AWA R D-W INNING CENTR A LR ECOR DER .COM Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Central Connecticut State University
Volume 107 No. 27
CCSU Adjunct Professor Accused of Sexual Misconduct mAtt CLyBURn AnD miChAEL wALSh the Recorder
CCSU administrators are handling complaints against an adjunct professor accused with sexual harassment stemming from an incident that occurred Tuesday. Adjunct math professor Matthew Sedlak allegedly used his position as the female student’s former professor to solicit sexual favors while discussing an issue regarding her
final exam grade from the fall semester. A complaint was submitted with university officials Wednesday afternoon and the woman filed a police report later that evening. University officials declined to provide details on the case and the office of the chief diversity officer deferred all communication to university spokesperson Mark McLaughlin. “We are aware of the situation, and it is being handled by the appropriate administrative offices,” said McLaughlin. “We must respect the privacy rights of both parties
Adderall ʻWidely Overused,ʼ Warns CCSU Director of Health
as required by [the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act], I cannot comment further. “ In e-mails and text messages obtained by The Recorder from the alleged victim, the woman claims she was told by Sedlak that there might be a “small problem” with her final exam grade and asked that she contact him to address the matter. Sedlak allegedly indicated that the process by which he accessed e-mail on his mobile device was “annoying” and asked the
woman to text message him if she still had his number. The accuser, who said she was never in possession of Sedlak’s phone number, disclosed her phone number to him via e-mail. The woman began to receive text messages from the phone number connected to Sedlak on the mathematics department website. The woman claims Sedlak said he forgot to turn PROFESSOR | COnt. On 2
TAKING THE OATH
DAviD whitnEy the Recorder
With the semester rapidly coming to an end and summer right around the corner, CCSU students are preparing for their final exams. Some students take the traditional route of studying hard to understand the material they’ve been taught all semester, while others struggle in the classroom and often look for remedies to help with the problem. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are often controlled with a medication known as Adderall and it only can be issued to students from a doctor. “[ADHD] is a real condition and when left untreated there are some serious side effects,” said Dr. Christopher Diamond, director of health services at CCSU. Diamond explained that Adderall changes a person’s personality. There’s a central impulse control center in every individual that controls how we think; if it is tired or becomes suppressed, it ends up spinning out of control. The end result is a mind that wanders away from the book, diminishing a student’s ability to learn. “What this medication does is it wakes up that control center, allowing you to focus,” Diamond said. ADDERALL | COnt. On 3
Vice President for Student Affairs, Laura Tordenti (left), swears in Elizabeth Braun (right) as Student Government Association vice president. Other new executive officers and senators were also sworn in last week.
Bachoo Delivers Updates on New Academic, Residence Buildings KASSOnDRA gRAnAtA the Recorder
CCSU’s chief administrative officer Richard Bachoo updated the Student Government Association on the status of future campus construction projects Wednesday. Bachoo focused mainly on the various new buildings that are being planned to be built on campus in the near future. According to Bachoo, plans are in motion to begin constructing a new academic building this August between Marcus White and Barnard Hall. The new academic building would be placed adjacent to Maria Sanford and located close to Welte Garage. The CCSU university facility website estimates the new 62,640 gross square foot academic building at $38 million. Sen. Shelby Datillo asked Bachoo about classroom size problems that malign other older academic buildings on campus and whether or not the issue will be considered in the planning of the
new building. Bachoo said that there has already been discussion regarding classroom size and that they will not make the same mistakes as they did with the Willard and DiLoreto academic buildings. “We deliberately picked classroom sizes that are large enough to try and not have this problem,” Bachoo said. “We will not make the same mistake pushing 25 students in a classroom that really seats 12.” In order to facilitate the future construction projects, CCSU will be forced to take the Vance green temporarily offline and out of us in order have a location to store the retaining bases of the system, allowing workers to get the job done smoothly. Bachoo did indicate that no buildings will be shut down and any construction that might bother classes would take place at night. CCSU is also aiming to have a new residence hall constructed alongside the student center parking garage that the CCSU website estimates as being an $82 million project. According to Bachoo
the new residence hall will hold a capacity of 600 students. While it may not reflect final construction, the above is a rendering of the new residence hall and how it will fit in along Ella Grasso Boulevard and the student center parking garage. Photo: CCSU.edu. “We have a goal to get that residence hall open by late 2013,” said Bachoo. “We’re pushing very hard to get it moving.” Bachoo, who says that parking is currently not a problem for the university, said that the situation would need to be looked at after the construction of the new residence building. Because some club sports teams use the field the new residence hall is planning to be built on, Sen. Erika Dawson-Head was concerned with whether or not those teams would be able to find space to practice on during and after construction. “There are plenty of field space opportunities,” Bachoo said. “The soccer field will be fully open by UPDAtES | COnt. On 2
KEnny BARtO | thE RECORDER
CCSU GETS LIVE WITH SPRING SHOW
Rapper J.Cole performs in front of a sold out crowd at Detrick Gymnasium on Saturday night. Review on page 7. KEnny BARtO | thE RECORDER
FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT: www.centralrecorder.com
2 THE RECORDER Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The Recorder
Student Center 1615 Stanley Street New Britain, CT 06050 T 860.832.3744 editor@centralrecorder.com centralrecorder.com twitter.com/therecorder
Editor-in-Chief Michael Walsh mwalsh@centralrecorder.com Managing Editor Nicholas Proch nproch@centralrecorder.com Art Director Ashley E. Lang News Editors Matt Clyburn Sara M. Berry Kat Boushee, assistant news@centralrecorder.com Entertainment Editor Max Kyburz entertainment@ centralrecorder.com Sports Editor Brittany Burke sportsed@centralrecorder.com
NEWS
Campus Safety to Improve With New Police Station, 200 Additional Security Cameras UPDATES | Cont. from 1 next year for club practices.” With the creation of a new residence hall, Bachoo acknowledged another plan in motion to create some other type of food service facility that would be constructed ‘up the hill’ closer to residents living in that area. This would also help accommodate the addition of 600 more students to the campus that the new residence hall will bring. “We think that it’s important that, particularly for the students up the hill, for them to have some sort of facility so they don’t have to truck all the way down to Memorial to eat,” said Bachoo. Bachoo said that this new construction project has been chosen over the option of putting millions more towards CCSU’s current dining facility in Memorial Hall. The Elihu Burritt Library will also reopen in September with a brand new look, with each floor having been worked on, along with reconstruction to bathrooms and other building facilities. “The library will go through many changes,” said Bachoo. “It will be brighter than it was before.” Bachoo also noted the fact that now when students enter the library on the first floor, they’ll actually be in the library, facilitating access. Campus security will also see
Richard Bachoo, chief administrative officer, addresses the Student Government Assocation with updates on campus Kenny Barto | the recorder construction projects. an approval as an already-funded police station is close to beginning construction. In February, the State Bond Commission approved funds of $5.2 million to go towards the construction of the new CCSU police department and public
safety building to be located along Paul Manafort Drive. In the bond request made by CCSU, it’s stated that the project will be 12,500 square feet. The building will house the public safety administration, patrol operations, special services and support service divisions of the
campus police. In addition, Bachoo said that by next year, campus will move from having 300 security cameras to 500 cameras in order to increase campus safety. “You’ll never know who’s looking at you,” Bachoo said.
Photo Editor Kenny Barto kbarto@centralrecorder.com Copy Editor Maxine Eichen Staff Writers Rob Arendt Dennis Brown Danny Contreras Jasson Cunningham Kassondra Granata Tom Liljedahl Chris McLaughlin Katie Moreira Justin Muszynski Derek Turner David Whitney
About
The Recorder is a studentproduced publication of Central Connecticut State University and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of CCSU’s administrators, faculty or students. The Recorder articles, photographs and graphics are property of The Recorder and may not be reproduced or published without the written permission from the Editor-in-Chief. T he pur pose of T he Recorder is to approach and def ine issues of importance to the students of Central Connecticut State Universit y. Staff meetings for The Recorder are held on Mondays at 8 p.m. in the Blue and W hite Room in the student center and on Thursday at 2 p.m. in the Recorder off ice.
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A new academic building, illustrated above, is set to be built near Maria Sanford and Welte Garage.
photo: CCSU.edu
University Handling Sexual Harassment Complaint PROFESSOR | Cont. from 1 telling her that Sedlak and a friend were under the influence of in her exam because she took it alcohol. “Omg im so nervous im gonna separately from her classmates. The woman, who acknowledged taking end up in like the student newspaper the exam separately, claims she was or something lol,” Sedlak allegedly told that her final exam grade in said. “Omg [alleged victim] u r Sedlak’s fall 2010 Math 099 course ignoting me nowwww :( ” “Cann I be hones twith you… did not meet the department requirements that would allow her Ur mad cute shhhhhhhhhhh,” the next messages allegedly said. to take Math 101. The woman did not respond The woman told The Recorder that a grade of 81 had already been until the next morning when recorded with the university. She Sedlak allegedly apologized for also told Sedlak that a passing the messages from the prior grade had been recorded and that evening, saying that he “was a little she had been allowed to register for drunkish.” “i had typed another text but I Math 101. Still, Sedlak allegedly offered guess i didn’t send it…good thing the woman a blank copy of the final, too,” Sedlak allegedly said. The woman encouraged the giving the woman an opportunity to retake the test under his accused to send the message, “oh my goodness…tell me anyway.” supervision. Sedlak allegedly responded “i cant believe im suggesting this but I could help you get the with, “It said…you should let me right answers….but idkkkkk,” go down on you while you take the test :( “ Sedlak allegedly said. After several more text messages The woman then suggested meeting at a local coffee shop the were exchanged, Sedlak allegedly asked again if she would allow him next day to retake the test. “im just nervous ill run into to perform oral sex. The woman ceased someone…sorry I know im being difficult,” Sedlak allegedly correspondence and brought her complaint to Chief Diversity Officer responded. After agreeing to meet the Rosa Rodriguez, where the woman accused at his residence the next said officials collected evidence day, the woman claims she received and took photographs of the text a text message later that evening messages on her cell phone. The woman disclosed all prior from the same phone number
e-mail correspondence with Sedlak to The Recorder, all of which was directly related to coursework dating back to September 2010 when the mathematics course began. The text message conversation on the woman’s phone was also shown to The Recorder and matched the transcript later obtained. According to CCSU policy, sexual harassment is defined, among other things, as a “request for sexual favors…when submission to or rejection of such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly the basis, term, or condition of any individual’s... grade [or] evaluation.” After attempting to contact Sedlak, The Recorder discovered that the phone used to communicate with the woman is out of service, but Sedlak responded to e-mail correspondence Friday afternoon. “While the university requests that I not comment on any specifics while they are still investigating the claim, I am confident that I will be able to clear my name from any accusations of wrongdoing,” Sedlak said. An unidentified person in the adjunct faculty mathematics office said that Sedlak is no longer teaching at CCSU. “Something came up and he had to leave for the last couple weeks
[of the semester],” the person said. The math department requires students to record at least a C- in Math 099 before being allowed to enroll in Math 101. Students must achieve a grade of at least 60 percent on their final exam in order to receive the C- in the class, according to syllabi from Sedlak and other CCSU math professors found online. According to the CCSU course registration system on Pipeline, Sedlak was not scheduled to teach next semester. Officer Sebastian Magnano of the CCSU Police Department declined to present a copy of the police report Friday afternoon in absence of the records manager. Magnano said law requires that only one officer have jurisdiction over department records and that the records division would be locked until Monday. On Monday, The Recorder was denied access to the police report, saying that it was unavailable because it’s still an ongoing investigation. Sedlak’s profile on QuietSpeculation.com indicates that Sedlak lives in Connecticut with his fiancée. Sources confirm that Sedlak is also a graduate student at CCSU. Visit centralrecorder.com for the latest on this story.
