Nov. 10, 2016

Page 1

THE

EXTRA POINT COLLEGIATETIMES collegiatetimes.com

112th YEAR, ISSUE 194

November 10, 2016

An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903

It’s Trump’s America Hillary Clinton’s narrow win in Virginia was not enough to break Donald Trump’s rural firewall.

Montgomery County: Blue in a sea of red

our views [editorial]

Positivity crucial in moving forward

MATT JONES assistant news editor

If your Facebook feed on Wednesday was full of Hillary Clinton supporters bemoaning the state of the country and Donald Trump supporters celebrating, you already know the news. The next president of the United States will be Donald Trump. The New York Times currently tallies Trump with 279 electoral votes and Clinton with 218. Races in New Hampshire, Minnesota and Arizona remain too close to call. Clinton leads by a little over 500 votes in New Hampshire with 96 percent of precincts reporting. However, Clinton has a slight lead in the popular vote. Currently, she has received 47.7 percent of the 118,469,039 votes cast, leading Trump by a fifth of a percentage point. Hillary Clinton did win Virginia. With all but 11 of 2,560 precincts reporting, Clinton received 49.46 percent of the vote. Trump won 44.72 percent of the vote. Third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein received 2.99 percent and 0.7 percent of the vote, respectively. Independent candidate Evan McMullin received 1.36 percent. Montgomery County was the only county in southwest Virginia outside of the City of Roanoke that was won by Clinton. She received 46.52 percent of the vote compared to Trump’s 45.22 percent. On campus, many voters voted for Clinton as well. Precinct E-3 in see ELECTION / page 4

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that Sutphin put in academics at a young age, he faced high school social stigmas, namely for his sexual orientation after he came out to his best friend at 15 years old. “There has been a lot of social change since then, but things weren’t quite the same in high school, and I lost a large group of my friends. Even though I did really well in high school academically, it was definitely a struggle socially being the only openly gay male in high school,” Sutphin said. “I was very glad when I came to college that I could find a community and sense of place here (at Virginia Tech). That’s how I overcame it.”

eve n t e e n months ago, Donald Trump announced his bid for presidency. Today, he has won it. It is with incredible apprehension and distress that we as a staff hope to bring voice to the concerns of our community. T he fe el i ng on ca mpus Wednesday morning was one of anxiety and disbelief, as this is a result that will profoundly shape our community and our nation in the following months. Montgomer y County has frequently voted Democrat in general elections including choosing Obama in 2008, Gov. McAullife in 2013 and Sen. Mark Warner in the 2014 midterms. This general election was no different. Montgomery County was an island of blue in a sea of red. And in this election overall, millennials overwhelmingly threw their support to Hillary Clinton, not only here in Virginia, but across the nation. Understanding the gravity of Tuesday’s results, several depa r t ment advisor s a nd professors t h roughout t he university have reached out to students offering support and resources as we struggle to come together, to understand one another and to feel that we are valued. Donald Trump is nothing if not unpredictable. It is perhaps this quality that is most troubling. He has ignited a following that gave voice to the frustration of middle-class Americans, but has conversely engulfed many Americans in fear. That fear stems from uncertainty about a man who has repeatedly shown a misunderstanding and dismissal of minorities, who has suggested that the court overrule the same-sex marriage precedent, that “Black Lives Matter” is a hate group and who attempted to normalize comments about sexual assault. When Americans cast their

see OFFICE / page 4

see EDITORIAL / page 2

ZACK WAJSGRAS / COLLEGIATE TIMES

Donald Trump speaks to an audience inside the Berglund Center in Roanoke during a campaign event where he spoke about the need to restore jobs to the coal mining industry in southwest Virginia, among other issues, Sept. 24, 2016.

Not your average Appalachian politician Virginia Tech graduate Michael Sutphin is redefining public service as a member of Blacksburg’s Town Council. ALY DE ANGELUS news staff writer

MICHAEL SUTPHIN

As the first floor of Squires Student Center began to fill with students, the crowd parted to reveal a crisply cut, navy blue suit hugging a man with true political tenacity. He pulled back the chair at a table by Au Bon Pain, seemingly unaware of his status as the youngest member of the Blacksburg Town Council. Sometimes called the council’s resident millennial by other council members, he seems at home in his valuable role in the community. In several interviews with the Collegiate Times, Michael Sutphin relayed a message to all people in the Blacksburg area: small town politics

can most certainly benefit from an approachable, culturally attuned, younger-generation official. “I am just your typical 32-year-old gay elected official in southwest Virginia who’s trying to learn how to play the ukulele while going to rezoning hearings,” Sutphin said. Raised with a mother who was a math- and science-teaching local political activist and a father who helped design nuclear submarines with defense contractors, Sutphin had the pedigree to become a Blacksburg Town Council member at age 27 with a continually renewing interest in state nonprofit organizations. Despite the unwavering faith

TEDxVirginiaTech is more than speakers in a spotlight The university’s fifth annual speaker showcase relies on an army of producers and directors to put on an event nine months in the making. HANNA KIRYLUK news staff writer

This Thursday, at the fifth annual TEDxVirginiaTech, 10 individuals will step onto the stage of the Moss Arts Center. While these speakers will have the opportunity to revel in the spotlight, there will be many overlooked heroes backstage and in the auditorium who, unknown to the audience, are carrying the event on their shoulders.

TEDx is a local, indep e n d e nt ve r sio n of Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED), a non-profit organization that allows individuals to propose “ideas worth spreading” by giving talks and presentations. Organizations interested in hosting their own TEDx events must apply for licenses, as there are various rules and stipulations that TED enforces. In November 2012, Virginia Tech’s Center for

WOMEN RUN MOSS ARTS “Women’s Work: Our Stories” until Nov. 17. page 5

Instructional Development and Educational Research (CIDER) hosted the first TEDx event at the university. Danielle Lusk, the associate director for CIDER and chair of the TEDxVirginiaTech committee, explained the reasoning behind the center’s decision to implement the event. “There are so many wonderful things going on around campus and so many people who are doing interesting things,” Lusk said.

“There really wasn’t a great venue for people … to share these wonderful things that they’re doing and (have) an audience to reach out (to).” Each yea r, TEDxVirginiaTech chooses a different theme around which to base the event — this year the theme is “Spark.” The lineup of speakers “(fits) our theme ‘Spark’ in that they’ve sparked passion see TEDX / page 3

VIRGINIA TECH FACES ACC CHALLENGE ACC remains best conference in college basketball. page 6

KAILA NATHANIEL / COLLEGIATE TIMES

Pablo Tarazaga, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, practices his TEDx talk, “It Takes a Smart Village,” on the future of smart infrastructure, Nov. 4, 2016.

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