano said the new

state law could siphon federal money and staff from hunting down dangerous immigrants.

The critical comments by the nation’s top law enforcement official and the Cabinet secretary responsible for preventing terrorist attacks on U.S. soil came four days after Arizona’s governor signed a law designed to crack down on illegal aliens.

Arizona’s new law is subject

to potential abuse, Holder told a news conference. The law — which takes effect this summer — allows police to question anyone about their immigration status if they have reason to suspect they are in the country illegally, and makes it a state crime if they are.

The Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department are reviewing the state

law.

A number of options are under consideration including “the possibility of a court challenge,” Holder said in response to questions on the Arizona law posed during a news conference on another topic.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Napolitano said the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement

fears it will have to use its stretched resources to deal with those arrested under Arizona’s new law.

“We have some deep concerns with the law .. it will detract from and siphon resources that we need to concentrate on those in the country illegally, those who have committed the most serious crimes,” Napolitano said.

President Barack Obama has instructed the Justice Department to examine the Arizona law that he said last week threatens to “undermine basic notions of fairness.” He also is pressing anew for national immigration legislation, saying, “If we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country.”

In Iowa, President Obama touts wind energy and stimulus help JULIE PACE

AP Writer

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa (AP) — Back in the state that jumpstarted his White House bid, President Barack Obama sought to reassure wary Iowa voters with a message he hopes will resonate in the fall elections: The economic recovery hasn’t reached everyone, but progress is being made.

Starting his two-day, threestate Midwestern trip, Obama focused on his economic and clean energy programs as job creators, even as he acknowledged the pain and skepticism of hard-hit areas. He’s not on the ballot this year, but his party’s control of Congress is at stake, along with dozens of governors’ seats and state legislatures.

Despite encouraging news about an expanding economy and markets, the president told an Iowa crowd, “times are still tough in towns like Fort Madison. And times are still tough for middle-class Americans, who had been swimming against the current for years before the economic tidal wave hit.”

Obama outlined his administration’s goals to “create conditions so that folks who work hard can finally get ahead.”

They include improving schools, making college more affordable, expanding health coverage and preventing Wall Street irresponsibility, he said.

Underscoring the challenge was agriculture secretary and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who told reporters traveling with Obama: “There’s a silent crisis occurring in rural America that’s been ongoing for several decades.” He said

N C A T R E G I S T E R .

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the president is delivering a new framework for the “revival of the rural economy.”

Obama also plans to stop in Illinois and Missouri before returning to the White House late Wednesday.

Iowa and Missouri are sharply contested in virtually every election, and Republicans this year think they can snag the Illinois Senate seat that Obama held before becoming president.

Obama spoke after touring a plant that makes blades for wind turbines. The United States must lead the world in clean energy production, he said, and he cited tax credits included in last year’s economic stimulus package.

They “helped make it possible for America to install nearly 10 gigawatts of new wind generating capacity last year alone, enough to power more than 2.4 million American homes,” he said. “And each new wind farm has the potential to create hundreds of construction jobs, and dozens of permanent local jobs, in communities just like Fort Madison.”

He said he believes Congress and the nation can overcome deep divisions to enact farreaching energy and climate legislation “that will ignite new industries, spark new jobs” and make America more energy independent.

After speaking at the wind energy plant Obama made a surprise stop at a 140-acre organic farm in nearby Mount Pleasant. MogoOrganic Farm supplies food for local schools and businesses. The president then dropped by Jerry’s Family Restaurant in Mount Pleasant for a cup of coffee and slice of rhubarb pie.

The latest economic forecasts

show some signs of progress: The nation added jobs at the fastest pace in three years last month, the manufacturing industry is growing at a steady pace, and new claims for jobless benefits have declined.

But the unemployment rate, perhaps the most recognizable economic indicator, has held steady at 9.7 percent for three months, and 15 million Americans remain out of work. By the White House’s own estimates, as well as those of many independent economists, that rate isn’t expected to fluctuate more than a few tenths of a percentage point through the end of 2010.