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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 11, 2011 / NEWS
Students Reflect on bin Laden’s Death dennis Brown The Recorder
The word spread quickly, aided by the Internet and teems of people tweeting: Osama bin Laden is dead, shot and killed by Navy Seals. CCSU junior Daniel Baker, 25, has been overseas more than once as a member of the United States military. Baker believes that this was a necessary death. “It needed to be done,” said Baker. “The death of bin Laden speaks a lot for not only us soldiers and President Obama, but will help our country sleep easier at night.” “My only regret is that I wasn’t the one to come face to face with the bastard,” said Baker, holding out his fist with anger. Several CCSU students view the event as closure as they remember what took place on
9/11. Freshman Austin Swan remembers the fear and confusion he felt on that day in 2001, he was just ten years old. “I remember being at school and the teachers not being able to tell us anything. When I got home I saw the news reports and my mom wouldn’t say anything she was just staring at the TV,” Swan said. “I remember feeling extreme hatred for anyone who caused this to happen. I wanted justice for the thousands of American lives that were taken on that horrible day.” Swan, now 19, was watching the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies game at the time the news broke that bin Laden was killed. “We turned to the news channel to watch Obama’s speech. We all gave cheers and hugs,” Swan said.
21-year-old senior Andrew Coy looked back at 9/11 and the emotions he felt at that time. “It was a tragic event that will never be forgotten,” said Coy, “I came home from school and saw everybody watching it on TV. It was chaos, crying and anger.” Coy said he found out about the death of bin Laden when he saw everyone talking about it on Facebook, leading him to turn on the television and watch the news. While some celebrated bin Laden’s death, others, such as 21-year-old junior Megan Kennedy, are afraid of what’s next. “I am scared now that he is dead because Al-Qaeda is sure to retaliate,” said Kennedy. President Barack Obama has decided against allowing the pictures of a dead Osama bin Laden to be shown to America, prompting a heated debate throughout the
world. “I think seeing pictures of him dead is just grotesque,” Kennedy argued. ”I’m afraid to think what some would do if they saw him dead.” Kennedy has ties to the military: her older brother Patrick served in the Army and spent time overseas. “I think it’s different having a loved one in the military,” said Kennedy. “Because I had a personal connection to the war as do those who lost friends and family in 9/11.” Baker, the military veteran, agrees. “It’s different knowing someone you love is in danger and that the one person who ordered all the killing is hiding like a coward,” Baker said. “When I think about all of those who were killed in the buildings and planes I am still angry. Senseless killing by heartless bastards.”
A Suitcase College: Students Pack Up on the Weekends Rob arendt The Recorder
For some it’s Thursday, for others, it’s Friday. It’s the beginning of the weekend, and for those living on campus, the question remains: do we go home this weekend? It’s a question often repeated. CCSU’s campus sometimes seems like an empty western town with tumbleweeds blowing around and no one in sight. You find such a ghost town on Saturdays and Sundays as students leave campus to go home. Why do people choose to leave their on-campus friends for the weekend? Is there a shortage of activities on campus? Does New Britain need more local hangout spots and nightlife to keep students at CCSU over the weekend? Sophomore Sara Weller has been living on campus since she began taking classes at CCSU. Weller says that the school provides great events and opportunities for students to meet new people. “Every day I get the opportunity to meet new people within the residence halls,
attend various programs and eat meals with friends,” said Weller. “I feel that the whole point of the college experience is to spend time away to prepare yourself for the real world.” Still, the opportunities can be lacking on weekends. One problem that Weller finds is that while there are many events that take place, they are often during the week. “Most of the campus events are only held during the week, so there is no incentive to stay,” Weller said. Sophomore Natalia Konieczkowski commutes from her town 10 minutes away from campus. She said if she lived farther away, she would live on campus, and try to stay here because it would be unnecessary to go home every weekend. “I think that you have to engage yourself in activities and be outgoing in order to make friends and stay in your dorm on the weekends,” she said. Konieczkowski also finds CCSU to be too strict. “They can’t just ban all parties. Banning everything just causes students to rebel even more,” said Konieczkowski.
Sgt. Jerry Erwin of the CCSU Police Department said the department handles on-campus issues only. In regards to on-campus parties, there is no drinking allowed. Scott Hazan, director of Student Activities and Leadership Development on campus, said that he doesn’t know the reasons why on-campus students go home on the weekends. “[It could be] proximity to where they live so they’re close enough to go home,” said Hazan. “It could be a job, or friends at home. These are just guesses.” Another possibility Hazan cited is the reality that most CCSU students are commuters. “We do have to realize that 70 percent, 80 percent of students are commuters and we try to satisfy both commuters and on campus students,” Hazan said. Hazan also says that CCSU does not have events constantly going on every weekend, but the 120 to 130 clubs and organizations on campus do all the planning and ask the Central Activities Network for
guidance with the events. Students can find a Central Activities Network (CAN) bulletin board on the wall near the student center information desk. The board has all of the activities that take place during the week and that current month. Events and even movie showings are listed. The Inter Residence Council is in charge of all residence hall decisions and they are available to answer questions about any activities going on between the dorms. Hazan said CAN is open to hearing ideas from students on how to make the campus more eventful, but the reality may simply be a bad reputation. Weller, the CCSU sophomore, believes that students have already heard of and automatically go home on the weekends because of what they have been told. “I think students choose to go home on weekends because CCSU has the reputation of a suitcase college,” said Weller. “Once they hear a group of people go home on the weekends, everyone goes home so they don’t have to be lonely.”
Treatment Varies For ADHD ADDERALL | Cont. from 1 Still, Diamond says that the drug is “widely overused” and warns Adderall users to strictly stay on the dose prescribed by their physician. “I don’t fall in those bad areas,” said CCSU student Jeff Mundy. The 25-year-old, who has admitted taking adderall since the beginning of this semester, also claims that the drug works. “I used to not be able to stay focused in the classroom,” said Mundy, “but now I’m fine.” Mundy said that he takes the appropriate amount of 20 mg, or one pill, per day, and has a prescription from his doctor. Other students use Adderall without a prescription, but none were willing to talk openly to The Recorder about their use of the drug. Some students are completely against Adderall and many drugs like it. “I think medication for ADHD should be a last resort,” said junior psychology student Alissa Philopena. “My brother has ADHD and knows how to manage it. He’s never touched [Adderall] and he’s doing fine. He finds other ways to remedy the situation.” She says her brother, who’s also in college, practices athletics and uses stimulant therapy to help fight his condition. Although against adderall usage, Philpeno said she respects the idea of appropriate dosage and guidance from a doctor. Unfortunately, the truth is that many students do not use the drug as prescribed. Dr. Carolyn Fallahi, a psychology professor at CCSU, says that she has seen the overuse of Adderall firsthand.
CCSU director of health Dr. Christopher Diamond says that Adderall is ‘widely overused.’ “I was a therapist for over 20 years and I saw children commonly overuse it,” said Fallahi. ADHD has different types, which include inattentive, hyperactiveimpulsive and combined type. “The hyperactive type, we see children are more likely to do drugs, be more implosive and even more likely to get into criminal activity,” Fallahi said. Fallahi agreed that Adderall works when used appropriately, but added that side effects such as depression and irritability are often associated with the drug and stimulant therapy. She recommended that any students that have trouble concentrating visit health services for a consultation. Dr. Robert Reynolds, who operates a clinic in Middletown, challenges the view that medicine
is always better. Reynolds instead replaces pills with intervention. “The first approach we can take is counseling, but this rarely effective, especially with younger people,” says Reynolds. Reynolds says one step is to use a “coaching approach,” because when a patient is younger, they don’t fully understand what’s wrong them until they get older. “What I perform at my clinic is a test called the EEG Neurofeedback. An individual is hooked up with a brain cap and they’re put in front of a screen where they play a video game,” Reynolds said. This video isn’t controlled by their hands on a joystick, but it’s actually controlled by the waves their brains make. “If they’re paying attention while watching the game, it’ll play
photo illustration by david whitney | the recorder
faster,” said Reynolds. “If they start watching and it slows down or even stops, then we know what we can do to help them.” On average, the entire process takes a couple of months. Reynolds says the effectiveness of the procedure always generates positive results. “I think more parents nowadays are looking for more alternatives than medicine,” Reynolds concluded. Reynolds denied being against medication and respected Diamond, along with the entire CCSU health service staff and the work they do. He also said that college students, more than anyone else, were the ones that tended to overuse Adderall. Diamond explained that if any person thinks they have a problem, there’s a series of questions, along with help from the rest of the CCSU
health staff, that can help find the appropriate next move. “We all have a little ADD at times but the key word is here is disorder,” Diamond said. In the past, Diamond has performed blind trials to see if medication like Adderall is the right drug to use. He has found that not everyone needs it but there’s still many that do; the most important thing was to find the right amount. Diamond said that some people can have difficulties with medication and need monitoring, while others benefit from responsible prescribing and ongoing medical treatment. “When someone is trying to dig a ditch, you help them by giving them a shovel,” said Diamond. “Medication can provide that for [some] people.”
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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 11, 2011 / NEWS
First-Year Student Applications Decline justin muszynski The Recorder
The number of first-year applicants at CCSU for the next academic year is down from what it has been in previous years. Larry Hall, the director of recruitment and admissions, says that this has not been a trend at CCSU and is in fact is the opposite of what has typically happened each year. “This is the first time in years that the first-year applicant pull is down,” says Hall. Laura Tordenti, vice president of student affairs, agrees with Hall and said that the decline was to be expected. “We absolutely saw this coming,” Tordenti says. “It’s no surprise at all.” While some might hear of the news and be alarmed, Hall said that this is a statewide trend and shouldn’t be a concern. “The other [Connecticut State University] schools are experiencing
declines in first-year applicants,” said Hall. While first-year applicants are down, the excess in transfer students will more than make up for the gap. “Our enrollment will remain steady because of transfer students,” says Tordenti. “Our fall enrollment is going to be fine, we’re going to be right where we need to be.” When asked about any steps CCSU would need to take in terms of extending the deadline for applicants confirming attendance, Hall says that none are necessary. “The deadline to confirm has remained May,” Hall said. “The exception is for students admitted after April 15, they have 15 days to confirm.” Tordenti and Hall both say this is not something the university needs to be concerned with and that they attribute the lack of applicants to fewer high school graduates statewide. CCSU recently extended the first-time student application deadline to June 1.
