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Local celebrities rally together to fundraise for cancer research.!9
The South’s Liveliest College Newspaper
Tech to leave Academic Common Market By Vivian Fan News Editor
As of Summer 2011, Tech will no longer participate in the Academic Commons Market (ACM), which provides in-state tuition to out-of-state students who do not currently have nuclear and radiological engineering (NRE) and polymer and fiber engineering (PTFE) programs in their home state. Tech administrators decided to withdraw from the program due to the economic downturn and the tightened budget from the University System Board of Regents and administration. “It costs Georgia Tech a great deal of money to subsidize out-of-state students having in-state tuition. In the tight budget, we can no longer afford to be part of this program. We decided several years ago not to be a part of the Academic Common Market for new degree programs at Georgia Tech,” said Dr. Anderson Smith, Senior Vice Provost of Academic Affairs. The program, which is coordinated by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), is a 16-state agreement that allows for students to pay a lower cost for education in certain programs. Participating states include Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia. Each participating state is responsible for the actual implementation of the ACM. “Essentially when an institution decides to participate in the academic common market, [the institution] absorb the cost for the student. They weigh that cost and absorb that cost. With the fiscal economic times and the constraint, they made the decision to withdraw... All students currently enrolled in the program will be given time to finish the program,” said Trudy Blackmon, assistant director of SREB’s Student Access Programs and Services. “We realize that the number of students in the Academic Common Market programs will go down, but even if two thirds of the out-of-state students decide not to come, we would still be financially better off,” Smith said. Although the program will officially end at Tech by Summer 2011, students currently enrolled in the undergraduate NRE and PTFE programs will not be affected and will still continue to receive the benefits from the ACM, so long as they maintain all See ACM, page 3
BUDGET REDUCTIONS
Student academic fees will increase
Board of Regents votes yes on raising excellence fee by $100 $100
FEE INCREASE IN NOV. 2009, BRINGING FEE TOTAL TO $200.
$100
FEE IMPOSED IN DEC. 2008.
6%
The decreasing state revenues have led to an ultimate 8% budget cut to the Board of Regents and a fee increase for students. The regents responded to the initial 6% budget cut with an initial $100 fee. By Vijai Narayanan Assistant News Editor
Tuesday, the Board of Regents (BoR) for the University System of Georgia (USG) voted unanimously to double the mandatory academic excellence fee introduced last year to a total of $200. The BoR instituted the fee last Jan. due to the financial crisis. Also, the BoR voted to reduce the state funded budget for the Institute by an additional 2%, bringing the total percentage of budget cuts to 8% for the 2010 fiscal year. “Clearly I’m not very pleased with having to see another increase in fees especially mid-year, but after learning more about how this fee will be implemented and why, I think that it is rather justified,” said Alina Staskevicius, undergraduate student body president. The fee was first imposed in order to cover budget shortfalls for the last fiscal year since tuition rates could not be changed due to the Guaranteed Tuition Plan (commonly referred to as Fixed for Four). The BoR voted to end the plan in April, barring students entering the USG in the current fiscal year from participating in the program. The BoR has set an expiration date for the mandatory excellence fee in 2012. However, this date coincides with the final implementation date for the Guaranteed Tuition Plan, and signals that the USG may be willing to consider increas-
8%
REDUCTION
ing tuition rates in the future if the budget fails to improve. “I think that because students are only absorbing 14% of the impact from this 8% cut it’s not asking for too much from the students. With faculty furloughs and the elimination of positions they’ve accounted for roughly 60%of those cuts,however, obviously it puts students in a very hard position because of the fact that this fee is not being covered by the HOPE scholarship or other scholarships,” Staskevicius said. The BoR also approved a moratorium on mandatory student fee increases for fiscal year 2011, with the exception of fees for public and private venture projects demonstrating significant student support. The latter clause was added following a letter sent to USG Chancellor Erroll B. Davis by the SGA Executive Presidents from Tech and the University of Georgia. The letter commended the BoR for attempting to cover the budget shortfalls without student fee increases, but also asked a moratorium not be placed on all other mandatory student fees. “Because of the fact that this $100 is coming in and is meant to compensate for state budget cuts, we want that money to go where the state’s money would have been, which is in academic departments. Having placed a moratorium on all student fees would have put us in a very hard position of having to choose between bigger classes and say, our
REDUCTION
health center,” Staskevicius said. The Institute will have control of how the mandatory academic excellence fee will be spent. According to Staskevicius, the possibility of overcoming the moratorium removes the burden on Tech to fund all campus resources, including non-academic entities using the mandatory academic excellence fee. This also means, however, that the Institute could raise other mandatory fees such as the athletic fee, student activity fee or reccenter fee. Doing so would require the approval of the Institute-wide committee on mandatory student fees and the Institute president, before being considered by the BoR for approval. The increase in the mandatory academic excellence fee also applies to graduate students. According to Linda Harley, the Graduate Student Body President, the mandatory fee unfairly penalizes graduate students because they have never benefited from the Guaranteed Tuition Plan. “If you run the numbers like I have then you will see that tuition on campus is very low but the out of pocket costs for graduate students is very high. In my mind that makes the argument for a tuition increase and not a fee increase,” Harley said. Graduate students will not be able to pay for the mandatory excellence fee through stipends, grants or scholarships, See Fee, page 3
Proposed dead week policy passes at faculty senate By Matt Schrichte Contributing Writer
1IPUP CZ $ISJT $BTTJEZ Student Publications
SGA Vice President of Student Affairs Jimmy Williams oversees discussion about WPFE policy at the Faculty Senate.
As of Tuesday, the Faculty Senate approved the new Dead Week policy. The comprehensive Week Preceding Final Examinations (WPFE, as it is now officially called) policies will replace the current Dead Week and final examinations week guidelines after this semester. The changes, which define what is and is not allowed during the WPFE and finals week, were unanimously approved by the Faculty Senate at this week’s meeting. “I think violations [of the old policy] were seen by almost every
student,” said Alina Staskevicius , undergraduate student body president. Because of student interest, SGA pursued overhauling Dead Week policy, which took more than eight months of work by two separate SGA administrations and countless faculty and staff. “The current policy only allows quizzes and tests to be restricted during Dead Week. There is nothing else beyond that,” said Rob Parrish, SGA academic affairs chair. The new WPFE policy implements several changes intended to improve upon the existing framework. It recognizes that two types
of courses exist at Tech, those with traditional final exams and those with alternative assessments (such as labs and senior design courses). For courses with traditional final exams, WPFE policies stipulate that under no circumstances are tests or quizzes allowed during the WPFE. The new policies will allow home work and/or projects to be due during WPFE. Even so, projects due during this time period must be indicated on the course syllabus before the last day to drop courses with a grade of “W”. The policy also states that major See Policy, page 5
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Technique
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Founded in 1911, the Technique is the student newspaper of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and is an official publication of the Georgia Tech Board of Student Publications. The Technique publishes on Fridays weekly during the fall and spring and biweekly during the summer. A DVERTISING: Information and rate cards can be found online at nique.net/ads. The deadline for reserving ad space is Friday at 5 p.m. one week before publication. To place a reservation, for billing information, or for any other questions please e-mail us at ads@nique.net. You may reach us by telephone at (404) 894-2830, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. COVERAGE R EQUESTS: Requests for coverage and tips should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief and/or the relevant section editor. OFFICE: 353 Ferst Dr., Room 137 Atlanta, GA 30332-0290 Telephone: (404) 894-2830 Fax: (404) 894-1650
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Emily Chambers editor@nique.net Telephone: (404) 894-2831
NEWS EDITOR: Vivian Fan / news@nique.net OPINIONS EDITOR: Kaitlin Goodrich / opinions@nique.net FOCUS EDITOR: Kate Comstock / focus@nique.net ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Jennifer Aldoretta / entertainment@ nique.net SPORTS EDITOR: Nishant Prasadh / sports@nique.net
FOLLOW US ONLINE: http://nique.net Twitter: @the_nique
Copyright Š 2009, Emily Chambers, Editor-in-Chief, and by the Georgia Tech Board of Student Publications. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the Editor-in-Chief or from the Board of Student Publications. The ideas expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Board of Student Publications, the students, staff, or faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology or the University System of Georgia. First copy free—for additional copies call (404) 894-2830
NEWS
From the files of the GTPD...
gating tent, breaking the leg.
Campus Crime
Get Out the Way!
By Emily Chambers Editor-in-Chief Rash Oender
On Friday Nov. 6 at 11:30 a.m. a student made a report of indecent exposure and theft in the CRC. The victim was in the CRC when a white male, about 5’6�, entered the locker room and exposed his genitalia. The man then repeatedly asked “Sir, what do I do about this rash?�. The victim turned his head to avoid eye contact with the offender’s “rash�, and when he turned back the offender had run out of the locker room. The victim then realized that his brown-striped Adidas shoes had been left where the offender
had been standing and were now missing. The rash offender had still not been located at press time. Cutting Corners
On Saturday Nov. 7 at 7:54 p.m. a visitor to campus for the Wake Forest football game reported a vehicular accident on the lawn outside of the sustainable education building. The complaintant had set up a tent to tailgate, and after the game ended, witnessed a Facilities operated golf cart hop the curb in order to avoid traffic. The golf cart then clipped the leg of the complaintant’s tail-
On Friday Nov. 7 at 10:25 p.m. an officer was flagged down and informed that a student had been pitching glass bottles off of a third-story window to the alley behind Alpha Tau Omega. The complaintant said that the bottles nearly hit two pedestrians in the alley, although neither pedestrian had stayed to speak with the officer. The officer went to the back of the fraternity house and made contact with a student who acknowledged that he had been throwing the bottles. The student said that he had not been aware there were pedestrians there, and cleaned the glass up without further incident. The student received a code of conduct violation for his actions.
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Do you think the new Dead Week Policy is sufficient? !"##$%&$'( 5/31,75,.
NEWS
Technique t /PWFNCFS t 3
Council Clippings
Breaking
This week in Student Government
E
ach Tuesday, elected members of the two houses of the Student Government Association, the Undergraduate House of Representatives (UHR) and the Graduate Student Senate (GSS), convene to consider allocation bills and discuss issues facing campus. Here is a summary of those two meetings.
By Vijai Narayanan, Assistant News Editor
This edition of Council Clippings covers the UHR and GSS meetings from Nov. 17, 2009. American Nuclear Society
The American Nuclear Society (ANR) requested funding from UHR and GSS to host an event at the Georgia Aquarium. The intended purpose of the event was to increase the visibility of ANR on campus and recruit more members. The bill specifically requested funds to purchase 60 tickets to the Georgia Aquarium. However, the organizational representatives were absent from both UHR and GSS meetings. GSS failed the bill with a vote of 4-24-0. Because the event was intended to recruit additional members, the bill did not conform to JFC policy. Since representatives were not present at the meetings, a UHR member who is a member of ANR spoke on behalf of the organization. In order to vote on the bill, UHR would have to waive the bylaws, which representatives felt was unnecessary for this bill. Instead, UHR amended the bill to $0, thereby allowing it to conform to JFC policy. The bill was then failed with a vote of 2-43-0.
ACM
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of their eligibility requirements. Students may still apply to b enter the ACM if they receive admission into the specific programs and the Institute, as long as they also apply through their state academic commons coordinator, until 2011.