The president’s home state of Illinois, where he’ll travel Wednesday, has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates, 11.5 percent.

That’s far from the administration’s predictions last year, when Obama rallied support for the $862 billion economic stimulus package.

At the time, the White House said the massive infusion would keep the unemployment rate from topping 8 percent, though the administration later revised those estimates, saying the recession proved to be worse than it expected.

Polls suggest the president and his party are increasingly vulnerable on the economy.

Democrats and Republicans each have the confidence of 44 percent of people for handling the economy, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll conducted this month.

The Democrats had a 9-point advantage just four months ago and have held an edge since AP polls began asking about the issue in 2006.

The date is MAY 4TH, the event is bringing “CHANGE” to Guilford County, and the admission is your support. Help me transform our local politics and start a new conversation of communal engagement with you and your family.

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The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Black community, it’s time to step up!

Last week, a close friend of mine who is currently in school back home in Chicago posted an article on Facebook about a 17-year-old boy, who on his death bed, would not give the name of the person who shot him.

Robert Tate was outside on the Westside of Chicago, when somebody walked up to him and shot him in the chest. As he laid in his hospital bed with severe wounds and not much time left, one of the investigating officers asked him if he knew his shooter and he replied, “I know, but I ain’t telling you Sh**.”

When I first read that I was completely baffled. My brain could not grasp the fact that the name of the person who killed

him was a secret this 17-yearmay be right. old was prepared to take to his Guns are glograve. Then, I thought how rified in the many others have operated in entertainment this mindset? industry, from The infamous code of simovies to video lence; I understand it was initigames to music, ated into the black community but especially as our attempt at protection in the neighboragainst police departments LARIA hoods many of and other public officials who LAND us come from. were blatantly using the law to Many of hurt us, but how many senseless those people do not see an end murders and shootings are we to their current devastating situgoing to have to hear about be- ation and continue to operate in fore we unanimously decide that a mindset where wanting and silence is not our only weapon feeling the need to have an active any more. “thug card” is a necessity; and When my friend posted the getting a gun is the easiest way article she said “silence is going (at least in Chicago) to prove to be the end of our generation,” how tough you are. Therefore, and it saddens me to think she when you have so many young

people walking around, inexperienced and packing ‘heat’, accidents and poorly thought out decisions result in teddy bears and candle-lit memorials popping up on corners at an alarming rate.

One of my biggest fears is getting that dreaded phone call where “God-forbid” someone close to me, friend or family, is the victim of some idiot allowing his gun to settle a discrepancy, simple or complex.

However, I realized the flaw in my fear. Whether I act to prevent gun or any type of violence should not be contingent on how that person’s death would affect me personally, because the big picture shows us that any death in our neighborhoods hurts the

black community as a whole.

One of our families are left to grieve the loss of their loved one, while his friends may attempt to get revenge which will continue the cycle of violence, and that unsolved murder will increase negative statistics enforcing stereotypes and the list goes on and on.

It is my hope that we, as college students, can use this summer to speak up in our hometowns against whatever violence is most common. I know Chicago is not the only city where the death tolls are steadily climbing and the summer has not even begun.

We don’t have to wait until we have a secure job and the financial security to write a

check to make a difference. All it takes is a conversation. Help the young people around you see the harm in those actions and where those roads will lead them. Let them know there are alternative options to improve bad situations no matter what it is and if possible go with them to get the information.

Most importantly, just show them you care. If you take a minute to listen to the young people and even some older people, their biggest complaint is that people “make it” and never come back. Aggies we do not want generational gaps to become the norm, so it is our responsibility as the talented tenth, to reach out our helping hands.

‘Barbie’ equals beauty?

The Attorney General Speaks Out Daniel Davis

Attorney General

Let me be clear, I am going to write this one time and one time only, no matter how many rebuttals and refutes are written.

I am writing this solely with the intent of addressing some things and defending my name.