Engineering Enrollment on the Rise katie moreira The Recorder
The engineering program at CCSU is one major that is seeing a rise in enrollment lately. According to a report from the Institutional Research Department, enrollment in the science, engineering and technology programs has increased by 18.9 percent in the last five years. The engineering department has also added three new majors in the fiveyear time span. Dr. Alfred Gates, chairperson of the engineering department, believes that the program is becoming popular because of the department’s focus on in-state students. “To get into UConn is competitive and they attract some many out of state students,” said Gates. “Our job here is to provide for the in-state students.” The engineering program at CCSU is nationally accredited by the same agency that credits UConn and other colleges. “The education that our students get is the same as UConn
and cheaper,” said Gates. Gates can see the demand for engineers, especially in Connecticut, because of the state’s shortage. “Connecticut does not have enough engineers and companies have to seek engineers from out of state,” said Gates. The vast need for engineers in Connecticut prompted the engineering department to create a job placement center for engineering students. The center not only helps students find jobs, but helps companies find students. “I was getting bombarded with companies asking for students with certain expertise,” said Gates. When Gates spoke at a mangers meeting for Pratt and Whitney, he was presented with the question of how the company could attract CCSU graduates. Gates believes the reason why New England companies desire CCSU students is because they are not afraid to get dirty. “When their assigned a task they will complete that task even if they have to do some things that may be considered messy,” said
Gates. Engineering students are not only reaping the rewards of being highly employable but are benefiting financially. In an article published in CNN Money this April, Blake Ellis reports that a survey done by National Association of Colleges and Employers found that engineering majors ranked four out five for highest earning degrees. These students can receive an average starting salary of $60,000 or more. The average starting salary from the survey is right on target for engineering graduates of CCSU. The basic starting salary for these students can range from $53,000 to $65,000 dollars, according to Gates. The financial benefits might entice students to join the major but Gate warns students about the great deal of effort that must be put into succeeding at the program. “It’s a lot of work to graduate with an engineering degree,” said Gates. Gates feels that the most challenging part of the program for students is math and science.
CCSU Aims to Improve Graduation Rates jason cunningham The Recorder
A bachelor’s degree is often thought of in terms of years. How many years does the average college graduate take to get their bachelor’s? Most minds instantly identify that number as four. This, however, is far from the reality for most college students. “Young people are going off and really haven’t learned to manage life on their own and they, many of them, don’t have the life skills they need to navigate the terrain when they get there,” said Maureen Tillman, Huffington Post contributor and creator of The New York Times Local College Corner. Tillman has been a psychotherapist, mainly for adolescents, for the past 30 years. Ten years ago she founded a comprehensive psychotherapy service called College With Confidence. The service prepares high school students and their parents for the college transition. She attributes some students’ prolonged college careers to overprotective parents, saying that “helicopter parents” that have spent too much time co-piloting their child’s academic career through high school will carry that behavior over into their child’s college life. This type of aggressive “helicopter parenting” is now the norm for what many have dubbed “the bubble-wrapped generation.” Extended stays in college have now become the norm. On average, more students take between four and a half and six years to get their degrees. Central Connecticut State University is no different. CCSU’s four-year graduation rate sits just below 22 percent for first time students. The rate for college graduation within six years is 49 percent, a 10-point increase since 2005. The numbers for these graduation rates are limited to students who start at CCSU as freshman and continue until graduation, excluding transfer students, part-time students and students who fall into the “swirl” category, meaning that they change schools or majors often.
Though limited, these results do show an overall improvement in CCSU’s graduation rates. Still, these numbers aren’t where CCSU’s Retention and Graduation Council Committee want them to be. “There is no single objective that we address more comprehensively and continually than the effort to help students persist in school and successfully complete their education,” said Dr. Carl Lovitt, CCSU’s provost, vice president for Academic Affairs and Retention and Graduation Council Committee member. According to Lovitt, part of this effort is an attempt to fight the run around or the handing off of a student from one office to another. Recent construction on the first floor of Willard Hall has been done to consolidate student support services in order to put a stop to the run around. The floor has a suite of new offices for student services that range from tutoring at the writing and learning centers to advising for transfer students and students who are military veterans. “We do pay attention to student satisfaction surveys and so three years ago we woke up to the fact that students were consistently rating us poorly on advising, so as a result of that we completely reorganized a new unit, which we called...the Center for Advising and Career Exploration,” said Lovitt. As a result of the reorganization, every incoming freshman has to go to CACE for advising. Even if they have already declared a major, they can’t be assigned an academic advisor without going through CACE, literally meaning that all full-time,
first-semester freshmen must meet with a CACE advisor to help them plan their first 15-credit schedule. This advising takes place in the summer before the student’s first semester on specified advising days. “Every freshman is going to get a uniform advising experience there and a career exploration experience and you will remain with CACE until you have declared a major and had some kind of preliminary career orientation,” said Lovitt. In addition to these attempts at improvement, new software has also been recently implemented to interface with CCSU’s current degree auditing system. The software looks at the entire student body and all of the requirements that every student needs to fill. With this software a projection can be created to determine what students’ needs are across the campus. This helps the university and its professors schedule courses during the upcoming semester to fit those needs. The hope is to make advising easier for both advisors and students. “My advising experience has been very pleasant,” said Benjamin Harvey, a criminology major in his junior year expecting to graduate
in spring of 2012. Harvey has been in college for four years. He started college when he was sixteen, enrolling part time in classes at Manchester Community College while finishing his home schooled secondary education. “I try to stick with one person because that advisor knows my case the best and I’ve gone to her the most. In fact, she’s the only person I’ve gone to…She knows what course I’ve taken front to back,” said Harvey. He says that he and his parents are ‘on the ball’ with what courses he needs, taking semester specific courses as soon as they’re posted. Harvey has been able to maintain a 4.0 grade average while being enrolled in five courses despite his physical disability. “Disability services at both Central and MCC are exceptional,” said Harvey. “I really like people I’m working with, they seem to be very open minded, they seem to be flexible. I really like how they listen to what I have to say, listen to what my needs are. I don’t think I have a lot of needs anyway. I just need a special table and chair because I write with my feet.” Harvey’s extended stay in college isn’t for the typical reasons,
but he’s managed to work through his courses on a committed schedule that he says will get him out of CCSU and into a job. Lovitt says that CCSU also plans to implement midterm progress reports during the semester so that students can better know where they stand in their courses. The Connecticut State University Board of Trustees also passed a resolution that all students who have remedial requirements must meet them before accumulating 24 credits or they have to leave their school, meaning that those who aren’t ready to take college courses won’t waste time bouncing around in the systems and hanging onto their enrollment by the skin of their teeth. These changes are hoped to put all CCSU students on a track to graduate in a timely fashion based on the student’s needs, career goals and financial situation. In the meantime, the Retention and Graduation Council Committee will be watching the numbers and looking for other areas to improve upon to bring the graduation rate up and the number of years a student spends in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree down.
OPINION
EDITORIAL
THE RECORDER Wednesday, May 11, 2011
5
The Classroom Only Gets You So Far
The contributions from the CCSU students majoring in journalism have been outstanding. Outstandingly lacking. As another year passes on our academic calendar most of the students in the program have nothing to show for it. If you’re reading this and you are a faculty member teaching a JRN course, don’t take the following the wrong way: Your class isn’t the be all and end all of journalism. A student doesn’t learn enough solely writing in the classroom. It’s not practical. There have been countless times that a student came into our office and needed to be told what to do. There hand needed to be held throughout the entire story writing process. It’s not a true reflection of the capabilities of these students. They can write, but they can’t report. Being put in a situation where you have to report makes you learn how to do it better than any lecture. While this paper should remain completely independent, it should also be an extension of the classroom. Take the skills you learn in class and bring them to
us.
So where did we go wrong? Why did we only reach a handful of writers? It’s assumed that these students should want to write, but they don’t show that desire. The burden now falls on this staff to sell ourselves to the journalism students. Let’s repeat that. A student newspaper has to sell itself to ‘journalism’ students who should want to write for a publication any chance they get in order to gain experience and collect clips for future resumes. Isn’t this their desired career? Why does this disconnect exist? If we had the answer, I’m sure we wouldn’t be running this editorial right now. There are two types of people at this university. There are those who are aggressive and want to make the most of their time here and there are those who want nothing to do with that. Think about it in the following manner. There are over 60 journalism majors and dozens more minors, but we only have a handful who come to the meetings, let alone write for the paper. Unless they are getting their work printed in other publications,
EDITOR’S COLUMN
Now I’m On My Way
Michael Walsh The Recorder
While the diploma I receive later this month will say that I graduated from Central Connecticut State University with a degree in journalism, it might as well credit that education to The Recorder instead. Because as valuable as my time spent learning inside the classroom at CCSU has been, none of it can compare to what this newspaper has meant to me and the invaluable experience it has provided. I’ve learned more about journalism inside the four walls of our small office than I could have ever imagined I would when I started as a communication major looking to write lengthy film reviews and nothing else. Hell, working a few particular stories this past year has taught me more about journalism than any textbook or class assignment could dream of doing. College media is an important step and experience for any journalism major and I do wish more would realize how necessary it is if you want to make a good career out of news. But more importantly, while there are some that could benefit from joining the student newspaper and lend a helping hand, there are a number of motivated and hardworking students already inside The Recorder’s office that has made my time as editor-in-chief as amazing and enjoyable as I could have dreamed it would be when I was elected to the position last May. The efforts of a strong group of editors and a collection of earnest and passionate staff writers who found their own way to the office made this particular past semester one to remember. Each and every issue of The Recorder was full of relevant campus and community news of all kinds that I found to be unprecedented in my time at the newspaper. Because of this staff ’s strength, comradery and desire to succeed, I fully believe that the amazing product that was put out each and every week this past semester will continue for some time. There’s a more than capable group of students ready to lead this newspaper after I leave and I couldn’t be more confident and comfortable in how they’ll react to situations and conflicts that most college students don’t have to dream of worrying about.