Because the house did not receive unanimous consent, the bill will still move to conference committee. Men s Lacrosse
The Men’s Lacrosse Team requested funding to replace their uniforms and gloves. The Men’s Lacrosse League requires players to have matching uniforms and gloves, with one set each for home and away games. GSS passed the bill with a vote of 23-4-0. JFC made several recommendations for the bill, including amending the specific amounts requested for gloves and uniforms. UHR accepted JFC recommendations and amended the bill accordingly. The total cost of the bill after amendments came to $6,200 and passed UHR with a vote of 45-10. Because GSS did not amend the bill according to JFC policy, the bill will go to conference committee. Assistant Accountant
SGA created an Assistant Accountant position earlier this semester. In order to fund the position a bill was put forward totaling approximately $4,075. The funding would provide for a part time position for 15 hours Currently, Smith has stated that Tech would probably not return to the program unless a compelling case is made in the future at the undergraduate level. The Academic Common Market programs will still be in place at the graduate level, and have not been affected by the withdrawal.
per week for 25 weeks of the fiscal year. The Assistant Accountant would be responsible for helping the current SGA Accountant and be responsible for processing check requests, working with reimbursement and handling agency fund deposits. GSS failed the bill with a vote of 6-21-1. They stated that the position should be paid for by student organizations requesting funding from SGA, since the Assistant Account would specifically aid those organizations. In order for the bill to pass, the UHR would have to pass the bill with an enactment ratio of 79.6% UHR commenced a debate about whether or not the GSS ruling was appropriate and whether student organizations should provide the funding for the position. Some representatives argued that the new position would only serve the portion of student organizations that had agency accounts on campus and therefore it would be unfair to use funds provided by all student organizations to fund the position. The motion failed to garner support and UHR passed the bill with a vote of 35-7-4, meeting the enactment ratio necessary to override the GSS ruling.
Fee
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and will have to pay the cost out of pocket. Harley said that another important difference between undergraduates and graduates is the fact that graduate students are required to have health insurance, and this expense alone accounts for a significant portion
Bubble the
A
lot of things went on outside the bubble of Tech in the past week. Here are a few important events taking place throughout the nation and the world.
9/11 Suspects to stand trial in New York City US Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Wednesday that five suspected 9/11 terrorists would be tried in a civilian federal court in New York City. One of the terrorists to be put on trial is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed 9/11 mastermind. Thus far, suspects have been held in the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Critics of the decision have argued to have the suspects tried in a military tribunal, stating that a civilian trial would give the terrorists a well publicized platform to spread their ideology. Officials have also raised security concerns about holding the trial in New York. On Wednesday, the White House fired back, stating that a civilian trial would give no more opportunity for Mohammed to “spew his hateful ideology” than in a military tribunal. Holder
of a graduate student’s semester expenditure. She said that having to pay an additional mandatory student fee only increases the financial burden placed on graduate students. When asked about the clause stating that the moratorium on other mandatory fees may be
promised to seek the death penalty for all five suspects.
UCLA tuition protest results in arrests Soon after the start of the University of California Regents board meeting on Wednesday, demonstrators interrupted a presentation by UC President Mark Yudof in order to protest against proposed tuition hikes that could total up to 25%. 14 people were arrested after rushing into the meeting room and locking arms and singing the civil rights anthem, “We shall overcome.” The UC Board of Regents has been considering raising tuition by 32 percent over the following two years. Hundreds of protestors assembled outside the UC Board of Regents meeting, chanting and waving signs. The meeting was closed to visitors following repeated outbursts by students and union members. Two students were injured in the demonstrations. The protestors were ticketed for unlawful assembly or disturbing the peace and released. Despite the commotion, the Board of Regents voted to approve the tuition hike.
waived under special circumstances, Harley said, “We felt that the $100 fee should be for the purpose of making sure the quality of academics stays high on campus. That way the faculty are retained and the infrastructure for academic departments are not messed with.”
technique
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NEWS
Library receives grant for digital repository By Coby Lu Contributing Writer
The Tech Library and Information Center received an $857,000 grant over three years for Georgia Library Learning Online system (GALILEO), a repository system of scholarly digital content. GALILEO is a virtual library service that provides a centralized resource database to state institutions, including the universities, public libraries and high schools. These services include licensing access to databases and journals. “We worked with the central GALILEO group on this particular project to get some scholarly repositories up and running,” said Tyler Walters, Associate Director for Technology and Resource Services for the library and principal investigator on the grant. Each individual campus will
have their own repository and these will feed a centralized statewide repository. Most of the campuses have already set up their own individual repositories, but a few are still in the process of developing such repositories. The goal of the first year is to set up the central site and harvest metadata from the existing repositories. Later in the year the goal will also be to broaden the three repositories that are still being developed. The second year’s goal is populating the repositories with digitized materials and doing outreach and promotion. The goal is to fill these repositories with scholarly materials which include journal articles, technical papers, research reports and any scholarship or research output created by faculty and students. Additionally, marketing efforts will be
made to get students and faculty interested in depositing materials through such a service. The third year’s emphasis will switch to teaching others how to initiate similar projects. Currently only four or five other states do projects similar to this. While these repositories do not have to be at the state level, this system is convenient since university systems are state-based and it is a costly project for a single campus. “The goal is to look at the consortial model, how we can build digital repositories like this in a consortial model so that the costs are lowered for individual campuses but at the same time they can collect and provide access to the material that student and faculty want to put in there,” Walters said. The key difference between other states that have similardigi-
tal repositories with this project is that member institutions will have their own repositories in addition to the statewide collection. This will allow each individual campus to maintain their own content while still having access to the content of the entire collaboration. While this is a grant project, the hope is that the repository will be an ongoing project. So another main concern of the project is to focus on the sustainability of the project beyond the period of grant funding. “During the grant phase we want to build the basic infrastructure and service but we want to do it in a way where we can do it as economically as possible. We want to show value so that after the grant period we can look for additional funding to sustain the repository service,” Walters said.
NEWS BRIEF Provost search committee named Institute President G.P. “Bud” Peterson announced the members of the provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs search committee. Former provost Dr. Gary Schuster stepped down Oct. 12. The committee is comprised of several administrators and faculty members, with Steve Salbu, dean of the College of Management, as chair. The committee aims to find a replacement by July 2010. Peterson announced some other organizational changes as well, such as the creation of a new executive vice president of research (EVPR), who will have overall responsibility for all research at Tech. Other changes include the elevation of the current position of vice provost for academic diversity to a vice president for diversity.
technique the south’s liveliest college newspaper.
NEWS
Technique t /PWFNCFS t
College of Management receives $25 million
the expansion of the graduate program by attracting more Ph.D. students. “Longer term, through the Challenge, we expect to endow dozens of student scholarships and fellowships, 15 new faculty chairs and professorships and select programs,� Salbu said. CoM officials and the donor began meeting months ago to discuss a potential donation. These talks culminated with a commit-
ment on Oct. 30 and then officially signed on campus on Nov. 5. The anonymous donor will match dollar for dollar any gift or commitment coming in until June 2012 by third party donors. He or she will then have a span of five years to distribute the payment. “We anticipate the first payment as early as Dec. 2009, which will include both the Dean’s Discretionary Fund and the Challenge Grant [distributions] and
annually thereafter,� said Barrett Carson, Vice President for Development. Gifts by other donors will go into separate funds, and the $5 million will go into another endowment fund under the jurisdiction of Salbu. Should challenge donations fall short of the projected $20 million mark, any remaining funds from the anonymous donor will stay in an unrestricted endowment fund to academically
support the CoM. “Imagine a series of buckets, if you will. The first bucket will serve to receive the [$5 million],� Carson said. “The triggering challenge donors’ monies will be in a series of individually named endowment funds held separately from the anonymous donor’s endowment.� The Georgia Tech Foundation, Inc. will receive the endowment funds and will only disburse funds, in accordance with current policy. “I’m highly optimistic that we will achieve the full challenge goal by mid-2012, which is our timeframe. Alumni and friends of the College of Management are fiercely loyal,� Salbu said. “The successful challenge that was implemented under Terry Blum’s deanship allowed us to build our beautiful business school facility entirely on private donations.� The challenge fund was developed in reference to the CoM’s last commitment campaign in Dec. 2000, which raised over $45 million through gifts and commitments towards the construction of the current CoM building at Tech Square. “The economy at the time was also not ideal, but the challenge inspired numerous donors to step forward, and today their names throughout the facility stand as testimony to their generosity,� Carson said.
midterm. These grades will not be permanent and never appear on an official Institute transcript. Courses with nontraditional assessments will adhere to a slightly different set of standards. Homework, lab reports and alternative assessments are the only items that may be due during WPFE. The alternative assessment may consist of only a project or
lab practicum. Lab reports may be due for such courses during WPFE only if assigned prior to that week. No additional assignments will be permitted during finals week. Homework can be due during WPFE only if it is listed in syllabus prior to drop day. The alternative assessment (e.g. project, lab report, etc) can be administered or turned in during either WPFE or finals week.
Some faculty members present at the meeting voiced concern over possible future litigation against Tech or themselves and were worried about opening themselves and the Institute up to a legal risk. Their concerns were assuaged when the presenters of the WPFE policy agreed to change the wording in clause C.7. from “must� to “should�. The clause originally read “All quizzes and tests must be graded and reported to students on or before the last day of class of WPFE.� Ultimately, it was understood by the faculty members that the proposed changes would benefit them by better defining what is and is not allowed. With regards to changing a class examination time during finals week, requests must be submitted to the chief academic officer for the department of instruction for approval no later than one week before the beginning of final examinations. If a student has two exams
scheduled for the same period, the conflict will be resolved by the course having the lowest number in the conflict. The final exam for that course will be administered during the exam conflict period. Also, a student reporting to a final exam room more than fifteen minutes after the start time will not be allowed to take the exam without a satisfactory explanation to the instructor. “I think this addresses the legitimate issues,� said Joseph Hughes, Senior Associate Chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. According to the WPFE press release, students who believe that a professor is violating WPFE policies can follow the Student Academic Grievance Policy in the General Catalog. “We plan to launch a marketing campaign so students know who to go to,� Staskevicius said. All of the recently approved policies will appear in the course catalog sometime within the next year, likely by next semester.
By Zimu Yang Staff Writer
The College of Management (CoM) received a commitment of $25 million from an anonymous source. The college will store $20 million in an endowment fund called the One-To-One Challenge Grant, which aims to increase charitable commitments and donations to the college. The remaining amount is to be allocated at the discretion of Steve Salbu, Dean of the CoM. “The gift was inspired by the anonymous donor’s desire to support the College of Management’s ambitious goals. The donor understands the highly competitive arms-race among top business schools, and the need for us to have the resources necessary to achieve our vision and our goals,� Salbu said. “The timing of the commitment was triggered in part by the realization of the anonymous donor that as revenues were under pressure at other top business schools, coupled with declining values of endowments and philanthropy, the commitment would place Georgia Tech in a competitive advantage.� The donated funds will provide the CoM with an opportunity to enhance the student’s advising program by further hiring of undergraduate and graduate counseling and career services. Other goals of the CoM include
Policy
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projects should have components due prior to WPFE. It specifically mentions that any homework over new material taught during WPFE will also have to be explicitly listed on the course syllabus by drop day. Progress report grades of “S� or “U� will continue to be assigned for all classes numbered 1000 and 2000 each semester prior to the
1IPUP CZ +PTI 4BOEMFS Student Publications
The College of Management received a $25 million commitment for its challenge fund. This is modeled partly after the challenge commitment campaign done to finance the current CoM’s building.
