VANGUARD
THE
VOL. 52, NO. 8
“If it matters to the USA family, it matters to us.”
MAR. 04, 2013
INSIDE
Officer will not be charged in Collar case By CASSIE FAMBRO caf707@jagmail.southalabama.edu
USA football is in the air again How do feel about the Pentagon’s latest move? Read three viewpoints on the decision. See Opinion, page 14
Les Barnett, Dr. Todd Andel, and Dr. Todd McDonald
School of computing receives over $2 mil By STUART SOX sgsox@att.net
Redbar is the newest coffee spot to hit the Mobile scene and it’s all natural. See Life, page 5 Spring practice has the Jags and The Vanguard up bright and early! See Sports, page 8
The school of computing has received grant worth $2.1 million from the National Science Foundation that will provide scholarship opportunities to computing students concentrating in information assurance. This program, Cyber Scholars: Scholarship for Service (SFS), will offer up to 20 graduate and undergraduate two-year full scholarships during its five-year period at South Alabama. The
scholarships will be worth $20,000 for undergraduate students and $25,000 for students studying for a master’s degree. “This is a fantastic opportunity to get a fully paid education while learning some very marketable skills that the government is in critical need of,” said Dr. Todd McDonald, an associate professor in the school of computing and the primary investigator for the SFS scholarship grant. The information assurance track in the school of computing involves courses related to cryptography, soft-
ware vulnerability, virus and malware defense, forensics,and cyber warfare, which are very important issues to the US Department of Homeland Security. In fact, the SFS program is cosponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security for the purpose of helping universities like South Alabama produce federal information assurance professionals that will aid in the protection of sensitive government information. Recipients of the SFS scholarship See GRANT Page 2
SGA wants to spend more on students By STUART SOX sgsox@att.net
SGA has money and it wants to give it to the people it serves: the students of USA. A numWilliam Pearson ber of stuTreasurer dent organizations was granted funds at last Monday’s Student Government Association meeting, something the SGA wants to see even more of in the future. SGA Treasurer Will Pearson
wants all students in organizations on campus to be aware that funds are available from the SGA. Pearson also wants student’s that have any ideas of ways to improve campus to attend the weekly SGA meetings and present them to the senate. We have some funds to help out... and spend money on the student body as a whole, not just organizations,” Pearson said. $1,900 went toward this year’s Relay for Life event at Monday’s meeting. This year’s relay will be held on campus on Friday, March 29 at 6 p.m. Jaguar Joggers was granted $1500 dollars for registration fees for the various competitions they compete in throughout the year. This amount
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tripled from last semester’s amount due to an increase in the number of members in Jaguar Joggers. The Chinese Student Association was granted $700 for reimbursement for the money spent on the Asian New Year celebration held in early February. The SGA wants students to aware of important dates for this year’s SGA elections. Applications are available at the SGA office in the academic support center on Jaguar drive and are due at the SGA office by 5 p.m. on March 18. Those that submit applications must attend a mandatory candidates meeting on March 18 at 5:15 p.m. at
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the SGA office. Any applicants that cannot attend the meeting must send a representative to the meeting in his or her place. Primary elections will begin via JagMail on Monday, March 25 and end on Wednesday, March 27. Runoffs will begin on April 1 and end April 3. The SGA encourages all South Alabama students to attend their weekly meetings to find out about campus events and have a voice in SGA decisions as part of the student forum. The SGA meets on Monday nights at 8 p.m. in the conference room at the Fresh Food Co. near the residence halls.
Life, Page 5
Nearly five months after 18-year-old Gil Collar died of a gunshot wound to the chest at the hands of Officer Trevis Austin, we finally know the drug that spurred Collar’s erratic behavior. The drug is called 25-I, similar to Mobile’s area code, 251 but has no direct connection thus far. 25-I is an often lethal hallucinogen that was only discovered in 2003. It is often marketed as LSD on blotter paper. Collar was sold the drug at Bayfest for $10. Authorities cannot arrest or charge the person that sold it to him because it is not on the controlled substances list. District Attoney Ashley rich lamented her inability to prosecute the dealer. “There is nobody that wants to see that young person pay for being responsible for bringing that into our community than I do,” Rich said. This case will likely ensure that it is added. Among the side effects of 25-I are shaking, paranoia, fear and panic. Collar was also found to have marijuana in his system. Officer Austin will not be indicted in the death of Collar, but the civil suit filed by the family still continues. University of South Alabama’s Public Relations Director Keith Ayers issued a statement. “The thoughts of the entire university family remain with everyone involved,” Ayers said. The public remains divided on the incident but with one idea constanly reiterated. “The officers need to be trained to subdue a subject using non-lethal force,” Army student Michael Bishop told The Vanguard. Officer Austin did not respond to requests for comment by deadline. The Vanguard will have more on 25-I as well as any updates in the civil case as details are made available.
In this Issue: Sports, Page 8 Opinion, Page 13