Dr. Judy Rashid often says from one of her many proverbs, “as it is written, it is so.” Well, a lot of things written about not only me but the rest of this executive board were not accurate.

I deliberately waited until the end of our term to address the matter for several reasons. First, my situation has been settled since December 1, 2009. The Senate tried me and voted to NOT to impeach me. Second, I waited because I do not want this to remain on people’s hearts and minds when we all have much more important things to deal with in our lives. Lastly, I waited because I hoped that The Register’s coverage of this administration would at some point become more positive, because there have been many positives this year. Both Mr. and Miss A&T placed extremely high in their respective pageants (and in my opinion) should have won.

Travis has put on an excellent Spring Fest and to all of our credit, I am pleased to announce that there have been ZERO casualties this year to gun violence. If these all are not positives then I don’t know what is.

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that as journalists you have a job, to report the news and this administration gave you all plenty to report…cool. My problem lies with the fact that it appears as if some of you look to taear us down rather than build us up, and that is simply not right.

Did I compromise the integrity of my position, as well as the University’s? The answer is yes, but so is repeatedly slandering my name and my fellow e-board members. I fully support the people working for The Register, from the top down, however I do not like the direction this paper is headed in. As I flip through its pages and read some of the articles, I can only think of what “Juicy Campus” used to do and say about our students. Now they are no longer needed because we can talk/read about our fellow students in the school newspaper.

The Register should not only be viewed as a gossip column, or the students’ source for the juiciest rumor. Each and every one of

you that work for The Register are too talented and are much better than that. Through it all, I remained optimistic and vibrant and I continued to love and care for my student body and always will.

Now let me clarify one thing once and for all, I did not touch a P-card, a dollar, a coin or ANY form of currency. My word and my name was all that was needed for the service to be done. I DID NOT touch any money. Also, I have paid back the cost of the service performed. This is all I am going to say about the situation.

I am wise enough to know that as a student leader, you lose some of your privacy. Yet, I feel like sometimes you all have gone too far into our private lives with some members of this administration. Mr. Jasmin said it very well last week in his piece when he said that we are students first. I am going to take it one step further, even beyond being students, we are human and we have the right to privacy and some sort of personal liberties even though we do lose SOME of our privacy. With this said I want to wish the Kimball Administration all the best. Be smart, be careful and be better. To The Register, be better. Aggie Pride!

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Well, write for us!

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Many girls have conformed to the trend of being a “Barbie.” What is being a Barbie?

If you ask some of your peers on campus they may say that it is a girl trying to be like Nicki Minaj. Some may say it is a fake, “plastic like” girl. Nicki grew up in Jamaica, Queens.

Most girls from Queens are far from “plastic.” They are some of the realest people you will ever meet.

But if you ever could ask Nicki Minaj what a Barbie is, she would say in her UK impersonation, “being a Barbie is a beautiful girl who is equipped with a Ken, Pink Lambo, and a beautiful body.”

In my opinion Nicki Minaj just says what she knows people want to hear from her.

She started a trend of keeping your MAC makeup handy at all times and your skintight outfits anywhere you go. You probably know at least one girl or boy, who enjoys seeing Nicki gracing BET with her coke bottle figure talking about money and being bicurious.

The Barbie slogan girls are portraying is not all that great.

I mean if that’s what Nicki wants to do, let her do it. However, for the girls on campus, that is not a good look. Guys cannot concentrate anymore

JOILEE

HAVNER

in class!

They are too focused on that chick with the corset and her boobs falling out with leggings that look like a second layer

of skin.

Nicki, what effect have you had on these girls? Everywhere they look they see this fake vision and it makes them want to model it. Everyone has flaws, but I wish people were more honest about it for both women and men to see.

Celebrities have invested millions and millions of dollars to the plastic surgery business and now it is taking over the people who are not famous for anything.

There are the people who have a 9-5 job with 3 kids, just regular people who are investing in having the “Barbie” look. Have we lost our Barbie minds?

I have realized that the world is really becoming plastic right before our eyes.

