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SPORTS
The Tide thrashes the Trojans, 22-4
Tickets sell out in 71 minutes
CW|Babatunde Ajilore Brian Davis, a junior majoring in electrical engineering, logs in to to rolltide.com to purchase his football tickets.
Some students encounter technical problems By Victor Luckerson Senior Staff Reporter In a little more than an hour, 11,000 student tickets for the 2009 Crimson Tide football season were claimed Monday morning. That number was not enough to satiate a campus populating more than 20,000 and many students were left emptyhanded. Ryan Milster, a sophomore majoring in general business, said he logged onto the rolltide.com ticket Web site the night before to ensure he would be able to purchase tickets. He said he entered the waiting room, a page that included a timer that counted down 60 seconds and told students not to refresh the Web page, at 6:45 a.m. Milster said on several occasions, the waiting room timer would go down to one and the Web site would freeze. He said he finally gave up trying to get through around 8:30 a.m. “It seems like they weren’t prepared for that many people,” Milster said. “The way they have the site set up to work with that is not working.” Tony Hearns, a sophomore majoring in psychology, said he got up at 6 a.m. to log onto rolltide.com. “This was my first time really trying to get tickets,” he said. “I was amped.” However, Hearns said he was never able to get beyond the waiting room and gave up around 8 a.m. “Nothing ever changed,” he said. Although there was an online waiting room, some students said students who logged on earlier were not necessarily given access first. Sarah Masterson, a junior majoring in ecology, said her suitemate who logged on at 6:30 got tickets before another suitemate who logged on at 6. Masterson herself was unable to claim tickets. “[The Web site] would slow down all of a sudden, stop the countdown at one and pretend it was loading another page,” she said. “I would get really excited.” She said then the she would get a “page cannot be displayed” error through her Internet browser. Doug Walker of UA Athletics Media Relations said the University was using multiple servers to handle the mass
See TICKETS, page 3
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Wednesday, April 8, 2009
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“Take Back the Night” rally marches for abuse awareness
Opinions: Students respond to tickets .....5 Sudents march to ʻTake Back the Nightʼ........6 Lifestyles: ʻSandmanʼ an epic comic ..............7 Sports: Saban talks about A-Day .....................8
Hilliard to run for Congress By Drew Taylor Senior Staff Reporter On a cold Monday afternoon in front of the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, state Rep. Earl Hilliard Jr., D-Jefferson, announced his candidacy for the Seventh Congressional District being vacated by Congressman Artur Davis, who announced his gubernatorial candidacy in February following Gov. Bob Riley. Hilliard is the son of former U.S. Congressman Earl Hilliard Sr., who in 1992 became the first black Alabamian to be elected to the position since Reconstruction. Hilliard lost his seat to Davis in 2002. In his speech, Hilliard maintained Davis did a superb job serving four terms in the United States Congress and plans to continue his legacy by working with economic development in the area. “I will commit every day to working for you the way you deserve to be represented,” Hilliard said. In addition, Hilliard expressed the need for politicians to work together with President Obama’s economic recovery plan.
“There are talented people who can’t find jobs and are moving away,” Hilliard said. “Bottomline, we need to reengineer our approach to politics.” Drawing from his past experience in independent filmmaking and television production, Hilliard compared making a film to political action and said a project cannot be accomplished if the right elements don’t come together. “If an actor doesn’t learn his lines or a scene isn’t edited properly, no matter how great the film is, it will never be successful,” Hilliard said. A l a b a m a ’s S eve n t h Congressional District is comprised of 12 counties, including Tuscaloosa, Jefferson and Pickens County. Terri Sewell, a lawyer from Selma, announced her candidacy for the position in February. Several public officials, including Sens. Rodger Smitherman and Bobby Singleton, Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot and former Selma Mayor James Perkins, have expressed interest in running, CW | RF Rains but have yet to announce their Earl Hilliard stands in front of the Tuscaloosa County Courtcandidacies. house, where he announced his candiacy for Congress Monday.
