April 7 edition by The Auburn Plainsman

The Auburn Plainsman A SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID www.theplainsman.com

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Vol. 117, Issue 25, 20 Pages

IFC sobers up summer rush Colton Campbell WRITER

JILLIAN CLAIR / NEWS EDITOR

Three windows were shot out of a Toyota minivan which was parked in front of the Higginbotham Academic Center.

One dead in shooting at Southern Union

Jillian Clair NEWS EDITOR

Wednesday at 3:54 p.m., a shooting on the campus of Southern Union State Community College relating to a domestic dispute left one female dead and three females injured, according to Opelika Police Department Capt. Allan Elkins. Police have named Thomas Franklin May III, 34, as a suspect. May is a 5-foot8-inch white male and was last seen driving a white Jeep Liberty with an Alabama license place #BPW 2931.

A 63-year-old female was confirmed dead on the scene, a 93-year-old female was shot in the neck and back and was transported to Columbus Regional Medical Center via helicopter, a 36-year-old female was shot in the right arm and was transported to East Alabama Medical Center and a 4-year-old female was injured from flying glass and was also transported to EAMC. A Toyota minivan with three windows shot out was parked in front of the Higginbotham Academic Center, which is adja-

cent to the Health Sciences building. “We believe that the 36-year-old victim was actually a student at Southern Union and was being picked up or dropped off,” Elkins said. Elkins said all of the victims are members of the same family and are residents of Lee County. Elkins could not confirm if the victims were inside of the van at the time of the shooting, but Calvin Coleman, business student at Southern Union, said he saw all » See SHOOTING, A2

Auburn’s Interfraternity Council is taking steps to make all recruitment events held by Auburn’s fraternities completely alcohol-free. An excerpt from IFC’s new dry recruitment awareness plan reads, “Educating Auburn’s fraternity men on dry recruitment, implementing attainable dry recruitment guidelines and acting as a constant resource for all fraternities are the primary recruitment goals of the IFC for the year 2011.” Johnny Blankenship, junior in finance and president of IFC, said the policy of dry recruitment has been overlooked nationwide for years. “Auburn is unique in that we have summer rush,” Blankenship said. “At formal rush, once the semester has started, there is never any alcohol, and we have never had a problem with that. It’s the rush events held in the summertime that this policy needs to be for.” Several fraternities host weekends at a lake or trips to sporting events during the summer to jump-start their recruitment. “Summer recruitment gives fraternities an opportunity to begin filling their fall pledge classes while things are somewhat slow and quiet in Auburn,” Blankenship said. The Office of Greek Life’s strategy to address alcohol in fraternity recruitment says, “This policy strictly forbids the presence and/or use of alcohol during recruitment events. The use of alcohol in fraternity recruitment is an issue that continues to persist within the Auburn University Greek community.” Blankenship said filling a pledge class would be more difficult if fraternities weren’t able to recruit during the summer. “The goal of IFC is to assure the safety of both brothers and rushees while summer rush takes place,” Blankenship said. Bo Mantooth, assistant director of Greek » See IFC, A2

Judge blocks media from players’ hearing Jeremy Gerrard ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Lee County District Judge Steve Speakman announced Wednesday that he found probable cause for a grand jury to hear charges against four former Auburn football players for the alleged armed robbery which took place last month, court officials confirmed. Antonio Goodwin, Shaun Kitchens, Mike McNeil and Dakota Mosley were kicked off the football team by Coach Gene Chizik shortly after their arrests. Speakman barred the media and public from attending the preliminary hearing after granting a motion issued by Mosley’s attorney Davis Wittelsey. In the motion, Wittelsey sought closure of the hearing on behalf of his client as well as Kitchens and Goodwin, who are all under the age of 21. The three younger defendants could seek youthful offender status if the grand jury indicts. With the hearing scheduled for 11 a.m., media personal were given no notice of a closed hearing until one hour before. In response, The Auburn Plainsman contacted attorney Dennis Bailey to file a motion against the closed hearing. While motions were filed, the preliminary hearing went on in private as scheduled. “I would generally say that decisions to close court proceedings should not be made without giving the press and interested parties at least an opportunity to review the question in advance,” Bailey said.

“

…Decisions to close court proceedings should not be made without giving the press and interested parties at least an opportunity to review the question in advance.” —Dennis Bailey ATTORNEY

“That wasn’t done here.” In the motion, The Plainsman requests that the court “conduct all future proceedings in this matter (and related matters) in open court as required by Alabama law and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.” They also requested that any records or filings made during Wednesday’s hearings be available to the public since no defendant currently has youthful offender status. With the motion filed, the Opelika-Auburn News was notified and decided to join The Plainsman in the initial motion and any others in this matter that may follow. Prior to the notification of a closed hearing, media outlets were issued an email from court officials Tuesday that indicated the proceedings were to be conducted in a normal fashion: pen and paper only and re-

EMILY ADAMS / PHOTO EDITOR

Michael McNeil walks into the Lee County Justice Center Wednesday morning. stricted use of recording devices was to be expected. “There was nothing in the file that indicated anyone wanted to do anything but postpone the hearing,” Bailey said. Wittelsey had previously filed a motion on behalf of Mosley March 28 to delay the preliminary hearing, which was subse-

quently denied by the judge. Throughout the hearing, only the defendants and their attorneys, as well as their families and families of the victims, were allowed in the courtroom. While Goodwin did not attend the proceedings, the other defendants pres» See TRIAL, A2

Recycled paper

Campus A2

The Auburn Plainsman

DUI ARRESTS IN THE CITY OF AUBURN APRIL 1 – APRIL 5, 2011

CRIME REPORTS FOR APRIL 1 – APRIL 5, 2011

■ Laerick O. Oliver, 22, of Opelika Highway 14 at Vickerstaff Street April 2, 12:17 a.m.

April 1 — West Longleaf Drive Theft of property reported. One Verizon cellphone.

■ Edward L. Taylor, 19, of Birmingham North College Street April 2, 2:06 a.m.

April 2— South College Street Breaking and entering of a vehicle reported. One laptop, one laptop charger, one leather computer bag.

April 1 — West Longleaf Drive Theft of property reported. One red Columbus State bag, one Droid cellphone, one wallet, one driver’s license, one debit card.

■ Benjamin L. Kennon, 28, of Phenix City West Glenn Avenue April 2, 2:09 a.m.

■ Roberto Ordonez, 36, of Guatemala Village Circle April 2, 1:44 p.m.

April 1 — East Longleaf Drive Theft of property reported. ONe Sony Playstation.

■ Jackson K. McBride, 19, of Birmingham North Donahue Drive April 3, 3:32 a.m.

April 2 — Carver Avenue Theft of property reported. Auto theft reported. $110.

SHOOTING

■ Loc M. Nguyen, 40, of Saigon, Vietnam Aubie Drive April 4, 2:11 a.m.

» From A1

of the victims in the van after the shooting. Coleman said he was changing classes when the shooting occurred. “A white Jeep Liberty pulled up next to the vehicle and just started shooting in the vehicle,” Coleman said. “A lot of rounds were fired—it sounded like it had to have been a handgun that had a large capac-

■ Randall O. Ware, 25, of Valley Wire Road at Sims Drive April 4, 3:19 a.m.

» From A1 ent managed to sneak out through the back door without any comment. Attorneys for the defendants and District Attorney Robbie Treese also declined to comment after the hearing. The defendants were arrested March 11 when they were pulled over by police officers. Their vehicle matched the description given by victims of a residence that was robbed on Wire Road. While a handgun was found in the defendants’ possession, the victims reported no injuries. Atlanta native Goodwin, who played special teams and wide receiver last season as a true freshman, was expected to compete for a starting position. McNeil, a Mobile native who was part of Auburn’s

2007 recruiting class, was expected to be a starter and leader of a young secondary for the Tigers next season. Mosley, of Little Rock, Ark., was redshirted last season. Kitchens, of College Park, Ga., played special teams last season for the Tigers. He also saw limited playing time at wide receiver, catching one pass. He was expected to compete for a starting position in spring practice. All three freshman were part of Auburn’s 2010 recruiting class. “It may be that in hindsight that what was done here was proper,” Bailey said. “But until I see some citations of authority, or citations to statutes, or the grounds to the motions that they made at the last minute, I can’t render an opinion on this.”

IFC

» From A1

Life, said enforcement of the rules is going to be challenging. “If everyone followed the rules all the time, no one would go over 55 on the highway,” Mantooth said, “but if you speed, you’re going to get a ticket.” Mantooth said enforcement of this policy has been a problem at SEC schools for years. “Not having dry recruitment is not a huge shock because of the Southern culture,” he said. “But this is not a new policy.” Mantooth said the polRead the Plainsman Read the Plainsman icy of dry recruitment has Read the Plainsman Read the Plainsman been in place at Auburn Read the Plainsman Read the Plainsmansince 1987. Read the Plainsman Read the Plainsman “This is just an IFC initia-

Read the Plainsman Read the Plainsman Read the Plainsman Read the Plainsman Read the Plainsman Read the Proud Sponsor of the Auburn Tigers, your 2010 BCS NationalPlainsman Champions!

April 4 — Shug Jordan Parkway Theft of property reported. One Xbox 360, one controller, one video game.

ity magazine. It seems like there were a lot of shots— more than there normally would be.” The driver drove away after firing the rounds, Coleman said. Coleman said the 63-year-old victim was in the driver’s seat. “The driver, you could just see her—you just knew it looked really bad,” Coleman said. “There was glass everywhere, sirens were going everywhere, people

are freaking out, people are screaming, blood all over the place—it was just really bad looking.” Coleman said the students were ushered inside for their safety, but were released and told to go home for the day after police secured the scene. “We do not believe the general community is at risk at this case—this suspect apparently found his victims this afternoon,” Elkins said.

tive that gives new guidelines for educating the fraternity community how to recruit without alcohol,” Mantooth said. Blankenship said IFC will be educating fraternity leaders about the liabilities and dangers of serving alcohol to underage students. “I don’t think some of these fraternity members fully understand that they may be held personally liable for this,” Blankenship said. “There could be legal consequences, chapter suspension and pressure from their national chapters. I’m just going to be doing my job this summer—I’m going to be enforcing what the IFC constitution says I should be enforcing.”

Education, enforcement and guidance will be the integral areas of focus for the initiative, according to the proposed plan. Mantooth said he is impressed with the members of IFC for starting this initiative. “Four years ago, if they had brought this up, they would’ve been laughed at,” Mantooth said. This will not be a quick change throughout all of Auburn’s chapters, he added. “It’s not like ripping off a Band-Aid,” Mantooth said. “It’s going to take some time, but it’s positive change, and that’s all we’re trying to do.” Blankenship said the Office of Greek Life will host a panel April 21 about the

The Alpha Psi Rodeo, a spring tradition that has rounded up students since 1965, has undergone several changes for Saturday. “We are limiting tickets this year for the first time—we haven’t ever limited tickets prior to this,” said Randolph Stepusin, second year vet student and public relations manager for the rodeo. The idea to limit tickets is part of Alpha Psi’s effort to minimize traffic and cut back on the negative community feedback associated with the event. Stepusin said the exact limit of tickets has not yet been determined, but he expects the number to be approximately the same as last year: 14,000–15,000 attendees.

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Another change is tickets are presale only and available exclusively online for $35; no tickets can be purchased at the gate. In addition to limiting attendance, those wanting to bring vehicles onto the property will be required to buy a $20 parking permit, which will also be limited. “This year we’re going to have a shuttle system, so we’ll have buses running from main campus to the rodeo site and back from the rodeo site,” Stepusin said. The hayfields on South Donahue, a common location for RV parking during football games, will be the site for the shuttle pick-up. “Parking there will be free,” Stepusin said. “You just need a general admission ticket to board the

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According to a Southern Union press release, the college’s nursing and paramedic faculty responded immediately to assist the victims. Southern Union and Opelika High School were locked down after the shootings, but reopened Wednesday afternoon and will continue regular hours throughout the week. Check www.theplainsman.com for more updates.

“

At formal rush, once the semester has started, there is never any alcohol, and we have never had a problem with that. It’s the rush events held in the summertime that this policy needs to be for.” —Johnny Blankenship IFC PRESIDENT

dangers of recruiting with alcohol, at which six members of each fraternity chapter are to attend.

Rodeo spikes prices STAFF WRITER

EDITOR

— Reports provided by Auburn Department of Public Safety

April 3 — Willow Creek Road Breaking and entering of a vehicle reported. One debit card and one change purse.

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Local advertising rate is $9 per column inch. National advertising rate is $16 per column inch. Deadline for all advertising space reservation is Friday at 3 p.m. The Auburn Plainsman (USPS 434740) is published by Auburn University, Ala. 36849 weekly during the school year. The Auburn

April 4 — East University Drive Breaking and entering of a vehicle reported. One purse, one iPod Touch, one umbrella.

April 3 — Mell Street Theft of property reported. One MacBook Pro.

■ Natalie S. Lovvorn, 23, of Carrollton, Ga. South Gay Street April 2, 2:45 a.m.

■ Dameon Thomas, 22, of Columbus, Ga. Wire Road at Webster Road April 4, 12:53 a.m.

April 4 — South College Street Breaking and entering of a vehicle reported. Two sets of golf clubs.

April 3 — South Gay Street Burglary of residence reported. Flat screen TV.

April 1 — North Ross Street Breaking and entering of a vehicle reported. One GPS and one pair of sunglasses with case.

TRIAL

Thursday, April 7, 2011

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shuttle.” He said because the shuttles will be chartered buses, those who want to bring tailgating equipment will be able to store their belongings under the bus during transport. Shuttles are scheduled to run from 8 a.m. Saturday until several hours after the concert ends. Although the schedule is still being finalized, Stepusin said they plan to start the concert earlier than in years past, with the opening act starting at approximately 5 p.m. and the main act starting at 7 p.m. The main act for this year’s rodeo is Blake Shelton, with the Josh Abbot Band from Texas and Adam Hood opening. » Read the rest online at

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

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The Auburn Plainsman

Professor honored by Bama Blakeley Sisk WRITER

CHRISTEN HARNED / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

A runner navigates a pool of mud Saturday at the 2011 Amphibious Warrior Mud Run.

