UP13_25 by University Press

University Press March 27, 2012 Vol. 13 Issue 25

Florida Atlantic University’s finest news source

One question, several death threats and over 400,000 YouTube hits. Here’s what you didn’t see in the video. PG. 11

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First issue is free; each additional copy is 50 cents and available in the UP newsroom.

March 27, 2012

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Briefs March 27, 2012 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Mariam Aldhahi MANAGING EDITOR Ryan Cortes ART DIRECTOR Phaedra Blaize WEB EDITOR Andrew Alvino BUSINESS MANAGER Michae Henry COPY DESK CHIEF Michael Chandeck NEWS EDITOR Regina Kaza CRIME EDITOR Monica Ruiz FEATURES EDITOR Carolina Fernandez PHOTO EDITOR Charles Pratt SPORTS EDITOR Rolando Rosa SENIOR EDITORS Rachel Chapnick Gideon Grudo SENIOR REPORTERS Karla Bowsher Sergio Candido SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER Christine Capozziello STAFF REPORTERS Dylan Bouscher Jordan Robrish STAFF DESIGNER Elena Medina STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Melissa Landolfa COPY EDITOR Jessica Cohn-Kleinberg CONTRIBUTORS Jessica Calaway, Wadreama King, Alejandra Parada, Bianca Sotti ADVISERS MICHAEL KORETZKY DAN SWEENEY COVER Design by Phaedra Blaize

By Ryan Cortes upress@fau.edu

Since 2003, Craig Angelos (above) served as the university’s Athletic Director. On March 21, though, that all changed. President Mary Jane Saunders fired Angelos, making his name tag (below) vacant. After the firing, Saunders and company kept quiet on the reasoning behind Angelos’ dismissal. “I am not going to talk about personnel decisions,” Saunders offered. Days after the firing, it was reported that Saunders, Charles Brown (senior VP of Student Affairs), and Eric Shaw (a

marketing professor and FAU alum) would serve as the committee charged with finding Angelos’ replacement. On the day of his firing, Angelos walked past his secretary, eyes red, lips quivering and pushed past the main door. “I’m not talking to anybody right now,” he said. “Maybe one day I will.” To read the UP’s entire coverage of Angelos’s firing, check out bit.ly/angelosfiring

WANT TO JOIN THE UP? email upress@fau.edu Staff meetings every Friday, 2 p.m. in the Student Union, Room 214 WANT TO PLACE AN AD? Contact Marc Litt 732.991.6353 marc@universityimpress.com PUBLISHER FAU Student Government The opinions expressed by the UP are not necessarily those of the student body, Student Government or FAU.

www.upressonline.com 777 Glades Road Student Union, Room 214 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561.297.2960 upressonline.com

News On March 15, the Board of Trustees approved a 614-bed dorm to be built on the MacArthur campus by fall 2013. Because FAU is being cut $24.7 million in its annual budget, the university will take out a loan to help pay for the $41.7 million dorm. FAU is currently drafting up a proposal with suggestions from students and faculty to present the BOT. Check out upressonline.com for more.

Features Tabitha Pennekamp, a master’s of fine arts student, is presenting her thesis in an exhibit called, “Gaze to Discover,” featuring 12 of her ceramic works, in the Ritter Art Gallery. Together, the 12 heavily carved vessels make up a word, and she uses carving techniques to play with how the viewer perceives each work’s depth and dimensions. This free exhibition runs until Saturday, April 7. Read next week’s issue for more on Pennekamp

Sports FAU volleyball announced its spring schedule. The team will begin the season on Thursday, March 29 on the road against Jacksonville University. During the spring season, the Owls will play a combination of dual matches and tournaments. FAU had a 3-26 record in the fall season. The Owls lost all 16 matches in conference play. The average attendance for home games was just 142 people. March 27, 2012

News

New greeks in the house This year new chapters have started at FAU, but it took some work By Alejandra Parada upress@fau.edu