You cannot walk down the street without seeing someone trying there hardest to be someone else and that is sad. I personally can see they do not

know their real identity.

I did not know who I was at one time. When I first came to A&T, I did not know how to keep up with all of the trends. I made the decision to let go of my insecurities and be myself.

It is hard being able to find your true self when everyone is alike. I love to go outside the norm. I do not want to be a Barbie, but I respect Nicki Minaj for her fashion style she created, but that is just it, it is her style.

So many girls think they need to be that Valley Girl with the tight body. I hope my appearance on A&T’s campus shows everyone, that my style and my true self is beautiful.

Being a Barbie will fade.

What is beauty? Beauty is the quality present in a person that gives deep satisfaction to the mind. Ladies, as black woman, we need to gain our sense of true beauty back.

We do not need to pile on the MAC makeup and dress in heels everyday to walk to our 9am classes on campus because being dressed in sweats is just as beautiful as being dolled up. We need to be role models and break the standards. I’ll be the first to start the true beauty trend. I want to show people it is okay to be you.

The A&T Register is your chance to be heard.

E-mail your editorials to theatregister@ gmail.com

Editor’s note:The opinions expressed on The Word are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the staff of The A&T Register. All house editorials are written and revised with input from the editorial board, staff, and are approved by the editor. All submissions must be sent to theatregister@gmail.com to be considered for submission and should be no longer than 250 words. Submissions must be received by the Sunday prior to publication at 5 p.m. to be considered. The A&T Register reserves the right to edit all submission content for clarity and grammar. Submissions become the property of The A&T Register and will not be returned.

theSCORE Brown’s future among Bobcats’ offseason questions MIKE CRANSTON

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Charlotte Bobcats center Theo Ratliff has played for Larry Brown on two teams spanning three decades in his 14-year NBA career.

So maybe he knows what the nomadic Hall of Fame coach’s next move is.

“With coach Brown you know how things go for him,” a smiling Ratliff said Tuesday.

“I’m sure he’s going to make the best decision for him and his family and what they have to do.”

Not long after Ratliff and the rest of the Bobcats took their exit physicals and scattered for the summer, Brown and owner Michael Jordan met at Time Warner Cable Arena.

They didn’t address reporters, a day after the Bobcats’ first playoff appearance ended with the thud of a fourgame sweep amid questions if Brown will return for a third season.

“Not my decision,” forward Gerald Wallace said when asked about Brown.

Brown, in his 13th pro or college coaching job, insisted after Orlando’s 99-90 victory Monday that clinched a 4-0 first-round victory that he won’t coach for anyone other than Jordan.

But the 69-year-old Brown also said he’ll talk with his wife and children, who live in

Philadelphia, before announcing if he’ll return for the final two years of his contract.

What makes the plot more intriguing is the 76ers have a vacant coaching job, and perhaps a front-office opening soon, too.

Brown’s longest stint as a coach was a six-year stay in Philly when Ratliff played there.

“That’s hypothetical,” Brown said when asked if he’d leave Charlotte for a job as a general manager or team president. “I’m really, personally, not ready to step down in terms of my desire to keep coaching.”

While Brown’s future will be a hot topic, the Bobcats have several other personnel issues in their first offseason with Jordan as majority owner.

It’s the beginning of a new era in several ways, since the 6-year-old franchise’s previous goal of just making the playoffs no longer applies after Charlotte’s first, and brief, taste of the postseason produced uneven play and exposed offensive deficiencies.

“It was two totally different teams,” Wallace said of facing the playoff-experienced Magic. “There was one team that was finally making the playoffs and I think was content with just making the playoffs.

Then there was one team that’s been to the playoffs year after year. Their goal was to win a championship.

The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Pitchers lead Lady Aggies to shutout victories daniel henderson Sports Editor

Jennifer Luper and Sasha Philpot are both veterans on the Lady Aggie softball squad.

And they’re pitching like it too.