New SGA council sworn into office By Karissa Bursch Staff Reporter On the lawn of the Gorgas House, a small crowd of University students, family members and well-wishers sat to watch as the old brought in the new. The old SGA council stepped down late Tuesday afternoon and the new SGA council members were sworn into office for the 2009-10 year. The new council members sat in chairs on the second floor porch of the Gorgas House while each was signed into office by the former chief justice. After Steven Oliver, new SGA president, was sworn in he addressed the crowd of onlookers with some remarks about the upcoming year. Oliver said there is greater significance in this election because this election year has brought in more than 50 percent of students voting, which is the first time more than 14,000 students has played a role in picking leadership. “This is an unprecedented call to action,” Oliver said. “Students made it clear they want their SGA to use their
CW | RF Rains New SGA President Steven Oliver deivers a speech at Gorgas House. resources to represent their voice. We are going to work with the students and faculty to create the best academic environment.” Oliver acknowledged the fact that the election was close and he said he looked at his new
office as a chance to fulfill the responsibility of providing a voice to all the students. “The election made one thing clear to me — I’m determined to use my time as president to make student government more productive and beneficial,” Oliver said. “We are a campus divided but we will work hard to reach out to all types of students so no one gets left behind.” In the address, Oliver said he that he wanted to begin were to make sure the council members get out of the office, and he wants to start regular meetings with student organizations. “Members of the council will not be restricted to the office and will spend time on the Quad and the promenade listening to student opinion,” Oliver said. “There will also be biweekly meetings with student organizations.” Oliver ended his address by lauding the University and its students. “We’re fortunate to attend the University during this time of growth and expansion,” Oliver said. “This student body is the most talented and equipped that the University has ever seen.”
Former Chief Justice Emerald Greywoode said she appreciated all Oliver stated in his address. “He recognized how the SGA truly is faced with a new era,” Greywoode said. “This is a wonderful time of opportunity for SGA to make this an SGA for all students. I would hope that next year this enthusiasm will continue.” Greywoode said she feels the new SGA council members are prepared because of their past experience. “A number of [the new council members] were helping in different positions in the past administration so now they can help with the new administration,” Greywoode said. Former SGA council and senate members were also present for the inauguration. Allen Ross, the former executive vice president, said he is excited for the new executive council and for Oliver. “I know the next executive council has an extensive platform but they will accomplish all they go out to do and more,” Ross said. “There’s a lot of work ahead of us but we’re ready,” Oliver said after the address.
Kirby assesses year, accomplishments By Danielle Drago Senior Staff Reporter
accomplishments this year were made to ultimately benefit UA students, both present and future. Roughly one year ago, on the “I believe that the SGA presieve of his inauguration, incomdent and his or her represening SGA president Cason Kirby tatives have a responsibility to stood in the SGA president’s not only the current students room staring at the pictures of at the University but to all all of the past SGA presidents, students who will one day call knowing that his face would be our University home. I think the next one to appear on the we have a responsibility to the wall. future of our institution, and I “I looked at those faces and think student leaders must be thought, ‘What in the world very cognoscente of that,” he have I gotten myself into? I’m said. so far over my head,’” he said. Once inaugurated, Kirby’s Yesterday afternoon, mere administration started working hours before he stepped down immediately on implementing from his position, Kirby said he feels assuming the role of the the most talented group of stu- a 24-hour library system, one of SGA president is the most ben- dents I’ve ever known. We have the main parts of his platform. an amazing team and I really “That’s something that I felt eficial thing he has done. “I feel like for me, person- owe them for all of our accom- our students needed on this ally, this is the most meaning- plishments this year. I feel we campus. I felt that having a 24ful, most important thing I’ve were able to work well together hour library would really speak to our institution’s commitever done,” he said. “I’ve been and accomplish a lot.” Kirby said the SGA ment to the academic success so fortunate to be working with
Cason Kirby
P.O. Box 870170 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 Newsroom: 348-6144 | Fax: 348-4116 | Advertising: 348-7845 | Classifieds: 348-7355 Letters, op-eds: letters@cw.ua.edu Press releases, announcements: news@cw.ua.edu
Vol. 115, Issue 112
of our students,” he said. The 24-hour library system will become permanent, Kirby said. “[It has been] overwhelmingly successful. My policy from the very beginning was if a student wants to study, whether it is 4 o’clock in the afternoon or 4 o’clock in the morning, they should have a safe and convenient place to do so. I think we’ve accomplished that this year,” he said. Another success of the Kirby administration was the reformation of the emergency student loan system, which allows students to take out loans from the SGA. “With the current economic situation, times are tough. So many students are struggling [financially] now. So, we’ve tried to do as much as we can
See KIRBY, page 6