Getting muddy Alexandria Smith WRITER

Waking up early in the morning to run through mud pits dotted with obstacle courses may not sound like the ideal weekend, but the thought seemed to be catching on at Auburn April 2. The Naval ROTC program hosted its second annual Amphibious Warrior Mud Run April 2 to support Auburn’s Naval ROTC program, the U.S. Marines and the Wounded Warrior Project. Almost 500 people preregistered online for the event, said Major Jeffrey Dyal, Marine Officer Instructor of the Naval ROTC. The Mud Run will donate $2231.38 to the Wounded Warrior Project from the money they raised Saturday. The Wounded Warrior Project is a nonprofit organization that provides help and financial support for injured soldiers returning from combat. The event consisted of three different races. The first, called the W.E. Winter Recon Challenge, was a 10-mile run including the ROTC obstacle course. For a section of this race, participants were required to wear a 30-pound pack. Participants were allowed to sign up in groups or as individuals, but teams had to cross the finish line together. “I’m pretty nervous about pulling my team back,” said Ben Steever, senior in exercise science, just before the race began. Steever jokingly said he was coaxed into running the Mud Run by a couple of his friends who wanted him to join their team. Many groups got creative, dressing up as tigers, Easter bunnies and even The Beatles. The Beatles team sang songs such as “All You Need in Mud” and “Here Comes the Mud.” The main event included

CHRISTEN HARNED / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Participants wade through mud at Saturday’s Mud Run. the 4.2-mile mud run, complete with multiple mud pits, climbing walls and other obstacles the Marines engineered. “It was great and a lot of fun,” said Andy McErlean, junior in graphic design. “I feel like I did well, and I can’t wait for next year.” Many students were present to participate in the Mud Run and support the cause, complete with pinned on race numbers and duct tape on their tennis shoes to keep shoes secure in deep bogs of mud. “I’m just excited to get to run in some mud,” McErlean said before the race. Staff Sgt. Jason Roberts, who was severely injured in 2009, ran the Mud Run with a prosthetic leg. “The main focus of this event is to promote community awareness of the ROTC program at Auburn as well as benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project,”

Dyal said. Dyal said showing the students in ROTC the importance of supporting the Wounded Warrior Project, since all Marines will see combat, is important. This year a new race was added to make the event more family friendly. The Mini Mud Run for children under 12 was a one-mile run that included some of the mud pits of the course. Dyal said they tried to make this event more fun for the family through the Mini Mud Run and inclusion of inflatable jumpers, which children enjoyed throughout the morning. “Family is so important, especially in the military where family is such a great support system,” Dyal said. “This year we wanted to include more of the community by making it an event the entire family could enjoy.”

Ed Williams, professor of journalism, has mentored and helped journalism students reach their highest potential for 28 years. Williams was awarded the University of Alabama Outstanding Alumnus of the year award in journalism. “The University of Alabama award came 35 years after I graduated, and I was surprised and humbled,” Williams said. “But hearing from former students that I’ve known during my 28 years at Auburn, that’s the very best kind of award there is.” Williams has been part of the journalism faculty for 28 years, and in those years he has mentored many students who have moved on to become experts in the field. “The thing that stood out to (our committee) most with Ed is he had such an impact on the field of journalism in Alabama and beyond because of the work he had done at The Plainsman,” said Jennifer Greer, chairwoman of the University of Alabama department of journalism. Williams was the faculty adviser for The Plainsman for 23 years and has taught many classes in the journalism department, including JRNL 1100, or Newspaper Fundamentals, an introductory course to journalism. “The award speaks to Ed’s commitment to journalism excellence through his 23 years as the adviser

EMILY ADAMS / PHOTO EDITOR

Ed Williams, professor of journalism, was recognized by the University of Alabama as an outstanding alumnus. for The Plainsman and his continued commitment to excellent teaching in our program,” said Jennifer Adams, associate professor in the department of communication and journalism. Al a b a m a’s f a c u l ty chooses recipient of the award—an alumnus who has received his or her undergraduate or master’s degree from the program. The recipient must have distinguished himself or herself in the field of journalism and had an impact on a multitude of people, Greer said. Williams has received many emails and Facebook posts from his former students thanking him for the impact he has had on them as journalists. “In just a few minutes, I started getting emails and Facebook messages from former students, congratulating me and sharing memories of JRNL 1100 and The Auburn Plainsman when I was the adviser,” Williams said. “Some of them didn’t even know that I graduat-

ed from Alabama.” Williams’ former students have sent him congratulatory messages after hearing about the award. “I can honestly say that I don’t know where I would be today without the guidance you gave me,” said Miranda Mattheis, marketing communications specialist for Alfa Insurance and former managing editor of The Plainsman, in an email to Williams. “Of all the people I met during my time at Auburn, you had the most impact on shaping me as a person and a professional.” To give this award to someone who has had such an impact in the state and at Auburn is an honor, Greer said. “In his 28 years on the journalism faculty, many alumni say Ed was the quiet force who inspired and guided them on their paths into the field of journalism,” Adams said. “It is always an honor to be recognized by one’s alma mater, but I can think of no one who is more deserving of this award than Ed Williams.”

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Relihan poised to take associate provost position Annie Faulk STAFF WRITER

Constance Relihan had to use her background in Shakespeare recently, deciding to be or not to be associate provost for academic affairs. “The associate provost for undergraduate studies coordinates the work of those people so that there are ways that we can simplify the student advising experience,” said Relihan, professor and senior associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Liberal Arts. Relihan will also be the chair of the academic affairs committee and the University curriculum committee. “It is not something I ever imagined doing when I was getting a Ph.D. in 16th-century English literature and Shakespeare,” Relihan said. “I have discovered I really like helping students resolve problems and making the academic system work.” Relihan will work with the Office of the Vice President of Research; part of

her job description is to supervise the academic director of sustainability and the director of undergraduate research. “I’m kind of scared because it is bigger than what I have been doing now,” Relihan said. “I am excited about it because I think that it’s a really important role, and it has the potential to do a lot of good for students and for Auburn.” The associate provost for undergraduate studies works with large scale projects like the Auburn Connects Common Book Program. Relihan will work with associate deans, faculty and administrators to oversee undergraduate degree programs. “I am very much looking forward to working with Dr. Relihan in her new role,” said Carl Pinkert, associate vice president for research. In 1990, Relihan became a member of the Auburn faculty as a professor in the English department, and has served as the associate dean of academic affairs for the College of Liberal Arts for six years.

“

I am excited about it because I think that it’s a really important role, and it has the potential to do a lot of good for students and for Auburn.” —Constance Relihan COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS PROFESSOR AND ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

“Three individuals were interviewed and forums were held for each candidate,” said Mary Ellen Mazey, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “All three were recommended to the provost, and I chose Dr. Relihan because of her experience.” Relihan’s new title will be official June 1. “The first thing I need to do is learn a bit more about the details of how all the other colleges work,” Relihan said. “I want to work on some ways to simplify and streamline advising for

students and ways in which we can help improve student retention and graduation rates.” Relihan said she is aware of some ongoing student issues including classroom capacity, and plans to help students get the appropriate classes efficiently instead of getting wait-listed for the classes they need. “The Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies position is essentially doing for the University what I have been doing for the College of Liberal Arts for the past six and a half years,” Relihan said. Mazey said she will work with Relihan to establish goals for the position of associate provost for undergraduate studies. “I feel like I have been handling a lot of the same issues whether they are related to exceptions to academic policies, curriculum issues, advising issues,” Relihan said. ”I feel like I have addressed those issues and had experience with those issues just at the college level, so in a way I am just taking it one step higher.”

REBEKAH WEAVER / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Constance Relihan, professor and associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Liberal Arts, was appointed the new associate provost for undergraduate studies

Animal nutrition center to feature new methods Madeline Hall WRITER

Agricultural research and teaching methods will be revolutionized with the opening of the new poultry and animal nutrition center. “This is a big milestone for Auburn University,” said Mitchell Pate, director of the poultry science center, “not only in training students, but providing a service to the state of Alabama because poultry is the largest agriculture income in the state.” The center will be a feed mill used to produce animal feed while also serving

as a testing site for industry equipment. “The poultry science department is a heavy research-oriented group,” said Joe Hess, nutrition professor. “The new feed mill will give us the ability to very accurately make research feeds to test different ingredients.” Hess said there are 26 feed mills in Alabama that specialize in poultry feed. “The feed mill is designed to make different types of feed, like a mash or pellettype feed,” Pate said. “We’ll also be putting in new technology equipment to do testing for manufactur-

ing companies to see what type of equipment will save them money and increase the quality of feed.” Conner said the new center is more student friendly. “It will be a really good environment for teaching our students modern feed science technology,” said Donald Conner, department head of poultry science.” It also gives us a modern manufacturing environment for making foods for animals.” Hess said the center will provide better training for future jobs. “People get trained on the job for working in

them.” Hess said. “So we’d like for the students to have seen some feed milling and know what they are talking about before they go out and work in the agriculture industries.” Conner said the current feed mill is outdated since it was built 35 to 40 years ago. “We can meet our basic needs with that,” Conner said. “But moving into the future and really having something that serves as a good teaching facility and good research facility, we don’t have anything comparable to it.” Pate said the new feed

mill will be a major improvement. “At the new center, students will be able to do hands-on research,” Pate said. “We’ll be able to bring in feed mill managers and nutritionist from the industry and actually touch the equipment, see how it works.” The new center, which has been in planning stages since 2008, is projected to be built and operational by this time next year. Conner said funds for the project are donated by individuals and corporations and that people in the industry have been support-

ive of the center from the beginning. “Within a year’s time, we had commitments of over $1 million worth of equipment for this feed mill,” Conner said. “The total project budget will be a little over $6 million.” Hess said the center, which will be located north of the fisheries, will serve many needs across campus. “Animal science does a lot of research as well as the fisheries department,” Hess said. “The center gives teaching opportunities to several areas within the College of Agriculture.”

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Campus A5

The Auburn Plainsman

Professor uses comedy to spark student interest Ellen Weathers WRITER

After teaching ninthgrade history for three years, Joseph Kicklighter said Auburn saved him. He said becoming a history professor at Auburn proved he had “finally made it” to where he wanted to be in his career, physically and figuratively. Kicklighter grew up in Hawkinsville, Ga., and said it was a “blessing when Auburn called” because the University was only a few hours away from home. Kicklighter said the fun in teaching college comes from the intellectual challenges posed by students. “They’re free and learning to express themselves,” Kicklighter said. “I can just enjoy being around people like that, regardless of age.” Lacy Knight, senior in history, said Kicklighter’s

MARIA IAMPIETRO / ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Joseph Kicklighter, history professor, merges comedy and history to engage students. style of teaching keeps him popular among students. “The best thing about him is that he knows his students personally,” Knight said. “He’ll ask questions based on what

he knows the students are interested in.” Knight added Kicklighter’s combination of history and comedy has helped her succeed in four of his classes.

“We laugh in class,” Knight said. “He makes sly remarks and picks out the interesting things from history for his lectures.” Knight said students should be sure to keep up

with the assigned readings to avoid becoming the target of those jokes. Kicklighter is also known for remembering students’ names, a skill that poses problems for students who hope to blend in. “Be talkative in class,” Knight said. “He will not hesitate to call you out if you’re not on the ball.” Kicklighter said these things are just part of his mission to mold wellrounded students who know a little bit about a whole lot of history. “People get frightened and think they’re going to have to learn every little thing,” Kicklighter said. “That’s not my goal.” One thing Kicklighter said he wishes he could drill students on is the importance of pedestrian safety. “I walk to work ev-

ery day,” Kicklighter said. “Sometimes all I can think about is how I hope people pay attention and realize they are supposed to stop, not just yield.” When he’s not traversing campus, Kicklighter can be found tuned in to a classic movie or caught up in British fiction. “I think it’s important to just read whenever you can,” Kicklighter said. “Believe it or not, I learned the German spelling of my name from a Berlin phone book.” Kicklighter said he has enjoyed seeing Auburn grow even though he has had to say goodbye to hundreds of students. “The crazy drivers are one thing,” Kicklighter said. “But with great people in such a great place like Auburn, I have very little to complain about.”

Student-run service offers career advice to other students Miranda Dollarhide INTRIGUE EDITOR

When Millie Harrison, junior in communication, made Miss Auburn’s top five, she was determined to find a way to give back. “I was thinking of a way I could better the school and leave a mark, but also would have been beneficial to me and my time here at Auburn,” Harrison said. “Career Development was so beneficial and helpful for me, so I wanted to do something where I could partner with them.” Harrison went to CDS with an idea about a program where students could talk with other students about their career goals. “We’ve been wanting to

do it for a long time,” said Torey Palmer, CDS graduate assistant. “When Millie was elected for her position, that was the final impetus to start doing it.” Palmer, Harrison and Katie Mantooth, CDS counselor, started doing research to see what works at other universities. Mantooth said they found students react better when they talk to other students as opposed to counselors, so they created a program called Peer Career Advisors. Peer Career Advisors are students selected from each college, except from the College of Business, and trained to advise their fellow students on anything

from resume building to major direction and other career decisions. “Their purpose is to basically help any student with the needs they have careerwise,” Harrison said. Harrison said most students don’t even know that Career Development Services exists, and Peer Career Advisors will help connect students with CDS resources in a relatable way. “It is kind of like the missing link here on campus between the student body, Career Development Services and the different advising groups,” Harrison said. “A lot of students don’t utilize those services, so I think this will open up their eyes to what they have to offer.”

Open to all juniors and seniors, advisers must have a grade point average of 3.0 or above, strong communication skills and the ability to work five hours a week. “Hopefully what we are doing is having a career adviser from each college so they can have a different outlook and address the different needs of our student body,” Harrison said. “You don’t have to have perfect writing skills; we just want people who are willing to learn, who are willing to grow.” Becoming an adviser comes with other benefits besides leadership opportunities. They also receive a stipend and advanced regis-

tration. “We don’t know how much (the stipend) will be yet,“ Palmer said. “It’s been a need that office has wanted to fill for a while, and we had a commitment from our director that she would be willing to allocate the funds if we could find the right student base to fill it.” Once chosen as advisers, the students will attend a mandatory two-week training period at the beginning of fall semester hosted by Palmer, Harrison and Mantooth. Harrison said they will officially start in September and will be located at a table next to the Foy desk every school day. “It’s great that it is going

to be in the Student Center because students filter through here all the time,” Harrison said. “It’s going to be in a really accessible location, and anyone is welcome to come up and utilize them whenever they need.” Palmer said there is an agreement with the Student Center to eventually build a kiosk for the advisers resembling the Verizon kiosk next to the Foy desk. Applications for Peer Career Advisors are due Friday by 4:45 p.m. in Mary Martin Hall. “I’m hoping it will be successful,” Harrison said. “So far it is looking hopeful from the amount of applications we have gotten.”

