VANGUARD
THE
VOL. 52, NO. 1
“If it matters tt to t the th USA family, f il it matters tt to t us.””
JAN. 14, 2013
SGA President’s “State of SGA”
INSIDE
Editor’s note: In his own words It is my pleasure to report to the student body the current state of the campus. It has been apparParker Chastain ent that the SGA President recent year has been one of change and while I would like to say it has been easy, I cannot. The campus has experienced hardship and students are feeling it due to a decrease in state funding. However, I must also bring to light the many advances the campus is making. I, first off, would like to commend the student body for their efforts in expanding student life as well as providing a competitive learning environment in the South East. Through your efforts we currently have approximately 200 student organizations, which provide an array of talents to allow the campus to be a diverse and accepting environment for incoming students. Additionally, we, as a University, have been able to grow through both student enrollment and through our facilities. With the addition of the New Shelby Hall we have greatly expanded the ability for students to learn and train in the environments of Engineering and Computer Science. This was made possible through the efforts of Sen. Richard Shelby, who advocated for the University in the State Legislature. Additionally our academics in Arts and Sciences have improved facilities in anthropology, foreign languages, and humanities in general. With this being said, I must bring to your attention the issue that is currently most pressing to our environment. We, as a nation, are in a financial crisis, and the University of South Alabama is evidently feeling these pressures. With a necessary See STATE STATE, Page 6
CASSIE FAMBRO/ EIC
Parking on campus is the number one student concern according to readers. Shown is the central lot on a normal day.
CASSIE FAMBRO/ EIC
Parking survey released, students frustrated By JAYSON CURRY jayson-curry@hotmail.com
The University of South Alabama recently completed their parking survey for the campus showing not only how many spots are on campus but also their availability during a day. There were mixed findings in the survey that stood out concerning availability. The university has four major parking zones on campus: north, South, East and West. The East and South zones were the most filled as the majority of spots in those zones were filled more than 90 perecnt of the time during the survey. "There is way more parking spots for teachers than there are for students," Kayla Sandifer, a junior elementary education major said. "It needs to be more accessible for students."
Sandier parks all over campus as she is on the dance team at USA but her Zone is the east zone which is almost always filled. The North parking zone averaged anywhere from 60-89 percent full during the survey and the Central zone for the majority of spots was 80-89 percent filled with the exception of the Central parking behind the old engineering building which will be the communication department starting this spring. Many changes were seen in this survey compared to last year’s as the addition of the Shelby Hall caused the South parking zone to become filled up to 100 percent at some parts of the day. The relocation of the engineering department also caused the decrease in parking in the Central zone around the old engineering
building. South Alabama student Tim Gould have his opinion about parking in the central zone. "It's a cluster," broadcast journalism senior Tim Gould said. "If you don't have your classes in one building then you have to park a ways away from your class or risk getting a ticket which always seems to be a guarantee." According to the survey the Central zone has 1,324 total spots,East has 1,169, North has 746 and South has 1,142 parking spots. These numbers include student, faculty, handicapped, visitor, delivery, 30 minute and patient parking. The University itself has 8,810 parking spots with 5,239 student parking spots and 1,899 faculty and staff parking spots. These numbers include parking outside of the four zoned parking areas.
Editorial: If you’re not involved, now is the time to start and it matters a lot more than just academically. See Opinion, page 15.
Life Spotlight: We have MLK day off, but it can be used as a day of service instead. See how to give back. See Life, page 7. LOC Spotlight: Our guys covered the GoDaddy bowl. See who won and how it’s relevant to USA. See LOC, page 13. Sports: USA staple and veteran basketball coach Ronnie Arrow retired over Christmas break. Read about the details and his replacement. See Sports, page 10.
Fiscal cliff could affect financial aid across USA By JAYSON CURRY jayson-curry@hotmail.com
As the New Year started and the majority of people celebrated, congress and the United States government attempted to keep the country for falling off the “fiscal cliff.” The cliff was a nickname to what in the long term meant an end to many tax cuts to Americans including the “Bush tax cuts” from 200103 as well as tax cuts from president Obama’s first term.