The effort of this staff is something I hope the CCSU campus begins to recognize. It’s not easy to put out a quality weekly newspaper while managing other jobs, family, homework and in some cases, a social life. The aim for professionalism that this staff has come to embrace over just the past few weeks has been fascinating to see and wonderful to be a part of. I hope the university’s appreciation for the work these students do grows on a yearly basis. The Recorder can be a great tool to the students of this university. Use it as a forum to get your voice heard. The newspaper isn’t limited to a select few; it’s a tool for the entire student body and it embraces involvement from all. If something is bothering you, ask the staff to investigate it. If you have something to say, write a letter to the editor or submit an opinion piece. It’s easier to get your voice heard than you might think and on the rest of the staff ’s behalf I invite you to join and get involved. Our advisor, Dr. Vivian Martin, who also doubles as a professor of journalism and triples as chair of the department, has been a strong influence on my time as editor-in-chief and I can’t finish this piece without mentioning and thanking her for the amount of time and effort she puts into her job. I would sometimes be lost without her keen words of advice and I owe a lot to her in my growth as a writer and editor. This farewell column also wouldn’t be complete without thanking key members of the past, such as former editor-in-chief Melissa Traynor, former managing editor Edward Gaug and former sports editor Chris Boulay, who helped welcome me to the newspaper and opened me up as both a person and as a journalist. I would not be able to handle the heavy responsibility I put on my back this past September if it weren’t for the guidance, instruction and encouragement they provided me along the way. I do sincerely wish the current staff of The Recorder the best of luck in continuing what I consider to be a recent surge of success. A majority of the key components that have been contributing to that success will be returning to the newspaper next semester in an effort to see The Recorder grow into an even stronger product. Nicholas Proch, the current managing editor, has been elected as next semester’s editor-in-chief and will serve this newspaper well. He has quickly transitioned into a leader for both the veteran and newer members of this staff and I have no doubt about his ability going into next fall. It’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s certainly an amount he can handle. He’ll have the same great people at his side that made my time as editor-in-chief much less difficult than it could have been. The Recorder was my life and focus for three years. As I move on and try to turn this journalism thing into a career, I know that I’m going to absolutely miss the long Monday production nights and the people that made those marathon sessions enjoyable a whole heck of a lot.
they have no clips to show to potential employers. Most of The Recorder’s editorial staff is made up of non-journalism majors. We’re comprised of English majors, communication majors, psychology majors and business majors. That’s not usual for a campus newspaper and quite frankly shouldn’t be. Journalism majors on this campus should be battling for The Recorder’s editorial positions. Instead, they sit vacant for more than a semester, sometimes handed to someone who can only fill the roll as a stopgap. Are they going to show a paper they handed in to a JRN 200 class as their past experience? We certainly hope not, but it’s making the job prospects in the surrounding area much more enticing and available to those who have put in the hours doing real reporting and editing here at The Recorder. Who is an editor going to hire, someone who has dozens of quality clips and years of college newspaper experience or someone whose only journalism experience is once a week in Willard 214? You should know the
answer. If you’re one of the few students who actually sees this paper as the strong resource it can be and is writing for us, we thank you for staying with us this year. For those who haven’t been down to see us, we welcome you in the future. There’s always next year. Stop putting off your actor profiles and news features. You’ll be the ones thanking us in the future. Several students formerly of this staff have landed jobs in the area as reporters due to the work and time they put in here. Their resumes were built on the basis of their work at The Recorder and the great internships they attained because of that experience. No one cares what grade point average you have if you haven’t put in the time doing real life reporting at the college level. We’ve spent an entire year trying to promote the growth of campus involvement. While our words might read as being harsh, we like to think of it as looking out for you. Get your act together and start proving that journalism truly is the major meant for you.
Letter to the Editor Though I know I could tell him in person or write him a WhatsApp message to express how much appreciation I have for him as editor-in-chief of The Recorder and as a journalist in general, I know that The Recorder is his baby and this being his last issue, he will hold on to this issue for the rest of his life and cherish it, which means my gratitude will go unforgotten. I began writing for The Recorder in spring 2009, the first semester that I was a matriculating student at CCSU. I knew the current editor-in-chief, Michael Walsh, as well as the sports editor at the time from my side job at the Hartford Wolfpack. Having familiar faces in the newsroom when I nervously attended my first couple of meetings was very nice, and I am grateful that I had that comfort zone when beginning to write for a newspaper, something I had never done before. The next semester proved to be too busy for me to write much, but I began to write again in spring 2010 when Walsh was the managing editor. I had become more involved on campus that semester and began to write about the Student Government Association for the paper. I truly enjoyed this position and spoke to then editor-in-chief Melissa Traynor about the possibility of becoming news editor, in which she reacted positively. Of course, I decided to take my interest in the SGA in a different direction by running for commuter senator, thereby giving up any ethical rights to write news for The Recorder. I endured jokes and criticism from The Recorder staff for being a "traitor" (by joining SGA) at every meeting I attended after, which I of course understand and am actually amused by. Walsh, however, remained postitive and let me write lifestyle stories that did not conflict with my senate position, which I was grateful for. There were times I was angry at Walsh, such as the time he branded me as "unethical" for making a motion on the club I am president of, since the circumstances were not all printed. Or when I enjoyed writing lifestyles pieces and inquired about becoming the lifestyles editor and Walsh said no. I realized very quickly, however, that none of these were personal insults on his part. This just goes to show how ethical Walsh is as a journalist and how seriously he takes his position. He made no exceptions when it came to The Recorder, not even for a close friend. The Recorder has been lucky to benefit from his journalism and leadership, the SGA has benefitted greatly from his persistence in getting writers to cover meetings and I personally have grown to respect student organizations on campus and journalism in general more as a direct result of knowing Michael Walsh. Being as Walsh once put it "a big ball of conflict of interest," I would like to thank him for staying my friend while I wrote articles for his paper and he and other staff members wrote articles about my organizations, on some occasions about me directly. More importantly, I would like to thank him for his dedication to The Recorder. I hope his wonderful work on the paper will continue to influence more students to become involved with the paper and in our campus community. I, as well as many others, will miss seeing 'Michael Walsh, editor-in-chief,' in our issues of The Recorder each Wednesday. Ashley Foy SGA Senator German Club President
SPEAK YOUR MIND!
Write for our opinion section next semester. editor@centralrecorder.com
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THE RECORDER / Wednesday,May 11, 2011 / UPGRADE
‘Cycle’ Concludes, Slowly But Surely max kyburz The Recorder
The CCSU Theatre Department production of The Kentucky Cycle, the nine act American historical epic that began unfolding in March, reached its end this past weekend. The final chapters, directed by Sheila Siragusa, arrived after the previous parts delivered powerful, harrowing drama, which the final part has little of. While it takes a long time to achieve a major payoff, this is by no means the fault of anyone involved in the production. Each line is delivered with fierce determination, each emotion painstakingly endured. The characters are alive and well, but Schankkan’s own words run out of steam. Part Two concluded with a heartbreaking loss of love and land, as Mary Anne Rowen (her younger incarnation played by, and her elder played by Theresa Degan) fell for a smooth talking profiteer who stole her family’s land from their dust-filled fingers. The memories still haunt her as they mount onto the more devastating reality she faces: all but one of her five sons are lost to fever, and her son Joshua (Kyle Mencel) faces the occupational hazard of following his fathers footsteps in the coal mines. His hard-necked father Tommy (Bryan Kopp) wants to toughen his son up, but Joshua has his ears turned for the words of a fellow miner Abe (Matt Dian) who inspires the prospect of a union. With the Blue Star Mining Company paying little regard to the lives lost in a mine collapse, action is required. As in the first two parts, backwards deals are made, and blood is shed, but the first act concludes with inspirational vigor. A union is made, and
things seem to look up for the battered towns people. Act Two shoots forward to 1954. Joshua is no longer the timid, fearful young boy he was in act one. He is now charismatic and bears a demeanor not unlike a popular politician. Carrying on the legacy he and his mother kickstarted, the mines are now unionized. Still, aggravation and misrepresentation tremble beneath the surface, causing rifts in relations among the people. Joshua is successful, but faces trouble at home. His wife (Becky Salituro) resents him, and a gap begins to occur between him and his son Scotty ( Jake Frey), home from Korea. His allies James Talbert Winston (Ben McLaughlin) and Franklin Biggs (Earle Nelson), who aided in the union’s genesis, now feel at odds at each other, and Josh is placed at the center. To make matters worse, an eruption occurs at the mine, causing the deaths to many, including Scotty. History repeats. Twenty years later, the three men lump around the land, keeping out any poachers. Though it is now the 1970s, times seem to have jumped back to where their forefathers began. Joshua is ready to sell the land that has caused so much grief once and for all, yet they make a staggering discovery: a preserved Native American child. Though the land is filled with millions of bones, this one stands out as a daunting reminder of the past as well as providing hope for survival. In a sweeping act of beauty, characters from all three parts join Joshua on stage as he considers the past, and their memory persuades his decision to let a wolf roam free. Each scene is delivered with strong,
‘Thor’ Sets Stage for LongAwaited ‘Avengers’ matt clyburn The Recorder
Thor is an arrogant tool. Son of Odin and brother of the mischievous Loki, he is a sure thing for the throne when Odin decides to cash in the 401k and head to Mexico. Odin’s claim to fame is restoring peace after defeating the Frost Giants and taking the source of their power for display at the Asgard historical society. On the day of Thor’s big promotion, the kingdom is invaded by a contingency of Frost Giants looking to take back their ice-case thing. After getting mauled by a bigger, more evil-looking version of Futurama’s Bender, Thor foolishly decides to take the fight to their turf and teach them a lesson. Little does he know that they’re about to experience the best action sequence of the whole movie, capped off by an epic Odin appearance who rides in to put the Frost Giants on ice. Ha. Thor’s bad ‘tude and silly actions get him voted off the island and sent to the bowels of hell: New Mexico. There, he meets a few scientists, some local townsfolk and a few SHIELD agents using bureaucracy and underrated performances to defend the planet. Thor continues the recent American obsession with Australian actors, as Chris Hemsworth (Captain Kirk’s dad in Star Trek) takes on the title character. The part is perhaps the most challenging of the Marvel super heroes because it most eloquently details the rise, fall and redemption of the tragic hero archetype. The trailer for this film left me scoffing quite a bit at some cliche dialogue and weirdlooking costumes. Costuming aside, which was rather strange as godly figures descended to earth, the dialogue was actually on point and seamlessly carried to the audience by an all-star performance from Hemsworth. Oscar winner Natalie Portman (Black Swan) tries and fails as diamond-in-therough scientist Jane Foster searching for something in the cosmos. Portman’s attempt at an understated performance falls quite flat. Despite a handful of poorly written jokes, Kat Dennings (40-Year-Old Virgin, Charlie Bartlett) saves the day by delivering them in a fresh way (think Emma Stone in Easy A). With all that said, I really disliked the last
third of the movie. Bender’s evil twin comes down to earth like a Kraken out of Clash of the Titans and tries to put an end to our hero. A big old hammer and a smooch from the leading lady send Thor off to Asgard to reclaim his legacy and battle the bad guys. One of my most persistent criticisms of modern film is the forced romantic relationships that randomly pop up in the midst of complex characters and stories. I imagine that filmmakers today sit in a room, preproduction, and decide that the script they’ve created has too much depth for the average moviegoer. This is a tremendous disservice to said moviegoer, as the filmmakers sacrifice a deeper exploration of the aforementioned complexities for a love story that we see in movie after movie after movie...after movie. Thor meets girl? No, thank you. Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs) gives his best performance in recent years as Odin, a live-action version of the part he tried to play in Beowulf. Relative unknown Tom Hiddleston is a great cast addition, lending a duality to Loki that will certainly be a point of order for the forthcoming Avengers film. The best thing about Thor is that it does the best job of its Marvel counterparts alluding to The Avengers. We are granted references to Tony Stark, Hawkeye and the Hulk in some really subtle plot points that made me shriek with gladness. Pile that on to a nice preview of Captain America and we’ve got ourselves a nicely developing franchise.
Photo I paramount pictures
convinced performances, and the actors do their very best to carry along material that too frequently boxes out its audience. The inter-office drama of the second act do not hold up well to the frustrated determination of the first. Naturally, it would have been a mistake to remove any of the otherwise boring material, as it would have cut the play at the tendon. Where Schenkkan sleepwalks with his prose, the energetic acting and heartfelt staging pick up the slack. A crisis of total boredom is averted. That is not to say that the production itself was not without its flubs; for a split second, the house lights were turned all the way on, and a musical cue was presented too early. Had the actors drawn attention to the mistakes, the illusion would have been all but destroyed. The actors proceeded as planned, thereby making the malfunctions unimpressionable. Difficulties aside, The Kentucky Cycle has been an extraordinary journey not only for its active audience members who have stuck by through Cast of ‘The Kentucky Cycle’ rehearses part 3. each three hour stint, but also for the Kenny Barto | the recorder play’s own participants as well. Director Sheila Siragusa remarks, “This has been a marvelous education for our whole department about the necessity of a circumstance.” collaborative spirit. Where anything worked This was the Theatre department’s last or did not work in the process, ability to major show for the semester, but there are two collaborate has been the culprit. I think it has up ahead from Kyle Mencel and Eva Galanis, been exhausting for the students, but I feel both cast members in The Kentucky Cycle. like a theatre schedule can be grueling and More info about these student produced their work ethic is shining in this challenging shows can be found at www.theatre.ccsu.edu.