OW TO START A GREEK CHAPTER AT FAU 4

March 27, 2012

AU has expanded Greek life in the past five years, but getting a new chapter on campus takes time, and the number of new sororities and fraternities is not up to the university. Since 2007, the Greek Council — a group of students and staff in the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life — has been bringing new fraternities and sororities to FAU every single year, according to Assistant Director for Fraternity & Sorority Life Ryan O’Rourke. But starting a fraternity or sorority can take up to a year or more depending on the chapter’s national organization and if they’re willing to fund new chapters, since FAU doesn’t pay for them, according to O’Rourke. Also for the new chapter to get approved, there are forms to fill out, members to recruit and guidelines to follow before an organization can start on campus. The first step to starting a fraternity or sorority is speaking with O’Rourke. According to him, students who want to make a difference on campus or in their community by starting a Greek chapter can contact him, and he will help them find one that does just that. “At the end of the day, fraternities and sororities are the same,” O’Rourke said. “They do the same kind of things, but I think the purpose is a little different, and I think that is what people should be looking at.” Greek organizations are divided into different groups, like social, academic or political, and there’s no waiting list for starting a Greek organization, according to O’Rourke. Any student who has done their research can start a chapter. “There is not a waiting list,” O’Rourke said. “The way our policy breaks down is if students want to start a fraternity or sorority and they follow that process, we will just work with them on getting that process finalized so they can start a group at any time.” After a year of researching and recruiting, junior business major Frank Estrada now needs 15 interested men to officially start meetings and recruitment this fall for Latin Fraternity, Phi Iota Alpha. This fraternity was started through a student run petition process. Students present their reasons and goals for starting a new chapter at FAU to the Greek Council. Organizers also need to prove there are at least 15

1. 2.

Contact the organization you’re trying to bring to FAU, or contact Ryan O’ Rourke to set up an appointment with a fraternity or sorority of your choice.

Get a group of 15 or more interested students to sign, and turn in the intent

students interested in the chapter. Once students do that, they are approved, according to O’Rourke. “The petition process is the student run process and advice that I would have for students is I think that if there are a few students trying to start a fraternity, they should start reaching out to their network, friends and people they are close with and really talk about the purpose of the organization”, O’Rourke said. Estrada also had to turn in letters of recommendation and a resume before he could bring this chapter to campus. “The process has been [going on] since last semester, fall 2011. It is done with a lot of help and you can not do it alone,” Estrada said. “It has been a challenging process with its ups and downs.” Phi Iota Alpha missed deadlines for turning in their paperwork and have been waiting to get approved since last fall. “I have to constantly remind the [potential brothers] that this takes work and will not just happen overnight,” Estrada said. “Everyone wants to be a brother and enjoy the perks immediately. Only a few want to work to get the organization off the ground and running effectively.” There is also an alternative expansion process, in which the sorority or fraternity is started by the national organization. O’Rourke explains, “So a staff member at wherever their headquarters are will call and say we’d love to be on your campus and we follow that program.” Then the Greek Council recruits students who would like to join this specific chapter. Since sometimes national organizations don’t have enough funding to start a new chapter, the process can take some time, according to O’Rourke. “Instead of having five fraternities and sororities come in the same semester, we try to scatter them out each year,” he said. This is so O’Rourke can make sure that the students have enough money and support from their national organization. “All costs associated with starting a new fraternity/sorority are at the expense of the national organization,” said O’Rourke. These processes are the same at all other Florida universities and are not funded by the school. O’Rourke mentioned that FAU’s efforts in becoming a more traditional school will help bring in more Greek chapters. “As FAU is becoming a more traditional campus, I think that more organizations are starting to realize what FAU is all about,” O’Rourke said.

& Sorority Life, meet the GPA requirement of a 2.8 or higher, sign and turn in intent should be at FAU, and commitment from the national organization. For more information on how to start your

Sorority Life. upressonline.com

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Features

ore than 800 people showed up at FAUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Schmidt Center Gallery on Friday, March 16 for the grand opening of a photo exhibition dedicated

through the snapshots taken by an array of photographers, some known locally and others internationally.

Jimbo Sampson, Palm Beach, late 1970s. Photo by John Tate. Broward County native, Jimbo Sampson, surfed the high tides of Palm Beach and Cove Reef Road in the 1970s. Photo courtesy of Schmidt Gallery

Photo by Christine Capozziello 3. than 800 people on its opening day, March 25. The collection of photos 4.

international photographers. Photo by Christine Capozziello Corey Lopez, 1986. Photo by Tom Dugan. One of the most

in 2001. Photo couresty of Schmidt Gallery Mike Tabeling, Sebastian Inlet. Photo by Alan Margolis. Courtesy Mike Tabeling Photo couresty of Schmidt Gallery