Courses with Traditional Final Exam Courses with Alternative Assessment ALLOWED
NOT ALLOWED
ALLOWED
NOT ALLOWED
Homeworks
Tests
Homeworks
Tests
Projects
Quizzes
Quizzes
Lab Reports and Lab Practicums
Additional Lab Reports/ Lab Practicums
WPFE
Finals Week
Any Additional Assignment
One Final Exam
Additional Projects Alternative Assessment (One Any Additional Project or Lab ReAssignment port/Practicum 4PVSDF 4(" "DBEFNJD "òBJST $PNNJUUFF
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Opinions
Opinions Editor: Kaitlin Goodrich Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats. —Voltaire
“ ”
OUR VIEWS CONSENSUS OPINION
WPFE policy weak
New Dead Week policy holds none accountable
We were disappointed to see the final version of the Dead Week policy (now to be referred to as the “Week Proceeding Final Examinations” (WPFE) policy) that was passed by the Faculty Senate. While we were excited to see a formal policy finally written down to be followed, it is disheartening to see such a weak policy as an outcome. The new WPFE policy tells professors what they “should” do without backing it with enforceable mandates. Students were under the impression that a dead week policy would forbid large projects and assignments in the preceding week for classes with a traditional final exam. That week should focus on review and allowing students to prepare for the stressful week of finals ahead. Stipulating that assignments are acceptable if on the syllabus ahead of time does not alleviate any stress. It simply informs students that they will not ever be given free time to study until the last min-
ute. At the very least, students have the right to know what their grades are by the end of dead week, to prepare for the final. Once a policy is put into place, there must be a way to enforce that professors follow the rules set out. Currently, there is no way to hold professors accountable, fostering the same problems that people have always had with the policy. An appropriate punishment for violators should be determined and enforced. Additionally, the practice of including “reading days” without classes before finals is common at other schools, and should be considered as an option here. If the goal of classes is to effectively learn as much material as possible, no one will feel the loss of a final day’s worth of cramming in last-minute material before exams. We hope that a new policy will be created that actually supports the rights of students and alleviates finals pressure, because the one released will do nothing to help WPFE anytime soon.
The Consensus Opinion reflects the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.
Technique Editorial Board Emily Chambers, Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Saethang, Managing Editor Hahnming Lee, Business Manager
Jennifer Aldoretta, Entertainment Editor Vivian Fan, News Editor Nishant Prasadh, Sports Editor Kate Comstock, Focus Editor Kaitlin Goodrich, Opinions Editor
Matt Hoffman, Advertising Manager Kelvin Kuo, Photography Editor Siwan Liu, Layout Editor Reem Mansoura, Development Editor Craig Tabita, Online Editor/Editor Emeritus
EDITORIAL CARTOON BY MAGGIE SMITH
Technique
6
Friday, November 20, 2009
YOUR VIEWS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Don’t raise fees, get rid of parking dept. Regarding your Consensus Opinion last week, I think we should set up a petition against these last-minute budget adjustment that scavenge on the financial remains of students at Tech. What is being done by the SGA to protect our financial interests here? How are these funds being used? There is nothing in these fees that warrant the name “Temporary” and “Academic Excellence Fees”. Its only purpose is to hide the fact that the Tech administration is unable to prepare balanced budget. In crisis time, we need to shift our focus to core values and get rid of what is unnecessary. How many people are working in the “Parking and Transportation” agency at Tech? How many of them are loitering around campus to ambush, prey and scavenge upon the financial remains of students? I do not think these people bring any value to our diploma. I do not think they are making our campus any safer. In addition, the “Parking and Transportation” agency is running a funny business. The transportation fees that are mandatory even for those who do not need them are constantly increasing. When fuel went down by 60%, our transportation fees increased by over 10%. What is the logic here? Alex Sevy Grad AE
Curving hurts students, not helps
How many times throughout college have you heard the sentence, “Oh well, thank goodness he curves!” Should we really appreciate it when a teacher curves? Or should we all stop and think about what we really gain? Professors justify curving grades based on the idea that each class should have around the same percentages of As,Bs,Cs, Ds, and Fs. This bases one’s final grade, not on what one knows or don’t know, but on how many of their classmates know or don’t know it. If an excellent Calculus student exempts Calculus I to take Calculus II, does he deserve a lower grade because his class contains all the students who also exempted Calculus I? Should he wait to take it with kids who couldn’t exempt it in order to get a better grade? Curving discourages the overall learning of the entire class. If a student knows that his grade depends on the performance of his peers, will he want to help or discourage his classmates from understand the material? This causes the standard of learning and knowledge to decrease for everyone. Most importantly, say a student takes a physics test and gets a 30 on it, but then the professor curves it to make a 30a passing grade: the fact has not changed
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that that student still only knows how to do thirty percent of the material….it only changes the appearance. Curving grades makes classes appear like students have learned the material for the benefit of the professor, at the expense of the student’s education. And by extension, the expense of anybody concerned with the knowledge of the students who will one day run the future. What would happen if tomorrow professors at Georgia Tech could no longer curve grades? Would professors end up failing entire classes? No, because then they would go on academic probation and lose their jobs. Instead, professors would be forced to teach their students and make sure that their students understand how to do chemistry, statistics, calculus, thermodynamics, etc. If teachers cannot capably teach their material to a level students can master, then the school should replace them with someone who can, but the school should not allow a curve to hide behind. Kate Bowen Fifth-year CE
Healthcare bill tyranny While I will not argue that affordable available health coverage is a noble goal, I ask you at what price does the pursuit of this goal come? It appears to me the costs are our freedoms, an immoral redistribution of wealth, and a massive government expansion which will only lead to more oppression and less freedom. While I agree that you are supposed to support the majority of your constituents, you must realize there is a real need to protect from tyranny of the majority. The healthcare bill costs $1.2 trillion that has to come from somewhere and half of it admittedly is going to be from taxes on the wealthy, who already pay a disproportionate amount of taxes to fund other massive entitlement programs. I am a student at Georgia Tech, and I would love to hear a response defending your vote. Josh Blade Fourth-year CS
OPINIONS
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Saving money avoids economic turmoil While many argue that the economic difficulties we are currently experiencing do not even compare to the difficult times of the Great Depression, those of us that are looking to start our future will tell you that this day and age brings about almost as much uncertainty and anxiety about the future as those held during the dark times of the early 1930s. Careless spending and irresponsible lending practices have created an economic situation that has cost many their jobs and their homes. Many families are struggling in ways that perhaps they would have believed to be inconceivable two or three years ago. For many the downturn has brought the value of material goods into a distinct separation of what is truly important in life. But I believe the biggest question for our generation is what we can do to prevent any future economic downturns of this magnitude from affecting us on a horrific personal level and so that we so that we may be prepared to be able to “bounce back” from such a difficult financial time. “Save half of everything that you earn,” is my grandmother’s personal financial motto; I believe it is very sound advice and it has worked very well for her. She lived through the Great Depression and saw some of the gloomiest times this coun-
“It is true that if more
people would save more money, their futures would be more secure.” Kate Comstock Focus Editor try has ever seen, and she never forgot how important it is to save for when you need your income the most. While I know it is very difficult to save half of everything that one makes, and especially more difficult for a college student to save anything, it is true that if more people would save more money their futures would be more secure. While saving money is not a foolproof plan for financial protection, it does provide some security to ease the anxiety that the volatile markets like today often bring. It is going to be difficult for some of us to learn how to save money. While I have many friends whose parents started savings accounts for them when they were born, I have just as many friends that do not know the first thing about saving for the future because their parents are equally ignorant of the subject. We also live in a culture that up until recently had largely supported the habit of spending more than we can
afford and using our credit to buy things that we otherwise could not afford. I also recognize that it is increasingly difficult for recently graduated students to think about saving money when trying to pay off student loans and credit card debt that was acquired in college, but it must become and integral part of our future to help ensure that when hard times come again we are better prepared. By starting with small steps to save money I believe that our generation can teach themselves to save money even if their parents were not active in the process or even believe in saving themselves. There are plenty of resources that can help students and recent graduates make sense out of their budget, or even create a sensible budget to work with. It also might be a wise idea to buy things only when you can afford to pay for them in cash and avoid at all costs putting things that are not necessities on credit. While I am well aware that
many of us believe that we will land that six-figure dream job right out of college, that is simply unrealistic for most of us in this job market. Historically, Tech graduates have done very well financially because we tend to be very bright, but in order to continue doing well it’s up to us to save for our futures in hopes of avoiding some of the current hardships that many of our parents and older peers are experiencing. Even if you do score that awesome six-figure salary right out of college you should still have the forethought to contribute your superfluous funds to a savings account. Saving can be difficult to do when there are so many different indulgences that our culture offers. In order to save money many of us will have to actively resist the temptations that the advertising industry spends billions of money on every year to try and attract us to spend our hard earned money on the products they are trying to sell. The recently difficult times should be a strong learning example for the young adults of today. While we all want nothing more than to spend money on what we want right now, we can be examples of restraint for everyone. Let our generation take this as a call to action as opposed to a deafening blow to our financial futures.
Deeper friendships would improve lives You see it all around you. You witness its effects while walking to class, eating in the Student Center or trying to survive your Thursday and Friday lectures to embrace the joy of the coming weekend. Heads are hung low, eyes are locked on the ground and minds are deep in thought about any number of countless events in our lives. The cinematic experience overwhelmed me while walking to class one day; it was a brisk autumn morning, and as I watched countless people exit the building alone with their gaze fixed on their own feet, Eleanor Rigby surfaced on my iPod’s shuffle. People flocked in the same direction at an arm’s length and spoke no words to each other as McCartney’s lyrics streamed through my headphones. “All the lonely people, where do they all come from, all the lonely people, where do they all belong?” It’s no question that Tech is a campus plagued by loneliness. Statistics set aside, it only takes a look in the faces of the people you pass by between classes or a brief scan of slivers to find there are high numbers of Tech students who seem depressed, a condition for which loneliness is a powerful catalyst. I wouldn’t go to say this means that lots of Tech students don’t have friends. In fact I’m confident that they all do: we couldn’t survive this place without people to kick
tional and uncomfortable moments of your life. It takes the courage to the show the skeletons in your closet and the problems you deal with that you aren’t particularly proud of. However we so often find Jarrett Skov that when we finally open that door, the fear of being humiliAssistant Photo Editor ated and ostracized is quickly replaced by a comfort that you aren’t the only person facing 140 character updates on the those struggles. This realizastatus of people’s lives. tion brings the freedom from These pressures coerce us having to face the hardest to grow content with the state times of your life alone. of our friendships, rarely movNot only does it require ing past a surface level rela- vulnerability, but a deep relationship based on humor and tionship takes commitment mutual desire for association, and time—the latter being and I don’t think that’s how something Tech students seem we were meant to live. People to lack. It can also necessitate need a close-knit community giving your relationships preof friends they can trust, care cedence over other areas in about and open up to, while our life. Yes, even schoolwork. knowing they are trusted, Unfortunately, Tech has done cared for and respected in a decent job of convincing stureturn. There is an incred- dents that an education is the ible feeling of joy and purpose only useful thing you can take when you truly know someone away from here. This pretense and they completely know you has skewed our priorities away as well. Until you’ve experi- from things that matter more. enced what that’s like, it’s im- Yes, your degree is important. possible to know what you’re But the way you impact peomissing out on. I’m afraid that ple’s lives can make a much many people have yet to realize bigger difference in our world. the void we’ve created. The greatest outcome of One of the obstacles in deepening relationships is that moving to this level of a you grow selfless. As you learn friendship is apprehension. As more about your friends and I mentioned before, allowing begin to know them on a deepother people to really know er level, you learn how to love you requires vulnerability. You them. I think a little bit more have to be able to trust your love is something everyone on friends with both the excep- our campus needs.
“There is an incredible feeling of joy and purpose when you truly know someone and they completely know you.”
back with and forget about that test you just bombed. After all, walking to class alone does not mean you’re lonely or friendless. It’s that we rarely take those relationships we already have and move them deeper than surface level. We live in a world where personal independence is held in high regard and any reliance on others is viewed as a weakness. We are told to conform to a culture where we isolate our feelings and can’t open up to others from the fear of vulnerability. We’ve been conditioned to understand that anytime we step out and become vulnerable, someone will take advantage of it. Even worse, cultural norms convince us that our substitutes for deep relationships with others are better and more advanced than the real thing. Social networking sites and high tech devices that promise to do more to connect us with our friends and families ironically isolate us and widen the gap. The ease of communications has conditioned us to be satisfied with
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Where is the best place to study on campus?