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Campus A6

The Auburn Plainsman

Lecture explores health topics Elizabeth Fite STAFF WRITER

Next week, graduate students will have a chance to experience the concerns of the United States Surgeon General for themselves. Deputy Surgeon General Boris Lushniak will give the graduate school’s New Horizons lecture April 8 in the Shelby Center auditorium. “We were interested in bringing to campus for the New Horizons Lecture people whose ideas and deeds inspire and influence others, and certainly Boris Lushniak with the Office of the Surgeon General is someone who is influential both in the government and the health profession,” said George Crandell, associate dean of the graduate school and organizer of the lecture. A decorated member of the Public Health Service, Lushniak began his career in 1988 with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. He worked in the epidemic intelligence department where he spent 16 years. He was also the chief medical officer for the office of counterterrorism within the FDA and was appointed assistant commissioner in 2005. Currently, Lushniak is a physician in dermatology at the National Naval Medical Center and an adjunct professor of dermatology at the Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences. Lushniak received a bachelor’s degree in medical sciences in 1981 from Northwestern University and his medical degree in 1983. In 1984, he received a master’s degree in public

health from Harvard. Lushniak’s lecture is titled “Public Health Priorities of the United States Surgeon General.” “He is one of the highest ranking officials in the Surgeon General’s office, and we would welcome people to come out,” Crandell said. “I’m sure his comments will be beneficial in terms of public health, and people may be interested in learning more about the Surgeon General’s office and possible careers in the health professions.” Crandell said Lushniak has not given specific details about what topics his speech will cover, but Crandell expects women’s health, childhood obesity, electronic health records and family health history to be on the agenda. Mark Burns, professor in health administration and health policy, said the Office of the Surgeon General is the leading source of federal views on health matters. “In the past, that office has addressed issues like the hazards of smoking and the need for better sex education in schools,” Burns said. “Currently they’re focusing on such matters as the growing rate of obesity in the U.S. and its association with diabetes, heart problems and other health complications.” The New Horizon’s Lecture began three years ago. The goal of the lecture series is bringing to campus influential speakers who inspire and promote ideas. The lecture is free and open to the public and will be held from 3–4 p.m. in the Shelby Center auditorium with a reception following.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

CALENDAR: THURSDAY, APRIL 7 – SATURDAY, APRIL 16 SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Hot Plates, Hot Art in the Topics Garden

AUMB Tiger Eyes Auditions

■ AUSC ball- ■ Jule Collins ■ Goodwin room

Smith Museum ■ 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

■ 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Men’s Tennis vs. Ole Miss

AU Trumpet Studio Recital

These Hands Don’t Hurt

Seven Seas: North Atlantic

Tennis Center ■ 1 p.m.

Hall ■ 6 p.m.

Center Concourse ■ 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

ing Hall ■ 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

■ Yarbrough

■ Stephenson ■ Haley

■ Terrell Din-

Women’s Resource Center: accepting applications

■ 311 Mary

Martin Hall

■ 12 a.m.

Hall

■ 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Auburn’s Got Talent

Football: A Day

room ■ 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

■ 2 p.m.

■ AUSC ball-

■ Jordan Hare Stadium

Earthfest 2011 From 10 a.m. to sundown April 2, festgoers enjoyed live music, lounging in the grass and good weather at the Donald E. Davis Arboretum. Sponsored by the Environmental Awareness Organization, the event featured local bands and vendors.

“ MARIA IAMPIETRO / ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Savannah Alessi, freshman in marketing, and Rachel Harris, freshman in animal science, blow bubbles while they lay in the grass and listen to live music in the arboretum Saturday at Earthfest 2011.

People just seemed to enjoy, you know, they had plenty of room to put out their blankets and enjoy the music, and I think everything ran quite smoothly.” —Dee Smith CURATOR, DONALD E. DAVIS ARIBORETUM

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Campus A7

The Auburn Plainsman

Environmental construction earns green certification Chelsea Harvey ASSISTANT CAMPUS EDITOR

Several buildings on campus take “going green” to a new level. The Miller Gorrie Center and Building 570 in Auburn’s Research Park are the only two LEED-certified buildings on campus, according to the U.S. Green Building Council website. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a system of green building certification. “It’s a system of criteria that kind of rates the environmental performance of buildings, and through the design and construction process you earn points toward a LEED rating,” said Darren Olsen, assistant professor of building science. “And there’s a certain scale: If you earn a certain number of points you get a certain level of LEED rating. The kind of levels of certification are certified, silver, gold and platinum.” The Miller Gorrie Center, constructed in 2006, is used by building science students and was deliberately built to LEED standards, said Richard Burt, head of the McWhorter School of Building Science. “I think us and Florida are the only schools in construction that have LEEDcertified green buildings, so we’re fairly unique,” Burt said. “And we use it as a teaching tool as well.” Although the College of Building Science does not currently offer any classes on environmental building, there will be a class offered on sustainable construction next fall, Burt said. In the meantime, the Au-

“

I think us and Florida are the only schools in construction that have LEED-certiﬁed green buildings, so we’re fairly unique. —Richard Burt SCHOOL OF BUILDING SCIENCE

burn Green Builders, a student organization on campus, hosts workshops on green building several times a year, Burt said. Burt said the building includes features such as natural daylight in all classrooms and low-maintenance landscaping. According to John Weete, executive director of the Auburn Research Park, Building 570 contains offices for several businesses, including the University’s Office of Technology Transfer. It was completed in 2008. “There’s a trend out there to construct buildings that are able to achieve LEED certification, and in university research parks that is a particular trend with the idea that companies now have more concern about the environment, and they prefer to locate it in buildings that have LEED certification,” Weete said. Weete said there is at least one more building in the research park that is attempting to achieve LEED certification. According to Olsen, LEED candidates apply for certification through the USGBC and are judged in five different areas. The first area is called

sustainable sites, Olsen said. “It has to do with where a building is located, if there’s available alternative transportation near,” Olsen said. “Part of those credits encourage you to locate a building in an urban type setting because they’re trying to prevent suburban sprawl.” The second area is water efficiency which deals with how well buildings can reduce their water use. The third area is energy and atmosphere, or how efficiently buildings use electricity and other energy. The fourth area is materials and resources, which involves the materials used in the construction process. “It’s basically related to the materials that were used in the building— were they environmentally friendly materials?— and the other little part of it that’s not really related to the materials used in the building is the waste that was generated during construction,” Olsen said. The fifth area is indoor environmental quality— how environmentally safe the inside of the building is. “Part of one of the things that they’re looking into is during construction, there’s plans that you have to put in place to keep workers from smoking during construction—covering the ductwork as it’s being installed to keep it clear and free of dust and so forth— after construction, limiting smoking or not allowing smoking inside the building,” Olsen said. “Included in that section of LEED are some regulations related to the types of

REBEKAH WEAVER / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

“Light shelves” on the exterior of the Miller Gorrie Building Science Center demonstrate one way the building strives for sustainability. The shelves help refract a maximum amount of light into the building and regulate the amount of heat entering the building. paints and adhesives that are used in the building.” There are currently no state laws in place requiring buildings to pursue LEED certification. According to Olsen, the process is entirely voluntary.

SGA SENATE RECAP Monday, April 4 meeting

Chelsea Harvey ASSISTANT CAMPUS EDITOR

As part of its research on the effects of a smoking ban on campus, the SGA invited Eric Smith, director of health promotion and wellness services, to speak on the proposed resolution. Recommendations so far, according to Smith, include a smoking ban on all campus buildings, grounds and parking areas, with a lift on the ban for sidewalks adjacent to public thoroughfares. Because of the lack of a campus police force, there is no clear plan of enforcement, although a strategy will be included in the final resolution when it is presented to the SGA and other governing bodies for a vote. Implementation of the policy, if it were to pass, would begin Jan. 1, 2012. Smith also reiterated that, contrary to popular belief, there is currently no enforced buffer system for smoking around buildings on campus. Smith said about 800 Auburn employees currently smoke, and the ban is expected to save $5,200 in insurance costs per smoking employee. On game days, the smoking policy would only be enforced within the stadium, Smith said.

“

Smokers are not a protected class of citizens. This idea of smokers’ rights does not exist. If you look at all the court documents, if you look at all the legislation, the right to free air trumps the rights of the smoker time and time again in the courts.” —eric smith DIRECTOR OF HEALTH PROMOTION AND WELLNESS SERVICES

Other reminders at the meeting included the announcements of the Travel with Safety campaign, which took place this week, and Campaign Complain, which takes place next week.

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However, there are certain benefits that may come from building to LEED standards. “As far as environmental benefits, it reduces the operational costs of buildings,” Olsen said.

By cutting down on electricity and water use, utility costs are reduced in LEEDcertified buildings, Olsen said. “I personally would say it’s a superior form of construction,” Burt said.

Campus A8

The Auburn Plainsman

On the Concourse

Thursday, April 7, 2011 Question:

What do you think about IFC’s dry recruitment policy?

“I think it’s a good thing. You get to know people without the influence of alcohol.”

“It is what it is. It might slightly impact rush, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”

“Personally, I’ve never been one to care much about things I guess.”

—Sydney Ennis sophomore, prepharmacy

—Joey Hoellerer, senior political science

—Jessica Daniell freshman, mathematics

“When you’re recruiting, you’re trying to show the positive side of your fraternity. If you want to have alcohol at your social events, that’s fine.”

“It doesn’t really matter to me either way because I’m not going to be here over the summer.”

“I think it’s a good idea, so they can find other things than alcohol to look for in a fraternity.”

—Sierra Hicks, sophomore apparel merchandising

—Nate Lundberg junior, geography

—Kaitlin Rhyne sophomore, kinesiology

SYDNEY HOLMBERG, 21 This week’s loveliest is dancing her way into our hearts. She’s Sydney, junior in biomedical sciences. As a member of the Tiger Paws dance team, our gal gets down in front of thousands of the Auburn faithful at football and basketball games. “I just love the performing aspect of it,” she says of her lifelong passion for dance. After graduation, she’s off to dental school. If she can make her patients’ smiles half as bright as hers, she’ll be on the road to success. Think you know an Auburn woman who has what it takes to be the Loveliest Lady on the Plains? Send submissions, with names and contact information, to campus@theplainsman.com

Benefit Night TONIGHT! 5-7pmllars!

o D g n i n i D e Us

$1.00 Each Tacos, Chips Queso, Salsa Fountain Drinks FR

a r o f n i D A s Bring thi eal! m r u o y h t i EE cookie w

Proceeds Benefit Alpha Xi Delta Sor ority Autism Awareness Month

Community

People of the Plains » Page B4

City Council » Page B4

www.theplainsman.com

Thursday, April 7, 2011

B Page B1

A closer look at public safety The 10th annual Public Safety Academy features demonstrations of each public safety division through hands-on activities Elizabeth Fite Staff Writer

Shooting guns, making life or death decisions and negotiating hostage situations aren’t part of everyday life for most people, but now, for a limited time, they can be. The 2011 Citizens Public Safety Academy kicked off its 10th year in session March 31 in the municipal courtroom on Ross Street. “People that come will get a better understanding of how and why city government does what is does and who to contact when certain issues arise,” said Capt. Tommy Carswell of the Auburn Police Division. All sessions are free and open to the public, with seven classes meeting Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Ross Street location and two Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at alternate locations. Participants will learn about each division of public safety: administration, police, fire, communications and building and fire inspections. Jerri Ernest, president of the Auburn Citizens Public Safety Alumni group, has completed the Public Safety Academy several times. Ernest said one of her favorite classes is the “shoot or don’t shoot” class. “They have a big video up there, and something will happen and you have to decide whether or not to shoot or don’t shoot,” Ernest said. “It makes you realize these police officers have to make a split decision, and if they hesitate in any way they can get killed.” Ernest said the drug class by

Rebekah Weaver / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Chief of Police Tommy Dawson, Fire Chief Lee Lamar, Public Safety Director Bill James and Communications Administrator Benjie Walker listen during a Public Safety meeting Thursday. Each of their departments will lead a session explaining its duties. the narcotics officers, polygraph testing, police ride-alongs and the trip to the shooting range are other highlights. “The night that we go up to see the communications is a lot of fun because you see how fast they have to work between getting the phone calls and locating somebody on the map and getting somebody there—there’s so much pressure involved in that,” Ernest said. She said the class not only informs people about how the different aspects of the city government work, but participants also learn techniques to keep themselves safer.

Bill James, public safety director, said although the program involves a time commitment, participants have found the program worthwhile and interesting. “We had a lady who was in her 70s—maybe close to 80—who had never shot a gun before and got out there and starting shooting shotguns and a fully-automatic machine gun, and she was just having a blast,” James said. “To see that from somebody who has never done anything like that before is just a lot of fun.” The academy will also have mock hostage negotiations and crime scenes, firearm safety, fire prevention and SWAT and ca-

“

It makes you realize these police officers have to make a split decision, and if they hesitate in any way they can get killed.” —Jerri Ernest President, Auburn Citizens Public Safety Group

nine demonstrations. “What you’ll learn over the nine classes that you participate in is a little bit about each

division, what they do and why they do it,” James said. “A lot of times when people have interactions with departments in the city, there’s a rule you don’t quite understand, but really there is a method to the madness.” James said it’s not too late to sign up and participate, and people can come to individual classes if they can’t commit to the whole program. Citizens who complete the entire academy will receive a certificate of completion and CPR certification. Interested individuals can call the Public Safety Academy at 334501-3110 for more information.

Battling cancer, one step at a time Participants in Relay for Life walk all night raising money and awareness for cancer research Molly Montgomery Writer

Christen Harned / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Hunter Sanders, 7, has a tiger painted on his face as part of the activities at the Auburn chapter of International Justice Mission’s Freedom Fest at Town Creek Park Sunday.