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Cover

“HOW DOES EVOLUTION KILL BLACK PEOPLE?” One question asked by one student turns an FAU classroom into chaos and mayhem By Regina Kaza and Rachel Chapnick

I continued on page 12

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March 27, 2012

Cover

continued from page 11

Once he walked into the room, he saw Carr. Standing. Screaming. In the video, White told Carr to leave. She mocked his order, took four steps towards him, and pushed him three times before he grabbed her arms and restrained her. “My goal in telling her to get out was to take attention off the student,” White said. “I practice Jiu-Jitsu at Renzo and Gracie’s Jiu-Jitsu Academy of Boca Raton, so since I’m

provide protection for the rest of the semester. “They said if [Carr] came back we should

While she was kicking and pushing, White said Carr started calling him “the White Devil.” Within a minute, however, White had Carr in his control. “The more quickly I could restrain her, the more likely it was she wouldn’t harm anyone else,” White said. Carr was then escorted out of the classroom by White and another faculty member. White held the resistant Carr down for a few minutes until police arrived. “I took her to the ground, held her wrists with my knee on her stomach, and I kept her till the police arrived,” White said.

appeared to be defending the way he acted during the incident in front of administrators. Evidently, Johanson spoke with students about Carr and was, according to the anonymous girl, “Very intent on telling us that we should respect her feelings. She was concerned for the girl’s well being and her reputation.” Bustamente said this speech about Carr led to claims that there was no way the University could have predicted Carr’s outburst, and that administrators “admitted they never expected anything like it.”

William Hernandez tried to get her to sit on the ground instead of lying face-down, she punched him in the chest. That’s when he handcuffed and Baker Acted Carr. (See the sidebar for more information on the Baker Act.) stiffened her body and resisted, according to the report. “The police were never in any danger, but she did threaten to kill them,” White said. Hernandez told Carr he would use a taser on her if she didn’t cooperate. She didn’t. So Hernandez used his stun gun. White said this was done for Carr’s safety. “When she was put in the squad car she went ballistic,” he said. “She kicked off her shoes and could have hurt herself.” Carr was administered the taser twice more in the police car on her way to South County Mental Health Center — once in the left side of her torso and once in her left shoulder. According to the report, Carr refused to walk into SCMHC on her own, so staff and police had to carry her inside. “While at SCMHC I spoke to Joyce Carr who is Carr’s mother, who just wanted to make sure that her daughter arrived safely at the facility,” Hernandez said in the report. Meanwhile, back in Kajiura’s class, no one told the students Carr was taken to the local hospital. “I hadn’t realized she’d been grabbed by the police so I was not very comfortable,” the anonymous student said. Kajiura thanked his class for remaining calm and continued lecturing for the midterm after Carr was escorted out of the classroom. The test, however, was later postponed because of the incident. Two days later, the next time there was class, they weren’t alone. Terry Mena (associate dean of students) and Ingrid Johanson (associate dean of the College of Science) showed Bustamente said the main question was: What took the police so long to arrive? The cops held a Q&A, but according to both Bustamente and the anonymous student, the police seemed defensive and insisted they had done their best. Mena denied comment on what happened at the meeting. “We want to assure you that University law enforcement responded immediately to the situation and apprehended the individual appropriately,” Senior Vice President of Student Affairs Charles Brown said in a statement afterwards.

the anonymous student said. According to Bustamante, several students felt administrators were trying to defend themselves during the meeting. “It had a ‘clean up the mess’ kind of feeling,” Bustamante

Justin White. Photo courtesy of media realtions

What is the Baker Act?

The Baker Act says that if a person is threatening him or herself, or threatening to harm someone else, they can be locked up for at least three days while doctors observe their mental state. After 72 hours, the person who was Baker Acted can be released, volunteer for psychiatric treatment, or be forced into receiving psychiatric treatment The Baker Act states that someone who shows they might hurt themselves or others, can be Baker Acted and sent for mental evaluation with therapists and psychiatrists for up to 72 hours. After that, they can either be released to go home, kept for further treatments, or decide on their own to stay at the health center. Source www.clerk.co.okeechobee.sl.us/baker_act

“I am having a fucking mental breakdown”

Jonatha Carr

March 27, 2012

“He kind of reprimanded us,” Bustamante said. Once Carr was escorted on the day of her outburst, Bustamante took another video. In this one, Kajiura talked to his shaken students saying, “If you guys have [the incident recorded] on your phones or anything like that,” he says in the video. “Save them for now, just in case a need will pop up later.” Both Bustamante’s videos and the UP’s online report following the incident went viral, and were cited or linked to from international news sites such as the and the Daily Mail.

state and federal law. In the class following Carr’s outburst, White showed his students the YouTube videos. White wanted to share his jiu-jitsu skills with them so they would know, “what to do, and what not to do if it happens again.” Even though there is evidence of Carr attacking him, White does not plan on pressing charges. “As a professor, I hate to see a student get a stain on their record for a momentary lapse in reason.”