The two haven’t allowed any runs on just seven hits in the last four games and displayed that dominance on the mound Tuesday afternoon in their 7-0, 2-0 doubleheader sweep over Savannah State at the Lady Aggies Softball Complex.

The wins helped bring them back up to .500 (22-22, 5-1) as they hold on to first place in the MEAC Southern Division.

“Our defense has really been on it for the last four or five games,” Aggie head coach Mamie Jones said.

“Pitching makes all of the difference. The pitching in the second game was a whole lot faster and had a little more movement in the ball.”

Savannah State can probably attest to this.

In the second game of the doubleheader Philpot held the Tigers to just two hits – a double by Tiffany Taylor at the top of the fourth and a single from Alexis Carson to lead off the sixth.

Despite Philpot’s pitching heroics early, it seemed to take a toll on her physically at the bottom of the seventh inning.

She walked three batters with the Aggies just one out

7

AGGIES RUNDOWN baseball TEAM North Carolina A&T MD Eastern Shore Delaware State Coppin State Bethune Cookman Norfolk State Florida A&M

MEAC

OVR.

9-3 3-11 8-4 5-6 12-0 6-9 1-11

19-22 5-34 12-22 11-25 26-16 14-19 8-26

MEAC

OVR.

UPCOMING GAMES: Saturday DH vs. Delaware State War Memorial Stadium 1 p.m.

Sunday vs. Delaware State War Memorial Stadium 1 p.m.

softball TEAM

Photo by Kenneth hawkins• The A&T Register Fast Pitch The Lady Aggies pitch their way to a win over Savannah State.

away from the win before finally retiring Carson, who grounded out to shortstop.

Ryanne Hill’s solo home run and Yahamma White’s run off of Larson’s base hit accounted for the Aggies’ two scores.

“We’re not going to hit every ball game,” said Jones, “ That’s why we need to play good defense throughout every ball game so we can give our offense a chance to win games.”

And Jones got that offensive effort in Game 1.The Aggies combined for 10 hits with most of the damage coming at the bottom of the fourth.

They scored five runs during the inning to take a 7-0 lead.

This helped take the load off

of Luper as she allowed only four hits in the game.

It’s safe to say that the Aggies have picked the right time to click on both sides of the ball.

“We got conference games coming up the next couple of weekends which should aim our fate for the conference MEAC,” Jones said.

“I’ve been pleased overall as far as the games that we have played. The kids are more focused right now at the end of the year and all and they got exams coming up – so it’s kind of hard to keep them just focused on softball. “ “For the most part they’ve overcome and done well with academics and with softball.”

North CarolinaA&T Bethune Cookman Morgan State Norfolk State Delaware State South Carolina State Hampton Florida A&M Coppin State Howard

MD Eastern Shore

5-1 4-2 3-6 3-6 6-3 3-3 6-3 3-3 4-5 8-1 0-9

22-22 23-21 7-16 10-24 22-14 6-33 19-31 10-10 17-16 18-16 1-25

UPCOMING GAMES: Saturday DH vs. Norfolk State Lady Aggies Softball Complex 1 p.m.

Sunday vs. Norfolk State Lady Aggies Softball Complex 12 p.m.

News and Notes THE BASEBALL TEAM won their doubleheader at Savannah State 18-3 and 18-6. They will host Delaware State in a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.

8

The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, April 28, 2010

&

Scene heard

Celebs promote ‘going green’

April 28th-May 4th

Charles Johnson Register Reporter

Tupac’s Mother Arrested!

Late rapper Tupac Shakur mother, Afeni Shakur Davis was arrested earlier this month for a drug possession charge after being busted by police in Lumberton, North Carolina.

The 63-year-old Lumberton native was hit with multiple charges including felony of possession of marijuana, maintaining a vehicle, dwelling or place for a controlled substnace and simple possession of a controlled substance.

Davis was released on a $10,000 bond and will return to North Carolina Robeson County District Court for sentencing May 10.

For more information on this story, go to www.thesource.com -J.V.