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The US didn’t fall off the cliff because a new deal was passed just hours after the deadline but some decisions still haven’t been made and the US government pushed back the decisions on things like budget cuts until March 2013. These decisions on budget cuts should be of interest to anyone involved in higher education, especially those who use any form of financial aid to pay for college. Depending on what is cut, there could be more than an 8% cut from financial aid across the board. These cuts
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include a decrease in how many semesters an individual can receive Pell Grants and the interest rate for paying back aid will increase. Dr. Ross Dickens, chair of the economics and finance department of the Mitchell College of Business at South Alabama gave his opinion on what college students should be worried about. “Certainly, anything that cuts funding to schools directly or to students is a potential worry. (If a school's funding is cut, its usual response is to tighten its
belt a bit by scheduling fewer sections of courses and then raising tuition and fees on students.) However, as the fiscal cliff "can" has been kicked down the road a bit further, we are all just speculating,” Dr. Dickens explained. “For USA students, the biggest impact is likely very indirect. If Medicaretype funds were greatly reduced, that change would impact funds to the healthcare side of the university and could spill See Cliff Cliff, Page 6
In this Issue: Life, Page 7 Sports, Page 10 Opinion, Page 15
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VOL. 52, NO. 1/ JAN. 14, 2013
PAGE three “University of South Alabama’s Student Voice”
Editorial Editor in Chief Copy Editor Life Editor Opinion Editor Sports Editor Left of Center Senior Reporter Web Editor
Cassie Fambro Alyssa Newton Jake Howell Noah Logan Patrick Herring JT Crabtree Jayson Curry Matthew Strickland
Weather for Jan. 14-20
Distribution Distribution Bobby Faulk Manager
Advertising Advertising Wesley Jackson Manager Advertising Mohammad Al-Zarrad Graphic Designer Rex McKay
Management Advising J. Sellers J. Aucoin Accounting Kathy Brannan
Mission The Vanguard, the student-run newspaper of the University of South Alabama, serves its readership by reporting the news involving the campus community and surroun ding areas. The Vanguard strives to be impartial in its reporting and believes firmly in its First Amendment rights.
Send letters and guest columns to: The Vanguard University of South Alabama P.O. Drawer U-1057 Mobile, Ala., 36688. Or editor.in.chief@usavanguard.com Letters and guest columns must be received by 7 p.m. on the Wednesday prior to the Monday publication. Submissions should be typed and must include the writer’s name, year, school and telephone number. All submissions become the property of The Vanguard. The Vanguard reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length and clarity. Letters will be limited to 300 words. Letters and guest columns are the opinion of the writer. The Staff Editorial represents the consensus opinion of the Editorial Board, which is composed of the Editor in Chief, Copy Editor, Senior Reporter, and Opinion Editor. All members of the Editorial Board have the same weight. The Vanguard has a commitment to accuracy and clarity and will print any corrections or clarifications. To report a mistake, e-mail editor. in.chief@usavanguard.com. The Vanguard is published Mondays during the academic year, except for exam periods and vacations, and is published twice each summer. The Vanguard is supported in part by an allocation from student activity fees and operates in the Student Media Department of the Division of Student Affairs. Issues are available at most University buildings and select off-campus locations. The first copy is free. Additional copies are $1 each. Freelance writers will receive payment at the discretion of the section editor and will be notified.
Twitter: StormTeam4g9wx Facebook: Facebook.com/StormTeam4Gamma9Wx
USA Police Blotter 251-460-6312 12/05/12
Paintball Pistol and
20:21- Delta 4.
paint balls, Poss. of
Assault in the Third
Alcoholic Beverage.
Degree. 12/29/12 12/08/12
20:30- Mitchell
13:39 University
Center. Theft of
Library. Public
Property of Second
Lewdness.
Degree. ($1000)
12/12/12
1/05/13
9:13- Stokes Hall.
7:12- Waffle House.
Theft of Property
Public Intoxication.
in the 2nd degree. (Laptop)
1/10/13 2:36- Stadium Blvd.
12/14/12
Driving Under the
17:37- Delta 6. Drug
Influence – Alcohol.
Paraphernalia,
10:21- The Grove.
Alcohol, Fireworks.
Driving Under the Influence – Alcohol.
12/16/12 16:24- Gamma 7. Posession of Marijuana, Poss. of
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VOL. 52, NO. 1/ JAN. 14 2013
State of SGA Continued from page 1 7.7% tuition increase over the past year to merely keep the University in a stable environment, we must allow our voices and our issues to be heard on a local, state, and national level. Prevention is key, and we, as a student body, must learn to act now before we find ourselves in times of severe crisis. Our University is competing with other major Universities for an ever-decreasing amount of funds in the state of Alabama, and we must show our elected officials how vital the University is to the gulf coast. I ask you to please speak with your representatives (letters, emails, calls) because your voice, your story is what will make an impact and bring change. We cannot sit idly by and allow our University to be lost in translation. With that being said, South has grown through the past 50 years and we look forward to a future filled with more growth and a greater learning environment for our ever-expanding student body.