Have you heard?

We went around asking students what they thought about the YouTube video. Here’s what they had to say:

“She just blew it way out of proportion and made a bad rap for herself.”

Chris Fernchak, undecided freshman

“I partially think the Trayvon Martin case fueled her anger. I still think that in no way is her behavior acceptable, but I think it came from something else.”

Raquel Dunn, biological science freshman

Trayvon Martin

At one point, in the video of her outburst,Carr says, “For every single Trayvon Martin that is dead, every 10,000 white fucking mother fuckers will die.” Jonatha Carr organized a peace march for 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla. Martin was shot and killed on Feb. 28 by neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, who claimed self defense. Martin was unarmed and walking through a gated neighborhood after visiting his dad when Zimmerman shot him. Carr organized a bus trip from Miami to Sanford for Monday, March 26, according to CBS Miami. The station interviewed Carr a day before her outburst about the organized rally. Whether or not the trip is still on, has not been confirmed.

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“She was probably stressed out and something else made her snap.”

Ashley SantaMaria, neuroscience senior

March 27. 2012

Cover

continued from page 11

provide protection for the rest of the semester. “They said if [Carr] came back we should

Justin White. Photo courtesy of media realtions

What is the Baker Act?

“I am having a fucking mental breakdown”

Jonatha Carr

March 27, 2012

Have you heard?

We went around asking students what they thought about the YouTube video. Here’s what they had to say:

“She just blew it way out of proportion and made a bad rap for herself.”

Chris Fernchak, undecided freshman

“I partially think the Trayvon Martin case fueled her anger. I still think that in no way is her behavior acceptable, but I think it came from something else.”

Raquel Dunn, biological science freshman

Trayvon Martin

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“She was probably stressed out and something else made her snap.”

Ashley SantaMaria, neuroscience senior

March 27. 2012

Opinion

The aftermath After a polarizing incident, FAU PD and admin show a lack of understanding about what really went wrong

By Rachel Chapnick upress@fau.edu

AU’s been blessed. Instead of bodies lying around GS 120 after Jonatha Carr’s outburst, the school had an opportunity to learn and fix things. Too bad it didn’t learn. Or fix anything. The school is going to get bad publicity from this — you usually do when teachers and students have their lives threatened on video. But it isn’t the mistakes during the incident that concern me. It’s the mistakes they made after. FAU’s first mistake? Stephen Kajiura’s class was not told that police took Carr to South County Mental Health Center. Students had no idea where she was, or if she was coming back. Afterwards? FAU police (FAU PD) released their police report. The problem? Nothing was redacted. I now have Carr’s address, cellphone number and driver’s license number. But I also have that information for Carr’s mother, the professors who helped subdue her, and the student who Carr struck. I’m not the only one with this information. FAU PD is releasing it to anyone who requests it, and one newspaper actually published it. All of it. Despite that, FAU had the opportunity to address these mistakes. Members of administration, FAU PD and Psychological Services visited Kajiura’s next class — on the Thursday following Carr’s outburst — to talk with students. When mathematics junior Rachel Bustamante (the girl who recorded the video of Carr’s threats) told me about this meeting, I was excited. I thought police would give students advice about what to do if they were ever trapped in a similar situation. Maybe Psychological Services could offer help to students who watched their classmate’s breakdown. Kudos to them for moving forward, right? Not exactly. According to an anonymous student, administrators just made students more uncomfortable. The meeting consisted of “The dean of students and a couple other people who didn’t really say anything important,” the student said. Terry Mena, dean of students, and FAU PD declined to comment, while Psychological Services said any information they discussed with students was privileged. But, the anonymous student said, “[Administrators] said if [Carr] came back we

