Hogs Start Spring Pratice Page 5
PAGE 1 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2011
Filling the Vacancy
Long Searching for Next Basketball Coach
Vol. 105, NO. 24 UATRAV.COM
JOHN PELPHREY by the Numbers
Record in 4 Seasons 69-59 Record against SEC Opponents 16-35 NCAA Tournament Appearance 1 (2008) ESPN Rank for 2011 Recruiting Class 4 Scholarship Players Suspended in 3 years 10 Pelphrey’s Buyout over 3 years 1.8 Million Buzz Williams, Marquette by JIMMY CARTER Sports Editor
On-court struggles, declining revenue and waning fan support revenue outweighed the promise of a highly-touted recruiting class for Arkansas’ basketball program. Coach John Pelphrey was fired Sunday afternoon by Vice
Mike Anderson, Missouri
Mark Turgeon, Texas A&M
Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long, after compiling a 69-59 record and one NCAA Tournament appearance in four seasons. The Razorbacks went 18-13 this season, finishing fourth in the Southeastern Conference West Division and missing postseason play for the third
consecutive year. Now the search begins to find the Hogs’ new head man. Long has a short list of candidates and would like to make a hire around the April 2-4 Final Four, he said. “I certainly have some people in my mind that I think would be a great fit for us, but that process
is just beginning,” Long said. “It’s difficult to assess a timetable.” Missouri coach Mike Anderson, Marquette coach Buzz Williams and Minnesota coach Tubby Smith are among hot names identified by national
by MATTIE QUINN
year, and not necessarily limit the amount of people that can come to the parties, but just make the number more manageable. We also want to work with UAPD more this year, just to make sure we are on the same page and make sure the alcohol situation is under control as well.” Maintaining safety, especially during the hectic atmosphere of ROW Week, has been a focal point for Greek life this semester. Originally short for “Recruit Orientation Week,” ROW Week is now a multi-day social event often featuring big-name concerts for students.
Courtesy Photo
Greek Life Promotes Service, Prepares for ROW Week Staff Writer
GARETH PATTERSON Staff Photographer Two members of the Chi Omega sorority reenact a famous Saturday Night Live skit from the 1990s. They performed during the 2011 Kappa Delta Shamrock Talent Show in the Verizon Ballroom of the Arkansas Union on Wednesday, March 9.
see BASKETBALL on page 3
After some disciplinary problems in the 2009-2010 school year, leaders in Greek Life pushed a more positive image to the rest of the UA. “People think we party a lot, but we also do a lot of good that people don’t see. With ROW Week, which is really the only big social event we have left this semester, we are really working to make it a safer place, as cliche as that sounds,” said Daniel Kleine, president of Interfraternity Council. “We want to work to make crowd control better this
“Our risk management officer, Derek Moore, has been busy leading risk management efforts this semester and spreading risk management and safety tips to organizations in preparation for ROW Week. Co-Public Relations officers Shawn Merriss and Garrett Johanssen are in the process of creating risk management posters to market the prohibited items, behavior and guests at IFC functions,” said Parice Bowser, director of Greek Life. “This was an initiative the officers proposed as a way to communicate to people who may be
entering the houses for a function who are not members of the fraternity what is expected of them as guests. The posters will be displayed soon, in time for ROW Week events. “ However, parties are not the only thing IFC members have been focusing on this school year. “We have been trying this year to collaborate more with the different chapters if one chapter has a really good idea for a philanthropic event,” Kleine said.
see GREEK on page 2
Students Feel Impact of Earthquake UA Adds December by SABA NASEEM Staff Writer
An 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit Japan Friday, followed by a massive tsunami, leaving more than 10,000 people dead or missing, thousands homeless and millions without water, power, heat or transportation, according to reports in The New York Times. Miles away, aftershocks of the earthquake could be felt in the hearts of international Japanese students at the UA. “I still can’t believe it,” said Yuta Yoshida, an international student from Hyogo, Japan. He saw the news online around 2 a.m., and his first reaction was that it wasn’t serious. “Japan has many earthquakes that are more than a 6.0 magnitude,” he said. “So I didn’t think much of it until, after a couple hours, I saw the tsunami wipe out many towns.” His family and friends live far from the disaster area and are safe, he said. The epicenter of the earthquake was near the east coast of Honshu, Japan, 231 miles northeast of Tokyo. It was followed by more than 50 aftershocks, many of them greater than a 6.0 magnitude on the
Richter scale. “It was the biggest earthquake I’ve experienced. I was really scared,” said Asato Sekimoto from Tokyo, in an email interview. The next day she “passed a difficult night,” she said. “I could not sleep because of the aftershocks.” The earthquake triggered the “formation of 30-foot walls of water that swept across rice fields, engulfed entire towns, dragged houses onto highways, and tossed cars and boats like toys,” according to CNN reports. UA international student Hiroyuki Sonoda, an international relations major from Shizuoka, Japan, said he immediately called his family after hearing the news and learned they were safe, but could not get in contact with his friends. “They (his friends) live in the Tohoku region, which was the pinpoint area of the earthquake,” he said. “I finally talked to them and they are safe. They said there was a lot of furniture broken in their homes.” Three UA students are studying abroad in Japan, but all of them far from the affected areas, said DeDe Long, director of the Office of Study
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011 VOL. 105, NO. 24 UATRAV.COM
Graduation Option by SABA NASEEM Staff Writer
MCT CAMPUS There were 16,000 inhabitants of the village of Minami-Sanriku before the tsunami hit. Now, more than half of them are still missing. Abroad and International Exchange. “Two of the students are in Osaka, Japan, and one student is in Matsue, Japan, and they are all safe,” she said. “Routinely, when there is any kind of event like this, we will email the students or get on Facebook to check with them to confirm that they are safe.” A UA journalism student, Yukiko Morikubo, had recently returned to Japan to look for a job. She was in Tokyo at the
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time the earthquake hit, and reported Friday that she and her family were safe, according to her Facebook page. This is the most powerful earthquake recorded in Japan’s history, according to media reports. Figures for recovery are an estimated $180 billion, according to initial estimates by European banks Credit Suisse
see JAPAN on page 3
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UA officials have decided to add a December all-university graduation ceremony for students who graduate in August or December, a university official said. “We know that student enrollment is growing and we wanted to provide an opportunity for students to graduate at different times,” said Sharon Gaber, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. There will be an estimated 23,000 students enrolled in the fall semester, she said. This decision also comes in response to student demands voiced in an Associated Student Government student poll. More than 70 percent of students polled supported a fall commencement ceremony, while approximately 28 percent said they did not, according to the ASG poll. There were 2,276 respondents. “This reinforces the great relationship that we in ASG have with administrators that we can go to them with results like this and know that they will take them seriously,” said ASG President Billy Fleming. “It allows us to bring them data to show what students, en masse, want.”
Students also responded, however, that they did not want to pay additional fees for the graduation ceremony. Out of 1,633 respondents, less than 5 percent said they would definitely pay additional fees, 23.76 percent said “probably yes”, 44.27 said “probably no”, and 27.01 percent said “definitely no”, according to the poll. Money to pay for the fall commencement will not come out of student fees, Gaber said. There is a certain amount of money allotted for a graduation budget, which includes costs of the stage and lighting, she said. Money from that budget will be used toward the December graduation. Before making this decision, UA officials ran numbers to estimate how many students would participate in this ceremony using last year’s numbers. “Last year, there were 1,600 students who graduated during the August and May dates. By our estimates, even if half of them decided to walk, we would have 800 students,” she said. The December commencement will be an alluniversity ceremony. Vari-
see GRADUATION on page 3