International Justice Mission combats human trafficking Liz Conn Associate Campus Editor

Five hundred dollars could pay for an iPad, a cruise, a month’s rent—or a slave’s freedom. The Auburn chapter of the International Justice Mission aims to raise money to free victims of human trafficking. The chapter contributes money to the international organization which buys the freedom of those who have been trafficked.

The $500 pays for the IJM to free a slave and provide him or her with an aftercare program. At Sunday’s Freedom Fest at Town Creek Park, the IJM raised $600 through donations and registration for the Walk to Freedom around the park. Of the 60 people who attended, 35 participated in the walk. “They literally go in and get these girls out of brothels,” said Grace Ann Hollis, IJM president and sophomore in accounting.

“A lot of times the government is actually working with the pimps and stuff.” When trafficked victims have been rescued, the aftercare program helps them get back on their feet. “A lot of them don’t have anything,” said Morgan Bethea, junior in public relations and IJM director of publicity. “If they’ve been kidnapped or taken from their homes, they » See Trafficking, B2

Cancer never sleeps. That’s the motto of the American Cancer Society’s 26th annual Relay for Life, happening in more than 5,000 communities across the nation. Auburn’s relay will be held April 16 at Hutsell track on Biggio Drive from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. “It is a one-night event,” said Kelley Andrews, promotions chair for the University’s Relay for Life and senior in communications. “It’s a way for Auburn students to have fun together, but it’s also for the reason of celebrating life.” There are currently 405 registered participants on 63 teams, and so far this year Auburn has raised $20,499. Emily Simpson, senior in biomedical science and event chair, said last year’s Auburn Relay for Life raised approximately $53,000 for The American Cancer Society, and committee members hope the Auburn community can exceed that amount this year.

Donations can be made on the Relay for Life website. Simpson became involved with Relay for Life when her family experienced cancer firsthand. “My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, and we became involved with it after she had been diagnosed and was going through chemo,” Simpson said. “Relay was something that kind of gave all of us hope that we wouldn’t have to go through it again.” Simpson said the Tiger Splashers are supporters of The American Cancer Society and participate in Relay for Life in honor of former Auburn swimming and diving coach Richard Quick, who died in 2009 from a brain tumor. Simpson said she began participating with the Tiger Splashers and decided to become a committee member with Relay for Life. The event is for people of all ages and will feature bands, competitions and music. The event seeks to raise money and awareness for cancer victims as well as honor those who have battled cancer. “If you ask a whole classroom of students, ‘Who’s been affected by cancer?’ everyone raises their hand,” Andrews said. “I wish everyone would participate because I know in the long run of our life span we’re all going » See Relay, B2

Community B2

The Auburn Plainsman

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Fuller encourages organ donation at Opelika Council Jade Currid Writer

Mayor Gary Fuller designated April as Donate Life Month in Opelika at Tuesday’s Opelika City Council meeting. In 2003, President Bush nationally proclaimed April as Donate Life Month, Fuller said. “It’s a time to raise public awareness of the critical need for organ, bone marrow and blood donations,” Fuller said. “I happen to be

Relay

» From B1 to be affected.” Simpson said the event will start with an opening ceremony, and cancer survivors will walk the opening lap. At least one participant will be walking the track the entire night. There will also be a candlelight memorial to recognize those who have lost their lives to cancer. “I wanted to do whatever I could for the mission of finding a cure for cancer,” Andrews said.

from Mayor Fuller,” Dozier said. “I encourage all of you who are not an organ donor to become one.” In 2010, 22,214 Americans and 392 Alabamians received a life-saving organ transplant, Fuller said. “One of the most meaningful gifts a human being can bestow on another is the gift of life,” he said. Fuller said every 18 minutes, a new patient is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.

Lindsay Johnston, special projects manager for the American Cancer Society, said 100 percent of all money raised goes directly to the organization, and approximately 30 cents of every dollar is given to fund cancer education, advocacy and research. “The American Cancer Society is excellent stewards of its fundraising dollars,” Johnston said. “All of our administrative costs are only 6 percent out of all the money that we raise, which is incredible for the largest nonprofit health organization.”

Trafficking

1 6

9 1 1

an organ donor and most of my family are organ donors. I’m sure many of y’all are.” Tony Dozier of Opelika, an organ recipient, received the proclamation from Fuller. A year ago, he was hardly able to walk. Before the meeting, he completed a four-mile walk. “On behalf of the Alabama Organ Center, it’s a pleasure to be here and accept the proclamation

2 6

5 7

More than 110,000 men, women and children in the U.S. are on the waiting list, Fuller said. Of the people waiting for an organ transplant, approximately 3,500 live in Alabama, Fuller said. “The Alabama Organ Center is a nonprofit, independent organization dedicated to recovery of high quality organs in addition to transplantation therapy,” Fuller said. “The city of Opelika supports the Ala-

bama Organ Center’s lifesaving mission.” Last year, 243 Alabamians died while waiting for an organ transplant, he said. “We honor all who have given the gift of life,” Fuller said. “We focus our efforts on the donors. We encourage residents to designate their donation decisions and to share that donation decision with family members.” At the meeting, Fuller

also encouraged citizens to attend “A Time to Build,” an event which will be held April 7–9 at First Baptist Opelika. Free and open to the public, Pastor Carter Conlon will speak and the Times Square Church Ensemble and Band AUBURN will provide praise and worship. “It will be a spirit filled celebration, and I hope you will have the opportunity to attend,” Fuller said.

» From B1

have to start over.” Of the traffickers themselves, 42 percent are women, according to the IJM. “What makes it all the more sick to me is that a woman will come into a village and talk to a lot of poor people about opportunities for their girls to become secretaries and executive assistants and professionals, and then they just capture them and take everything from them,” said Bill Deutsch, research fellow and chapter adviser. “They run them through these brothels. They have a global distribution system.” A pimp can make $250,000 a year from exploiting one girl, making human trafficking more profitable than drug trafficking. Deutsch has made about 60 international trips to 25 countries. “I think there’s a general sense among our students, faculty and staff on campus that this is an issue, but I think as terrible as it is, it’s something that’s

Christen Harned / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

A sign emphasizes the reality of human trafficking at Freedom Fest Sunday. very easy to sweep under the rug,” Deutsch said. “It’s just appalling how much of it is either based in or active here in the U.S. It’s not just a Cambodia thing or a Thailand thing or Ghana thing. It’s insidious. It’s everywhere.” Human trafficking hits close to home, as the Atlanta airport is the most heavily trafficked in the U.S., said Hannah Flayhart, sophomore in human development and family studies. In a period of one month

“

I think as terrible as it is, it’s something that’s very easy to sweep under the rug.” —Bill Deutsch IJM Chapter adviser

in Atlanta alone, there are 7,200 instances of sexual exploitation of a child, according to the IJM. In many instances, men

fly to Atlanta seeking a sexual encounter with a child, make a purchase and then fly home to rejoin their families. In addition to sex trafficking, the IJM fights forced labor, especially child labor. “There’s kids getting made to work 14, 16 hours a day in brick factories in India,” Deutsch said. “Or made to put soles on Nike shoes with benzene glues in a room you can’t even stand up in. There’s just a lot of inhumanity.”

Opinions

B3 www.theplainsman.com

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Our View

Trial raises press freedom questions The Auburn Plainsman began its Wednesday workday with the news that its assistant community editor, Jeremey Gerrard, had been barred from entering the courtroom in downtown Opelika where the four former football players accused of armed robbery were to have their preliminary hearing. The night before, The Plainsman had received an email from a court administrator laying out the guidelines for media within the courtroom for the hearing. The guidelines were typical: no flash photography, etc. However, Wednesday morning, Lee County District Judge Steven Speakman issued a sweeping guideline of his own. Attorney Davis Whittelsey, legal counsel for Dakota Mosley, had filed a motion seeking that court proceedings be closed to the media because Mosley and his fellow accused could be deemed “youthful of-

fenders,” in which case media would not be allowed into the courtroom. Speakman granted the motion and ordered media be removed from the courtroom. Within the hour, The Plainsman, in conjunction with its legal counsel Dennis Bailey, had chosen to move forward with an injunction to allow media back into the courtroom until the accused are actually deemed “youthful offenders” by a grand jury. After conversations with The Plainsman regarding the matter, The Opelika-Auburn News decided to join the injunction as well. The Plainsman does not make such a move lightly. The decision to bring a legal challenge is costly both in time and money. However, we believe that Judge Speakman’s actions are in violation of the Alabama law which requires government meetings and hearings, with certain stipulations, to be

open to the public and the media. While we believe Judge Speakman’s action to be in violation of state law, the decision also goes against the sacred right to a free press guaranteed in the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution. Should the accused actually be deemed “youthful offenders” by a grand jury, Judge Speakman would be well within his legal rights, and in fact obligated, to close the trial to

the public and media. However, until that time, they must be treated as adults, and the media should have the right to view all proceedings up until that point. It is for these reasons why The Auburn Plainsman chose to bring legal action against Judge Speakman. Perhaps it’s a freshman error by the newly-elected Judge Speakman. Sensitivity to the youth of defendants must be maintained in court, and it is for this reason why “youthful offender” treatment exists. However, Judge Speakman must still follow the legal process in matters of youthful offenders, and in this instance, he has failed to do so. The Auburn community has a right to know the details of Wednesday morning’s proceedings, and any proceedings in the future. Judge Speakman’s actions have violated that right.

“

If you look at all the court documents, if you look at all the legislation, the right to free air trumps the rights of the smoker time and time again in the courts.” —Eric Smith “SGA SENATE RECAP” A7

This week’s question:

What should happen to the Facebook profiles of the deceased? ❍ It should be for the family to decide ❍ Let it be ‘memorialized’ ❍ Remove them

Vote at www.theplainsman.com Last week’s question:

Do the fraternity parties you attend follow IFC standards? Of course they do 9% LOL! 68% Only when IFC is poking around 23%

Staff Columns

Breastful surprise from Playboy Miranda Dollarhide INTRIGUE @THEPLAINSMAN .COM

I’ve always hated Playboy. I lumped it in with porn and strippers as a sexist’s bread and butter. I couldn’t understand why any person would need to see that much bare breast. Needless to say when Playboy’s “Girls of the SEC” casting call came to Auburn, I was eager to prove a point. I emailed Cathy Walker, Playboy’s junior publicist, and she quickly sent me a press release with directions. I immediately started conjuring up an idea of what the casting call would be like. On TV, Playboy-related events involve girls walking around in skimpy bunny suits serving eager-looking men in

smoking jackets. I figured it would be similar to that, except all the women would be naked and all the men would be greasy old perverts with peeping chest hair. All week I debated whether or not to wear a push-up bra. I didn’t want to be sized up, but I figured I would be anyway, so I’d better look good. The morning of the event, I was trying to find any excuse not to go, but I was determined to prove a point. I drove to the Lexington Hotel and Conference Center and parked near the lobby. I expected to see life-sized cutouts of naked women placed around the lobby, but it was empty. A woman at the front desk immediately directed me to Room 146. I felt my hands begin to shake. I didn’t understand why it was in a hotel room. Was I going to be trapped and made to drop trou?

I walked to the back of the hotel and heard laughter coming from an open room. Three girls were sitting in hotel chairs fully dressed. I nervously introduced myself to the group. Maria Hagen, Playboy magazine’s photo stylist, invited me in. Hagen was nothing like what I expected. She was outgoing, pretty and extremely well-spoken. Nothing about her was sleazy or perverted. To my surprise, she asked if I was planning to audition. I laughed, assuming she was kidding, but she wasn’t I was startled. Why would she want me to audition? I’m not tall, big-breasted or leggy. Then I turned to my right, and notice the girls about to audition were just as nervous about posing as I would be.

They weren’t slutty bimbos looking to be degraded by men. They just wanted to do something exciting. I became intrigued about what “Girls of the SEC” was really about. I flipped through their last edition and to my surprise, it wasn’t what I expected. There were actually more articles than nudity. The biggest surprise was their choice of women. I expected them all to be sticks with huge fake breasts and bleach blond hair, but they were all shapes, sizes and colors. I realized I had never actually opened up a Playboy magazine, and I had judged them without doing my research. I still don’t know why that much breast is needed outside of a breast feeding seminar, but now I think the girls auditioning are just normal girls, and not just a sexist’s fantasy.

Torn in a world of possibilities Emily Clever COPY @THEPLAINSMAN. COM

In one of my favorite scenes from “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, the main character Esther Greenwood imagines herself sitting in a fig tree. All the figs are the possibilities for her future: “One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attilla and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions…” I am sitting in my own metaphorical fig tree. I am blessed to be a senior in college and in a serious relationship. I am blessed because I have

succeeded in a job I love for two years. But those two blessings seem to be in conflict with one another. On one branch lies my boyfriend Creighton and his hopes and dreams. On the other lies my future as a copy editor in South Carolina or reporter in New York City. Let me elaborate: I have an interview for a job as a copy editor and page designer in South Carolina April 7. The job would be a huge steppingstone for my career— it is at an up-and-coming newspaper, doing what I want to do for the rest of my working life. Jobs in journalism are few and far between. It is important to me—important to my career—to take the job if it is offered to me, and from where I stand right now, that seems like a legit possibility. But my boyfriend isn’t graduating this May—he still has

Community

at least two more semesters— and even if he was, I can’t and wouldn’t expect him to pack up and move to South Carolina to a town where he hasn’t been offered a job (and it’s totally implausible for us to subsist on a scant journalism salary). Granted, it’s only a five-hour drive, but long-distance relationships have failed for me in the past. When I talk to him about it, he says, “It’ll be OK; it’ll work out. I’m not worried.” My mom says, “If it’s meant to happen, it’ll happen.” Josh Ritter says, “Some prophecies are self-fulfilling, but I’ve had to work for all of mine.” Long-distance relationships are grueling work. If we’re going to make it happen, it’s going to require effort and dedication on both sides of the equation. (Not to mention the problem of the plethora of cute girls he works with at Foy.) I don’t want to be the woman who follows him around

the country, even though he’ll be making three times my starting salary when he graduates. I never wanted to be a housewife. I want my own career, my own salary. I’m a strong, independent woman. (See previous column.) And I don’t want him to follow me, just “chasing tail.” I want to find a solution that’s as egalitarian as our relationship. We’re young. We have virtually no obligations—no mortgages, no children—to anyone besides each other and our families. The future is an open book— and that’s great. But it’s overwhelming. How do two people graduate college and find a job they’re excited about in the same town in which they both want to live? How do people make this happen without one totally sacrificing his or her dreams, plans? They should offer a class on this.