Katrina Lawrence Fourth-year CE
“Einstein’s Bagels in the Ford Building.”
Amanda Davis Second-year ChBE
“The garden in front of the library.”
Elias Crist First-year MGT
“3rd floor library cubes.”
Patrick Bone Third-year STAC
“Empty management building classrooms.” Photos by Adebola Adedire
OPINIONS
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OUR VIEWS HOT OR NOT
HOT
– or –
GALILEO grows
The library reserves just got a little bigger. The Institute of Museum and Library Services just gave the Library and Information Center at Georgia Tech a grant of $857,000 to create an expanded repository service. Students will be excited to hear that now more articles can be accessed online at midnight when writing that pesky research paper at the last minute.
Coastal clinched
After our rousing defeat of Duke, Tech has clinched the ACC’s Coastal Division. For the second time ever, Tech has secured a spot in the ACC championship. This is a nice lead-up to an exciting game against UGA. We are sure that this is a sign of good things to come, both in the upcoming show of good, clean old-fashioned hate and the bowl game. Football hasn’t been this exciting in years!
NOT
ACM eliminated
Tech has decided to withdraw from the Academic Common Market for undergraduates in 2011. While the economic necessities of this decision are apparent, majors like PTFE and NRE will lose the pool of candidates in surrounding states that might otherwise not consider Tech due to the costs of out-of-state tuition. Hopefully, scholarships will make up the lack.
Darwin defiled
The people handing out books titled The Origins of Species around Skiles confused students who upon opening the text discovered it’s foreword has been added to promote Creationism. While we respect their rights to their opinion, the “Origin of Schools” project is misleading to students who want the original and treads on highly unethical grounds for groups that claim Christian values.
Going green worth unseen return In our instant gratification culture I can understand why environmentalism is not reaching the scale that we had hoped when the whole green fad started. We think short term here in America. This may be because we are such a young nation, or pop culture and media may cause it. Whatever the reason, we are who we are. We like free stuff, bigger is better, we think in quarters (not years), and we like to be comfortable and entertained. Though we may not think of these as our cultural values, they are part of our national personality. How do you get a nation that does not like change and thinks very short term to make uncomfortable adjustments that they will probably see no return on? For many of us there is no prize for being green. There is no party when you become fully sustainable. Those of us who use the most resources have to make the biggest changes, but we feel the smallest payback. Those who use the least resources will often be strongly rewarded for small changes or the changes made by us privileged folks. The problem is, we are not in Bangladesh to see the flooding getting worse as sea level rises. We don’t know that less rainforest is leveled because we buy less beef. As a modern girl, I think of these things in the context of a diet. I am not going to go on a diet and stick to it unless I see results. If my love handles are not going to get smaller when I am denying myself, then yes, I will have that piece of cake. By recycling, you do not see our trash dumps getting smaller. We don’t hear, feel, taste, touch or see the results of being green. We are making uncomfortable changes in the name of this abstract idea of “sustainability.” How do you convince people to change when all you have to convince them with is “Well, this
“A lot of important issues are buried under layers of science most people don’t understand. Luckily, at Tech we... do.” Nell Fry Students Organizing for Sustainability
stuff is super important and you may really regret it if you don’t.” I don’t know about you, but I am not too excited to join a team if all you can do is threaten me with what could happen if I don’t join your side. How do we make people understand their impact? The truth is that this is a potentially catastrophic problem and we are going to need everyone to help fix it. We are playing with fire and blindly dousing ourselves in oil with our backs to the flame while we argue about whether or not we really started the fire. You have heard what could happen if we don’t cut our emissions, and if you have not you should pull out your phone or computer and look it up. We need to stop thinking short term, demanding more than we need and resisting positive changes. We need to be willing to learn. This is another big problem with climate change. It is freaking complicated. I spend quite a bit of my free time watching TED.com videos, reading articles and books about climate change issues and my comprehension of the subject is still sadly lacking. A lot of the most important issues are buried under layers of science that most people do not understand. Luckily, at Tech, we are educated and do have lots of scientists who get it. Unfortunately, however, we are not the majority. Most people in our world are not educated and do not think in terms of aerosols,
fertilizer run-off and LEED certifications. We understand this stuff. We are geniuses. We need to lead by example as an institution, and educate at every opportunity. We need to support sustainable initiatives whenever we can and take our environmental impact into consideration in all of our systems and organization around campus from Greek houses to closing fume hoods. We are doing great job of this already. The administration in this school wants to give the students what we want and they want to be environmentally responsible. All we have to do as students is ask them to make changes. You would be surprised how often what you want is delivered. This campus is so receptive to positive changes. Tech is already starting to set the bar high for green educational institutions in Georgia. But how do we further this movement? How do we convince people that recycling is important enough to wait to throw away that coke until you find a plastics recycling bin? Some things are working, but they are moving us forward to slowly. We need to pick up the pace. We need to innovate and think outside the box. We can and will solve this problem, but I personally have not come up with the best way yet. Most of you reading this are smarter than me, so if you have any good ideas, and I know you do, let me know.
sliver
www.nique.net
Since when are boys more dramatic than girls at Tech??? rd...get a life. leave me alone. go hook up with rw cb, that is awesome. hg I wwant your vagggg mmmmmmmmmmmm......bama’s chest cavity cs- youre the biggest hole i’ve ever met- lg Georgio Armani has nothing on me I’m at the combination pizza hut and Taco Bell Maggie, I think you’re awesome. I just wanted to say it again. SGA PLEASE UPDATE COURSE CRITIQUE, last time you updated it was spring 2008 Thank you for representing my wanting to not get academically violated I wish I didn’t procrastinate so much. Wake Forest got PAUL JOHNSON SMASHHHEEDDDDD!!!! All my life, I wanted to learn how to play an instrument. I never thought I’d be the instrument. Using orbital data for a Galilean moon of your choice, calculate the mass of Jupiter. if course registration went as it should, it would suck...generally, however, the system screws up and it sucks even harder. tsquare down AGAIN? Dangit! Guy at SF talking about how lame all the roller coasters were- get over yourself. It’s okay to enjoy something once in a while. please do not take a piss in the sauna. who would do such a thing? newly single, already mingled, made em jingle ...listen to the wind... why so many ugly redheads at tech? climbing wall douches: climbing isnt about ratings. you suck! Beards are hot!!!! Ow! Ow!! ‘Jeffrey is my hero’ ...I try :) I’m trying to teach cleverbot the GT fight song. It’s more productive then studying for Diff Eq. :\ CPJ your so awesome, you make watching our games fun! I just noticed, on one of the Adult Swim RL model adverts they show a sign that says Georgia Tech on it! Woot!
Focus Student site reflects unique Tech culture By Rebecca Tattersfield Contributing Writer
Four students, three guys and a girl, created a website for fun and launched it during a group presentation in their Small Talk class. In two days the site had over 9,000 hits. Only at Tech. Onlyattech.net is a new site on campus, though technically not affiliated. Its popularity stems from the pride Tech students find in complaining. It captures the sentiment that since we suffer more, we are better than everyone else. The format of the site may look familiar to those who waste their time on FML or Texts From Last Night, the stories however, are totally unique to Tech. For example, #212, “More squirrels than girls. Only at Tech.” Or how about #694, “The freshman guys on my floor at Smith figured out that they could keep playing Xbox during a power outage by wiring their television and Xbox directly into the emergency fluorescent lighting. Only at Tech.” The students behind the website are Andrew Ash, third- year CS; Holden Link, third- year CM; Kaliyana Finney, fourth- year CM; and David Turk, third-year CM. The ratio might seem too ironic to be true based on the postings, but she does exist, honestly. The idea came about during lunch one day after their CS 2440 class. “We created [the site] back in the beginning of Oct.,” Turk said, “but we didn’t tell anyone or actually launch the site until Nov. 4” Since then, the site has over 5,000 fans on Facebook, and has a visitation the size of a quarter of Tech’s campus. “One of the things that really struck us about how fast it spread was how fast it spread without any kind of advertising...we launched the site was when we were giving a presentation in our Small Talk class, and we just added it on a slide at the end,” said Link. Link provided the graphic design for the website as well as the hosting. “I have a web server because I run a little video game company so I already had all of the resources we needed to be able to put the website online,” Link said, “All we needed to do was buy the name and put it up there.” Finney and Turk moderate the site by approving the stories that Tech students submit. and Ash is a programmer that maintains the See Only, page 11
Photo by Blake Israel/ Student Publications
Onlyattech.net was started by four Tech students and showcases the experiences and stories unique to only Tech students.