Whitney Houston Makes Shaky Comeback Whitney Houston may have performed her megahit “I Will Always Love You” at her sold-out London concert on Sunday, but apparently scores of her fans didn’t share the sentiment.

Despite paying up to $170 a ticket, disappointed concertgoers streamed out of the singer’s show at the O2 Arena after Houston failed to hit the high notes and she rasped her way through several attempts at the song.

hotlist

thescene

Earth Day brought in a star-studded fashion this year on the campus of North Carolina A&T. Green and Live was the name of the event that joined together influential figures from hip-hop, entertainment and the community to discuss the green initiative for the support and well being of our planet.

The 40th anniversary celebratory affair, which took place in McNair Auditorium, began at around 6 p.m.

Although the room was not filled to capacity, it had no hindrance on the message being delivered. English and Hip-Hop instructor, Bryon Turman took to the podium saying, “out of a few really comes big things.”

He also spoke briefly on the night’s topic before introducing the evening’s panelist.

Before the issue was brought to the forefront verbally, a video clip displaying the progress of the Green and Live movement was played.

The audience got to see how schools like Dillard and Photo by Kenneth hawkins •The A&T Register the University of Missouri Go Green Wanita Woodgate (aka D. Woods), formerly of the Bad Boy Records group Danity Kane, speaks to students at the Hip Hop Caucus event “Green were treated to the powerful and Live “ event in McNair Auditorium on Thursday. messages of the Hip Hop Caucus with recording artist such as Chrisette Michele, my celebrity to draw people of a power strip and unplugging during the question and answer Drake, and Trey Songz making in.” She also coined the term power chords when you leave period.

After the event she expressed appearances and supporting the “edutainer” that would be used the room.

Reverend Lennox Yearwood, for the rest of the program to her enjoyment of the affair, yet cause before reaching Aggie the leader of the Hip Hop describe entertainers who also felt it lacked a certain hype land.

Caucus, spoke next from the educate the masses they appeal around it.

After the introductory video, panel. to.

She said, “It was a great those in attendance heard The Howard graduate spoke The singer and songwriter event, but a lot of people from the panel on the issue frankly on the strong possibility also suggested people from missed out.” of going green and saving the Sophomore nursing major, environment. Wesley Morris, different majors combine of running out of natural a Raleigh native and A&T forces and resources to make resources such as coal, oil, and Deirdre Pugh also shared in Sparks’ opinion. When it came alumni spoke of his work with programs such as recycling gas in the next 40 years.

He encouraged Aggies to join bigger and more popular on to the use of entertainment the Beloved Community Center the movement to make change campus. figures to get the word out she in the community gardens as saying, “I need soldiers.”

Another panelist was Gloria also added her point mentioning, well as with other eco-friendly The war metaphor was Reuben.

The Canadian actress “A celebrity shouldn’t be the initiatives. extended when he admitted, “If who is known for her work determining factor in gaining D. Woods, a member of the we lose this battle right now, on NBC’s “E.R.” and TNT’s knowledge.” now defunct R&B/pop quintet Those looking for more Danity Kane and star of MTV’s “Raising the Bar” posed the our babies die.”

Annette Sparks, a junior question, “How do we live information on joining the “Making the Band 3” was also biological engineering major, lives in a greener way?” cause are suggested to visit in attendance. inspired the audience and She also suggested varying www.repoweramerica.org and She spoke honestly speakers with her thoughts ways to save energy like the use www.hiphopcaucus.org. confessing, “[I can] lend

The A&T Register’s guide to what’s going on this week in arts and entertainment.

on screen A Nightmare on elm street starring Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Hallner, and Rooney Mara will open in theaters on Friday. A reimagining of the horror icon Freddy Krueger, a serial-killer who wields a glove with four blades embedded in the fingers and kills people in their dreams, resulting in their real death in reality.

- J.V.

on shelves the adventures of bobby ray the debut album of B.o.B is in stores now.

Originally planned to be released in May 25, 2010 his hit single, “Nothin’ On You” made great success and pushd the album up to an earlier date.