Manchester Orchestra Simple Math
Favorite Gentlemen May 10
Ashley E. Lang The Recorder
Manchester Orchestra has returned with their third album and with the release of Simple Math its fair to say that they’ve come back better than ever. Andy Hull (rhythm guitarists, singer, and songwriter) shines on Manchester Orchestra’s latest creation. Hull’s vocals are backed by solid percussion solos and heavy bass fingerings. Hull’s voice, strong and steady, bleeds with rugged perfection. In “Deer,” the first track off of Simple Math, Hulls delicate musings take over. “There’s nothing in these wooden drawers / To bring you back, to keep me bored / I don’t know what to do with me no more…Dear everyone I ever really knew / I acted like an asshole so I could keep my edge on you / Ended up abusing even those I thought immune.” Heavy guitar riffs mixed with a steady back beat are frequent as you get further into Hull’s fantasy. On “April Fool” Hull screams, “I don’t know where I’ve been, what I’ve done” before softening his tone while singing “I am the once now irreplaceable son / I’m antichrist in your home / I’ll come around this time to let you suck from my soul / Let me go!” “Pale Black Eye” gives off a bluesy folk vibe of sorts, more prominent on this track then others, with simplistic percussion beats and solid guitar melodies that are
perfectly backed by Hull’s sweet and somber harmony. However, it is the track “Virgin” that shows all of Manchester Orchestra’s vast personalities. “Virgin” begins with low guitar picks, as a child choir sings softly in the back ground. “We built this house with our hands, and our time, and our blood / You build this up in one day to fall downward and rust.” Hull’s voice builds from a dark empty place deep within. “And I bruise just like anyone would bruise / And I know we’ve got a long way to go / I know I’ve got so far,” before erupting into a heavy guitar explosion that erupts through your speakers. Hull slows things down with the lead track “Simple Math.” His light and broken musings fit nicely within the harmony as Hull coos “I’m lost and hardly noticed, / slight goodbye / I want to rip your lips off in my mouth.” His voice calling after a ghost, “Simple math, it’s how our bodies even got here / Sinful math, the ebb and flow to multiply / What if I was wrong and no one cared to mention / What if it was true and all we thought was right was wrong?” This album is truly an evolution in Manchester Orchestra’s progression. In a band that has gained a solid following throughout the years it would be a wrong for them to be ignored now. Hull’s sweet and somber whisperings will make you fall in love.
Photo I myspace.com/manchesterorchestra
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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 11, 2011 / UPGRADE
LMFAO, J.Cole Create A ‘Thunderdome of Careless Festivity’ max kyburz The Recorder
While it should have been so obvious for the neon leopard print wearing duo LMFAO to make such a quasi-clever replacement of “Miami” with “New Britain,” they were too busy making Kaiser their personal party temple. Their mission was to bring the party to a sold out CCSU crowd, and that they did. With the semester coming to a close and the kids seeking for something more than just another house party or a game of darts at Elmers (or whatever it is they do there), a couple hours of fun tunes do just the trick. LMFAO is by no means intelligent, but with everyone spending every ounce of brain fuel on biomolecular science and Othello, they supply the stress antidote. CCSU’s taken a while to fully get a unanimously satiable concert. A few years ago, Busta Rhymes’ three-hour delay nearly caused a severe uproar. Lifehouse was said to have reeled in a pitiful attendance. Big D and the Kids Table was modestly successful, though it attracted more non-students. When LMFAO was announced as the big name for this year’s concert, I can’t say I was totally surprised, but still a little dismayed at the choice. Then again, my choices would have probably turned off even the non-students. Considering the group’s relevancy (especially compared to that of the previous spring concert bands), CAN seemed to have made the right choice. Still, my anticipation was smeared with dread. Knowing my role as a journalist, my attendance was mandatory. If I wasn’t going to have fun, I at least could have appreciated it as a collegiate anthropological study. The show was bound to bring in throngs of drunk kids, things were likely to go awry and it would have stood as a microcosm of everything CCSU students stand for. This is a party school; it only makes sense that our spring concert reflects that. Again, not my first choice, but life is full of disappointments. How did I plan to endure the process? The only way I knew how: climbing into a can of Natural Ice, catapulting into another, repeat. I wasn’t going to go in cold, though I began to wonder whether my need for drink was to make the show more tolerable or to make it more fun. Perhaps a little bit of both. When I loopily approached Kaiser Hall, armed with my laminated press pass, the masses waited eagerly. As they got closer to the door security and metal detectors, patrons finished the last of their cigarettes and whatever mysterious
“SkyBlu” (left) and RedFoo (right) of LMFAO perform at the spring concert.
Kenny Barto | the recorder
brew resided in their red plastic cups. They were about to enter a Thunderdome of careless festivity. Jason LeVasseur, a self-described “award winning singer-songwriter” from Nashville, Tenn., opened things up with a chilled-out mood. Awkward choice, as it were, seeing how each song was greeted with a hearty chant of “J.Cole! J. Cole! J. Cole!.” (Note to CAN: performers who only tour colleges are never anyone’s bag). Once he was done the energy grew, as did the crowd. Of course, it was distributed in all the wrong ways; the concert was an hour behind schedule, causing folks to start a couple fights (they must have really not liked that LeVasseur guy). A couple seizures and bowl rips later, rapper J. Cole finally took the stage and the room erupted. Everybody close to the front got moving, as did I. I mean, it was either that or be the token lame judgmental snob in the back of the room. Of course, when I was moving around, the reactions of those around me made me realize
Netflix It: michael walsh The Recorder
Few science fiction horror films capture the pure essence of paranoia quite like the ones that make a valiant effort to tell the body snatching story first written by Jack Finney. While Don Siegel’s 1956 version of Finney’s novel The Body Snatchers is quite possibly the best film to tell the story of an alien race that goes about its world domination without metal spaceships and with flowers, Philip Kaufman’s 1978 update holds a much more special place in my heart for a number of reasons. Although I do love the small-town setting Siegel’s film takes place on, Kaufman moves Finney’s tale of paranoia and identity pandemic to the big city, making the takeover’s initial location San Francisco, a delectable setting for any genre film of the 1970’s. The film features some serious star power, placing Donald Sutherland in a lead role as a public health worker, Jeff Goldblum as his paranoid friend and Leonard Nimoy as a know-it-all author and psychologist. The female leads are played by the recognizable but lesser-known Brooke Adams and Veronica Cartwright.
Between the strength of these five actors, a great sense of paranoia begins circulating early on in the film, as suspicions rise about people who simply aren’t themselves anymore. What makes Invasion of the Body Snatchers such a treat is sensational sense of paranoia it instills in the viewer, let alone the characters, and how Kaufman so effectively portrays it and pushes it. “I keep seeing these people, all recognizing each other,” says Adams’ character Elizabeth as she suspects something has changed in San Francisco. “Something is passing between them all, some secret. It’s a conspiracy, I know it.” This line puts the entire journey in perspective. It summarizes the entire feel and atmosphere of the film. The emotionless duplicate bodies that walk amongst our main characters lack human quality and a sense of uniqueness, yet they communicate so well, almost without a whisper. All human character and identity is lost once the pods take control and birth out a new body absolutely the same as the old one. Kaufman’s film is delightfully eerie, a true champion of the science fiction horror genre that a very few succeed at. Filming most of its climax at night, Kaufman makes use of shadows and the unknown during
that some people don’t quite understand concert etiquette. It’s a high-energy hip hop show. People are going to be slightly buzzed, assuring that people will be a little sloppy but not always belligerent. Regardless, when I slightly lose control but maintaining my balance, I get evil looks and commands to “stand still.” Right. I’m sorry that I’m stepping on your girlfriend’s sandaled feet, but she chose to wear them, not me. This isn’t a Kenny Chesney show. End of rant. J. Cole was enough to whip CCSU into a frenzy, making the segue into LMFAO more than accessible. By now all attendees had shown up and though the show was completely sold out, only half of the gymnasium was filled. The space most immediately in front of the stage was packed like drunken sardines, but trailed off towards the back. It was almost like it turned into a bad 8th grade dance three quarters of the way through. Regardless, those who were up front could not have been more amped. Once the music over the PA quieted,
the crowd wailed in anticipation. The DJ for LMFAO got the crowd more excited by spinning some intro tracks, all while members of their crew and CAN threw out complementary glow sticks and t-shirts into the crowd. Two more “band members” took the stage: a ponytailed broseph in leopard print who was most likely not playing the not plugged in guitar hanging around his neck, as well as a fresh-looking dude whose only purpose was to background dance. I don’t even think J. Cole has that kind of support (luckily, not many do). Finally, out came the wolves. LMFAO began thumping and bouncing to a remix of “Eye of the Tiger,” with everyone in the room joining along. They were not there to chill, they came to party. The vibe refused to die down with the help of flying beach balls, champagne bottles spraying, hoses blasting dry ice and fake money being thrown around. Did I say champagne? I’m assuming it was apple cider, seeing how we are supposed to be a dry campus. Drinking is only appropriate when performed in the comfort of your dorm while your RA pretends to not notice. LMFAO seemed to know the scoop, even though our anti-alcohol rules prevented actual shots going down during their trademark song “Shots (Shots Shots Shots Shots Shots).” Though their music could have inspired enough anarchy as middle class kids in Ed Hardy could cause, the concert was fairly innocuous. Now if we can just get Lil’ Wayne for next year, we’d all be happy. Just no Jack Johnson wannabes, please.
RedFoo sings during LMFAO’s third song of the night. Kenny Barto | the recorder
Invasion of the Body Snatchers running chase scenes across a freaked out San Francisco. A most remarkable and memorable shot places the camera across the street from our main characters as they try to run away from a group of impostor human beings hoping to change them into emotionless facades of themselves. In this shot, we see giant shadows of the four projected onto the building they run alongside, creating suspense through a simple static shot with a beautiful eye for aesthetics. This version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers also has another one-up on Siegel’s already great attempt to tell the story. Forget the technical advancements that allow Kaufman to film his story in grander scope and vibrant color, the team at work here also gets the opportunity to work with some top notch special effects (for the time) that will undoubtedly creep the hell out of you. There’s a dog with a man’s head, and that’s hardly the epitome of disgusting creature effects Body Snatchers features. The detail of the undead yet dead looking bodies and the pods they grow out of is remarkable to not only the look, but to the touch, and adds a whole heck of a lot to capturing the uneasy feeling the rest of the film strives so hard to attain. Additionally, Kaufman’s film is home to
a few of the most memorable moments in 1970’s cinema. The entire chase sequences is full of emotionless beings screeching at the top of their lungs with unhuman sounds coming from their open mouths and fingers pointing straight at you while they attempt to identify those who haven’t ‘turned’ yet. The film’s ending is shocking and one of the most well-done and well-executed in the genre, something I can only let you discover on your own. Terrifying for more reasons than just the same old movie scare tactics, Invasion of the Body Snatchers brings forward real concepts of paranoia, that while achieved through unbelievable action of alien infusion via a new species of plant, can be taken as allegory for all sorts of real life paranoia we might have for brain-altering people of certain religions or belief groups. This story has been told many times, most recently in the Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman film The Invasion. Before that, the story was told on a military base in 1993’s Body Snatchers. And while the original film adaptation is among the era’s most remarkable science fiction films, the 1978 Kaufman production has that extra push that allows the film to most certainly appeal to all those interested in otherworldly exploration.