focus@nique.net Focus Editor: Kate Comstock
Organization Spotlight:Equestrian Club This club and competitive intercollegiate team organizes lessons, trail rides, intercollegiate competitions and fundraisers. Contact: www.jacketpages.collegiatelink.net
Stepping up to the plate against cancer Local celebrities team up with Rally Kids for cancer research fundraiser
Tech played host to a number of celebrities this past Friday, as the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research held its first annual Brian McCann Celebrity Softball Game at Russ Chandler Stadium. The event’s host, Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann, teamed up with the Rally Foundation and teammate Chipper Jones to put on a softball game to raise awareness of and funds for childhood cancer research. “When you meet some of these kids, it makes the decision to help them anyway you can an easy one to make,” said McCann when asked about the cause. Also in attendance were a handful of other Braves players, US Senator Johnny Isakson, Tech head baseball coach Danny Hall and a number of
CoC project reboots IT professionals By Andrew Nelsom Contributing Writer
the show more than once during the night. Whether it was a traditional dizzy-bat race, running the bases in uniforms five sizes too large or chasing Chipper Jones around the infield with a Super Soaker, the kids often attracted more attention than the game itself. When prompted about his involvement in the water gun incident, McCann admitted to offering the perpetrating Rally Kid $100 if he managed to soak Jones before the night was over. Earlier in the evening, McCann taught Andrew Vassil, a 14 year old Rally Kid, a valuable lesson: don’t make a bet with a professional baseball player you are not willing to keep. The night before the game, Vassil attended the Rally Foundation’s Benefit Bash and bet that if someone donated $10,000 to the Foundation, he would let McCann shave See Rally, page 11
See Reboot, page 11
Photo by Tim Nowack / Student Publications
other famous athletes, coaches, radio personalities and news anchors. The stars joined forces with the event’s sponsors and the “Rally Kids,” children who have battled or are currently battling cancer and broke into teams. The two teams were captained by McCann and Jones and were coached by Leo Mazzone, a famed Braves pitching coach and Sam Wyche, a former NFL coach who once led the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl. At the end of the night, McCann and Wyche led their team to an 11-7 victory over their opponents. While the big draw of the game was the celebrities, the focus of the night was undeniably the Rally Kids themselves. Officially, the kids filled the positions of bat boys and girls to the players, but through a collection of spontaneous shenanigans and scripted between-inning events, they stole
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Friday, November 20, 2009
Operation Reboot, a project in the College of Computing, will pair laid-off IT professionals with high school teachers to give them a leg up in their career options starting in the spring of 2010. The project is headed by Barbara Ericson, the Computing Outreach Director at the CoC’s Institute for Computing Education (ICE). The goal of Operation Reboot is to pair a high school computer science teacher with an unemployed IT worker for two classes over a year. The teacher would then learn more about computer science from a professional, and the IT professional would learn how to teach the craft. Su Craddock – the business and computer science director for Walton Career Academy, a school participating in Operation Reboot – will teach Computing in the Modern World alongside an IT pro. Craddock took three summer workshops at Tech to qualify for the project. “I do believe that the students would be more encouraged to go into a computer science field with a former IT employee in the classroom,” Craddock said, “The IT professional can answer questions that I cannot and will therefore provide a new point of view from which the students can base career decisions.” With the multi-billion dollar IT industry feeling the economic hurt, major corporations like IBM and HewlettPackard have laid off thousands of employees just in the last year. Though national stimulus money may not get their original jobs back, funding programs like Operation Reboot would allow experience and knowledge of the IT industry to be an investment in education instead. “I see the greatest benefit to be the IT professional’s varied knowledge, abilities and skills from the corporate world to integrate real-world applications into the curriculum,” Craddock said. Craddock has worked with corporations and Fortune 500 companies before teaching at Walton Career Academy, though her experience is limited only to certain industries. She looks forward to a fresh perspective in her classroom. “Personally, I want to pair with an IT professional to fill in the gaps in my own knowledge,” Craddock said, “Also, working with an IT professional in class will reinforce
Children that have recently battled cancer and are part of the “Rally Kids” group participated in a softball game with local celebrities like Braves Brian McCann and Chipper Jones. By Chris Russell Staff Writer
Technique
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FOCUS
‘Real-life Hitch’ visits Tech to give dating advice By Sarah Malis Contributing Writer
Have you ever wondered what true love really is? Have you questioned what makes a relationship work? Or, maybe, have you ever asked yourself how to approach that guy or girl you saw at a party? If you have ever speculated about any of these questions, there is a man that has all of the answers. His name is David Coleman, and he is also known as the Dating Doctor. Coleman is widely known a “the real-life Hitch” and is the author of various relationship books, such as 101 Great Dates, Date Smart!, Marking Relationships Matter! and Prescriptions for Life and Relationships. His blunt, humorous relationship advice have resulted not just in commercial successes, but also critical acclaim. He has been honored 12 times as National Speaker of the year, nine times by Campus Activities Magazine and three times by the National Association for Campus Activities. According to Coleman though, there’s more to his advice than just how to behave in and interpret romantic or sexual relationships. His theories can be applied to personal goals such as leadership development, character, confidence and values. The breadth of his advice’s relevance and his unique and engaging presentation style has made him a high commodity, one that Tech students had the lucky opportunity of witnessing this fall. On Nov. 12, the Dating Doctor made a visit to Tech Student Center to talk about relationships and dating while relating these concepts to college students. From the beginning of the visit, he developed a highly interactive and open environment for Tech students to speak their minds, ac-
tively listen to others and created engaging conversations that many students found relatable. Also, he explained what makes college students better learners and engagers than others. “I love talking to college students, first and foremost, because they have the ability to put something into their life tomorrow that they learned today. High school students are just happy to be in an assembly and be out of class, they really don’t want to improve their lives. And, sometimes older adults are stuck in their ways, and they’ll hear me talk, but they really won’t go out and try things out. I really started this because I believe that college students had the capacity to learn it and the ability to do it, and that’s why I love the line of work that I do,” Coleman said. Coleman began by defining romance as performing an ordinary act of love or kindness at an unexpected time. However, according to Coleman, romance doesn’t just appear out of thin air. He explains that there is a single question to ask one’s significant other, which is to question the difference between being an “option” or a “priority.” If someone or something is an option to their partner, romance will be forced, but if someone is a priority, romance will happen more naturally and the relationship will be more fruitful. Coleman focuses on the idea that relationships are based off of self-esteem, explaining that attraction is only a learnable skill and that one must first become the “right” person for themselves and others before they will find the “right person” to complement their life. Coleman then proceeded to get into the more comical portion of his speech. Coleman shared with the Tech audience ridiculous pick
Photo by Josh Sandler/ Student Publications
David Coleman, often described as the “real life Hitch,” answered Tech students questions about dating and gave advice on relationships when hespoke last Thursday at the Student Center. up lines he’s heard. For example, “if beauty was measured in milk, you’d be a cow,” and gave tips on how to be a “fat penguin.” That is, you must waddle out and break the ice in order to have a successful relationship. The Date Doctor then had a question/answer “five minute frenzy” for the Tech audience, where any question about dating and relationships could be answered. Inquiries ranged from serious to downright funny, as Tech students asked about the “friend”
zone and how to tell when you are or aren’t in this zone, the varying commitment levels of men and women and even ended on Coleman’s explanation of why some women believe that all the men they date or sleep with, neigh, even all men on the face of the planet, are terrible lovers. To add even more direct interaction to the presentation, Mr. Coleman introduced the Johari window, which proved to be the crowd favorite. The Johari window is a miniexperiment where one answers a
few questions that can help one define oneself on a personal, emotional and relationship level. You use those answers on a grid of “rooms” along with the answers of our friends. Those answers then let the user know what he or she thinks about himself both consciously and subconsciously compared to how he or she is consciously and subconsciously perceived by others. He ended his presentation with his self-proclaimed most imporSee Dating, page 12
sliver
www.nique.net
Does it hurt when the girl, who you always loved and was there beside her in her worst days, starts going out with this other dude and dont give an F for your feelings? Taylor wore the same thing to initiation that she did to the Halloween Bash. That’s friggin hilarious! Wake Forest Will Eat My Dust! John don’t you miss having friends? Glad you untagged all those photos of your cellulite. dear gary a. you and your alumni can suck it There’s a creeper in Howey L2. I hope he doesn’t choose me! The big dipper will guide home Devi loves her baby sister!!! What’s with all the three hour bio classes? Boy I’m glad there’s no lab. Happy TCD day!!! Happy CDJ Day!!! Alexis Morrison is a beast at life. She’s kind of short though. BRITTAIN’S MILKSHAKE BRINGS ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD. GT STUDENTS LOVE GT STUDENTS SLIVERING ABOUT GT STUDENTS LOVING SLIVERING!!!!!! BRITTAIN’S MILKSHAKE BRINGS ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD. cute, single NRE... I know my way around control rods.... Dear sliver overlord, I demand that you stop [you have been censored] Everyday....wtf am I doing here? why can’t I find a spot in my parking deck even with my 800 bucks permit, wtf tech GT CHOIR CONCERT!!!!!! Tuesday, 11/17 at 7:30pm at All Saints’ Episcopal Church (about a block away from North Ave Apts)!!!!!! The nickname for the webmaster of Chorale’s cyberbuzz page is “Badcock.” How is that not enough reason to at least go check the website out?
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Rally
Photo by Matt Treager/ Student Publications
Operation Reboot gives IT professionals the chance to earn a teaching certificate and gain real life experience in teaching.
Reboot
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the concepts with real-world knowledge.” Ramona Calvey, an IT professional who will join the program, has over 25 years of experience working as the senior programmer at Coca-Cola Company and instructional technology specialist at Clark-Atlanta University, among many other top positions. “I think that the greatest benefit of co-teaching is the teaching experience that can be gained from working with and being mentored by an experienced teacher,” Calvey said, “I would like to provide the students with current IT industry standard knowledge, examples, and projects to solve. I would also like to assist with expanding the existing computing classes that are being taught and to help to increase the number of computing courses being offered.” The IT professionals will earn a stipend of $3,410 per month for 11 months and ultimately earn an initial teaching certificate with a computer science endorsement. “There are some computer science teachers who were IT workers who either retired or decided they didn’t want to do IT anymore and they were interested in teaching,
so I knew that there was this path that people had been taking,” Ericson said. Ericson applied this idea when she met a National Science Foundation (NSF) program director who offered a funding opportunity for computer science educators. The NSF’s Broadening Participation in Computing program, which has funded past CoC projects under its mission to improve computing education, then decided to fund Operation Reboot with funds recently acquired after February’s national stimulus package. Since funding is already set by the allotted stimulus money, Ericson does not expect the state or Tech to fund Operation Reboot for an expansion or continue it past its three-year period. She does expect, however, that other states will realize the potential for this program and possibly start other similar ones. Operation Reboot has garnered national attention, including a feature article in Computer World. So far 15 schools in northern and central Georgia have applied for the program; the classes include AP Computer Science, Intermediate Programming, Computing in the Modern World and Introduction to Programming.
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his head. A handful of sponsors put up the money and, true to his word, Vassil sat himself on a stool mid-field while McCann learned how to use a pair of electric shears. A few innings later, a freshlyshorn Vassil stepped up to bat and drove a teammate in for a run and scored one himself before making his way back to the dugout. As for the charity side of the event, when all was said and done, according to a press release, the Rally Foundation raised a grand total of $280,000. According to Tech officials involved with the event, over 1,500 fans were present to show their support for the cause. As stated on the Rally Foundation’s website, www.rallyforkids. com, the organization’s mission is to, “[raise] awareness and funds specifically for childhood cancer research to find better treatments and cures for childhood cancers.” Ninety- three percent of all funds raised by the Foundation go to-
wards funding research grants, awards and fellowships in the area of childhood cancer research. The Rally Foundation was started when Dean Crowe, its founder and CEO, visited a neighbor’s son in the hospital as his brain cancer lapsed into remission. After asking how she could help, Crowe learned that less research has been done into the area of childhood cancer than the adult varieties, meaning that there are often fewer options for available treatments. Though the original patient has made an excellent recovery and is now completing his studies at Auburn University, the Rally Foundation still continues to raise money for the cause, largely through grassroots fundraising movements. According to the Rally Foundation’s website, one in every 330 Americans will develop some form of cancer before the age of 21, and childhood cancers are responsible for more deaths for children under 20 than any other disease.
Photo by Tim Nowack / Student Publications
Chipper Jones was on campus Friday night to participate in a softball tournament benefitting the Rally for kids with cancer.
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site. Keeping the site clean doesn’t take too much time according to Turk, who says that he does his post monitoring work mostly when he’s bored in class or has nothing to do. “The point of the site is for people to tell their stories…things that happen in their dorms or when they’re walking to class,” said Turk. In the two and a half weeks since the site was launched the stories have come in to their own consistent style. Ash said that when the site first launched people had stories from their past four, five or six years at Tech to tell. “Even alumni would come along and say ‘you know back in my day…’ But now we’re starting to get stories that happen on a day to day basis. We’re also starting to see the style has changed a lot. If something happens at noon it will be on the site by 3 p.m.,” said Ash. The lone female on the Only at Tech team is feeling the fame. “Apparently I don’t exist…people have submitted stories asking if I’m single,” Finney said. The site isn’t perfect. According to the team there are more ideas coming in than there is ability to make happen, creating a bottleneck. The solution, more time working on the site so that we can spend more time on the site not doing our work. The speed at which this site has become part of the Tech culture truly shows how closely connected the Tech campus is, for better or worse. A website spreads quicker and more easily than the swine flu, Only at Tech. So next time you wish you did have the swine flu so that you would have an excuse to skip Lab, check out the site at onlyattech. net. Because sometimes, saying FML just isn’t strong enough, Only at Tech.
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tant advice. “Never mistaken infatuation for love. People meet each other and go, ‘Oh, in love’, and three months later, their mind sets completely change. So there are facets of love and stages of relationships and people must think very carefully what they say and things they do,” Coleman said. “The light that burns brightest burns shortest. When you first light a candle, the wick goes very quickly, but then it slows down to
a normal pace. When people take that first beginning of the wick in their relationships and they burn through stuff too fast, then they either have to break up or say to the other person that they don’t feel the same way they did, because they didn’t let it happen naturally. Sometimes it’s a facet of time or how fast you burn through these stages,” Coleman said. Not only did the Date Doctor engage Tech students on serious issues of dating, self confidence and the humorous side of when things go wrong, he also spurred
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genuine and personal questions from the audience. “It was a good learning experience. It’s something that we don’t get to see in India, which is the country where I am from. I got to learn many new things from him, as I am a pretty shy person myself and it will definitely help me to mix along with more people socially and emotionally. My favorite part was when he talked about what women are attracted to! Overall, it was a great event, fantastic,” said Siddharth Gaur, Grad ECE.