March 27, 2012

should call the police, and if she did come back [Administration was] confident she would not have a weapon.” Right, well, now I feel safe. Plus, administration “kind of created a paradox,” said Bustamante. “They said they couldn’t have seen it coming, but then they said she won’t do it again.” Bustamante revealed administration “had a kind of a clean-up-the-mess mentality.” Students were allowed to ask questions, but Bustamante and the anonymous student said the mood was very defensive. This meeting should have alleviated students’ concerns. Instead, it amplified them, apparently in an attempt to convince everyone that FAU acted perfectly. The students, who this meeting was for, thought it was pointless. Serious concerns were discussed at this meeting, but they were not the main points students took away from it. Apparently, Mena was angry students took out phones and started recording, according to the anonymous student. “The dean of students expressed concern that although there seemed to be a threat in the room, most students grabbed iPhones,” she said. At least students’ phones were out. What were they supposed to call police with? In all fairness to Mena, Justin White, the professor who restrained Carr and used his jiu-jitsu skills to get her out of the classroom until police arrived, agreed. “There were signs everyone should have left the room.” White said, “I’m grateful [the incident was recorded], but I think leaving would have been a safer course of option.” My question, then, is what signs were showed Carr to be a threat? Seriously, at what point should students have realized the girl asking “how does evolution kill black people,” was dangerous? When Bustamante began filming, Carr was clapping and flailing in her seat. Had I seen this, I doubt I would have initially considered her dangerous. What are the signs someone is a threat? Was she dangerous when she started

cursing? When she made threats? When she stood up? White answered these types of questions in his class, while administrators were defending themselves across the hall. “We had a very productive conversation about what to do and what not to do if it happens again,” White said. He also explained basic safety techniques for his class. Maybe administration should borrow notes from White’s students. Even still, FAU as a whole did a lot of things right. Our students called police. And according to FAU’s Crisis Action Guide (CAG), that’s what they’re supposed to do if they see someone acting suspicious. Our professors may have strayed from the guide, but they performed magnificently. Kajiura tried to keep his class calm. White made sure his students were safe, and then restrained a girl who posed a threat across the hall. The CAG says if there’s an intruder on campus, one should run in a zigzag pattern while calling the police. I like Kajiura and White’s methods better. Instead of getting violent with a woman who tried to attack them, our police department Baker Acted her and did not cause her harm. Carr told her class she was having “a fucking mental breakdown.” If that was the case, thanks to our officers, she will now get the help she needs. Again, the school did a lot of things right. But instead of trying to cover up what went wrong, be honest. Tell us, “This is what we did wrong, and this is how we’re going to fix it. If you’re in this situation again, this is what you should do and why.” Rachel Bustamante Please use this as a learning experience, FAU. We’ve had three on-campus shootings in our school’s history — one after Virginia Tech. In the latter two, thankfully no one was killed. This situation could have been a lot worse. I’d say our school’s been pretty lucky. Let’s use these situations so in the future we won’t need luck. I’d rather say I go to “the school where that girl flipped out in evolution class” than “the school where all those people died.” After all, a viral video on YouTube is pretty small as far as catastrophes go.

“[Administration] kind of created a paradox. They said they couldn’t have seen it coming, but then they said she won’t do it again.”

upressonline.com

March 27. 2012

Sports

Hijinks and hits Senior Mike Albaladejo is the glue of FAU’s baseball team By Rolando Rosa upress@fau.edu