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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 11, 2011 / UPGRADE
Gaga, Lil’ Wayne Lead Crop of Anticipated Summer Releases Danny Contreras and Max Kyburz The Recorder
Lady Gaga - Born This Way Born This Way, Gaga's follow-up to The Fame Monster, will be released on May 23. The album, whose singles have so far lived up to the “monsters” expectations, is expected to transcend the previous two works in terms of production and theme. To critics everywhere, the Madonna influences in Gaga’s new music are extremely apparent, so it’ll be interesting to see where Germanotta will take her music. Already the title track has inspired a bit of flack, but an incomparable amount to the rabid support she's received. Rather than retreat into vapidity, Gaga seems more manic than ever, as if you couldn't tell by Born This Way's cover art. Hopefully this success won't get too embedded into her head to the point where she stops making proper bubblegum anthems for the 21st century. If all it's done is convince her that she's a slick, high-heeled motorcycle with after sex hair, then I guess she'll be OK for now.
metal and even J-pop tropes. They are living proof that no how much we may fear them, our Eastern neighbors will forever blow the competition out of the water...er, in terms of music, that is.
Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs: Codes and Keys This month Death Cab for Cutie will release their first follow-up to 2008’s critically acclaimed album Narrow Stairs: Codes and Keys. The previous work, which produced songs such as “The Ice Is Getting Thinner” and “Graprevine Fires” promises to be for everyone as it is called a “non guitar-centric album”. This indie band from Washington has produced great work ever since their inception in 1997 and though they haven’t made an economical success like their newer counterparts (Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire), they have managed to create unique music with lots of personal styles.
Afternoon” and "Fluorescent Adolescent”. The album, which already has a lead single out, is full of promises that seem to build upon 2009’s Hamburg. Indie fans and alternative rock fans alike will be in for a treat.
Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter IV The cover art for Tha Carter IV depicts a young man donned in a cap and gown, tattoos all over, radiating a bashful grin. If this is how Weezy feels after being released from the joint, we can all anticipate good things from his new album. Pegged as one of the grandstanding music artists of our time, Lil' Wayne has a bit of making up to do. His last couple albums (the previous Carter and I Am Not A Human Being) were met with shrugs, making the world wonder whether he is just the flavor of the month or someone who can really stand the test of time. If his nearly one year long prison term has changed his cough-syrup-sipping ways, we may expect a new (and perhaps improved) Weezy. The almost appallingly catchy "6 Foot 7 Foot" is a breathless whirlwind of danceable hip-hop, and "John," his collaboration with Rick Ross, is classic Wayne. It's another of his musings about guns, women and ruling the rap game, but he always finds a way to make it personal and genuine.
one does not say: Poland has produced the best fucking bands. That honor goes to Sweden and Finland. However, Poland has produced one of the finest black metal bands in the past decade: Behemoth. And after their 2009 release, Evangelion, the band’s heaviest album since 2004’s Demigod, they’re back with Abyssus Abyssum Invocat (Hell Calls to Hell). The album promises to be darker and heavier than their previous releases. The fourman band, which I had the honor of seeing live, has been working on new material for the past two years, meaning they’ve had time to refine a savage sound into a beauty (at least for listeners of black metals). Of course, Demigod, usually considered the band’s best album, has set up such a high standard for the band that many new listeners will probably feel disappointed if this album does not transcend the bar.
Morbid Angel - Illud Divinum Insanus What's that? You want more death metal albums with incomprehensible titles? You got it! After five years of teasing, Morbid Angel's long-delayed follow-up to 2003's Heretic will finally be exposed. Since 2009, avid Morbid Angel fans have been lapping up each "new song" that found its way onto the Internet
Boris - Heavy Rocks and Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and Attention Please See If the constructed insanity of Lady Gaga isn't enough to start your summer on the right foot, you might want to sample a bit of the all natural self-destructive insanity that is Boris. This noisy Japanese trifecta from hell is releasing not one but two albums at the end of May, causing all of us fans to drool in anticipation. As always, their output is unpredictable. Boris has constantly been evolving and toying with drone, punk, stoner
When Artic Monkeys released their debut album in 2006, I couldn’t help but take them as a joke. It was through incessant listening that I managed to appreciate what this band can do and that it was no joke that their debut album was critically acclaimed. Fast forward five years and three albums later and Artic Monkeys remains the same band that introduced us to “The View from the
Dropdead/Converge - Split One of the biggest surprises to come earlier this year was the news of two heavyweights joining forces in what might be the most epic collaboration ever put to wax. Grimy princes of Northeastern powerviolence Dropdead return with their first material in seven years, and seminal metalcore punks Converge embellish more hellfire akin to 2009's Axe to Fall. Only one grievance to air: only one song from each band! Still, knowing how both bands are ferociously capable of peeling the paint off walls (before demolishing them, of course), fans can only assume that it'll be nothing short of spectacular.
Behemoth - Abyssus Abyssum Invocat When one thinks of death and black metal,
via bootlegging. As release time nears, more tracks have surfaced which are sure to satisfy supporters of their later work. Though these tracks don't deserve the same floor space as their stellar debut Altars of Madness (or its follow-up Blessed Are The Sick - they are quite fanatic for keeping things in alphabetical order), the album will surely win over fans of their later work, as well as fans of technical death metal. Also on the horizon: Weird Al returns impeccably to dish out his momentarily controversial Lady Gaga parody, Connecticutbred Ipsissimus make their major label debut on Metal Blade Records, young at heart pop punkers The Wonder Years share middle class woes with Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing, Brian Eno will release more music to merrily put us all to sleep, Thurston Moore will release weird music that will either infuriate or exhilarate you and Eddie Vedder will do the same. Except crappier.
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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 11, 2011 / UPGRADE
Sequels, Adaptations Highlight Upcoming Feature Films Danny Contreras and Max Kyburz The Recorder
Hangover 2 Holy sequels, Batman! The Hangover 2 has come with great anticipation, and it is sure to be the summer's prodigal son. Hangover was a great movie. It was raunchy, offensive, silly and innocent. It combined slapstick and road trip comedies and created a masterpiece. The sequel reunites Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifinakis as Helms’s character, Stu, gets married in Thailand. While throwing a bachelor party for him and being forced to hang out with his fiancée’s brother, they lose him similarly to the first movie. A comedic pursuit and race against time ensues. The premise is the same, sure, but it does its job well. A third movie might over step it though.
two times around, America will see him try it one more time. Seeing how there's no way it can not make money, we can look forward to him trying it another three times before maybe finishing the job. Yes, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is almost here, much to the delight of some and to the chagrin of everyone else. Sadly, this is not the action figure/Pink Floyd collaboration everyone's been ecstatic about since the early 1980s, but that won't stop Michael Bay's new headache machine from collecting a bajillion dollars at the box office. Somehow, Megan Fox's absence probably won't affect it because 1) replacement Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is far hotter and 2) well, Megan Fox is a kinda sorta bitch.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Pirates has been a great franchise from the beginning. Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley have made this series what it is: the most amazing adventure of the last decade. Now the series faces a daring task: capture the audience of the 2010's who have grown up without any sense of adventure. Bloom and Knightley have left, but Geoffrey Rush has stayed behind with Depp, and with the addition of the always beautiful Penelope Cruz, the film looks to be a great addition to the series. There are lots of explosions and comedy (in the trailers) but it is still most definitely Depp’s character, Jack Sparrow, who will be drawing audiences old and new.
X-Men: First Class X-Men redefined the superhero genre in 2000. Yes, it was long, but it captivated our hearts and minds with amazing special effects, a great story and the most complete all-star cast in movie history. We saw Wolverine, Cyclops and Storm come to life before our eyes and we loved every minute of it. The series reached its peak with X2 in 2003, a film with the most action in the series, set behind a greatly delivered story, despite the very stupid ending. However, it truly set the bar high for the next two movies. And though X-Men 3 did feature more heroes and fighting, it lost the essence of the first two. Now a second prequel, X-Men First Class, promises to retrace the story of Professor Xavier and his best friend and Holocaust survivor Max Eisenhardt (Magneto). If the all star cast and tragedy story didn’t convince you, then the trailer should: Magneto pulls a fucking submarine out of the water. Boss.
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon Seeing how Shia Labeauf was too puny to save the world from Deceptacon holocaust the first
The Tree of Life
While familiar characters of franchises and comic books revisit us each summer like old friends, it's just as much (if not more) of a blessing to be revisited by our favorite directors. After releasing The New World then fleeing the scene for a good few years, Terrence Mallick is back with The Tree of Life. As the breathtaking trailer shows, The Tree of Life is full of jaw-dropping angelic images that represent filmmaking at its most wondrous and magical. Knowing Mallick's keen eye for visuals, this far from surprising. Not much is explained in the trailer; Mallick places trust in the viewers eye. Sean Penn plays a man struggling to discover purpose in the modern world, partly provoked by his Captain America memories of the marvelous and the tragic. Captain America is to Marvel what Superman He revisits recollections of life lessons taught is to DC (or used to be). He was an inglorious by the world around him, especially from bastard long before Brad Pitt came around: his parents, played by Brad Pitt and Jessica an American superhero that kicked Nazi ass. Chastain. Oscar bait? Sounds it. Complaints? Chris Evans dons the blue suit, but when he's None. not kicking ass he's mild-mannered Steve Rogers, a normal human who is part of an Super 8 experiment to create super soldiers. After he is injected with the serum, he becomes Hungry for the next Spielberg flick? Great, a super man (get the pun) and wins the war us too. While this mysterious sci-fi flick for America. If that spoiled the movie for you, bears Senor Spielbergo's moniker only as a you clearly haven't watched enough superhero producer, Lost honcho J.J. Abrams seems to movies. The real twist ending is that he falls be rekindling the spirit and wonder of films into suspended animation, that is until next like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and year’s Avenger’s movie where he gets revived. E.T. True to Spielbergian tradition, Abrams If you can't quite forgive Chris Evans for his places children at the forefront. In the 1970's partaking in the bastardized Fantastic Four midwest, a group of young friends exercise movies, the rest of the cast might change your their youthful creativity to create a film mind: Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, on a super 8 video camera, but soon they Neal McDonough, Stanley Tucci, and the one find themselves face to face with a series of actor who's guaranteed a role in every Marvel unexplained events preceded by a freak train movie ever, Stan Lee.
accident. What's happening? Who caused it? If we already knew, we wouldn't be eagerly awaiting, now would we?