Cliff Continued from page 1
over into budget issues for the academic side. Still, all of the above is very speculative at best,” Dr. Dickens added. As Dr. Dickens pointed out, the word on what cuts won’t be known for a few months and the thoughts of speculation were echoed by the USA financial aid office. “The fiscal cliff negotiations that were passed in early January had no effect on federal financial aid. Any potential cuts to the aid programs (and all other federal expenditures such as defense etc.) were delayed by Congress to fight over again in about 2 months. We won't know until they work through those negotiations if there will be any changes to the federal aid programs or to students,” USA financial aid said. Students across the country should keep a close eye on these cuts as they come closer.
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VOL. 52, NO. 1/ JAN. 14, 2013
jagLIFE
JAKE HOWELL, JAGLIFE EDITOR life.editor@usavanguard.com
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Day of Service to aid tornado victims and more
COURTESY OF KAREN PETERSON
Members of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity in the process of constructing a wheelchair ramp during a previous MLK Day of Service.
By JAKE HOWELL life.editor@usavanguard.com
D
r. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” On January 21, University of South Alabama students will have the opportunity to take up Dr. King’s mantel as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. This will be USA’s fourth year participating in MLK Day service projects organized by Karen Peterson, Director of USA’s Center for Academic Service-
Learning and Civic Engagement and instructor in the English department. This day, dedicated to bringing students, faculty, and community members together, is a way for the USA family to give back to the community that has grown with it over the last 50 years. According to Peterson, throughout past MLK Days of Service students, “have painted a mural of Dr. King at the homeless shelter, repaired roofs, sorted clothes for donations, led sports clinics for the kids, done yard work and craft projects, collected and delivered food baskets, cleaned and helped at Ronald McDonald House.”
The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity has also built five wheelchair ramps over the course of the previous days of service. Some students might wonder why they should give up one of only a few days off from school just to work. This day, however, is more than just a day off from work or school. It’s a chance to truly make a difference in this community and to make memories along the way. When asked about his memorable moments from past MLK Days of Service, senior computer science major Stephen Purnell said, “I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many different people, each with their own stories and struggles.” “I recall from one year a resident at Sybil Smith Family Village said to me, “I really did not think anybody cared about us.” That hit home to me and brought out the true magnitude of the impact that we are making on the lives of these people,” Purnell added. This event, and the work of these volunteers, is even more important this year. After the Christmas tornados that tore through parts of the Mobile area, plans were made to provide relief on the MLK Day of Service. Purnell said they are, “planning on helping several families repair parts of their homes damaged by the Christmas tornadoes.” In addition to tornado relief, projects available to work on include, according to Peterson, “projects at Dumas Wesley Community Center and Sybil Smith Village 126 Mobile Street. The Pi Kapps will
be building a wheelchair ramp in Spanish Fort. We will be volunteering at St. Mary’s Home, L’Arche, Ronald McDonald House, Habitat for Humanity, Cogburn Nursing Home and Penelope’s Closet.” The MLK Day of Service also serves as a springboard for the recent push to expose students to service learning initiatives. Service learning, according to Peterson, is a way for students to apply the knowledge they gain through education. “With service-learning, you put your education to work helping others. Marketing classes do not plan a campaign for a fictitious company, but instead help a non-profit promote itself. Nursing students do not practice giving flu shots to grapefruits, but actually hold clinics and give shots to real people,” Peterson explained. Students who wish to participate in being a part of something bigger than themselves, something that will make a lasting impact on this community, can sign up in advance at www.caslce.org/ now. Pre-registration is highly encouraged so that event organizers know, roughly, how many volunteers will be available to help. Students are also encouraged to bring work gloves or yard tools, if they have them available. The morning of the MLK Day of Service, volunteers will meet at the Dumas Wesley Community Center at 9 a.m. Students will be able to drive themselves or ride JagTrans from the Beta/Gamma Commons.