Many other students also felt that Mr. Coleman’s presentation was a success. “I thought the event was good and that he was accurate on some things. And I liked that he called the girls and guys out on stuff that they do [in a relationship],” said David Attias, Grad ECE. Others saw Mr. Coleman’s lecture as inspiring and provided many life lessons for college students who are just finding their sea-legs in the adult dating world. “I definitely thought it was very interesting and you really
learned a lot about yourself. My favorite part was the Johari window, because it was crazy accurate on some things,” said Heather Aquilino, fourth-year INTA. If you’re interested in learning about Mr. Coleman or more about his relationship/life advice, check out his website at www.datingdoctor.com where you can see his long list of bad kissers (some examples include “the sloth” and “the deer in the headlights”), clever comebacks and ways to purchase his critically acclaimed books.
technique the south’s liveliest college newspaper.
Entertainment
entertainment@nique.net Entertainment Editor: Jennifer Aldoretta
Technique
13
Friday, November 20, 2009
Assistant Entertainment Editor: Richard Otis
Harmony serenades with infinite talent, melodies CITY SCENE
Photo by Chris Gooley/ Student Publications
By Nirav Bhatia Contributing Writer
Ghosts of Atlanta spooks with tours of haunted buildings Ghosts of Atlanta is a year-round event hosted by the Darkside Tours in Atlanta. It includes a 90-minute exploration of the spooky and petrifying stuff around the city, such as lonely spirits lingering around the streets, haunted buildings, the site of a deadly hotel fire hosting doomed souls and much more. Tickets and additional tour times can be found online at www.darksidetours.com.
Popular rock bands to perform at Tabernacle this sunday
Photo by Chris Ernst/ Student Publications
Infinite Harmony performed on Nov. 15 in the East Architecture Building. The performance included pieces by The Beatles, Jason Mraz, Barenaked Ladies, Mika and from Disney’s Mulan. PERFORMANCE
Infinite Harmony LOCATION: East Architecture Building DATE: Nov. 15, 2009 TYPE: A Capella REPERTOIRE: “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” “Lucky,” “It’s All Been Done” and other ‘90s and Disney hits
OUR TAKE: !!!!! By Chris Ernst Staff Writer
Infinite Harmony is the “Mixed Contemporary” branch of the A Capella Club at Tech. Founded in 2004, Infinite Harmony has 18 members with a perfect 50-50 ratio. Like the other groups under the club, it is by audition each semester. With a repertoire including hits from the ‘90s, Disney films and Muse, there is bound to be some selection to suit any taste. Because it is a club, the members do not get any kind of academic credit, like with some other vocal ensembles on campus. Membership between many of the A Capella groups overlaps. Infinite Harmony’s end-ofthe-semester concert was on Sunday, Nov. 15 in the East
Architecture Building. In about an hour, they managed to cram 14 songs into the performance. They performed a wide range of songs, all of which various student members arranged, including The Beatles’ “Because,” Jason Mraz’s “Lucky,” “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan, the Barenaked Ladies’ “It’s All Been Done” and Mika’s “Happy Ending,” which, appropriately enough, closed the concert. The entire group of 18 did not perform every song. Instead, there were smaller subgroups that performed each song. For instance, “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” was performed by the male members of the group. So while no single member sang every single song, each member was able to put forth their best effort, allowing the performance to provide a great quality performance rather than just songs with sheer quantity of performers. Also varying frequently were the soloists. It was great because it seemed like almost every member of Infinite Harmony was given their moment to shine. “Lucky” featured two soloists, whose reallife chemistry (and engagement) definitely helped to bring the song to life. Because the group is so small, there is nowhere for potentially weak singers to hide. Luckily, none of the members are weak. Each member is very capable, and
it shows. No one tried to hide in the background, and everyone took their moment in the spotlight (or in this case, lamplight) with much vigor. Infinite Harmony is quite active and practices twice a week. Last spring, the group went to its first competition at UGA, where tenor Andrew Leonard won “Best Soloist” for his part in “Happy Ending.” The group hopes to make both of these performances annual occurrences. Their proudest moment thus far was singing at Adult Swim’s Christmas Party in 2008. Infinite Harmony is a very talented group with a bright future ahead of them. The group has grown in talent and prestige since its inception in 2004, with hopes of only becoming better as they gain new members and cover new ground. Singing frequently at Connect with Tech, Infinite Harmony gets to showcase itself for potential freshman, who, upon being dazzled, no doubt apply to Tech with hopes of auditioning to be a member of Infinite Harmony. With a formula that includes both talent and fantastic music, it is hard to lose with a group of performers like Infinite Harmony.
Alternative rock bands The All-American Rejects, Taking Back Sunday and Anberlin will be playing at the Tabernacle this sunday. Since 2005, The All-American Rejects has given out hit singles such as “Dirty Little Secret” and “Move Along,” with over two million digital sales for the two. Taking Back Sunday has also enjoyed success with the former selling over 600,000 copies of their 2006 album Louder Now, not to mention the album holding the No. 2 spot on the Billboard 200, and the later claiming the No. 1 spot on the charts last year with their single “Feel Good Drag.” Concert tickets are available online at www.livenation.com/ venue/the-tabernacle-tickets.
Van Hunt to play Andrews Upstairs tonight Grammy award winning artist Van Hunt will be playing at Andrews Upstairs tonight with The Jaspects and Janie Chu. Be prepared for a night of musical fusion enhanced by Andrews Upstairs’ amazing sound and lighting units, dubbed to be one of the best in the city. Tickets and more information are available online at www.ticketalternative. com.
Laughing Skull Lounge welcomes comedian Marc Maron Having appeared on popular late night shows hosted by David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, not to mention an HBO half-hour special and two Comedy Central Presents specials, comedian Marc Maron arrives in Atlanta to perform at the Laughing Skull Lounge tonight. With his wide range of humor meshed with his distinctive commentary style on cultural and political topics, a hilarious and engaging night is surely guaranteed. Tickets are available online at www.vortexcomedy.com. Correction: In the Nov. 13 issue, in the Entertainment section, the article entitled So you think TECH can dance? contained an inaccuracy. It stated that the winner of the dance competition was Qurbani. However, Qurbani actually came in second place, while Tufaan was the real first place winner. We sincerely apologize for this inaccuracy and any confusion it may have caused.
ENTERTAINMENT
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Modern Warfare redefines war gaming GAMES
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 GENRE: First-person shooter CONSOLE: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows DEVELOPER: Infinity Ward RATING: Mature RELEASED: Nov. 10, 2009
OUR TAKE: !!!!! By Zheng Zheng Staff Writer
After selling 4.7 million copies in North America and the UK alone and racking up 310 million dollars within 24 hours of its release, Infinity Ward’s critically acclaimed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 needs no introduction. Published by Activision, Modern Warfare 2 was one of the most highly anticipated games of the year. Having access to the next generation gaming engine IW 4.0, Modern Warfare 2 uses this engine to constantly remodel breathtakingly realistic environments for
the players to explore. The beautiful graphics and the sleek features of the game will be one of the first things that players will notice while playing the game. The plot of Modern Warfare 2 is set five years after the events of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. This time terrorist mastermind Vladimir Makarov concocts a plan to bring the United States and the rest of the world to its doom. The player initially takes the role of U.S. Army Ranger Private Joseph Allen who goes undercover to capture Makarov. The operation takes a fatal turn when Allen is compromised and framed during a terrorist attack in a Moscow airport. This set the premise for the main story, as Russia responds by declaring war and invading the United States. The players then continue through the main story interchangeably playing as both Private James Ramirez while defending United States suburbia from the Russian invaders and Sergeant Gary “Roach” Sanderson, member of the elite multinational unit Task Force 141, on his mission across the globe to bring Makarov to justice. Overall, the campaign mode is
a fantastic experience for players of all skill levels. Not only is it a complete action packed first-person shooter experience, the game is well balanced. The plot of Modern Warfare 2 is an intense story of betrayal, power struggles and survival that is filled with surprises and turning points that’ll leave its audience in awe. But as excellent as the single player mode of Modern Warfare 2 is, its multiplayer features are just as big a contributor, if not more, to the series’ popularity. The game offers a complete multiplayer experience and a new cooperative game mode. The cooperative mode, called Special Ops, have the players teaming up and playing through specific challenging scenarios encountered as part of the campaign. Despite the potentially exciting experience that the cooperative mode offers, Modern Warfare 2’s newly upgraded competitive online multiplayer experience is where the game really shines. Much like its predecessor, Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare 2 sports an online multiplayer based on the experience system through which players can gain levels through killing other players or completing objectives. What really adds to the customization
and the depth of the multiplayer games is the series of unlockables, including brand new weapons, perks and killing spree rewards obtained alongside advancement in level. Players are given the option to personalize their online play by creating their own “class,” which consists of a combination of these unlocked in-game elements, for use out on the battlefield. The wide variety of choices and combinations allows the players to constantly attempt new strategies until they find one that perfectly matches their playing style. Overall, Modern Warfare 2 is a fantastic installment to the series and is solid from every perspective. The stunning graphics combined with the addictive and realistic game play makes Modern Warfare 2 well worth its heavy price tag. The game is currently available for two gaming consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) and the PC. There is also a special edition that includes a set of fully functioning night-vision goggles. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a must have for fans of first-person shooters and console gaming. The developer has improved and innovated their way to something special with this title.
Image courtesy of Infinity Ward
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Haunting film Precious inspires FILM
Precious GENRE: Drama STARRING: Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibe DIRECTOR: Lee Daniels RATING: R RELEASED: Nov. 6, 2009
OUR TAKE: !!!" ! !" By Allyn Woodward Contributing Writer
The movie Precious has become an instant hit, as made apparent by its records: highest grossing film for opening weekend in fewer than one-hundred theatres and highest average per screen. Based on the novel Push, the film follows the life of Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a 16-year-old in junior high. She is pregnant with her second child by her father, who only appears in flashback sequences. Though absent, he continues to leave a permanent stain on his daughter’s memory and her relationship with her mother. Precious’ mother, played by actress Mo’Nique, gives a surprising performance. Known and loved as a bubbling comedic performer, this is her transition into serious dramatic roles. Her hatred and resentment for her husband is translated into jealousy towards her daughter. She constantly demeans her and twice tries to kill Precious. Precious is held together by her imagination until she is put into an alternative school. The other classmates become her friends and her teacher, the only person to help Precious save herself. You will have to see this precious film to find out how Precious deals with all of the issues she is facing in her young life. Dedicated to “All the Precious Girls in the World,” the film is haunting and heartbreaking. Though the film puts the audience in Precious’ head, it is a reminder that you’ll never quite understand what someone else goes through until you watch it happen.
