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WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 16, 2013 VOLUME 120 ISSUE 42 Serving The University of Alabama since 1894

NEWS | INTEGRATION

145 women accept bids, 23 minority Video statement reveals UA greek system progress during past month By Mark Hammontree | News Editor Fifty years after the desegregation of The University of Alabama and two months after several black students were dropped from formal recruitment, 12 of the University’s 18 Panhellenic sororities have at least one black member. In a video statement sent to students Tuesday morning, President Judy Bonner gave an update on the continuous open bidding process that has been in place since Sept. 16. In Tuesday’s video, Bonner said sororities had issued a total of 200 bids, 145 of which had been accepted. Of those students who accepted bids, 23 were minorities, including 14 black students. Bonner did not give the number of bids that were extended to minority students, and UA Director of Media Relations Cathy Andreen told The Crimson View Dr. Bonner’s White that the University does not have those video at: numbers. “You can be assured that the Office for Greek thecw.co/ Affairs will continue integrationupdate to work with both local chapters and national organizations to provide support for all members, and we continue to develop plans for the spring 2014 and fall 2014 recruitment periods, so our progress will translate into lasting change in the months and years to come,” Bonner said in the video. The Crimson White attempted to get clarification on the plans for the spring and fall 2014 semesters, but Andreen said further information was currently unavailable as plans are still under development. “Sororities may participate in continuous open bidding and pledge new members at any time through the academic year as long as their total chapter membership is below chapter total,” Andreen said in an emailed statement. Tuesday, afternoon, the faculty senate met to, among other agenda items, elect its two faculty senate representatives to the task force that will convene to address the issue of discrimination and corruption on campus. Before the senate attended to the voting and regular business, Bonner addressed the body in two parts: the first concerning the updates to the bidding process and the second concerning financial and budgetary issues facing the University. The first part of Bonner’s statement almost matched the transcript of her video message. After speaking, Bonner left the meeting and did not offer time for senators to respond or ask questions. Toward the end of the senate meeting, Faculty Senate President Steve Miller opened the floor for senators to voice their opinions and bring any issues to the body. Senator Jennifer Purvis, an associate professor of women’s studies, said Bonner’s representation of bid numbers was not an accurate measure of solving the issues. “Clearly, whoever is writing the president’s speeches is not fully cognizant of the issues that the faculty and students are concerned about, because that was just a bean count. I’m sorry,” Purvis said to the other senators. “As if the numbers of people who are offered bids who have accepted is a sure sign of progress.” Purvis said she thought a new non-discrimination policy would be a better sign of progress on the administration’s part. In the video statement, Bonner also said other schools have contacted the administration seeking advice on taking similar actions at their own institutions. “As you might imagine, we have received

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CW | Austin Bigoney Topics discussed during Tide Talk’s fourth installment included community-wide revolutions, recycling, sense of self and genetically modified organisms.

NEWS | TIDE TALKS

Tide Talks sparks conversation Group promotes sharing of student ideas, platforms By Abbey Crain and Brooke Garner | CW Staff Sam Gerard, Timothy Keele, Tiara Dees and Emily Broman filled the Ferguson Center Theater Tuesday night with talk of community-wide revolutions and genetically modified organisms, sense of self and recycling in the fourth installment of Tide Talks. The event focuses on getting students to understand they are able to start a

revolution as long as ideas are thought through and shared. “Every revolution starts with a single snap … but that snap doesn’t just stop with you,” David Phelps, president of Tide Talks said. SGA senate member Sam Gerard kicked off the night discussing the importance of recycling on campus. Gerard started the One-On-One project, later coined as Recycle Bama, pairing a recycling bin with every trash can on campus. Timothy Keele then took the stage,

Every revolution starts with a single snap…but that snap doesn’t just stop with you. — David Phelps

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SPORTS | ADAPTED ATHLETICS

Adapted sports searches for new coach Miles Thompson accepts coaching job in Great Britain By Benjamin Clark | Contributing Writer The University of Alabama’s adapted athletics department will soon begin the search to replace a head coach who won two national championships in two different sports. Miles Thompson, who coached both the men’s wheelchair basketball and the wheelchair tennis teams to national titles in 2013 will leave to become the coach of

Great Britain’s national women’s wheelchair basketball team at the end of the basketball season. Thompson became the first coach of the men’s wheelchair basketball team when it was formed in 2006, and his team won its first national championship this year. He helped launch the wheelchair tennis program this year as well, also serving as its first head coach. Last weekend, his first-year team won the team national championship, finishing four points ahead of the University of Texas-Arlington at the national tournament held at the NorthRiver Yacht Club in

Tuscaloosa. “Of course, it was a hard decision to leave,” Thompson said. “You want to be able to follow these student athletes through this process, and I won’t be able to [do] that with some of them, and that is what makes it difficult.” However, he will see the journey from beginning to end for players such as Ryan Hynes. Hynes has played for the men’s wheelchair basketball team for the past four years, and now the senior and Thompson will share their SEE THOMPSON PAGE 5

TODAYON CAMPUS

Chance of Rain

77º/64º

72º/54º

CONTACT

Rain

per •

Thursday

recycle th i se

pa

Wednesday

Ple a

tomorrow

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INSIDE

today

WHAT: Jazz Standards Combo w/ Crimson Slides WHEN: 7:30 p.m. WHERE: Moody Music Building

per • Ple a

10 9 9

WHAT: Taste of Germany WHEN: 6-8 p.m. WHERE: Parham Hall Community Room

pa

Sports Puzzles Classifieds

Student concert

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2 4 8

WEATHER

WHAT: ‘Overdraft’ Film Showing WHEN: 5:30-7 p.m. WHERE: Ferguson Center Theater

today’s paper Briefs Opinions Culture

Foreign food

recycle thi

WHAT: National Fossil Day WHEN: 4-6 p.m. WHERE: Smith Hall

Film on campus

se

Paleontology celebration

email

editor@cw.ua.edu

website cw.ua.edu


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