“Gangster Squad” delivers good, violent fun By EMILY JEANMINETTE jemily21@gmail.com
J
osh Brolin, Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone star in the violent action-drama, “Gangster Squad.” Set during the late 1940’s, in the era of jazz and cigarettes, director Ruben Fleischer tells the story of a group of LAPD officers, turned vigilantes, trying to destroy the empire of LA’s biggest Mob boss, Mickey Cohen (Penn). New LAPD police chief William Parker (Nick Nolte) asks ex-guerilla war vet Sgt. John O’Mara (Brolin) to form a special squad that will operate incognito in order to stop Cohen from taking over the city completely. Jerry Wooster (Gosling) co-leads the team into battle, taking their bloody business into the streets to take down Cohen’s goonies.
This violent melodrama was meant to make its debut last year but was pulled for reshoots after the Aurora, Colo. shooting. One scene, previewed in the trailer, featured gunmen firing at the audience from behind the screen at Graumann’s Chinese Theatre. Amongst the violence, the film is almost strung together in such a way that shoves each incident from scene to scene. Hardly a thought is given to any type of dramatic layering, character complexity, or twists that might slow the drama into unexpected areas for a time. It’s fast, to the point, and in your face. Even with such an all-star cast, the characters are identifiable by one main trait and barely individualized beyond that. Aside from Brolin and Gosling, they’re barely given any special moments of their own to make their marks here.
Central avenue African American beat cop Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie); old cowboy sharpshooter Max Kennard (Robert Patrick); wire-expert Conwell Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi); and novice gunman Latino Navidad Ramirez (Michael Pena) make up the rest of the team. Along the way, Wooters sparks up a romance with Grace Faraday (Emma Stone), Cohen’s current flame. As for the setting and the production aspect of the film, an exceptional amount of effort seems to have been put into recreating a world from the 1940’s. There are plenty of wonderful scenes that have the potential to help settle the audience into the realm of the 1940’s, but hardly any time is given for it to sink in because the filmmakers are too preoccupied with hurrying along to the next
showdown. Ultimately, if you’re craving instant gratification and a little malevolent violence, while still keeping it PG-13, “Gangster Squad” is the perfect event to end any quiet evening.
WEEKLY LOWDOWN Monday, Jan. 14 ►First Day of Classes!
Wednesday, Jan. 16 ►8:30 p.m. - USA Disc Golf
Team Informational Meeting in the Student Recreation Center Meeting Room.
Thursday, Jan. 17 ►5 p.m. - SGA Appropriations Organization Informational Meeting in the Academic Support Center, Room 1363.
► 7 p.m. - “Third Thursday”
film series in Stokes Hall, Room 1107. Dr. Kern Jackson will present “Nothing but a Man.”
Friday, Jan. 18 ►8 p.m. - 2013 MLK Day
Observance with Dr. Michael Eric Dyson at the Mobile Civic Center Theater.
Sunday, Jan. 20 ► 7:30 a.m. - Bank Trust First Light Marathon
Monday, Jan. 21 ►9 a.m. - MLK Day of Service events at the Dumas Wesley Community Center. Preregister at www.caslce.org/ now.
Tuesday, Jan. 22 ►1 - 3:30 p.m. - SGA
Appropriations Organization Informational Meeting in the Academic Support Center, Room 1363.
Want your event featured in the Weekly Lowdown? Email the name, date, time, price, place and a brief tagline (under seven words) to life.editor@usavanguard.com COURTESY LEE BURLEY
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VOL. 52, NO. 1 / JAN. 14, 2013
Food trucks bring fresh, tantalizing food on the go to Downtown Mobile
MAELYNN LA | CONTRIBUTING WRITER
This steak and queso soft taco from Smokin’ Gringos is a prime example of the delectable and fresh menu items available.