Our View

Living and dying online At a pivotal, yet perhaps under-appreciated moment of Aaron Sorkin’s film “The Social Network,” Justin Timberlake says, “We lived on farms, then we lived in cities, and now we’re going to live on the Internet!” It’s true. We do live on the Internet, and something many of us have not considered is that we will die on the Internet as well. Our lives are on Facebook. Every party we attend, every mood swing that inspires a status update, every friend we catch up with: it’s all chronicled on the Internet. It has become an extension of our social selves. What happens, though, when the person whose life the Facebook page is chronicling dies? Facebook gives us options. The page can be “memorialized,” leaving a snapshot of the person suspended in Internet space where friends and family can post memories of and send messages to the deceased. The concept may be unsettling to some, but just as the nature of social interaction with the living changes with technology, so too must the nature of mourning the dead. We are a people spread across the globe. We do not remain in the towns or even the countries in which we are born. Growing up in a generation that is always on the move and always in front of a screen, this is our way of visiting a headstone. Perhaps it seems impersonal. Perhaps it’s a way for distant acquaintances who really had no tangible connection to the deceased to garner attention on Facebook after a death. Perhaps it’s unhealthy for family members to maintain this shred of their loved one’s life on the Internet when closure is what’s truly needed. However, is there any real difference between staring at a Facebook page, pondering the memory of a friend or family member, than opening a desk drawer filled with photographs and doing the same thing? Facebook will be forced to confront this problem in greater depth as a generation of users that is still largely young and thriving will one day age and, eventually, die. If the short history of the Internet is any indication however, the Facebook generation will long have moved on to the next best social network before Facebook is forced to consider the death of its user base. However, whenever a Facebook user moves on, be it to another network or by passing away, the life of that person lives on in the shell of their profile. As unsettling as this may be, it is the hard reality for 500 million Facebook users who, as Timberlake’s character predicted, live— and die—on the Internet.

The Editorial Board

Mailing Address

Submissions

Policy

Rod Guajardo

Derek Lacey

Adam Bulgatz

EDITOR

CAMPUS EDITOR

DESIGN EDITOR

Eric Austin – chair

Miranda Dollarhide Emily Clever

Auburn Student Center Suite 1111H Auburn, AL 36849

MANAGING EDITOR

INTRIGUE EDITOR

COPY EDITOR

Contact

Jillian Clair

Crystal Cole

Emily Adams

NEWS EDITOR

SPORTS EDITOR

PHOTO EDITOR

Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .334–844–4130 Email . .opinion@theplainsman.com

The Auburn Plainsman welcomes letters from students as well as from faculty, administrators, alumni and those not affiliated with the University. Letters must be submitted before 4:30 p.m. on the Monday for publication. Letters must include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification, though the name of the author may be withheld upon request. Submission may be edited for grammar and/or length.

The opinions of The Auburn Plainsman staff are restricted to these pages. These unsigned editorials are the majority opinion of the 9-member editorial board and are the official opinion of the newspaper. The opinions expressed in columns and letters represent the views and opinions of their individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the Auburn University student body, faculty, administration or Board of Trustees.

Community B4

The Auburn Plainsman

AUBURN GAS MONITOR

CALENDAR: THURSDAY, APRIL 7 – SATURDAY, APRIL 16

WEEK OF JAN. 1

SUNDAY

Location

Reg

Mid

Prem

Walmart—South College

3.539

3.659

3.779

Shell—Glenn and Gay

3.549

3.669

3.789

Circle K—Glenn and Gay

3.579

3.719

3.859

Shell—Wire

3.599

3.739

3.879

Exxon—Wire

3.649

3.749

3.899

Chevron—Wire

3.649

3.799

3.849

Chevron—University

3.699

3.799

3.899

Chevron—South College

3.699

3.849

3.999

BP—Gay and Samford

3.699

3.849

4.099

Chevron—Glenn and Coll. 3.699

3.799

3.929

Average

3.763

3.898

3.636

Thursday, April 7, 2011

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

SATURDAY 8

The Battle of Loachapoka

■ Lee County Historical Society ■ All Day

National Library Week Celebration

$3.90

Memorial Library, Opelika ■ 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

$3.53 $3.15 $2.78 $2.40 Feb. 24, 2011 March 3, 2011 March 10, 2011 April 6, 2011

Mid

FRIDAY 7

■ Cooper

Regular

THURSDAY

On The Tracks

280 Boogie

Downtown Opelika ■ 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Boogie, Waverly ■ 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

■ Historic

■ Old 280

Premium

‘GOTCHA’ rides to provide another free taxi service Mackenzie Cogle WRITER

With the security shuttle, various Auburn taxi services and Toomer’s Ten, students have several options for getting home safely. But by next fall, getting around Auburn day or night will not only be less of a hassle, but better for the environment as well. Representatives from SGA announced Tuesday night at the Auburn City Council meeting plans to partner with GOTCHA Ride, a free student-run taxi service providing students with safe, eco-friendly rides around town. GOTCHA Ride is currently available at Florida State University and the University of Florida.

425 Opelika Rd. Auburn, AL

1 bed/1 bath - $500 2 bed/½ bath - $525 2 bed/2 bath - $575

Founded by two FSU graduates, CEO Sean Flood and President Drew Sfugaras, GOTCHA stands for Green Operated Transportation Carrying Humanity Around. The vehicles run 100 percent on electricity and carry up to five passengers. “This is the first I’ve heard of it,” said Auburn Mayor Bill Ham. “I think it will be a great service for students.” Auburn plans to have three vehicles with student drivers. “The program is completely revenue neutral and is costing the University nothing,” said Chris Osterlund, SGA administrative vice president. GOTCHA Ride will sell

334-821-5880

advertising space to businesses whose ads will wrap each vehicle entirely. The franchise runs on revenue generated from the advertisements. “The student drivers will survive solely on tips,” Osterlund said. Osterlund said SGA would provide housing and power for the vehicles. He said the vehicles will be parked in the parking deck when not in use. The vehicles’ maximum speed is 35 miles per hour. Osterlund said this limits the roads that the vehicles can be driven on. He said the city may have to look at changes to the 45 speed marker near Creekside in order for the vehicles to be driven through

“

The program is completely revenue neutral and is costing the University nothing.” —Chris Osterlund SGA ADMINISTRATIVE VICE PRESIDENT

the area. The GOTCHA Ride franchise will come to Auburn in June to assist with tranining drivers and managers in order to get the new transportation service started. GOTCHA Ride will start accepting applications for student drivers within the next 45 days. Two management posi-

tions for graduate students will be available for GOTCHA Ride services in Auburn. Also discussed at the City Council meeting was the approval for “sidewalk sales” by stores located downtown. “During special events, merchants are allowed to put their merchandise outside,” said assistant city manager Kevin Cowper. Cowper said sidewalk sales for downtown merchants will run from April 14–17 on A-Day weekend when there are more people walking around downtown. Sidewalk sales will also take place during graduation weekend, which will be May 6–9 this year, and

Thursday through Sunday on home football game weekends. Also approved at the meeting was the resolution to allow Ham and City Manager Charles Duggan to execute an $89,600 interlocal agreement with Opelika and the Lee County Commission for the Community Oriented Policing Service grant. Funds for the grant will come from the 2010 COPS Child Sexual Predator Program. The city will serve as fiscal agents for joint funds used to assist local efforts of agencies to locate registered sex offenders within their jurisdiction and ensure sex offenders comply with registration laws.

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Introducing $1.50 Yuengling Draft All Day, Every Day!

Specials: Monday: Live trivia w/ Shea & Justin $5 Pitchers

ADAM BULGATZ / DESIGN EDITOR

John Skinner, once a professional motorcycle racer, now owns Skinner’s Motorcycle Shop on Opelika Road.

Tuesday: $2 Pints All Day

Wednesday: 1/2 Price Wine Bottles

Thursday: $5 Martinis

A passion for motorcycles drives John Skinner Adam Bulgatz DESIGN EDITOR

everyday at the bar follow us on for specials & upcoming events unique food, great libations, & intriguing conversation

(334) 887-0206 E. Magnolia Ave.

John Skinner likes bikes. The owner of Skinner’s Motorcycle Shop on Opelika Road, Skinner has been around motorcycles his whole life. “My dad started this business in 1957, and it’s just always been a family business,” Skinner said. “Started out in a real small shop, and then we moved on up to this building I

guess in about 1961.” Skinner grew up in Opelika. “I can remember crawling around on the floor when (my father) had the shop, and (I’ve) just been here all my life.” But Skinner has done more than just work at the shop. “I professional raced back in the late ‘60s and through the ‘70s,” Skinner said. “I graduated from high school in 1970 and went professional. Didn’t go to college, went professional racing and pretty much traveled the whole United States.” Skinner said one of the highlights of his career was being featured on “The Wide World of Sports,” a TV show that aired on ABC from 1961 to 2006. “I was on there a couple times,” Skinner said. “I

guess top racer from the South year after year for several years.” While Skinner was racing, his father continued to run the shop. Skinner raced professionally until 1977 when he broke his neck. “They predicted me not to ever walk again,” Skinner said. “It finally came back real slow, but I finally got everything—all my motions and everything— back again.” After Skinner recovered, he took over running the shop and his father retired. Now he runs the shop and has taken up racing again for fun. Skinner said there’s nothing he would rather be doing than running the shop. “I wouldn’t do anything different,” Skinner said. “I wouldn’t be happy being a doctor or attorney.” Skinner said the thing he

enjoys most about running the shop is the people. “Dealing with the people, meeting new people every day, that’s the fun part about it,” Skinner said. “Then we have the generation that come in here and they’re on up in their 50s and 60s, and they can remember this shop when my dad had it.” “We share stories about when they had a motorcycle and came through here and hung out in the ‘60s. That’s good, just meeting new people and different people.” Skinner says he is happy and plans to continue running the shop for the foreseeable future. “It’s getting harder and harder to stay in business,” he said. “Sometimes I wonder if it’d be better to work for someone else, but I don’t think so. I wouldn’t be happy.”

Intrigue Thursday, April 7, 2011

Career couples

AU Cappella

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www.theplainsman.com

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GOING the DISTANCE

EMILY ADAMS / PHOTO EDITOR

Tim Marquardt is training to run The Boston Marathon April 18. He runs 10 miles every day and has saved all of his previous racing numbers to decorate the walls of his room.

Freshman aspires to run the Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest annual marathon Crystal Cole SPORTS EDITOR

One freshman is hitting the ground running outside of the classroom. Tim Marquardt, freshman in aerospace engineering, is currently training to run the 115th Boston Marathon April 18.

The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and requires applicants submit a qualifying time to be verified by marathon officials. Marquardt ran track and crosscountry at his Florida high school and said he has been distance running since he was about 10 years old. “I guess I started in the fourth grade,” Marquardt said. “The elementary (school) had a running club once a year for a couple of months. “It was usually about a twomonth season,” he said. “Then when I got to middle school I started running track and started

cross-country in 10th grade.” In high school, Marquardt ran competitively while receiving a National Merit Scholar and becoming the valedictorian of his graduating class. Finding time to run 10 miles daily is difficult, and Marquardt said it sometimes interferes with school and homework. “My attitude toward this has always been to see how good I can get,” Marquardt said. “Lately, I’ve put all my effort into running and seeing what happens. I’ve been having trouble putting enough time and effort into school because I’m usually pretty exhausted from the running.”

Marquardt has only run one marathon, but said he has run between 40 and 50 5Ks. His dorm room wall is covered in the numbers he has worn in those races. Although he has only missed three days running this year, Marquardt said he struggles to motivate himself some days. “It can be sometimes, there are days when I really don’t want to,” Marquardt said, “but I’ve been doing it for so long, and it’s such a big deal for me that I’ve got in the habit.” Marquardt said he generally runs alone, but is occasionally joined by friends.

“I train almost entirely on my own, and since I don’t have anyone to run with I can create my own schedule,” Marquardt said. He said he finds it hardest to run when home on break. “I got very close to pulling my right calf muscle before Thanksgiving break, so I had to take a week off,” Marquardt said. “Then, I did the same thing to my left calf over Christmas break.” Marquardt said he generally only runs on a track for short-distance workouts, but trains for distance running around town and campus. “I’ll go on the track when I am » See MARATHON, C2

Applicants surge, increasing level of competition Kate Jones WRITER

CHRISTEN HARNED / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Freshman Kristen Ziegler walked to Notasulga and back to raise awareness for local hunger problems.

Freshman hikes for hunger Kala Bolton WRITER

While you may have spent this past weekend laying by the pool or exploring the bars downtown, Kristen Ziegler spent hers walking for a cause. The third annual Hunger March, hosted by the Committee of 19, took place this past weekend as students and community activists walked to and from Notasulga to help raise awareness of the hunger problem in surrounding areas. “It’s the third one we’ve done, and it’s a 25-mile walk to and from Notasulga,” said Ziegler, freshman in social work with a minor in hunger studies. “I think overall the Hunger March this year went really well. I had a lot of fun, too.” The weekend also included a community forum and dinner with local leaders, as well as a day of service Saturday involving construction projects and food distribution through the Mobile Food Pantry. “We were trying to do some-

thing different than what the Committee of 19 has done in the past, and one thing we decided we want to focus on was the personal relationship with Notasulga,” Ziegler said. “I’m really excited to see how the Committee of 19 develops this relationship in the next coming year, and I’m so glad I get to be a part of it.” The marchers stayed both nights in the Notasulga United Methodist Church. This year’s march was different from the past two, where marchers walked 60 miles to Montgomery. “In the future, we want to involve more and more of the student body to really get to know the people just 12 miles down the road,” Ziegler said. “Instead of just doing a bunch of service projects, we wanted educate ourselves about the community and connect with them. I know I met several amazing people from Notasulga and learned a lot.” Ziegler’s unfaltering dedication to these events does not go unnoticed.