ENTERTAINMENT
t /PWFNCFS t Technique
British comedy abounds in import Pirate Radio FILM
Pirate Radio GENRE: Comedy STARRING: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Tom Sturridge DIRECTOR: Richard Curtis RATING: R RELEASED: Nov. 13, 2009
OUR TAKE: !!!" ! !" By Kenny Phillips Senior Staff Writer
I feel my life would have been significantly poorer had Pirate Radio not made the journey across the Atlantic. Originally released months ago in United Kingdom under the title The Boat That Rocked, Focus Features has deigned to invest in importing
Pirate Radio. Needless to say, I found the film enjoyable and fascinating. The plot may not be what audience members expected had they seen the trailer. Contrary to what information may have been spread, the story is a fiction based on the general situation of pop radio stations in the UK rather than a dramatization of facts. However, the story spun by writer/director Richard Curtis holds little room for disappointment as it fills the theater with raucous juvenile humor and hilarious situations as it follows protagonist “Young” Carl’s (Tom Sturridge) transition to the floating rock and roll transmitter Radio Rock. He is greeted by the heavily varied group of eccentric disc jockeys and technicians that fill the 24/7 broadcast of 1966 pop music. Running the gamut from
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Felicity (Katherine Parkinson), the ship’s lesbian cook, to the silent playboy Midnight Mark (Tom Wisdom) the crew becomes Carl’s strange and irresponsible surrogate family. As expected, this opens a floodgate of humorous situations into which Pirate Radio takes the plunge. Of course this lifestyle and its intention to broadcast it in the most positive light has ruffled the feathers of Sir Alistair Dormandy, a minister in Her Majesty’s government who attempts to remove Radio Rock from the airwaves. Now, as stated before, this story is not about The Count (Philip Seymour Hoffman) establishing a renegade force of DJs to subvert a UK ban of rock and roll in an expression of American freedom. True, The Count is one of the most seen and heard of the cast
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and participates in a most daring game of chicken. However, he is little more than an individual player in a much larger game. Yes, it is possible to label this movie as shallow based on the small amount of character development, but in my opinion, any character development would have bogged down the humor. For fans of Wes Anderson and his tales, let me just say Pirate Radio will be lacking in character depth and narrative, but I enjoyed it for its ability to create such laughter with simplicity. This film has a spectacular cast and an absolutely glorious soundtrack. Filling out more of the oddest the Radio Rock gentlemen are the station manager Quentin (Bill Nighy), Doctor Dave (Nick Frost), the “bearded beast” Bob Silver (Ralph Brown) and “king of the airwaves” Gavin
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Cavanagh (Rhys Ifans). The comedic talent of such a cast should be self-evident. There may be a few laughless jokes, but this is where the soundtrack leaps to save the moment with the most premium sounds of rock and roll. Filling the theater with the sweet sounds of The Turtles, The Kinks and The Hollies, the moment cannot possibly be recorded as anything except as a positive memory. For the people considering seeing this movie, whether it is in spite of or due to the theatrical trailer, I can’t fully describe how Pirate Radio has captured my favor with its humor, story and music. It provides a grand opportunity in these stressful times to laugh with pure auditory enjoyment that I was glad not to have missed.
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THEME CROSSWORD: RISKY BUSINESS By Robert Zimmerman United Features Syndicate ACROSS 1. Storage tower 5. Analyze, as a sentence 10. Shatter 15. Casino item 19. Auspice 20. Iridescent stones 21. Cotton thread 22. Rhapsodize 23. By - of 24. Of a solid figure 25. Up to 26. Spirit 27. Famed barbarian 29. Start of a quip by Loretta Lynn: 4 wds. 32. Ham 34. Monumental 35. Sewell or Wainwright 36. Tax in old England 39. Energy type: abbr. 41. Set out in a boat: 2 wds. 45. Hgt. 46. Korbut and namesakes
48. Sheep 50. Scoutmaster 51. Nothingness 53. Bowling alleys 55. Scottish name 57. Took a winding path 58. Part 2 of quote: 4 wds. 63. Like a pensioner: abbr. 64. One cubic meter 65. Sword 66. Derisive look 67. Upperclassmen: abbr. 68. Island in Tuscany 71. - segno 73. Proximate 75. Kind of computer file, for short 78. Great Renaissance sculpture 81. Tenth: prefix 84. Triple crown 88. - Aviv 89. Part 3 of quip: 5 wds. 93. Servant 95. Ottava 96. Pinnacle
97. Small case 98. Rising 101. Sour 103. Man of La Mancha 105. Curve in a road 106. Trammel 108. Semiprecious stone 110. Take issue 112. Largest antelope 114. Straight, said of liquor 116. Disney attraction 117. End of the quip: 4 wds. 122. Greet with enthusiasm 125. Action word 126. - Gras 127. Dunne or Castle 129. Danube tributary 130. Gaelic 131. Part of SEATO 132. Navigate 133. Active volcano 134. Repetition 135. Military hat with a plume 136. Kind of fund 137. Paper amount
DOWN 1. Seltzer 2. Ersatz: abbr. 3. Part of the church calendar 4. Punctual: 2 wds. 5. Idaho city 6. Abbr. on an envelope 7. Princess 8. Ooze 9. Breakout 10. Water channel 11. Chinese dynasty 12. John Jacob -
13. Error 14. Obliging 15. Honeydew relative 16. Healthy 17. Czar’s name 18. Confined 28. Brand identifier 30. Acrimony 31. River in England 33. British composer 36. City in the Alps 37. Skyward 38. Ball
40. Batteries 42. Olfactory stimuli 43. Excitement 44. Fingerboard ridges 47. Flow 49. “As - on TV ...” 52. Desperate 54. Part of Scand. 56. Orne river city 59. Grassland 60. Intoxicating 61. A letter 62. Sister of Thalia
69. Contemptuous cry 70. State 72. Thirteen popes 74. Ceremony 75. Look 76. Arab League nation 77. Czechs and Croats 79. First: abbr. 80. French writer 82. Some trophies 83. Like old college walls 85. Lingering sensation
86. Waken 87. Originate 90. Director Quentin 91. A Muppet 92. Earth’s solid part 94. Hive occupant 99. French composer 100. Injuries 102. Journey 104. Compete, in a way 107. Punctuation mark: 2 wds.
109. Pastry 111. Bloodier 113. S.S. Andrea 115. Cake 117. Past 118. Notorious ruler 119. Formerly, formerly 120. A state: abbr. 121. Do a gardening job 123. Actress - Turner 124. Small amount 128. Not pos.
t /PWFNCFS t Technique
PILED HIGHER & DEEPER BY JORGE CHAM
CROSSWORD SOLUTION FROM PAGE 17
COMICS
NON SEQUITUR BY WILEY
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DILBERT 速 BY SCOTT ADAMS
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SPORTS
Johnson
Staff Picks
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by freshman Tate Forcier’s struggles. The problems have spilled off the field, with recent allegations of NCAA violations. Rodriguez, despite the issues he has encountered, is far from the only second-year head coach to struggle. Rick Neuheisel is still trying to get stability at UCLA. Bo Pelini has had ups and downs at Nebraska, beating Oklahoma but losing to Iowa State this year. Arkansas, a popular pick to rise under Bobby Petrino, remains in the middle of the pack in the SEC. Oregon’s Chip Kelly and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney are doing well at their respective programs with less time than Johnson, but one would be hard-pressed to say that they have revitalized a program the way Johnson has. Johnson has turned Tech to a team that, rather than remaining in Georgia’s shadow on the national scene, now seems poised to compete on a national level yearly.
Prasadh (98-109)
Cappetta (109-98)
Hoffman (101-106)
Lee (95-112)
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Fla. International vs. #1 Florida (-43)
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Football GSPN QBHF
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Paul Johnson walks down the sideline during a Tech football game.
Nov. 20-21
on the next four offensive possessions, gaining nearly 200 yards in the second quarter alone. Still, despite incomplete passes and the strength of the running game, the team kept attempting deep passes. “We had a huge height advantage and we tried to...take advantage of that,” Johnson said. On the next possession, Nesbitt threw a strike to Hill on a deep route in the back of the end zone. An official review confirmed that Hill had gotten a foot down before running out the back, so the touchdown was upheld.
nique.net keep up to date on what is going on around campus during the break
The 28-10 lead continued to grow in the second half, and early in the fourth quarter Johnson brought in most of Tech’s secondstring players. Sophomore quarterback Jaybo Shaw, the starter in last year’s shutout of Duke, finished the game in place of Nesbitt. The defense allowed the Blue Devils just 208 total yards after the first drive of the game. Tech also forced a turnover and sacked Duke quarterbacks Thaddeus Lewis and Sean Renfree a total of four times. The total included two sacks by redshirt junior defensive tackle Ben Anderson. “For the past few games of
the season, I have gotten to the quarterback just as he gets rid of the ball...to finally get some sacks under my belt feels pretty good,” Anderson said. Junior defensive end Derrick Morgan had a sack as well. Morgan now has 12 sacks this season, good for second in the nation behind Von Miller of Texas A&M. Tech has its first bye week of the season before taking on rival Georgia in the regular season finale on Nov. 28. “[After the game], I told [the team] ‘Congratulations, and now we know the biggest game of the year is next,’” Johnson said.
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points and 12 rebounds; and Favors, who posted 10 points and eight rebounds. Along with Favors, Lawal and Shumpert, the other starters were freshman guard Mfon Udofia and redshirt senior wing guard D’Andre Bell. Bell missed last season after being diagnosed with spinal stenosis. He was considered one of the team’s best defenders in the past and has since earned a starting spot. Senior Zach Peacock did not start but played for 15 minutes and finish with eight points. Udofia and freshman Glen Rice Jr. had nine and seven points respectively. Hewitt put his four active freshmen on the floor often, and all four had solid games. The Jackets are currently in Puerto Rico competing in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Tip-Off, which began yesterday and will run through Sunday. Recaps for each day’s action are and will be available on nique.net.
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Derrick Favors puts up a jumper during Saturday’s season opener.
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SPORTS
Hockey honors Brown, wins one in weekend series Volleyball
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Marcus Lostracco handles the puck while skating past an Embry-Riddle defenseman in Friday’s game. Tech defeated Embry-Riddle but fell to Tennessee on the team’s fifth annual Lt. Tyler Brown Scholarship Weekend. By Nishant Prasadh Sports Editor
Tech’s ice hockey team held its fifth Lt. Tyler Brown Scholarship Weekend on Nov. 13-14 at the Ice Forum in Kennesaw, Ga. The team won a 4-1 battle on Friday night against Embry-Riddle but fell in a 9-7 heartbreaker against Tennessee on Saturday night. This event has become an annual tradition for the hockey team since the first such weekend in 2005. The Jackets honored Brown, MGT/HST ‘01, who was a former Tech undergraduate student body president, a member of the Kappa Alpha Order and a Tech ROTC cadet. Brown died on Sept. 14, 2004 in a skirmish with insur-
gents in Iraq. Army ROTC cadets from Tech, Kennesaw State and SPSU served as the color guard for the pregame ceremony, and the teams observed a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Fort Hood shooting on Nov. 5. Brown’s parents, Carey and Sally, then participated in a ceremonial puck drop with members of both teams. The Browns started a scholarship fund in Tyler’s name, and the team collected donations before each of the games. The Jackets then took the ice to face Embry-Riddle in the weekend opener. The visiting Eagles controlled the puck early on, but junior goalie Maxx Lucas kept Embry-Riddle in check.
At 8:20 into the period, a shot from Tech freshman defenseman Bobby Bishop rebounded to sophomore forward Ryan Fritz, who quickly scored Tech’s first goal. Fritz’s goal was the only one of the period as the Jackets and Eagles engaged in a physical battle. Early in the second period, Fritz was tripped on a breakaway, resulting in a Tech power play. The Jackets passed well around the perimeter, and 6:07 into the period they set up a goal by graduate student Ian Yang on the right side, with two defensemen—freshman Alan Dagesse and junior Dan Podratsky—picking up assists. Tech was in control for much of the period, shutting down most Embry-Riddle attacks, and 14:56
into the period Fritz notched his second goal on a long slap shot. Fritz completed a hat trick early in the final period when, during an Embry-Riddle power play, he stole the puck from an Eagle forward and scored shorthanded. Behind its strong defense, Tech killed five third-period penalties and cruised to a 4-1 victory. Tech’s second game of the weekend featured a battle of teams ranked in the regional top 10, as the No. 8 Jackets faced No. 4 Tennessee. On Oct. 10, Tennessee held off Tech 7-6 in an overtime shootout in Knoxville. For the game, both teams wore stickers on their jerseys honoring Brown and Tyler Trahan, who served with the U.S. Navy and earned numerous decorations, including a Purple Heart. Trahan perished on April 30, 2009 during a combat operation in Iraq. Tech came out strong against the Volunteers. After several early opportunities, Fritz launched a shot past two Tennessee defensemen into the corner of the net for Tech’s first goal. The Jackets then capitalized on a two-man advantage. Fritz set up senior defenseman Fred Holgado on a one-timer goal, and Lostracco scored at the end of the power play to give Tech a 3-0 lead. Junior center Michael Midgette added a score of his own when he outraced a Tennessee defenseman to the puck, spun to gain control, and fired a shot into the net. The goal put Tech ahead 4-0. Unfortunately for Tech, the Volunteers gradually fought back. The score remained 5-1 after two periods, but Tennessee caught fire in the final period, scoring eight goals—including the final five of the game—to take the match. Tech’s final series of the fall takes place this weekend at the Greg Stathis Holiday Tournament in Augusta, Ga.
falls against FSU, Miami By Nishant Prasadh Sports Editor
Tech volleyball dropped both of its matches over the weekend, falling 3-2 against Miami on Friday and losing Saturday’s “Gold Out� match to No. 15 Florida State 3-0 at O’Keefe Gym. The Jackets took the first two sets against Miami and had four players with 14-plus kills and three with double-digit digs, but Miami took the final three sets. Tech then played well but could not complete the season sweep of a balanced Seminoles squad. After winning their first 11 matches at home, the Jackets have now dropped three straight at O’Keefe Gym. Tech plays its final two home matches this weekend before traveling to Clemson for the season finale.