Released under T.I’s label, Grand Hustle, it will feature Lupe Fiasco, and Hayley Wlliams of Paramore - J.V.

MOVIE Review: The Back-Up Plan

Baby bottles full of laughs in “Back-Up Plan” LaPorsha Lowry Scene Editor

This movie can be described as a romantic comedy in every sense of the phrase.

It was just as funny as it was cute. The awkward and hilarious situations that happen in the lives of an unexpectedly expecting couple bring laughs and warm your heart at the same time.

Jennifer Lopez stars as Zoe, a pet storeowner who is anxious to have a baby.

Although she had not yet found “the one” who she can marry and start a family with, she felt that having a baby would make her happy.

She buys a sperm sample from fertility center and is artificially inseminated.

Immediately after the procedure, she begins to feel better about the possibilities and meets Stan, played by Alex O’Loughlin, who hails the same cab as she does.

After running into him again at the neighborhood farmers’ market and again at her pet store, he invites her on romantic

20

Questions

yet awkward date in a private park.

She begins dating him only to find out that she is pregnant, and then the comedy ensues.

From the ultrasound to love scene that goes completely wrong, Zoe and Stan have to deal with circumstances like her hormones and sensibility to Stan being a dad (but not really) that end up both being comical and bringing them closer.

One of the funny situations was when she gets herself voted out of a “single mothers ‘and proud’” support group with an overly enthusiastic leader after they find out that she is involved with someone.

The overall funniest situation of the movie was the shenanigans that go on when one of the members of the support group delivers a baby in her house and leaves Stan traumatized.

There were some points where you could say that the story got a little over-sentimental in the fact that it seemed predictable.

However, the way that Stan handles the situation and is there for Zoe was refreshing.

Another funny scene was

on stage

BE Scene Contributor’s Meetings every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. with Anthony Anderson, who makes an appearance as the funny playground dad.

He meets Stan in a stressful state and offers advice about being a father.

This movie was surprisingly better than I thought that it would be, and offered non-stop laughs and sweet moments that warm the heart.

Some people may think that it is just another chick flick, but it is a film that both genders can appreciate.

Grade

on GCB 328A

B

1. How was the Chancellors installation? 2. Did Chancellor Martin get his chain from G-Unit? 3. Were you surprised at how well Syene did in his speech? 4. Did you hear that old dude call A&T AT&T? 5. How you gonna stand in front of a big sign that says A&T and mess up the name? 6. Can’t you look at our crappy e-mail system and know we’re not a telecommunications giant? 7. Why is our new Vice Chancellor of I.T. from IBM? 8. Don’t people realize IBM is the problem we have now? 9. Does IBM even make computers anymore? 10. Have you seen that ncat e-mail system? 11. Why can’t we just get G-Mail like everybody else? 12.Does she even know what G-Mail is? 13. With our revolving door chancellor system, if you’ve seen one installation, haven’t you seen them all? 14. Have you noticed A&T drops chancellors like Gucci drops mix tapes? 15. Have you heard about the immigration law in Arizona? 16. What about the man that opted to be killed by firing range in Utah? 17. Did you know the police could stop you to demand identification to make sure you’re not an illegal? 18. I’m sorry, are we in 1957 again?

19. How white will your white party outfit be? 20. Will it be white enough to prevent you from getting stopped in Arizona?

spread the love tour starring Golden Globe winner, Mo’Nique is this Friday at the Greensboro Coliseum starting at 8 p.m. Special guests include, her talk show cohost, Rodney Perry, comedian Tone- X. Tickets are $39.50 and $59.50 and available at the Greensboro Coliseum box office and ticketmaster.com - J.V.

on campus stroll:Vote:change presented by The Movement is a march to the polls for early voting Thursday. Students will be meeting in front of the A&T Four statue at 2:30 p.m. and marching downtown to the Old Courthouse to vote.

Bring a form of residency or get one form Village 2.

-J.V