“Kristen went above and beyond this year in helping with publicity efforts for the Hunger March, taking great initiative to spread word of the event in classrooms and chapter visits,” said Clark Solomon, senior in political science and president of the Committee of 19. “She was one of the many volunteers in the Committee of 19 who helped make the Hunger March a resounding success this year.” Those closest to Ziegler also noticed how dedicated she has become to service this year. “Kristen has been so dedicated to hunger since the first day out of Honors Lyceum on World Hunger,” said Chelsea Crooks, sophomore in biochemistry and Ziegler’s roommate. “She took the initiative to start a Facebook group, email list, etc. She truly has a unique passion for hunger. She is extremely motivated about this cause, and I think her enthusiasm is extremely admirable and is something we should all strive for.” » See MARCH, C2

Applications for the fall class of 2011 are up 18 percent compared to 2010, according to Cindy Singley, director of University recruitment. “We are accepting about the same number (of students),” Singley said. “Our goal is to have a freshman class of 4,000.” Singley said the current freshman class stands at 4,204, and she expects the Fall 2011 class to have approximately 4,300. “The reason that is, is you admit a certain number of students,” Singley said. “Those students are applying to five or six different schools, so you never know for sure who is coming until our official count after the first three weeks of school when we state our official enrollment.” The Office of Admissions and Recruitment has received between 18,000 and 19,000 applications, and the criteria for admission has become more competitive. “Honestly, with us trying to manage the enrollment numbers, and as the applications increased, the quality of the applications will increase, so it did make for a little bit more competitive admissions process,” Singley said. Singley said the average ACT score of the freshman class ranges from 24–30. “So students that are competitive in those ranges would be competitive for admission,” Sin-

gley said. Academics aren’t the only criteria for admission at Auburn, though. Singley said legacy status and responses to the short answer questions on the application are also criteria that considered for admission. Freshman housing will be affected as well. Kim Trupp, director of housing and residence life, said the expected increase of freshmen in the fall means more who apply for housing will be wait-listed because the total amount of housing did not increase. “I initiated our waiting lists (Feb. 24) for both men and women much earlier this year as compared to last year because I’m expecting fewer applicants who have been guaranteed housing to cancel their reservations,” Trupp said. Trupp said although the number of cancellations is an estimate, she expects being able to offer housing to some freshman on the waiting list. This summer, Camp War Eagle is increasing the number of sessions offered from eight to 10 and changing to a one-night program. “We were not willing to sacrifice the amount of time our camp counselors spend in their Tiger Talks with the freshmen,” Dunn said. She said these decisions were made before any indication of class size. Dunn said there should be 100 fewer freshmen per session.

Intrigue C2

The Auburn Plainsman

MARCH

for service is what drives her to continue seeking out new ways to help. “ I just have a heart for service,” Ziegler said. “I love it. That’s just how I am, and so I’m really happy that I can find a way to help people here.” Although she has devoted much of her free time over the years toward helping others, Ziegler stresses that even a small amount of time spent volunteering can go a long way. “Even as a student or as a young person, there’s a lot that you can do,” Ziegler said. “You can really do lots of little things to help people out around the community or around campus.” Hunger, however, is one problem she said she believes needs as much attention and help as possible. “You can’t just close your eyes and hope it goes away,” Ziegler said. “It affects millions of people in America, tons of people just down the road. “So I would say that I think we have a responsibility.”

» From C1

Ziegler said her passion for raising awareness of the hunger problem in this area started when she first heard about the on-campus efforts to help. “Last semester, Clark Solomon and Cole Sterling, who are both officers, came to talk to my honors freshman experience class, and I was really interested in it,” Ziegler said. “This semester, I ended up volunteering for a few things, and it kind of just snowballed.” Ziegler, who now serves on the publicity committee, plans to continue her involvement in the Committee of 19 and the Hunger March. “I guess I don’t think about hunger as being an American problem,” Ziegler said. “I learned this semester through working with Committee of 19 about how hunger is really a big deal here as well.” Ziegler said she is involved in student ministry and believes her passion

A PROVEN, RELIABLE GENERAL PRACTICE LAW FIRM

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doing 400-meter sprints or something like that where I need to measure it out,” Marquardt said. “I go a bunch of different routes around town, but I usually

Thursday, April 7, 2011

end up going out over the interstate. There are some roads out there that aren’t as busy so I don’t have to worry about the traffic as much.” After the Boston Marathon next week, Marquardt said he plans on taking a

week off and starting back his training slow after that. He also said he is working on expanding his running experience and improving his times. “I have a feeling I’m going to run this one and keep up with the training

because I’m in pretty good shape,” Marquardt said. “I’m going to see if I can find another marathon to run this summer or otherwise just shift to a different event. “I want to get both my mile and 5K times down.”

Facebook keeps the spirit alive Facebook profiles stay up even after the owner passes away Alison McFerrin ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Facebook is an integral part of life for some, and to some it has stayed that way in the afterlife. Posting messages of love, regret and encouragement on the Facebook wall of someone who has died is not uncommon. However, debate over whether or not it’s a good idea has sparked. “It varies for individuals in terms of whether or not that they would find it helpful for them in the grieving process,” said Douglas Hankes, psychologist and director of Student Counseling Services. Hankes said a large part of determining the value of these Facebook posts would depend on the motivation of the person posting. He said it could be a matter of following others. “‘If everybody else is posting on somebody’s wall, then I’d better; I feel

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compelled,’” Hankes said. “There may be some pressure in that sense.” Jessica Epperson, sophomore in premedicine, said this is one reason she doesn’t like the concept. “Once someone posts, then everyone feels bad,” Epperson said. “If somebody posts, everyone needs to post.” But not all students think it’s a bad thing. “I feel like it is a nice thing to do, but I think you just have to be careful with what you write,” said Virginia Foster, sophomore in elementary education. “You still have to respect the person.” Hankes said maintaining the Facebook page could preserve a positive memory of the person. “I think we want to get to a point where you’re able to celebrate somebody’s life —what was there — rather than grieve over what was lost,” Hankes said. “So in the sense that the Facebook page kind of lives on in maybe celebrating that person’s life, I think that could be okay. “It’s a way of remembering, so you don’t forget that person.” But Epperson said she thinks having that constant reminder may not al-

ways be a good thing. “I knew somebody from my high school—that happened to them—and (his parents) couldn’t delete his Facebook because they didn’t have his password,” Epperson said. “It was just kind of like an always reaffirming image of what had happened.” Facebook has two options available for what can be done with the Facebook pages of those who have died. One option is to have it memorialized. According to Facebook’s help center, “Memorializing an account sets the account privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in search.” Memorializing the account can be requested by anyone and requires the deceased person’s email and proof of death. Facebook also allows the immediate family members the option of removing the account. Hankes said continuing to post on someone’s wall could be a hindrance to healing depending on the person. “In the grief process, there is a time period to it,” Hankes said. “If you’ve got somebody who’s stuck

and continuing to post, and they’re prolonging their grief beyond what we would expect in the normal range, then that’s probably not a good thing.” Colton Windsor, freshman in English, said it’s not a gesture he’s extended before. “I understand the purpose behind it, in that when you do it, it’s mostly for other people to understand that you care about the person,” Windsor said. “But, I mean, you know, it’s not really getting anything done, I guess.” But Foster said she thought it was a good idea. “There was a girl that died from the band a couple years ago…Her parents still left her Facebook up,” Foster said. “They didn’t really know me, but I wanted them to know that I respected them, and I loved their daughter, and that even though I only knew her for just a few months, she was real sweet.” Hankes said afterlife Facebook posts could either help or hurt the grieving process, but that people will take advantage of the opportunity regardless. “The technology’s available, so people are going to use it,” Hankes said.

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Intrigue C3

The Auburn Plainsman

Improving quality of life in Bolivia Lindsay Rife

ASSOCIATE INTRIGUE EDITOR

CHRISTEN HARNED/ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Whit Winford, senior in building science, and Kelly Gfeller, junior in management information systems, try to make their relationship work while Winford ﬁnds a job and Gfeller continues to go to school.

Wedding bells vs. job offers Couples struggle with new jobs, relationships Kelly Nicastro WRITER

Diplomas and internships aren’t the only thing on seniors’ minds as spring approaches. Wedding bells are in the future for many students, and along with the stress of planning a wedding, newly-engaged couples are also faced with finding jobs. Whit Winford, senior in building science, and Kelly Gfeller, senior in management information systems, are one of the many couples at Auburn facing this problem. Winford will graduate in

August and Gfeller in the fall, and like many couples, living as close as possible to one another is an important factor. “I am planning to accept a job offer with a construction company in Birmingham,” Winford said. “While she is in school, I plan to live at home and set as much money back as I can before we get married.” Jamie Sailors, professor of human development and family studies, said a lot of the decisions made by newly-engaged students depend on each partner’s career goals, personal values and economics. Some of the factors include if they can afford to live on one income or whose job opportunity will bring in the most income.

“In terms of living together, we see statistically that more couples are negotiating ‘commuter relationships,’” Sailors said. “This is where partners may live in different locations and see each other on weekends, or whenever they can negotiate travel arrangements.” For Winford and Gfeller, it’s important to begin their life as husband and wife in the same city. “We are planning on getting married this February for several reasons,” Winford said. “We don’t want to get married before Kelly graduates and start our lives as newlyweds living in two different cities. Getting married in February will allow enough time for Kelly to focus on exams in December and use the re-

maining time to make final wedding plans and living arrangements in Birmingham.” Brittany Neal, senior in nursing, and Jason Wright, building science graduate, have also had to juggle one partner being in school while the other works. Neal, who now attends the University of South Alabama, decided to make the move from Auburn to Daphne where her fiancée Wright lives and works. “I found myself driving four hours to Daphne and four hours back to Auburn every single weekend,” Neal said. “When I got engaged, I still had another year to finish school so I decided that transferring and living in Daphne would be the best for our relationship.”

The Engineers Without Borders program shows off Auburn engineers’ creative sides. “ We are, I guess, groomed to think logically and linearly, but at the same time, that’s just a tool to use to solve problems,” said Alicia Denning, senior in chemical engineering and president of EWB. “Not every problem is gonna be solved in the exact same way. So that’s where the creativity comes in place.” The Auburn chapter of EWB has a five-year contract with Quesimpuco, Bolivia. The engineers’ mission is to use creative problemsolving skills to implement sustainable, appropriate engineering projects to improve quality of life, according to Denning. Denning said Quesimpuco is about 13 hours away from the nearest available resources, so things as simple as piping, duct tape or superglue are rare amenities. “In a situation like that, you have to think way beforehand,” Denning said. “Especially with the projects that we’re doing, the sustainability aspect is making sure the local people can maintain it.” She said this includes projects like making waste reusable and using the benefits of solar power and elevation.

“I think most engineers know that the most successful engineers are the more creative engineers— the kind that can think outside the box,” said Brandon Norris, senior in chemical engineering. Norris is the leader of a solar water system project. “It’s about how to arrive at the solution to the problem by very, very simple means,” he said. Denning said thinking on your feet is important. “You don’t have stores there, so you have to think about, ‘Well, this isn’t working, so how do we fix it so that it might work some other way?’” she said. Denning said her trip to Quesimpuco last summer changed her life. She said it gave her a new passion to use the skills Auburn Engineering gave her to solve problems while translating them to real problems people live with. “It’s just a different way of thought,” Denning said. “The creativity looks different.”

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Intrigue

The 14 men of AU Cappella bring a unique barbershop sound to the Plains Kate Jones WRITER

If you drive by Goodwin Hall on Sunday evenings, you may hear sounds that take you back to the days of the barbershop quartets. These sounds are actually coming from Auburn’s very own AU Cappella. The all-male group was founded by Steven Hirner, vocal major and president of AU Cappella. Hirner said he thought of the idea his sophomore year and talked to the department chair and choir director about forming an a cappella group. They told him chances of achieving faculty support right away were slim, and he should start on the student end first. They also said if the group becomes successful, it may eventually become an official ensemble of the department. “So that’s our ultimate goal is to get to that point,” Hirner said. Currently, the group has 14 members and is open for anyone to join. Hirner said almost all majors across campus are represented, including vocal music education, instrumental music education, chemical engineers and business majors. “It’s not this weird, close-knit group of music majors,” Hirner said. James Rogers, vice president of AU Cappella, said auditions are held at the beginning of each semester.

EMILY ADAMS / PHOTO EDITOR

“

AU Cappella rehearses in Goodwin Hall Sunday evening. They meet every Sunday for two hours.

Regardless of talent, the biggest thing is coming to rehearsal.” —Steven Hirner PRESIDENT OF AU CAPPELLA

“They have a prepared piece, we find their range and then we put them all together and check blends,” Rogers said. “Then, depending on who’s all there, we just kind of decide on what’s best for the group.” Hirner said being able to show up and commit the time is the most important thing. “Regardless of talent, the biggest thing is coming to rehearsal,” Hirner said. “You don’t have to be a music major.” AU Cappella rehearses as a

EMILY ADAMS / PHOTO EDITOR

AU Cappella practices “Swing Down, Chariot” for the upcoming show. group every Sunday for two hours, and each section practices one additional hour per week. Currently, the group is hard at work preparing for their debut. Hirner said the first half of the show will focus on serious a cap-

pella literature, including a piece called Samford Tower, while the second half will be more relaxed. “We are closing with a pretty popular song here on campus,” Hirner said. Hirner said he didn’t want to

disclose the song, keeping it a surprise. Final music selection is done by Hirner and Rogers. Hirner said the floor is open for any suggestions from members and that he and Rogers don’t want to be the only ones deciding the repertoire. Hirner said he and Rogers look at the pieces, determine the difficulty and see if the pieces are possible to pull off. “Then we eventually make the final decision, but on the front end the whole group gets input,” Hirner said. Jimmy Kaczmarek, first tenor and chemical engineering major, is excited for the Renaissance Motet piece the group will be performing in the first half of their show. “Basically (it is) just a fancy way of saying it’s an a cappella piece that was written way back in the Renaissance period,” Kaczmarek said. “It is interesting in that it has a lot of weird voice blendings, but it’s really cool.” Kaczmarek, while not a music major, has been singing his entire life, participating in church choir and holding leads in musicals. “This is such a great outlet for me,” Kaczmarek said. “I love to perform.” AU Cappella also uses their talents for community outreach. Later in April, the group will be performing at the Wright’s Mill Elementary after-school program, and they are also coordinating with the Boys and Girls Clubs. AU Cappella’s debut show will be April 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Goodwin Hall. Admission is free. AU Cappella is sponsored by Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, which supplies the group money to purchase uniforms and music.