ressed in a bright orange T-shirt as colorful as his personality, senior second baseman Mike Albaladejo is ribbing third baseman/outfielder Devon Workman as they leave their Minorities in the Media class to head back to the locker room. It is a blistering hot Monday afternoon, a day set aside for weight lifting, and Albaladejo is quick to remind Workman that his lower body needs work. “When are you going to get rid of those chicken legs?” he jokingly asks, pointing to Workman’s calves fellow teammates teammates and fellow classmates Alex Hudak and Jeremy Strawn start cracking up. “Hey, hey. We can’t all be like you and just eat Wendy’s all day,” Workman says of Albaladejo’s regimen. “So?” Albaladejo says with a sheepish grin as he takes a sip from his yellow Wendy’s cup. “That’s my diet and I’m sticking to it!” Albaladejo’s mouth is as loud as the sound his bat makes after one of his team-leading 33 hits. Being just 5-foot-7 does not hinder the fiery Puerto Rican from having the biggest voice on the squad. “I’m thinking, ‘Who is this little Spanish kid that does not shut up?’ I’m playing center and this guy just does not stop talking. Even behind the dish I can hear him,” Hudak says of his first encounter with Albaladejo in summer league ball as teammates with the Leesberg Lightning four years ago. “He’s just loud and flashy. You really can’t not notice Mike.” He may not be team captain, but Albaladejo is the glue that holds the locker room together. He uses his voice to keep the team in-line on the field, but also to keep them loose of it. As he lies on his back on the soft blue carpet of the locker room while untying the orange laces of his black Nike sneakers, Albaladejo and a handful of players are watching the Phillies-Tigers game on television. An unsuspecting Miguel Cabrera gets beaned in the face attempting to field a line-drive hit, as blood spews from his eye. “Ready, wait for it, wait for it, Boom!” Albaladejo says as he mimics the replay, capturing the exact dazed expression Cabrera had, as the room roars with laughter. With a little over two months left in his college career, these are moments Albaladejo cherishes. He says being away from his family in Winter Park, Fla has been difficult, but that his teammates are like his brothers. Albaladejo describes his family as “blue collar.”He admits to being a momma’s boy, but his passion for baseball comes from his father Netalli, a former standout high school catcher in Connecticut. “That’s where I get it from,” Albaladejo says proudly. “From an early age, he gave me the passion to play baseball.” Albaladejo was born when his parents were 19 years old, so his father quickly abandoned his dream of professional baseball to take care of him. “I commend him on that. It takes a man to do that,” Albaladejo says. “He pushes me and keeps me humble. He always tells me to remember where I come from. Because the road to where I am now was not easy. We’re not rich, but we’re not poor. We work hard for everything we need.” Albaladejo received offers from seven other schools. He says the final decision came down to FAU and FIU. As we walk towards the Oxley Center to head to the weight room, I ask him how close he was to signing with FIU. “Real close,” Albaladejo said. “That was a big choice for me. I remember talking to Mac on the phone before my freshman year. He really sold me. I wanted to impact a team right away and that’s why I chose FAU.” Albaladejo did just that, helping the team win the Sun Belt as a sophomore. His favorite memory is his 13th inning walk-off three-run homer against Western Kentucky in the Sun Belt tournament that year. “We’re very proud of him,” his father says. “Not being tall, he’s always had a chip on his shoulder, but he’s always exceeded everybody’s expectations.” continued on page 18

March 27, 2012

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Sports Continued from page 16

That doesn’t stop Albaladejo’s father from sharing a secret about his son. Horror films turn the confident Albaladejo from man to mouse, the latest being Paranormal Activity. “He loves scary movies but when he comes home he’s a wimp. He’ll sleep with the light on,” his father jokingly says. “It’s just funny to see him watch these movies and come back all paranoid.” His father bursts out into laughter at the thought of his son, a public communications major, ever being shy, even during his childhood. “Oh, you always know when Mike is in the room, definitely,” his father says \. “Going back to middle school and high school, he always had that charm and personality that people love.” Especially when he’s crooning as if he was auditioning

March 27, 2012

for American Idol in the locker room and during bus rides. Even if his teammates mock him for it. “He’s a guy in the locker room that’s a jokester, a prankster,” Hudak says. “He loves to sing. He thinks he’s got a real good voice, but just talking to Mike you know that it’d be really bad if he tried to do some vocals.” Making his teammates laugh is as natural to Albaladejo as the shift to second base after spending last year as catcher. Coach John McCormick came up with the idea in the fall as a way to save his legs for the upcoming season, and he was impressed with the results, appreciating the sacrifice Albaladejo made for the sake of the team, which is currently without Hudak and Robert Buckley. “I think he’s handled it great. He’s doing us a big service. We’ve had a lot of guys injured,” McCormick says. “He said ‘no problem, coach’ and he’s worked at it. I think he’s become a pretty good second baseman. Over the years, if you look at the league, he’s become, I don’t know if he’s at elite status yet, but he’s a pretty darn good college second baseman.” Albaladejo got a head start on the process during the offseason. “The past couple summers in the Florida Collegiate League I’ve played second base, so I know how to make plays and field ground balls,” Albaladejo explains. “It’s a lot more thought process than with catching.” Thinking before speaking is the biggest difference McCormick sees in Albaladejo from his freshman year to the present. Now, McCormick says Albaladejo has a filter. “In my years here, he’s clearly one of the most vocal guys we’ve ever had and I’ve been around,” McCormick says. “When Mike got here, because he was an emotional guy, he would say and do things because of that. To be able to listen to what’s going on, digest it, and then be able to make a comment, as opposed to just blurting out what he feels and what he thinks. I think he’s been able to process information and make better decisions.”