By MAELYNN LA
ml802@jagmail.southalabama.edu
I
’m not used to chasing my food down Royal Street. Nor am I used to driving all the way downtown for lunch in between classes. However, there is one burgeoning slice of the Mobile food scene that has caught the attention of many food-goers – food trucks. While commonplace in larger cities, food trucks usually only appeared in
Mobile at fairs and carnivals. Now there are two businesses that have upgraded the idea of a food truck from greasy fairground food to upscale and fresh meals on the go: Smokin’ Gringos and Momma Mojo’s. As it so happens, both trucks were on Royal Street downtown one day, and I didn’t particularly feel like going to biochemistry so everything worked out perfectly. On their website, Smokin’ Gringos described themselves as serving “killer
Ala-Mexi-Cali grub all over town.” Their menu consisted of an array of soft tacos, quesadillas, and taco salads; one taco, depending on the meat, was around $5, while quesadillas and salads were around $9. I chose two steak queso soft tacos ($9) which came topped with warm queso, romaine lettuce, tomato and onion, along with a side of chips. My colleague, senior Chemistry major Brian Eberhardt, got a brisket soft taco ($5) which had their special chipotle white sauce and shredded cheese instead of the queso. My first impression of their tacos was that they were indeed freshly prepared. The steak was very juicy, and the queso had a little heat to it. Unfortunately, the meal was a tad bit difficult to eat since all of the sauces made the tortillas soggy. I liked the brisket taco better, which I tried a bite of in the name of research. The brisket was more tender than the steak, and the taco was spicier from the sauce, which I loved. Next time, I’d want to try a quesadilla because I can get down with anything that’s been grilled. You can find them on the corner of Dauphin and Royal, Tuesday – Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. While we did enjoy the Ala-MexiCali style of Smokin’ Gringos, I was
looking forward to visiting Momma Mojo’s food truck, which proudly heralds Cuban food. I’d never tried Cuban food prior to Momma Mojo’s; so many years of my life have been wasted. Dramatic, I know, but just wait until you taste their signature pork and plantain wrap ($8). It’s a hefty, pressed wrap containing pulled pork and grilled sweet plantains. Additionally, the meal came with spiced shoestring fries. I loved the balance of flavors and textures when you eat the wrap with the fries; the salty pork is contrasted with the sweetness of the plantains and the fries deliver much needed crunch. However, it was missing a side of their trademark garlic-cilantro mojo sauce, a bright green, vibrant sauce which packs a creamy punch of cilantro and garlic. They were unfortunately out of the sauce they day we went. It would have been nice to have the sauce with the wrap because it would add another layer of flavor and freshness to the entree. Eberhardt agreed, saying, “The lack of a sauce really hurt Momma Mojo’s.” Their food truck hours and locations are a bit more unpredictable. I happened to catch them also on Dauphin and Royal that day, but they post their whereabouts frequently on their Facebook page.
“Crush” strikes a chord with stories of fear and love By EMILY MELVIN
eam704@jagmail.southalabama.edu
“You’re in the eighth grade. You know these things. You know how to ride a dirt bike, and you know how to do long division, and you know that a boy who likes boys is a dead boy, unless he keeps his mouth shut, which is what you didn’t do, because you are weak and hollow and it doesn’t matter anymore.”
A
s someone who has great difficulty writing poetry, I usually get little enjoyment from reading it. Each attempt to find meaning in the figurative, frilly language and oddly positioned stanzas typically leaves me frustrated and wondering why the poem can’t just be up front about whatever it’s trying to say. So, I tend to skip over books of poetry when perusing the bookshelves at Books-A-Million or the library, heading instead for the John Green or George R.R. Martin novels. However, when a fellow novelloving friend of mine placed “Crush” by Richard Siken in my hands with a simple “You need to read this,” I knew I couldn’t pass it up, even though it was a book of poetry. While the language may be figurative and the stanzas oddly placed, the meaning of each poem in this book was never lost to me. Gritty, raw, and unrelenting, Siken’s poems speak on a subject that
EMILY MELVIN | CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Siken’s poetry draws on those things that we all feel from time to time, those fears that can cripple us or make us stronger.
every human soul knows inside and out: fear. The fear of love, the fear of rejection, the fear of boredom, the fear of losing oneself entirely in a society that shuns the different and praises the common. In “A Primer for the Small Weird Loves,” Siken details the fear he has felt since childhood of being rejected simply for being homosexual:
Many of the poems use the second person “you” throughout. Most of the time the reader can tell that this “you” is a specific person to whom Siken is speaking, as in the poem, “Wishbone”. Sometimes, though, the “you” in Siken’s poems is the reader. He pulls you into the story and makes you part of it, essentially telling you how you feel and what you’re doing. In the last stanza of “You Are Jeff,” he describes the familiar feeling of first love: “You’re in a car with a beauti-
ful boy, and he won’t tell you that he loves you, but he loves you. And you feel like you’ve done something terrible, like robbed a liquor store, or swallowed pills, or shoveled yourself a grave in the dirt, and you’re tired. You’re in a car with a beautiful boy, and you’re trying not to tell him that you love him …” “Crush,” a winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition, is honest, heartbreaking, stunning and unique, and I highly recommend it. I guess you can say that this is me, placing “Crush” in your hands and telling you that you need to read this book. Even if you detest poetry, even if you’d rather pull your hair out than read one more poem – read this book. The outsider in you needs to read it. The lover in you needs to read it. The scared, lonely, desperate, beautiful human in you needs to read it.