• A cappella is vocal music or singing performed without any instrumental accompaniment.

A CAPPELLA NOTES

• In addition to singing words, some a cappella singers emulate instruments by reproducing melodious sounds with their vocal cords. • Forms range from barbershop quartet and doo-wop to vocal percussion and beatbox. • “A cappella” is Italian for “in the manner of the church.” It was originally and is still often used in religious music.

Dancers relate to ballet role of Oscar-winning actress Jenna Moran ASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR

“Black Swan” has become one of the most prestigious movies of 2010 because of its Oscar-winning actress and its portrayal of one of the dance world’s biggest pressures: achieving perfection in auditions. Natalie Portman’s character as the tortured swan in the movie experiences both depression and self-harm to obtain the lead ballerina role. While they may not have started shedding feathers like to physically become the black swan like in the film, many dancers still relate to the enormous pressures Portman’s character faced. After watching the film, Jordan Pease, junior in hotel and restaurant management, found similarities between herself and Portman’s character. “The main character experiences anxiety for striving perfection,” Pease said. “And that’s basically what the ballet world is centered around—like, the idea of a perfect body, perfect technique.

And if you don’t have it, you’re not accepted.” Pease has been dancing ballet since fifth grade and attended high school at Alabama School of Fine Arts. Pease said there was constant competition between the dancers, even when they were your own friends. “In class, I would try not to stand next to my friends because I was comparing myself to them too much,” Pease said. “I was focusing on what they were doing instead of myself.” Pease’s teachers emphasized the importance of body image by measuring the dancers every semester for their body fat percentage. “Girls go in the dressing room and ask each other, ‘What percentage is your body fat?’ And then girls start thinking, ‘Oh, well, I should be that percentage too, so I should lose five pounds,’” Pease said. During summer programs, Pease met dancers who starved themselves throughout the entire

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Anamaria Murphy has been dancing since the age of 4. day, eating nothing more than a side salad. Pease said the pressure to be in perfect shape and fit the mold of everyone else was just too much to handle for some of the dancers,

sometimes including herself. “Dance is supposed to be fun for me, but I let that build up into my head and take all the fun out of it,” Pease said. Anamaria Murphy, sophomore in history, is a dance minor who has participated in many auditions since she first began ballet at the age of 4. She said she also understands the pressures dancers feel while auditioning for a role. “Obviously in auditions you’re stepping up your game because you wanna look better than the other person,” Murphy said. “You are just sizing everyone up, like, ‘They look good’ or, ‘They don’t look good.’” Murphy said from her experience many dancers enter auditions and immediately act like they are better than everyone else in the room. “There are definitely some divas,” Murphy said. “They never really go all out during auditions because they know they are that good. And they will just immediately go to the front (of the stage).”

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This cutthroat attitude can be found even in elementary school dancers. At the age of 10, Murphy performed in her company’s Nutcracker production in Atlanta and quickly learned about the measures girls will take to obtain the lead role. Many of the girls received extra assistance from their mothers. “If your mom was involved in the company, you got better roles,” Murphy said. “I hated it!” Despite the extreme competitiveness she found in company dance, Murphy has continued to dance and finds the Auburn dance program much more laidback because it only consists of a minor program. Movies like “Black Swan” have caused ballet to receive more recognition by helping people to respect ballet for what it is, Pease said. “It’s a really hard art form to partake in and requires a lot of dedication,” she said. “I think the movie showed the average Joe that there’s a lot of more to it than they thought.”

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Sports Thursday, April 7, 2011

Baseball preview » PAGE D4

Softball preview » PAGE D2

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D Page D1

Shields rounds off the competition Christina Santee WRITER

The No. 22 Auburn gymnastics team (9–14, 2–4 SEC) placed fourth at the 2011 Tuscaloosa NCAA Regional Saturday evening in Coleman Coliseum. An ending total of 195.600 marked the Tigers’ second highest overall team score achieved this season. “For us to be at our best at the toughest meet of the year just says volumes about this team,” said Auburn head gymnastics coach Jeff Graba. “We were neck and neck with No. 11 Penn State and No. 14 Illinois the whole time. We pushed them to the final event and almost had it.” Although the Tigers were unable to come out on top, there’s still hope for junior Kylie Shields who qualified with a 39.250 to compete in the all-around at the 2011 Women’s Gymnastics NCAA Championship Saturday, April 16 at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio. “We’re basically competing against all the top athletes in the country,” Graba said. “It’s usually pretty difficult to go with an individual. I think it’ll be a tough run, but we feel that (Shields) has a pretty good opportunity in the all-around to at least do a decent job. We’re hoping to

Brian Woodham SPORTS@ THEPLAINSMAN.COM

More smoke, still no fire Brian Woodham ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Conspiracy theories start when something seems out of whack, doesn’t make sense or when details emerge that cast doubt on the “official” story of how or why something happened. Sports conspiracies are no different. Consider a recent episode of HBO’s “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” in which four former players claim they received extra benefits while playing for or being recruited by Auburn between 2002 and 2008. Sure, it doesn’t take a stretch of one’s imagination to believe that former Auburn players (each with an ax to grind, by the way) received money handshakes from boosters after performing well in a game. It’s possible that former Auburn defensive end Stanley McClover was the willing recipient of boosters’ money handshakes and a backpack with 7 grand inside. It’s also possible he was angling for increased exposure and donations as the founder and president of his recently incorporated nonprofit Big Brothers United Inc., which had a charity event filmed by HBO for the show. Who knows? I wouldn’t be shocked either way. Heck, the winners of the first organized intercollegiate athletics event, an 1852 rowing contest between Harvard and Yale on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee, received an 1850s version of the money handshake: “Presidential-aspirant Gener» See COLUMN D2

TODD VAN EMST / AUBURN MEDIA RELATIONS

Junior Kylie Shields celebrates with the team after her bar routine at the NCAA Regional competition held in Tuscaloosa April 2. finish near the top.” For the time being, Shields said her main priorities are to remain focused on her performance goals and diligent in her practices leading up to the upcoming meet.

“It would’ve been a lot better if the whole team had been with me, but after last year’s regional and being so close and tying, then not getting it because the other girl had a 9.850, and I had a 9.800,

was really tough,” Shields said. “That was my goal for this year. No matter what I wanted to get there. I did it. I accomplished my goal, and accomplishing your goal is a great feat. Now I’m going

to train hard for these next two weeks and try to hit it big when I go to nationals…Never give up because even though I didn’t make it last year, I pulled through this » See GYMNASTICS D2

Tigers aim to leap higher in Florida Nick Van Der Linden ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

The Auburn Tigers track and field team hopes to vault over the competition at the Seminole Invitational hosted by Florida State University this weekend. The Tigers aim to continue their success from last weekend and will have to do so against eight other schools including Florida State, Florida A&M, Jacksonville, Georgia Tech and Northwestern State. “This weekend we are going to try and be the better competition,” said head coach Ralph Spry. “We’re just going to line up and be more competitive and improve each weekend. “This will give us a chance to evaluate and see where we are as we head to the meat and potatoes of the season, which is our conference championships in about five or six weeks.” The Seminoles will host their second meet of the season. The Florida State men’s team is currently No. 5 in the U.S. Track and Field and Country Coaches Association while the women’s team is No. 17. “When we go to Florida State, the competition will get better,” Spry said. “Then we come home the following week the competition will get better again.” Key athletes for Auburn include senior sprinter Joanna Atkins, senior distance runner Holly Knight, junior distance runner Ben Cheruiyot, as well as several newcomers. Freshman Keenan Brock turned some heads after what he said was a great weekend. “We started off by winning the 4x100-meter relay, and I came back a few hours later and won the 100-meter dash,” Brock said. “The team overall is doing great. “Everyone is out there trying to win their event and trying to do well for the Tigers.”

MARIA IAMPIETRO / ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Freshman DJ Smith cleared 2.18 meters in the high jump, earning second place at the Tiger Classic. Brock was named Southeastern Conference Men’s Track and Field Freshman of the Week following his wins in the 100-meter dash and anchoring the winning 4x100-meter relay team. In the 100-meter dash, Brock defeated sophomore teammate and All-American Harry Adams by 0.001 seconds as both recorded official times of 10.21. They are now tied for third in the NCAA this year. Freshman DJ Smith was second overall, but first among collegians in the high jump after clearing 2.18 meters for the second straight week. Smith finished behind former Tiger and world champion Donald Thomas, who jumped 2.30

meters. A thigh injury prevented Atkins from participating in the NCAA Indoor Championships, but she is slowly getting back on track with the help of altered workouts and rehab. Atkins helped guide Auburn to victories in both the women’s 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays with the team of senior Shenique Ferguson, sophomore Kai Selvon and junior Nivea Smith. The team clocked a time of 43.80 seconds in the 4x100-meter, which ranks second in the NCAA this year and seventh in school history. “I did well,” Atkins said. “I wasn’t expecting too much be-

cause I am coming off an injury. “So I’m slowly getting back in, but it was good, and I’m feeling a lot better, and I don’t think it’ll be a problem anymore.” Atkins said she believes the team needs to work more on chemistry, but that it is just a matter of time before things come together. “To be more successful, I believe we need to be a little more comfortable around each other,” Atkins said. “The 4x100, for example, was my first time running the first leg, so I was extremely nervous. The first time around I held on the baton a little too tight. “So I have to get a little more » See TRACK, D2

Sports D2

The Auburn Plainsman

COLUMN » From D1

al Franklin Pierce was in attendance and presented the Harvard rowers with prizes valued at more than $500, including gold-leafed oars and jeweled trophies from Tiffany & Co.,” writes sports journalist Mark Yost in his book “Varsity Green.” Cha-ching! But the Auburn four don’t name names. They either can’t or they refuse to. There’s more substance in an anecdote from 1852 than in their stories, which aren’t even a decade old. “Is there a wizard behind the curtain? I don’t know,” said coach Gene Chizik in November after one more allegation surfaced against former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton in yet another article relying on unnamed sources. That question still resonates among many Auburn fans and lends to the notion that HBO’s show is just another part of a larger smear campaign orchestrated against Auburn by its competitors. It feeds the talk of conspiracy, which, naturally, is directed at Auburn’s hated rival, the Alabama Crimson Tide (insert rumor here). (Rebuttal rumor here). Surely, no entity had more to lose from an Auburn national championship nor more to gain from recent pay-for-play allegations against Auburn than Alabama. The claims of money handshakes are not what’s driving the conspiracy theory that those loyal to the Crimson Tide are somehow (insert acronym here) involved in the recent spate of allegations unleashed by former players on HBO. It’s the peculiar decision by HBO to contrast the payfor-play allegations of four former Auburn players with a former Alabama player, receiver Tyrone Prothro, who claims he received no extra benefits while playing for the Tide. It’s HBO’s decision to exclude from the program McClover’s former high school coach and Auburn teammates who have refuted the four’s pay-for-play claims and offered their own testimonies since rumors of the show surfaced. “I think that during my four years here everything’s been run by the books by both coaching staffs,” said former offensive lineman Lee Ziemba. “These allegations are very implausible. “I played 52 games at Auburn. I was an All-American, won a national championship with my teammates, played in a 14–0 season—and I didn’t see a dime from any boosters or any coaches.” That side of the story was absent from HBO’s show,

which only fuels the conspiracy fire. “I can assure you for the record that all the former Auburn football players who were interviewed on-camera appeared in the story,” said HBO media relations representative Ray Stallone in response to an email from The Plainsman. Notice how he said “interviewed on-camera” and not “contacted for the story,” since numerous former Auburn players have said they were contacted by HBO representatives sniffing only for a snitch. “The show that aired on March 30 was journalistically sound,” Stallone said. Obviously. It should come as no surprise that talk of the “crimson” conspiracy only increased when it was discovered that the executive producer of HBO Sports, Rick Bernstein, sold “souvenirs and refreshments... at famed Iron Bowl football stadium Legion Field” as a young man, according to a 2006 article in the Tuscaloosa News. Bernstein is responsible for what goes on the air from HBO Sports, although he’s not alone in the production of Real Sports, according to Stallone, who said “there was no bias.” “Rick has not lived in Alabama since he left for college at Missouri in 1975,” Stallone said. “It’s unfair to draw any correlation from his childhood to the story that aired on Real Sports.” OK. If HBO says so, it must be true. Sure, it is easy enough to accept the idea that HBO merely wanted to ride the media gravy train, seeing an opportunity to capitalize on the controversy (and ratings) generated by the pay-to-play allegations against Newton and Auburn to make a larger point about the “state of big-time college sports.” That Auburn and Cam Newton were never implicated in any wrongdoing in the Newton affair (that was Mississippi State and Cam’s father, Cecil) doesn’t seem to matter. “Everybody wants to think that a winner is cheating,” Ziemba said. “If we went 5–7, no one would be asking if we cheated or not because it wouldn’t matter.” Were there pay-for-play schemes and money handshakes at Auburn? Perhaps. Are there crimson wizards behind the curtain orchestrating a smear campaign? Perhaps, as well. We’ll likely never know for sure, but it should shock no one that some Auburn fans have donned tinfoil hats. Good conspiracy theories often contain at least a grain of truth, but sometimes, to some, they seem to contain a silo’s worth.

TRACK » From D1

comfortable running it, but we’ll be fine by the time SEC comes around.” Other notable performances at the Tiger Classic came from Knight, Cheruiyot and Saenz. “Brock, DJ Smith, Saenz and Knight are just a handful of the names,” Spry said. “The biggest thing is that everybody looked pretty solid, and again, I’m pleased with the total effort as a team.” Knight cruised to a victory in the women’s

Thursday, April 7, 2011

GYMNASTICS

1500-meter with a time of 4:26.68 that ranks seventh in Auburn Outdoor history. She finished nearly 10 seconds ahead of Joan Tangwar, who took second place. Cheruiyot won the men’s 3000-meter with a facility record-breaking time of 8:09.10. Saenz won the discus for the second week in a row with a top throw of 52.84 meters to edge Mike Schallmo of Duke by one inch. The Seminole Invitational will be held all day this Friday and Saturday.