Off the field his choices have improved as well. The life of a college baseball player can get hectic. Albaladejo points out the struggles of being a student-athlete, admitting that his freshman year was overwhelming. “It’s not as easy as people think,” he says. “There’s so much time involved with baseball that it takes away from school. It’s hard to balance that out. It’s tough when right after class you come to lift weights, then hit, and every day is practice, then we have games. Especially Wednesday, in that class you were just in, we have a test. On game day when we play Miami, we have a test, so the transition is not easy, but it definitely is rewarding.” Now it is Albaladejo that is using his experience to offer advice to younger players on how to adjust to the transition from high school to college. He states his maturity level has risen vastly in the last four years. “Setting my priorities straight about what really matters in life. That’s what I’ve learned. School and education and the people that care about you are the most important things. Everything else is just distractions,” Albaladejo says. “There’s a lot of temptation out there. A lot of negative things out there in college. You’re on your own basically. I don’t have my parents out here to make choices for me. I’ve learned right from wrong a lot better.” He takes a pause and looks away, almost as if to reminisce on his time at FAU, before speaking some more. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s been a blessing,” Albaladejo says. “It’s been great learning how to balance both of those out.” The little man will continue to pursue his goal of playing in the big leagues, but if he doesn’t make it, he has another plan. “I hope I’ll have a chance to play some professional baseball, if not, I’ll get my degree this spring and work somewhere with public relations,” Albaladejo says. “Use my speaking skills to my advantage.” He and his team walk out of the weight room dripping with sweat, his voice by far the loudest of the bunch.

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March 27. 2012

Bulldozed

Sports

By Rolando Rosa upress@fau.edu

AU women’s basketball senior forward Dalita Scott says the team may get a banner for its appearance in the WNIT. They hope the final score is in small print. It was a historic season for FAU women’s basketball. With an 11-5 record in the conference, they won the most games ever in the Sun Belt. The Owls won a game in the Sun Belt Conference tournament for the first time ever with a 56-55 victory over North Texas, before bowing out to UALR in the semifinals. But then the Owls made history in the wrong way, getting crushed 76-20 in the

WNIT to host USF. The 20 points were the least ever scored by FAU in school history. Players mentioned how terrible they felt for their coach after an already tough year for Chancellor Dugan. Her mother passed away hours before a game against FIU earlier this year. A game she’d coached in. “She put her heart in it the whole season,” sophomore guard Latavia Dempsey said. “To end it this way for her was tough.” “I really wish we could have won it for her because she’s done so much for us this season, always being the one to push us forward,” sophomore guard Kimberly Smith said. “But she knows that we went out there and gave it our

all. We fought this whole year with a lot of negative things.” Afterward, the locker room was virtually silent, aside from the sounds of sobbing. Smith admitted to crying and mentioned others were too. “Right after the game, we were very emotional and very sad, but after coach talked to us, we thought about it, and we were okay,” Smith said. “But it still took a toll on us.” FAU missed 50 of 58 shots, for a percentage of 13.8. The Owls had just eight points at halftime and missed 18 out of 20 3s in the game. “It was just one of those nights. One of those terrible nights,” Dempsey said. “We couldn’t hit anything.” “Never in my life,” Scott said of ever

being a part of a game with just 20 points total. Walking off the court for the final time, the senior said she was not emotional, but regrets the way the season ended. “It hit me. This was my last time ever playing basketball,” Scott said. “I just wish we had a better outcome because that one was terrible. I gave it my all. But, basketball got me where I needed to be. I was able to accomplish my goals.” Dempsey said she is hurt that the team sent the seniors out in blowout fashion. “I was just upset that the seniors had to end their career that way,” Dempsey said. “We really worked hard all year. I just didn’t want them to lose that way.”

LEAST POINTS SCORED IN TEAM HISTORY 20 USF (March 15, 2012)

March 27, 2012

26 Tennessee (Jan. 21, 1992)

Lousiana Tech (March 3,1987)

FIU (Feb. 4, 1986)

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