They also have an actual restaurant in West Mobile for more leisurely dining. Overall, I enjoyed visiting both Smokin’ Gringos’ and Momma Mojo’s food trucks. I would recommend Smokin’ Gringos for their fresh, comfortable flavors, while Momma Mojo’s Cuban style would appeal to your more adventurous side. Is this the start of veritable food truck scene in Mobile? I hope so. In the mean time, I’d be pleased to see either one of those trucks roll up on USA South Drive.
MAELYNN LA | CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Brian Eberhardt ordering his own tacos from Smokin’ Gringos.
HEY YOU
.
Into the downtown scene in Mobile? We need a Scene writer. Bars, clubs, and night life articles are welcome. Tell us! Write about it and let your peers know. Email life.editor@ usavanguard.com
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VOL. 52, NO. 1 / JAN. 14, 2013
USA Honors Program hosts 2nd annual “12th Night” ball
COURTESY OF MARY BISHOP
The USA Honors Program hosted its 2nd annual “12th Night” Mardis Gras ball on January 11. Organized by Honors students, the ball included a silent auction, skits and plenty of fun. Characters like Bloody Mary, Elvis and the “Thriller” werewolf joined faculty, including Dr. David Nelson from Mechanical Engineering who was crowned “King” of “12th Night,” for a night of awesome entertainment.
SPORTS
PATRICK HERRING, SPORTS EDITOR sports.editor@usavanguard.com
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VOL. 52, NO. 1/ JAN. 14, 2013
BY CHIP ENGLISH |USAJAGUARS.COM
Head coach Ronnie Arrow left the men’s basketball record with a 5-5 record this season to end his second stint with the school.
Men’s head basketball coach Ronnie Arrow retires He leaves just two weeks after becoming winningest coach in Sun Belt Conference play By JT CRABTREE
jtc804@jagmail.southalabama.edu
O
n December 19, University of South Alabama Athletic Director Dr. Joel Erdmann announced that head men’s basketball coach Ronnie Arrow would retire, effective immediately. Associate head coach Jeff Price will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2012-2013 season. “We appreciate all that coach Arrow has done for the program over the years and wish him the best in retirement,” said Erdmann. Ironically, Arrow’s last game prior to announcing his retirement was a 74-62 victory over Texas A&MCorpus Christi, a program he helped build from scratch in 1999. Arrow left quite a legacy behind following his retirement. His 211 wins during his time at South Alabama are the most in school history, while his 112 Sun Belt Conference wins are the most in league history. His time at USA was actually split
into two stints that bookend his time at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. During his first go around as the head coach of the Jaguars, from 1987 to 1995, he compiled a 114-93 record and won Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year twice in just over seven seasons before being dismissed by then athletic director, Frederick Whiddon. His second opportunity as head coach at USA came in 2007 when Coach John Pelphrey left for the University of Arkansas. Since taking over for the second time, Aarow compiled a record of 97-67. Overall, Arrow was won 647 games combined between his time coaching at the NCAA and National Junior College Athletic Association, where he led San Jacinto Junior College to national championships in 1983, ‘84 and ‘86. The Jags are left in the hands of associate head coach Jeff Price. Price has prior experience has a head coach at three different schools, Lynn (Fla.),
Georgia Southern and West Virginia Wesleyan. During his 17 years of being a head coach, Price compiled a 318-188 career record, including eight 20-win seasons. Price was also named the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year in 1997. The timing of Arrow’s retirement is strange, coming after a win and a 2-0 record in Sun Belt Conference play. Overall the Jags had a 5-5 record on the season. When questioned about the timing, Erdmann said that “It is a little unique, but it’s not unheard of. Coach (Arrow) asked and I’m happy to honor it.” There was speculation that perhaps Arrow was having health issues as well, but when asked, Erdmann maintained that the decision was strictly on a personal basis. “A decision such as this is often personal, and due to that, I’ll leave it there.” Dr. Erdmann and Arrow were already scheduled to meet on the day he announced his retirement.
The meeting, Erdmann said, was not scheduled with retirement in mind. “It was a scheduled meeting just to discuss various things. I have meetings with all the coaches in the department. I speak to our head coaches face-to-face weekly.” Coach Price will be the head coach for the remainder of the season, but beyond that, the future is uncertain. Dr. Erdmann said that a national coaching search will take place after the season, with Price included as a candidate to keep the job. “I start with a very deep and solid value system,” said Erdmann. “Where the person understands who they are and that they align with the mission of this university and the department and how we do business. Once we’re comfortable with that, we’ll start going to the X’s and O’s of the game.” In spite of the somewhat chaotic turn of events, Dr. Erdmann asks that the fans remain faithful to the program during the rest of the season. “I encourage the support of this
team by our fans, not only to continue but to increase during this time of transition.” Erdmann said. “These student-athletes have tirelessly worked for the opportunity to represent the name on the front of their jerseys. Commitment and effort such as this is worthy of our enthusiasm and support.”