» From D1

year, and I’m really excited that I made it. I overcame a lot of things this year, and I’m happy I’m going to Cleveland.” For Shields, the meet will not only be stressful, but more difficult as the judging and expectations intensify to ensure an appropriate and deserving competitor is placed in the winner’s circle. “The last three meets of the year, the judging gets quite a bit tougher than a regular meet,” Graba said. “It’s a little difficult at na-

tionals. The score usually goes down a little bit because their job is to rank the athletes. They don’t miss anything, and they’re very picky about what they’re expecting. “It doesn’t matter what (athletes) score, they just want to make sure they get their ranking correct. Our goal is more of a ranking goal. We’re hoping she’ll finish in the top 20 ranking-wise.” Shields averages 9.741 for vault, 9.794 for uneven bars, 9.775 for balance beam and 9.813 for floor. Her all-around average is 39.175.

LEFFIE DAILEY / AUBURN MEDIA RELATIONS

Sophomore outﬁelder Baylee Stephens steals second base in the bottom of the second inning against Ole Miss.

Bears and Bulldogs up next for Tigers Destiny Brown WRITER

After a three-game series ended in victory for the Tennessee Lady Vols, Auburn’s women’s softball team (29–7, 9–5 SEC) is moving on to challenge the next competitor. Tennessee (29–6, 7–4 SEC) had an 8–0 victory Sunday that put the Lady Vols ahead in the series 2–1. The first game ended with the Lady Vols ahead 2–1, the second in favor of Auburn 9–1. Friday, as a conclusion to the week, Auburn will travel to Starkville, Miss., to challenge Mississippi State in a three-game series in the Super Bulldog Weekend. The Bulldogs are 19–18 for the season, 7–6 in SEC play. “I don’t know much about Mercer or Mississippi, but I know they bring it every year,” said Caitlin Stangl, senior outfielder. The Bulldog’s highest batting average belongs to

Ali Bainbridge with a .380. Freshman first baseman and outfielder Morgan Estell leads the Tigers with a .388 average. Mississippi isn’t the only upcoming competition for the Tigers. “Mississippi and Mercer will be tough, but the SEC as a whole this year is much more balanced,” said Mark Ryal, assistant coach. “The main thing we need to work on for upcoming games like Mississippi is not letting so many go by. “We’re being selective, but not too selective,” Stangl said. Florida, LSU and Georgia are a few of the upcoming series for the Tigers which will all be played in Auburn. “The competition has been strong this year, and teams have gotten better, but we’ve gotten better too,” said Kyndall White, senior infielder. The challenges and victories in the SEC so far this season are what have

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The competition has been strong this year and teams have gotten better, but we’ve gotten better too.” —Kyndall White SENIOR INFIELDER

earned the Tigers a No. 21 ranking in the ESPN/USA Softball Collegiate Women’s top 25. “The competition will continue to be tough, but we’ve combated it,” Stangl said. “The SEC is always going to be tough, and we embraced that this year.” The softball program has received many comments that it has been moving in the right direction this year, Ryal said. “We’ve done a good job and opened a lot of eyes,” he said. However, as major ranked SEC teams quickly approach on the Auburn

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softball schedule, players admit that results are unpredictable. “Competition is always big, and you never know what can happen,” White said. “Ups and downs that you never thought would happen to that team can happen any given day.” Auburn has taken no time in resting from the previous weekend in Tennessee; the team is already gearing up for the next game. “We mostly need to practice on being aggressive,” Stangl said. “That’s something that we lacked compared to Tennessee.” With the SEC Championships and the College World Series approaching in the summer, the Tigers are taking it one game at a time, gaining a fan base in the process. “I would love to see a crowd out there Wednesday,” said Ryal. “It’s bound to be an interesting game.” Auburn’s game against Mississippi State will start at 5:00 p.m.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Sports D3

The Auburn Plainsman

Soccer ends spring exhibition against Cougars and Owls Annie Faulk STAFF WRITER

The Atlanta Beat showed Auburn a defeat, but the Tigers are ready for a victory. Auburn will travel to Kennesaw, Ga., to face Columbus State and Kennesaw State April 9. The Tigers play Columbus State at 1:30 p.m. before playing Kennesaw State at 3 p.m. “Hopefully we will play well with the same intensity, but hopefully with a better result,” said head coach Karen Hoppa. According to Hoppa, the team took Monday off and will continue the week with practice in offensive positions. The team will examine mistakes from its game against the Atlanta Beat game and tactics by the opponents. “We have goals set out

for the Columbus and Kennesaw games,” said junior defender Heather Havron. “We are going to take what went well and what did not go well to reach our top performance.” According to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Columbus State is ranked No. 11. The Columbus State Cougars hold the titles as Peach Belt Conference Champions, Peach Belt Conference Tournament Champions and NCAA Region Champions. “We are excited to get back on the field and be successful again,” said junior midfielder Katie Frierson. “Both teams are quality teams and will put up a fight.” Kennesaw State finished the 2010 season with 8–8– 3 record, but is fresh off of a 4–0 victory against Jack-

sonville State. “We are going to continue getting better as a team,” Havron said. “If we can get in sync with the team, we can better face the competition in the fall.” According to Frierson, the team will look at all aspects of the Beat game that went well and the mistakes made and apply those to the next game. The Tigers lost 4–0 against the Atlanta Beat in Birmingham Saturday. “The scoreboard did not show how hard we worked,” Hoppa said. “One big thing we did was we played hard the whole game, even at 4–0.” The Tigers and the Beat played each other in March. The game was also a loss for the Tigers. “The score was not reflective,” said Frierson. “The Beat was much more orga-

TIM SIMPSON / PHOTO STAFF

Senior defender Sammy Towne keeps Tennessee from scoring last October. nized and better than the last time we played them.” According to Frierson, after the Atlanta Beat game, she said the team needs to focus on offense. “They competed against a professional team,” Hoppa said. “For any college team at any level to com-

pete against a team like that is a great accomplishment.” The Atlanta Beat is a professional women’s soccer team. “The Beat is very helpful,” Hoppa said. “They expose any mistake made and turn it into a learning tool.”

Hoppa commended Havron for her improvement and hard work since the last game. “Overall, it was a learning experience; we got a lot of pointers,” Havron said. “It was a great way to learn how to accomplish goals for the team.”

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Outside hitter Katherine Culwell hits the ball at a home match last season. The Tigers went 21–13 and 11–9 in SEC.

Volleyball jumps into spring tourneys Crystal Cole SPORTS EDITOR

The Auburn volleyball team, fresh off its first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament last season, hit the road the past two weekends for tournaments. Central Florida hosted its second annual Spring Fling Tournament in Orlando March 26 while LSU hosted its LSU Spring Tournament April 2. Auburn competed in six matches in Orlando in the 15-team tournament. The Tigers defeated both Florida State and South Florida 2–0 and tied with

Miami, 1–1. Auburn also tied against host UCF and Flagler, but fell 2–0 (25-23, 25-23) to SEC rival Florida. “It is always good to play as many high level opponents as possible during the spring and put our players in a position to grow and learn the responsibility of their roles,” said associate head coach Jozsef Forman. “This year, five seniors will graduate, and it is great to see how fast this new team is growing and building confidence through our practices and tournaments.”

During the Orlando tournament, the Tigers used three different lineups, giving many of the nonstarting players some court time. “We’ve been doing really well in practice, and these past two weekends gave us a chance to see how we stood against other teams early in the year,” said outside hitter Katherine Culwell. “We all got a lot of playing time and grew much closer to each other. “I’m really excited about where we are headed.” At LSU, Auburn defeated Southern Mississippi twice and also defeated Loui-

siana-Lafayette, Nicholls State, Southeastern Louisiana and Southern by scores of 2–0. The Tigers fell to LSU in both matches. “It was fun to watch how the team responded, battled and grew under pressure,” said assistant coach Edgard da Gama e Silva. “We were also pleased with our enthusiasm, discipline and attitude that we represented on the court. “ The Tigers return to practice before traveling to Murfreesboro, Tenn., Saturday for a tournament hosted by Middle Tennessee State.

Tennis loses ﬁnal home match

REBEKAH WEAVER / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Freshman Jacqueline Kasler swings during a doubles match against LSU last weekend. Kasler and her partner, Plamena Kurteva, won their doubles match although Auburn lost overall 5–2. The Tigers lost their ﬁnal home match 6–1 against No. 15 Arkansas and will close out their season with a three-game road series.

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Sports D4

The Auburn Plainsman

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Triathletes aim to put Southeast on the map Rachel Hampton WRITER

Auburn Triathlon Club is hitting the ground running, biking and swimming in preparation for the Collegiate Nationals April 9 in Tuscaloosa. “This is our biggest race of the year,” said Robert Bedsole, president of Auburn’s Triathlon Club. “(Preparation) has involved some pretty hard practices in the last few weeks, but this is a race to really hamper down for and get rested for.” The course begins with a 1500-meter swim, then moves to a 40-kilometer bike and ends with a 10-kilometer run. The race will conclude at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater. “Triathlon is kinda unique in that you’re not going into an existing stadium,” said John Martin, communications and media relations manager for USA Triathlon. “Fortunately, this is the fifthstraight year we’ve had an event (in Tuscaloosa), so our staff is familiar with the area and we get fantastic support from the city and are looking forward to a great event this weekend.” Bedsole said the team should be familiar with what the course holds since they competed at the Age Group National Championship in August of last year, which was also held in Tuscaloosa. “We’ve already seen pretty much the whole course,” Bedsole said. “They’ve made some small changes—it should be a

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(Preparation) has involved some pretty hard practices in the last few weeks, but this is a race to really hamper down for and get rested for.” —Robert Bedsole PRESIDENT OF AU TRIATHLON CLUB

little bit flatter, a little bit faster than Age Group Nationals.” Auburn, who took home the 2010 Southeastern Collegiate Triathlon Conference Championship, will take an equal number of male and female triathletes to Tuscaloosa this year, with a couple competing in individual events. “We can only take seven (males and females) per team which is really unfortunate because our team is so deep, especially on the guys side this year,” Bedsole said. “We actually had to have a race-off last weekend in Columbia to figure out—basically we had nine people that could have been in our top seven. Everyone was right there.” More than 1200 triathletes are expected to compete, with an additional 300 triathletes competing in a sprint-distance race to accommodate athletes who don’t make their team’s roster. “There are two races:

the olympic-distance collegiate national championship which is only open to collegiate athletes; There is also a sprint-distance race which is open to outsiders as well,” Martin said. Not all of Auburn’s top triathletes were at last year’s championship, in part because of the location. “We were 23rd, but we left our top athlete at home because we had a hard time getting our team over (to Lubbock, Texas),” Bedsole said. “We had a couple freshmen last year that weren’t ready to race at nationals.” One triathlete who did make the trip to Lubbock was Samantha Clark, a recent Auburn grad with a degree in food science. “I was top 25 for girls last year,” Clark said. “It’d be cool if I could do that again.” Triathletes are allowed to compete for one semester after graduating, which has led Clark, a triathlon-team member for almost four years, to train in Pine Mountain, Ga. With the race being held in nearby Tuscaloosa, Bedsole is hopeful that this year will be the SEC’s time to shine. “In the past, the Southeastern Conference hasn’t really been on the map,” Bedsole said. “It’s a great shot for us to showcase the Southeast with the national championship being in Tuscaloosa. “We are trying to put the Southeast on the map this year. We have pretty high expectations.”

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EMILY ADAMS / PHOTO EDITOR

Freshman Bobby Andrews swings against Vanderbilt Sunday. The Tigers lost 6–2.

Tigers swing for consistency Brian Woodham ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

When Auburn and Kentucky meet on the diamond Friday in Cliff Hagan Stadium, it will be a battle between SEC divisional cellar dwellers. The Tigers (15–14, 2–7 SEC) and the Wildcats (16– 14, 2–7 SEC) have lost a combined 13 of their last 16 games, including the last 12 SEC games. Both Mississippi State and No. 1 Vanderbilt swept three-game series against the Tigers, while No. 24 Alabama and No. 3 South Carolina swept three-game series against the Wildcats. “When you play good teams—Vanderbilt is a very good team—when you have opportunities, you got to seize those opportunities,” said head coach John Pawlowski after Sunday’s 6–2 loss to the Commodores. “We didn’t this weekend, and now we’ve got to find a way to regroup. We’ve got some guys that need to improve. “We need to look at everything and evaluate everything. We’ll get better. I’m confident in this team.” Casey McElroy, junior second baseman for Auburn, said the Tigers are just not playing well right now. “It’s a long season, but we try to take it one game

at a time,” McElroy said. “The best thing for us to do right now is just to flush it (the loss) and get our minds right.” Auburn will encounter a Kentucky team fresh off a 15–2 win Tuesday against Xavier University. The Tigers enter Friday’s game looking to rebound from a 14–6 loss Tuesday to the No. 20 Troy State Trojans. The Tigers gave up 13 two-out runs to the Trojans, and three errors by Auburn resulted in seven unearned runs. Auburn struggled to get out of innings last weekend against Vanderbilt as well. Pawlowski identified two priorities the Tigers must focus on to improve. “We’ve got to go out, and we’ve got to pitch better,” Pawlowski said. “You know, I think we’ve struggled in spots, pitching-wise. Trying to get out of innings—that’s the whole key is pitching out of trouble. “When you get guys in scoring position, we’ve got to find a way to step up and come up with a big hit. Pawlowski said changes will be made and he will continue to experiment with the lineup. “We’re not going to sit still,” Pawlowski said. “We’re going to try to adjust things. We’re going to maneuver

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I think we’ve struggled in spots, pitching-wise. Trying to get out of innings—that’s the whole key is pitching out of trouble.” —John Pawlowski HEAD BASEBALL COACH

guys around. We’ll change the rotation around.” One risk in moving players between positions is that can make it difficult to establish continuity. McElroy said moving positions can sometimes make it difficult to get continuity. “It’s a complete team effort. I just think we have a lot of pieces that we need to put together for us to really click.” Pawlowski said he wants to get to a point where there’s some consistency, where the players understand where they’re playing. “For our team, there is a lot of baseball left to be played,” Pawlowski said. “Unfortunately, we certainly have not gotten off to the start that we certainly hoped for.”

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