Melancholia For those burnt out on the latest extended testosterone fueled advertisement for Pepsi and looking for a good ol' fashioned bummer to end the summer, ask no one else but Lars Von Trier. Billed as a beautiful film about the end of the world, Melancholia sounds like a mish-mash of summer blockbuster ingredients mixed with a vial of cyanide. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg star as two quarreling sisters whose relations are only more strained when the prospect of a large planetary mass destined to destroy the earth looms. Seeing how this is the foul prince of Denmark's follow-up to his exhaustingly painful Antichrist can only mean two things: Charlotte Gainsbourg will be a nutbag and you will be holding onto your glands for dear life. Also on the horizon: More sequels! More sequels, damn you! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will bring more tears than any one of the last 100 "final" Phish shows, Cars 2 will hopefully trump its boring predecessor, Spy Kids 4 will hopefully bear the subtitle "The End of an Era," while Final Destination 5 will show haters that their franchise is as unconquerable as death itself (Hey! Just like in the movie!). Meanwhile, in the quest for further franchising, Green Lantern will demand of America the questionable task of taking Ryan Reynolds seriously and the Winnie the Pooh reboot will have all of America hugging itself and going "Awww." Happy viewing!
10
THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 11, 2011 / SPORTS SPORTS BEGINS ON BACK PAGE
COLUMN
Keep an Eye on the Underdog
BRittAny BURKE the Recorder
It seems like wherever I turn lately the idea of the unexpected and underdog teams has been prevalent, in both the world of professional sports and the mini universe of
CCSU athletics. This past weekend the CCSU Blue Devils softball team made the postseason Northeast Conference tournament against all odds. The team was picked sixth in the coaches poll at the beginning of the season and wasn’t expected to see postseason play. But why would they have been? If the past is any indication, the team wasn’t going to make it. But the team fought through and broke multiple records, while proving to not only the CCSU community, but also the Division I NEC community, that they are contenders and they should be noticed. In recent professional sports news, the Mavericks swept the Los Angeles Lakers, the twotime defending champions in
CCSU Baseball Endures Successful Transition Season tOm LiLjEDAhL the Recorder
With four conference games left this season, the CCSU baseball team is in a familiar position, competing for a spot in the Northeastern Conference tournament. After winning the NEC tournament last season, the Blue Devils viewed 2011 as a transition season. However, the team currently sits in fifth place in the conference with a 15-13 record, a mere half game behind Bryant University for the final spot in the NEC tournament. The tournament will take place May 19 and 20, at Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium in Norwich, Conn., and the winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. “We lost nine important seniors from last year’s team, including infielder Sean Allaire, who was the Conference Player of the Year,” said head coach Charlie Hickey. “We had to replace a lot of good players, but we still had high expectations coming into the season.” Other critical seniors from last year’s team included first baseman Tommy Meade, and outfielders Richie Tri and Kyle Zarotney, all of whom were three year starters. Despite the losses, Hickey had reason to be confident, as he has led the Blue Devils to the conference tournament nine times since coming here from Providence College twelve years ago. “Coming into the season we had a lot of new guys such as freshman and transfer students, as well as a lot of guys who didn’t see the field due to older teammates, so in that sense it is a transition season,” said Mitch Wells. “Getting everyone used to how things are done here is always tricky, but that’s what the offseason is for. Come spring, I had
just as much confidence in this team as I did last year’s team.” Wells has led by example for the young team with a .371 batting average, 40 RBIs, and 30 runs scored. The pitching has also stepped up, with a pair of sophomores leading the way. Nick Newmann leads the team in strikeouts, with 50, and Todd Savatsky, who boasts a 3.00 ERA , each have five wins on the season. “Last year we had a lot of veterans on the team with a lot of games under their belt. But this year we have a lot of new comers that were asked to step up and produce. Our goal remains the same: the NEC championship,” said Savatsky, who went from a red shirt to a conference starter this season. Among the new comers are outfielder J.P. Sportman, infielder Dylan Delacruz, and outfielder Anthony Turgeon, all of whom start for the Blue Devils as freshmen. Turgeon is third on the team with a .327 batting average. “We knew we were going to need contributions from new players this season,” said Hickey, “A lot of guys have really come on strong and gotten us going.” Wells remains confident that this team will continue to be successful. “No one can be considered young at this point in the season, that’s just an excuse. I think we’re ready to battle this last weekend of conference play, make the tourney, and win it again.” If the team hopes to defend the title, the Blue Devils must rebound from being swept in four games by Sacred Heart University this past weekend. The team plays host to Northeastern University at 3 p.m. on Wed., May 11, before travelling to Long Island this weekend for three critical NEC games.
the second round. The Mavs found their stride and upset the basketball community (at least Los Angeles’ basketball community, I still have hope for the Celtics). In hockey news the Tampa Bay Lightning virtually came out of nowhere in the NHL Eastern Conference playoffs by first eliminating a Sidney Crosby-less Pittsburgh Penguins team. The Lighting then forged ahead and swept the top-seeded Eastern team, the Washington Capitals, once again foiling any plans Alexander Ovechkin had of hoisting Lord Stanley into the air. On a side note, while the Bruins played well all year, did anyone really expect the team to come and sweep the Philadelphia Flyers after last postseason’s humiliating crumble? I wasn’t and
I’m a Bruins fan. So in my eyes the Bruins, as well as the goalie Tim Thomas, are also underdogs (especially after he took a back seat to Tuukka Rask last season). Going back farther into March Madness, the UConn men’s basketball team wasn’t a lead contender for the top spot, but they fought odds and became number one, while the favorite women fell short. All of these surprising upsets, wins and playoff berths are a sentiment to what hard work can accomplish. The underdogs should never be counted out (does anyone remember the New York Giants wonderful defeat of the New England Patriots?) and the more these teams come out of nowhere, the more people should sit up and begin to pay attention
to the underdogs, whether it’s a team or specific athlete. So going into summer, as the school year comes to an end and the paper stops printing until August, all I can say is this year I’ve learned that sports are unpredictable and all of these underdog stories are just proof to that fact.
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11
THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 11, 2011 / SPORTS
Club Sports Support Funding Separation From Academic Clubs Brittany Burke The Recorder
During the 2011 Student Government Association elections a platform was introduced that would potentially separate the funding of club sports from academic clubs. In the past there have been misunderstandings between the club sports teams and the SGA, leading to problems with base budgets and confusion. To minimize the confusion and aggravation for both parties, newly-instated President Eric Bergenn, Vice President Liz Braun and Treasurer Nick Alaimo have begun to look into the possibility of splitting sports from academics. “I think it’s great just to get the clubs finally, just to be on our own…so people can finally realize that we actually do need money,” said rugby club president Nick Kowaleski. “This way if they separate us from other things I think we’ll just be more listened to and we’ll be more…represented if we’re our own separate thing now. I just feel like it’s going to be a lot better.” This idea isn’t something that will be taken lightly by the SGA senate and finance committee, but it is an idea that was wellreceived by the respective club sports. “I understand that it could take a full academic year to get an idea around, although I don’t think that it actually will take that long, but as far as SGA is concerned they may want to wait a year until they are comfortable with it,” said Kevin Leaver, hockey club treasurer. “But I think this is an idea that needs to be adapted immediately. It’s going to work out
Sacred Heart Sweeps FourGame Series From CCSU
in the short term and long run for the two different parties of academic clubs and sports clubs. I’m excited that that’s finally been thought of, and I’m sure the SGA and SALD will be able to brainstorm quite well together to best go about having two separate pools of funding for clubs.” For now the idea is to modify the paper work used by the team clubs and academic clubs which will be more compatible to each one’s needs. There was talk of potentially delegating a specific pool of money for just club sports usage, but the new ideas will take time and need to be implemented step by step. “I think we should see how [the new paperwork] goes first, then see what we can do after that,” said Kowlaeski. “Like I said before, and I’m going to keep saying it, what Liz [Braun] wants to do is a great idea, and I think it’s going to work. But I think we should try that before we try anything else but, it’s getting easier in trying to get money, especially in the base budget this year. It’s been easier this year than we’ve ever done it and we’ve gotten more than we ever got.” The main concern between both the SGA and the club sports has been the communication between the two parties. “I think [SGA] understands what we’re trying to do and what we do,” said hockey team president Ryan Beaulieu. “I mean maybe they don’t understand the scope or size of what we do, but I think they understand that we play games, and we compete, and we go to tournaments, and we host tournaments, we have playoffs I think they understand that. [The new system is] going to be easier for
like that. All the little things we did wrong hurt us and the things they did wrong we didn’t take advantage of.” Where the other three games turned into slugfests, game four was the pitchers’ duel. Both pitchers played well, only giving up two runs during their time on the mound. CCSU scored its first two runs on sac flies from Andy Lalli. In the ninth, however, Blue Devils starter Harry Glynne quickly loaded the bases on the first three batters he faced. After going eight innings of one run baseball, Glynne was in danger of taking the loss, so Hickey went with closer Josh Ingham. While Sacred Heart got a run in to tie it, Ingham did well considering the situation he was thrust into, and got out of the inning only allowing the one run. With CCSU unable to get a run across in the ninth, the game was sent into extra innings. The Pioneers struck first in extra innings, picking up two runs in the 11th. CCSU had a chance to tie, after loading the bases in the bottom of the inning, but only one run reached home safely. For the fourth game, Sacred Heart prevailed over CCSU, and completed its sweep of the Blue Devils. The reality is we ran into a good team playing great baseball,” said Hickey. “We’re at the point of the season where this is a stiff blow to the chin. We’re going to have to swallow our pride and regroup over the next week. We pushed this one hard and it wasn’t pretty, but when you load the bases in the bottom of the 11th I’ll take my chances of getting a hit every time.” The Blue Devils started the weekend tied with Sacred Heart for third place in the NEC, but after dropping four straight, CCSU is now in fifth, while Sacred Heart moves into second. The Blue Devils have just four games left in the season, including Senior Day on Wednesday the 11th.
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kenny barto I THE RECORDER
[SGA] to understand what we’re asking for and it’s going to be easier for us to portray to them what we need and why we need it.” According to the hockey and rugby representatives, while the new idea is still in the early stages, they can already tell that the SGA’s interest has had a positive effect on the base budget requests, and they understand where the SGA is coming from. “I am happy with how much the hockey team and the lacrosse team has been allocated for next year,” said Leaver. “I think it’s record amounts I believe, at least since I’ve been at this university. It is frustrating because…the nature of this base budget request process, the SGA finance committee has so many more questions for us, which I completely agree
with, they want to be thorough, but that’s just it, there’s so much more that needs to be covered which is why club sports need to be considered for separate pool of fundings.” The SGA senate and finance committee are still looking into ways in which they can enhance their ways of dealing not only with club sports, but sports in general. According to Alaimo they are researching schools such as Southern Connecticut State University and their ways of handling separate committees, but every idea is still one that must be thought about and discussed before it can be implemented. However, despite what happens in the short run, both club teams and the SGA are set to benefit.