COURTESY OF USAJAGUARS.COM
Interim men’s basketball head coach Jeff Price.
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VOL. 52, NO. 1 / JAN. 14, 2013
Want us to follow you? Tweet us @USAVGSports Chris May @CmayFive5: Offensive Lineman
BY CASSIE FAMBRO | EDITOR IN CHIEF
BY PATRICK HERRING |SPORTS EDITOR
Cleaning my room.... This make take a few hours.. Scratch that actually a couple of days... Lol
Safety B.J. Scott (left) returns an interception against Troy. Linebacker Jake Johnson (right) looks to the sideline for the call against Nicholls State.
Pair of Jaguar defenders to play in NFLPA Collegiate Bowl By PATRICK HERRING sports.editor@usavanguard.com
T
he seventh annual National Football League Player’s Association Collegiate Bowl will be held in Los Angeles on Saturday, January 19, and will feature two seniors from the 2012 South Alabama football team. Safety B.J. Scott and linebacker Jake Johnson both accepted invites to play in the game. While the Collegiate Bowl isn’t the premiere senior all-star game, it features many legitimate draft prospects. Some other players who will participate in this
year’s game include Vanderbilt’s Jordan Rodgers, brother of Green Bay Packers starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, as well as Texas wide receiver Marquise Goodwin. Scott finished out his final collegiate season with 84 total tackles, 49 of which were solo and 6 of which went for a loss, including a sack. He also snatched 2 interceptions, broke up 3 passes, forced a team-high 2 fumbles and recovered one. In his collegiate career, which included 3 seasons at Alabama where he switched from wide receiver to safety, Scott racked up 163 tackles and 3 interceptions. Before
getting injured during the 2011 season, Scott set a USA school record with 180 kick return yards against Georgia State. In his final campaign, Johnson set numerous school records, including tackles (131), solo tackles (71), tackles for a loss (15), quarterback hurries (6) and was third on the team in sacks (3). Johnson was also a transfer, coming to South after a two-year stint with the Virginia Tech Hokies. He leaves USA as the career leader in tackles (245), solo tackles (127), tackles for a loss (25.5), and is second on the career sack list with 9. Including his time at Virginia Tech,
Johnson totaled 301 career tackles, 150 solo, 30 for a loss and 11 sacks. The two fan favorites were cornerstones of the South Alabama defense during the team’s transition to the FBS level. Their leadership will surely be missed in the 2013 season. This year’s NFLPA Collegiate Bowl will kick off at 8 p.m. Eastern and will be televised by ESPN. Coaches for the squads are former professional head coaches Dick Vermeil, most recently of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Herm Edwards, also most recently with the Chiefs.
Cole Billingsley @CDolla_Billz4: Outfielder Trying to blow up the radar gun at the bowling alley. Typical baseball players we are haha. Drew Dearman @DrewDearman: Offensive Lineman The class roster function on Sakai just took me back to elementary school so hard. I got excited when I found people I knew haha Matt Calcagnini @MCalcagnini56: Offensive Lineman it’s gonna be the year of the Jaguar, mark my words #SIYM
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VOL. 52, NO. 1 / JAN, 2013
Men’s and women’s basketball play well over the break, look to close strong in conference play By JAYSON CURRY jayson-curry@hotmail.com
T
STAFF ILLUSTRATION
The Coaches’ Trophy may as well go ahead and stamp the Alabama script ‘A’ on the crystal football seeing as Saban and company have dominated the game in recent years.