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Chrissy DeMichelis lines up to spike the ball against Florida State.
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The women’s and men’s cross country teams earned 10th and 11th respectively at the NCAA South Regional Championships in Alabama. Sophomore Mary-Kate Dubard earned All-Region honors.
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points in just five minutes and increasing their lead to 29. Tech’s bench saw significant playing time in the second, accounting for 19 of Tech’s 27 second-half points. Sophomore center LaQuananisha Adams finished with 10 points, and sophomore forward Chelsea Regins posted eight points while also recording seven rebounds. Winthrop’s 18 points in the second half was not enough to overcome Tech’s early lead, and the Jackets advanced onward.
For the second round of the WNIT, Tech traveled to Stillwater, Okla. to face Oklahoma State. Tech scored first on a layup by Sasha Goodlett, but a quick OSU three-pointer gave the Cowboys the advantage. This would be the only lead change in the game. Tech was able to hold the margin to single digits until late in the half, when Oklahoma State went up by 11. OSU kept the Jackets at arm’s length in the second half, as two Cowboys had double-doubles en route to the 70-64 win that eliminated the Jackets.
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4th and one FTW!!! PJ and Nesbitt have some serious bawlz 4th and one FTW!!! PJ is my hero! PJ FTW Nesbitt FTW Yellow Jackets FTW white board guy at the games, i love you. honestly, when is the last time the stadium didnt erupt in boos when the refs head to the tunnel at the half? i will f**k you up ice machine hey FAB, paul johnson doesn’t coach for navy...just in case you didn’t notice Dear rude, passive aggressive kid in my Mechanics class: I’m going to be even louder now just to spite you. Since you’re obviously not man enough to say anything to my face. I am a handsome stranger, and this sliver is about you. Are you even aware of how much my butt itches? we should talk about Ben Folds again sometime, mail lady This pig flu ain’t got NOTHIN’ on me. Bring it on, mofo. Hey, creepy tiny laptop guy. Long time no see. How’s that beard doin? Stop staring and talk to me already. Its weirder if you just keep looking Oh no! It’s November! o.O onlyattech, yet another thing to help along our tendency to procrastinate. As if fb wasn’t enough. In my RSS feed, the number of posts on OAT is more than twice the amount MLIA has I wonder if there are any good single guys left at Tech. the library 4th floor conducts experiments on the 3rd ARGH LCC3401 WHY SO PAINFUL AND USELESS ACC is BCS ranked on multiples of 7. GT 7, Miami 14 and VT 21. Exciting. Why do ALL Tech girls suck? If there’s anyone worth my time, please let me know. Can we auto-tune mass?
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Head Coach Paul Johnson’s success already has him in many record books. In just his second year at the helm of the Tech football team, he is setting trends that few of his contemporaries across Division I football have been able to keep pace with and continues to make his mark on a program built by such legendary coaches as John Heisman, William Alexander and Bobby Dodd. Johnson had the most wins by a first year head coach at Tech in the 117-year history of the program. His winning percentage was the highest of any first-year Tech coach since William Alexander in 1920. He also became the third head coach to beat Georgia in his first year, joining Pepper Rogers and John Heisman. Johnson has also seen the continued growth in the program during second year. He will become only the second coach to play in an ACC Championship game within his first two years as head coach. This season also marks the first time Tech has won ten games during the regular season since the 1990 National Championship year. Johnson also has recorded the best finish for any Tech coach in conference play in his first two years. Johnson’s early success has been characterized by whom his teams have beaten. Last year the Jackets topped Florida State for the first time since 1975, beating FSU Head Coach Bobby Bowden for the first time. This season Tech’s success against FSU continued as the Jackets won for the first time ever in Tallahassee, Fla. When the Jackets beat No. 4 Virginia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Oct. 17, it was the
first time Tech had beaten a topfive team at home since the Jackets upset No. 1 Alabama in 1962. All of this has lifted Johnson’s team to No. 7 in all three major polls, the highest ranking of any Tech team in a decade. The team has adapted remarkably well to a new and unfamiliar system, flourishing in a hybrid option system that often takes time to master. The Jackets are second in rushing yards per game this season in FBS with just over 314 yards per game. The team has been efficient through the air when needed as well, currently ranking No. 6 in the nation in passing efficiency. Such success is certainly not the norm in FBS football. Michigan also began the 2008 season with new head coach in Rich Rodriguez, who in 2007 al-
most led West Virginia to the BCS National Championship game using his spread-option offense. Michigan had been one game away from a national title shot in 2006, but opened 2007 by losing their season opener to FCS school Appalachian State at home. Taking over for the retired Lloyd Carr, Rodriguez’s mission was simple: install his system and reinvigorate the program. Rodriguez lacked a quarterback in year one and Michigan went 3-9, missing a bowl game for the first time in 33 years. Michigan’s momentum from a 4-0 start this year has faded; they are now 5-5 and could miss a bowl again. There has been division in Ann Arbor on the field, including the quarterback controversy spurred See Johnson, page 21
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Head Coach Paul Johnson leads the team onto the Bobby Dodd Stadium field at the Wake Forest game. Tech has gone 19-5 under Johnson to date.
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Phil Smith makes a big block on a Duke defender to free Roddy Jones for a gain early in the second quarter of Saturday’s game at Duke. The Jackets gained 519 total yards, with nine players combining for 306 yards on the ground as Tech cruised to a 49-10 road victory. By Hahnming Lee Business Manager
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Derrick Morgan brings down Thaddeus Lewis on a pass rush.
Tech defeated Duke in Durham, N.C. 49-10 to clinch the ACC’s Coastal Division. The Jackets improved to 10-1 on the season, giving them double-digit wins for the first time since 1998. The win crowns the Jackets as the Coastal Division champions for the second time ever and the first since 2006. The team will advance to play in the ACC Championship game against Tampa on Dec. 5. “I think [the team is] excited, those guys have worked really hard. A lot of people have doubted them along the way, especially early. They have just been resilient and kept playing. I’ll give them credit, they find a way to win,� said Head Coach Paul Johnson.
Junior quarterback Josh Nesbitt threw for two touchdowns and rushed for one more. While he only had 30 yards on the ground, he completed six of 10 passes for 195 yards through the air. Nesbitt finished with a quarterback rating of 289.80, the second-highest single-game rating in school history. “[Nesbitt] hit some big plays, guys made some catches for him and we moved the chains,� Johnson said. Like many of the previous games this season, Tech found itself trailing at one point. It was the ninth game where the Jackets faced a deficit. The defense allowed Duke’s only touchdown drive of the day on the first possession and the offense had just 12 net rushing yards towards the end of the first quarter. That number improved dramatically as the
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game went on. “We didn’t adjust, we just played better.... We settled down and played a little better on offense,� Johnson said. At the end of Tech’s second offensive drive of the game, Tech faced a fourth-and-one at its own 31-yard line. The offense first lined up to try and draw the Duke defense offsides, but Nesbitt called a time-out and the punt team took the field. Instead of punting, the team attempted a fake punt with a direct snap to junior A-back Anthony Allen. The attempt was unsuccessful as Allen was unable to secure the ball, and he was forced to fall on the ball back at Tech’s 14yard line. Since it was fourth down, Duke took over on downs deep in Tech territory. The Jackets’ defense prevented the Blue Devils from picking up a first down and Duke kicked a field goal to put them ahead 10-0. After this, Tech would score 49 unanswered points. “Getting that stop on defense to [hold them] to a field goal, that really brought us back up,� said freshman wide receiver Stephen Hill. On the ensuing kickoff, freshman kick returner Orwin Smith initially dropped the ball, then picked it up and ran all the way to Duke’s 2-yard line before being brought down from behind. Had Smith been able to make it into the end zone, it would have been Tech’s first kickoff return for a touchdown in nearly 11 years. “[Smith] caught grief when we were running down the field,� Dwyer said. Nesbitt rushed into the end zone on the next play for Tech’s first score. At the end of the first quarter a personal foul against junior receiver Demaryius Thomas pushed the Jackets back to their own 10-yard line. Quarters cannot end on a penalty, so Tech was able to run an untimed play. Junior B-back Jonathan Dwyer found a hole up the middle and ran 46 yards before stepping out of bounds. Eight plays later, sophomore A-back Marcus Wright carried the ball 16 yards into the end zone to put Tech ahead 14-10. “Offensively, we just took a little bit to get settled down,� Johnson said. Dwyer had his fourth straight 100-yard game with 110 yards on 14 carries. He also had two rushing touchdowns. For the rest of the half, Duke was unable to move the ball against Tech and was unable to stop Tech from scoring. The Blue Devils had five consecutive three-and-outs and its last drive of the half consisted of just three plays to end the half. The Jackets scored three touchdowns See Football, page 21
Men’s & Women’s Basketball seasons open with victories Women reach second round of WNIT Men cruise past Fla. A&M, 70-64 The No. 19 women’s basketball team opened their season this past Friday with a 63-30 victory over Winthrop in the first round of the 2009 Women’s Preseason National Invitational Tournament. Tech was eliminated in the second round, though, falling 70-64 to Oklahoma State. The game against Winthrop at Alexander Memorial Coliseum kicked off the WNIT. The Jackets struck first, getting their first bucket on a jumper from junior guard Deja Foster. Winthrop took the lead on a three-pointer, but that would
be their last lead of the game, as Tech answered with a jumper from sophomore guard Mo Bennett and pulled away. Midway through the first half, a steal and layup by Bennett increased Tech’s lead to 10, and they continued to build upon this double-digit margin throughout the game. Bennett shot nine-for-15 from the floor and posted a team-high and career-high 21 points. She also registered seven rebounds and eight steals. By the end of the first half, Tech had pushed the score to 36-12, holding Winthrop to two points in the final 11 minutes of the half. 26 of Tech’s 36 points came in the paint. The Jackets picked up where they left off in the second half, putting up 10 more See WNIT, page 23
By Steven Cappetta Assistant Sports Editor
Tech’s men’s basketball team kicked off its season with a win over Florida A&M this past Saturday. The No. 21 Jackets were able to overtake the Rattlers with the score of 100-59. The Jackets led 16-8 before going on a run where they put up 14 unanswered points. At the end of the first half, Tech was leading 50-21 and had control of the game. Several players were able to get plenty of playing time, especially in the second half. Thirteen players took the court for the Jackets, and all but two played for at least 10 minutes. Both junior Gani Lawal and freshman Derrick Favors were perfect in their free throws on the day, as Lawal was 4-4 and Favors was 2-2. Tech bas-
ketball struggled during some instances in the free throw department last season, but shot a solid 70 percent in this first game this year. Freshman Brian Oliver was able to sink four three-pointers on the day. Oliver played for 13 minutes, scoring the 12 points along the way. All four of his three-pointers were in the game’s final 10 minutes. Other big numbers on the day came from sophomore guard Iman Shumpert, who scored a team-high 18 points; Lawal, who had 16 See Men’s, page 21
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By Kyle Conarro Contributing Writer