Emotional Leader Helps Softball Team to First NEC Appearance derek turner
BASEBALL I Cont. from 12
The rugby club is one of the teams that would benefit from funding separation
The Recorder
From Seattle to New Britain, Kat Knowles has made a seamless transition and helped lead the 2011 Central Connecticut State University softball team to the most winningest season in program history. A native of Woodline, Wash., and a fifthyear senior, Knowles has seen this softball program go through major changes in the past five years and she has been right in the middle of it all. Already with a degree in communication, Knowles had one year of eligibility left and decided to come back and play out her final year, now double-majoring in psychology. “I called up Coach [ Jeff] Franquet halfway through the summer and asked ‘Can I play next year?’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, please, come back and play,’” said Knowles. Knowles’ freshman year was a red-shirt season, meaning she practiced with the team, but could not travel or play in any games. It was a way for her to get established in her school work and get ahead. By the time Knowles was in her junior season, she was leading the team on the field with a .306 batting average and .377 on-base percentage. She started all 43 games, appeared behind the plate and shared the team lead in hits with 38. The 2010 season was a huge statistical year for Knowles. The second team AllNEC selection started all 49 games played, led the team for the second straight year in batting average hitting .378 and slugged a staggering .650 thanks to her team high 18 doubles. Behind the plate, Knowles posted a .982 fielding percentage and threw out 24.4 percent of base-stealers. The stats are nice too look at, but Knowles does not define her college career by them. “I’d give up everything I had last year to be where I’m at this year,” said Knowles based on team chemistry and overall performance from the team as a whole. The largest transition, Knowles described was not moving three time zones east, but last fall when Franquet took the helm as the new CCSU softball coach. “It was a big transition last year structure wise. There is more responsibility and accountability put on yourself…we obviously have a dry season, we’re held accountable for that by ourselves and each other and by our coach,” said Knowles. “Being on time for things, being 15 minutes early, doing all the extra stuff…you’d see half our team in the
bubble at night from 8 to 11.” On the field, Knowles may not have had her best statistical year, but she does all the little things that most people don’t see. Franquet has never had anything bad to say about any of the players, but loves the initiative Knowles takes to get the little things done. “She is the best player as far as understanding the game, as far as her work ethic, as far as her commitment to our program, her vision as to where we want our program to be, she understands it,” said Franquet. “She’s the best team leader that we have. In theory she’s another coach. If anybody would have a ‘C’ next to her name, it would be Kat. She’s an incredible leader, she’s a great person on and off the field and she has a high level of respect from every one of our players.” Matching for practice may not seem like a big deal to most people, but Knowles and her roommates have taken that responsibility upon themselves. “I’ll be sitting on the couch and ask Liz [Montemurro], ‘What are we wearing tomorrow?’” said Knowles. Catcher Kat Knowles kenny barto | the recorder She then sends out a text message to the entire team with the next days’ instructions. It’s the little it out to the world and what I’ve learned things that Knowles has done to gain the because I’ve had so many coaches and I’ve respect from fellow teammates and coaches. played different places;” said Knowles. “I’ve CCSU has become family for Knowles. gotten all that and grown from that, kind of She describes the girls on her team, especially work from that in order to help anyone out her three roommates (Montemurro, Erica that I can.” Koehler and Kendall Sours) who walked her Knowles thoroughly enjoyed her time at out on senior day last Thursday, as bigger CCSU meeting new people and developing a family than she ever had. winning culture with the softball team. In the Knowles said that senior day would be preseason poll, CCSU was picked sixth by the a special day, but it would be even more coaches and have turned in the most wins in memorable if the team qualified for the CCSU softball history. Northeast Conference tournament, which “It’s something to be very proud of and happened over the weekend. I think our senior class has built a great After her final game in a Blue Devil foundation for the program to build beyond uniform, Knowles wants to help others this in the next couple years,” said Knowles as whether it be coaching or something else. she leads her team into the NEC tournament. “I’m looking to work with kids in some “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing and who way, whether it has to do with giving lessons, they are, we can still battle with anybody.” kind of just taking my knowledge and giving
12
THE RECORDER / Wednesday, May 11, 2011 / SPORTS
BLUE DEVILS SWEPT AWAY
christopher mclaughlin The Recorder
If good pitching and defense is the recipe for success in baseball, it’s no wonder why the CCSU Baseball team (23-21-1) was swept in its four game series against Sacred Heart (2720). Blue Devils pitching surrendered a combined 23 earned runs, and the eight errors the CCSU fielders committed led to seven unearned runs, bringing the total to 30. To put it into perspective, Sacred Heart pitching allowed 16 earned runs and the three errors the Pioneers’ committed only led to one unearned run. Though the CCSU bats were able to get hits off of Sacred Heart pitching, the team was nowhere near as productive as the Pioneers. In the entire series, CCSU hit four extra base hits, while Sacred Heart hit 17. CCSU hit no homeruns, Sacred Heart hit four. Mitch Wells, Pat Epps, and JP Sportman combined for 15 hits, and 5 RBI. Sacred Heart’s 3-5 hitters, combined for 17 hits and 12 RBI. Though there were very few bright spots in a series in which CCSU was out-played, the Blue Devils at least showed heart. All four games saw the Blue Devils battle until the end, regardless of the score. Even with the valiant effort, the damage done could not be overcome, and Sacred Heart was victorious. “For the first time in a long while, we deserved this,” said Head Coach Charlie Hickey. “We didn’t pitch well, played very poor defense, and ran into an aggressive offense, it’s kind of the perfect storm for getting swept. If there is a silver lining, it’s that we didn’t quit. These are the wars you go through, and you have to persevere through them.” The series opened up with CCSU taking a 3-0 lead in the second inning over the Pioneers. While the offense was clicking, CCSU starter Todd Savatsky threw three no-hit innings, but then things began to fall apart. CCSU maintained its lead until the sixth inning, but Rob Griffith led off blasting a pitch over the score board in left-center. After a few more base hits, a throwing error led to Sacred Heart’s second run of the inning, and drove Savatsky from the game. The first batter relief pitcher Ray Natoli
kenny barto I THE RECORDER
Left fielder Dylan Delacruz makes a play during Sunday’s 4-3 extra-inning loss to Sacred Heart. faced hit what appeared to be a deep fly ball that ended up being carried over the fence by the wind, for two more Sacred Heart runs. Natoli got out of the inning without any more damage, but enough had been done. CCSU was able to cut into the lead on a Dylan Delacruz sac fly, but Sacred Heart canceled out the run by picking up one more
in the eighth. The Blue Devils led off the ninth with a base hit, but it was quickly erased on a double play. After the twin killing, Sacred Heart shut the door on the Blue Devils comeback, and closed out the first game 7-4. “It didn’t seem like we were able to capitalize on our opportunities,” said Hickey. “We have to give credit to their defense, it’s a
championship caliber team they have, and we made costly errors that created extra outs and allowed them to score.” A leadoff walk began the second game, and first of a double-header, the skies opened up and the rain and lightning forced an hour long rain delay. CCSU starter Dave Krasnowiecki returned to the mound when play resumed, and though he got out of the first inning without any harm, the rest of the game was a different story. Sacred Heart put up numbers in each of the next four innings to blow the game open. The Blue Devils trailed 11-0, when Sean Miller-Jones hit an RBI single to finally put CCSU on the board in the fourth. Despite trailing by 10, CCSU refused to pack it in. In the seventh and final inning the Blue Devils put up three runs on four hits. Though the team scraped until the final out, the lead proved to be insurmountable and CCSU lost game two. “This team is playing the best out of anyone we played all year,” said Hickey. “We battled until the end and I‘m proud of the way we fought, but they were able to get out of it.” Though Sacred Heart bats were quiet to end its 11-4 romp, the team lay dormant, waiting for the game to mean something again. The pioneers opened up the second game of the double header, with a barrage of hits, pushing three across the plate to give them an early lead. Sacred Heart tacked on two more in the third to extend the lead to five, but the Blue Devils’ bats exploded in the fifth. Six runs on seven hits gave CCSU its first lead since it led 3-2 in game one. Epps doubled twice in the inning, and RBIs from Sportman, Anthony Turgeon, and Normand Gosselin helped CCSU erase the deficit. The lead was short-lived as Sacred Heart picked up a two-out RBI in the sixth to knot the game up. The Pioneers came back in the seventh with two more to put them back on top. Sacred Heart pitcher Robbie Maguire struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to close out the game, and secure a series victory for the Pioneers. “It’s all part of the perfect storm to get swept,” said Hickey. “Every bunt play turned into an adventure for us and it shouldn’t be BASEBALL | cont. on 11
Softball Grabs First NEC Tournament Berth brittany burke The Recorder
The Blue Devils softball team capped off a record setting regular season with a bid into the Northeast Conference postseason for the first time in the program’s Division I history. “It’s hard to put into words how exciting it is to do something for the first time ever in school history,” said head softball coach Jeff Franquet. “It’s never been done and it’s just a direct reflection of having a great bunch of players that are committed to a common goal which was to make the NEC tournament postseason. [The team is] committed to working hard, they’re committed to each other, both on and off the field. They’ve been committed in the classroom and they certainly have a commitment to Central Connecticut athletics and our community so it’s been awesome.” While CCSU finished its season last Thursday with a two-game sweep of Seton Hall, the team had to wait until the weekend’s results were in to hear whether or not postseason play was going to happen for them. “The thing that made us apprehensive was that you always want to control your own destiny and that’s something that we didn’t have control of,” said Franquet. “We couldn’t control anything this weekend so that’s a frustrating thing, but in the long run, we did control our own destiny. If we would have won one of those three conference games that we lost in the last inning. We wouldn’t have to wait around.” The team finished 11-9 in the NEC on its way to the postseason tournament, finishing fifth in the conference behind the Quinnipiac Bobcats. Despite finishing fifth, the Blue Devils also set another school record with 29 regular season wins. CCSU will be joined in
the postseason by the Bobcats, Robert Morris and Sacred Heart. “We had a great year with 19 wins and so all the returners had that hunger to be better and to get better and it carried over this year into 29 wins, which is the most in our school history, and to make the conference tournament for the first time in school history…you can see the pattern and certainly next year that expectations will be even higher and this group will continue that work ethic and that common goal and belief,” Franquet said. Robert Morris managed to clinch the top spot in the NEC with a conference record of 15-5. The Blue Devils not only had to wait for the weekend results to determine whether or not the tournament berth was attainable, but the location of the actual tournament was also dependent upon last weekend’s outcome. Over the weekend, Robert Morris captured the first seed and rights to hold the tournament at home at the North Atlantic Complex in Moon Township, Penn. The Colonials swept Mount St. Mary’s, while also shutting out the tenth place team 14-0 and 4-0. Robert Morris’ win puts them in the tournament as the first seed, which means the fourth seeded Blue Devils play the Colonials in the first round. “We’re not worried about whether they’re number one seed or number two,” said Franquet. “Bottom line is, we have to play everybody and we’ve beaten Robert Morris this year, so we beat them and lost to them in close games so really the tournament is anybody’s. Whatever team gets hot and swings the bat pretty well and their pitchers throw well will win. It’s surely what it comes down to.” The two teams will play in the first round on May 13. The second game consists of the
kenny barto I THE RECORDER
Pitcher Liz Montemurro was named the Akadema/NEC Co-Pitcher of the week. With her shutout win against Holy Cross she became the Blue Devils all-time leader in wins. second seeded Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac in the third spot. The loser of game one will go on to play the loser of game two.
The tournament consists of seven games, if needed, over a two day period. The NEC champions will be determined by May 14.