Alabama football wins third BCS title in the past four seasons with the help of local talent By PATRICK HERRING sports.editor@usavanguard.com
T
he state of Alabama continues its reign over the college football world with the University of Alabama’s 42-12 dismantling of previously undefeated and top-ranked Notre Dame. Add this year’s title to the 2009 and 2011 championships won by Alabama and the one Auburn captured in 2010 and you’ve got a string of four straight years during which the national championship has resided within Alabama’s borders. Alabama head coach Nick Saban is known for his masterful ability to recruit top tier talent from the high school ranks. The dynasty that he has put together at Alabama was built on the backs of gifted athletes he and his staff plucked from the recruiting hotbed that is Mobile and its surrounding areas. Look no further than the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback, A.J. McCarron. McCarron threw four touchdowns against the Fighting Irish en route to becoming the only quarterback to win back to back BCS National Championships, and just the seventh quarterback to ever win back to back national titles. He played his high school football for the Episcopal Saints of St. Paul’s High School right here in Mobile. As a junior there, he was the starting quarterback for the team that won the 5A State Championship. With his victory over Louisiana State in the national championship game last year, McCarron became the first quarterback from Mobile to win a
national title since Tee Martin of Williamson High School won one with the Tennessee Volunteers in 1998. Saban and his recruiters have also found many other talented players from this area to stack his team with. This year’s BCS National Championship Game Defensive MVP, C.J. Mosley, played linebacker for the Theodore Bobcats before committing to Alabama. Starting strong safety Robert Lester came in with the highly touted 2008 signing class from Foley High School just an hour from Mobile. He is believed to have been in a package deal to sign star wide receiver Julio Jones, but eventually became a field general for the Tide defense. Foley also produced starting offensive lineman D.J. Fluker, who recently announced his intentions to declare for the NFL Draft. Many project he will be selected in the first round. Also on the offensive side of the ball, breakout freshman running back T.J. Yeldon was signed out of Daphne. Not to mention another freshman phenom, Amari Cooper who is originally from Daphne, but played his high school ball in Miami. These are just a few of the more recognizable names from the area that helped cement this Alabama team in the annals of college football history, but there are many more who you may not have heard of yet that will likely become key contributors for the Crimson Tide in the coming seasons. This year’s recruiting class Saban is putting together already includes players from Spanish Fort and Foley.
he University of South Alabama basketball teams have been hard at work while the rest of the university has been on break between the fall and spring semesters. During the break, former USA men’s head basketball coach Ronnie Arrow retired after becoming the Sun Belt Conference’s all-time winning coach. Arrow’s position was filled by assistant Jeff Price. Under Price the USA men have gone 3-2 but still hold the second position in the SBC East only one game behind Middle Tennessee State. The Jags had a chance to take the lead in the division last week as MTSU visited Mobile but the Jags would eventually lose by only four points after leading for much of the first half of the contest. Interim head coach Jeff Price was displeased with the Jags who he said didn’t play a full game but was proud of his team for coming back and making the game close after giving up their lead. “When you play a team that good, a unanimous pick to win your league, you have to play 40 minutes
and we got 35. I thought we made a couple of mistakes and got our head down and missed a couple of layups when we didn’t need to. We got down and we could have laid down and quit but we didn’t; we fought and we had our chances,” Price said. The Jaguars are led by Junior Augustine Rubit who continues his career as one of the conference’s best players. Rubit has been honored with SBC player of the week two weeks in a row and he has earned those honors. He leads USA in scoring with 19 points a game average and rebounding with 11 and he also scored his 1000th career point. Rubit has also averaged a double-double in 6 consecutive games including scoring a career high 32 against Louisiana Monroe. The USA women have had their struggles of late as they currently stand 4th in the SBC east division. The women hold a 10-6 overall record but the conference record is what counts the most. Since the Fall semester has ended the USA women are 3-3 including a dominating loss the Middle Tennessee at home just one week ago. In the contest the Jags were held to a season low in points and had 19
turnovers after struggling against MTSU’s full court press and zone defenses. Head women’s basketball coach Rick Pietri pointed to the lack of “fight” to beat MTSU. “I’m thoroughly disappointed all the way around; I’m disappointed in myself, our coaching staff, our players. I didn’t think we showed the fight that is necessary when you are playing a team that is as talented as Middle Tennessee is,” Pietri said. “Ebony Rowe is one of the five best players in our league – and arguably a player of the year candidate – but we allowed her to do anything she wanted to do.” The Lady Jags did follow up that disappointing loss with a 10-point win over conference foe LouisianaLafayette led by Mansa El’s season high 20 points. The men and women will play their next game in Denton, TX against North Texas before returning to Mobile for a three-game home stand against the likes of conference foes Louisiana-Monroe, Western Kentucky and Florida International. The Lady Jags host ULM Wed. at 7:05 p.m. and the men host them the following evening at the same time.
BY PATRICK HERRING |SPORTS EDITOR
The USA men’s basketball team, seen here huddling before an early December contest against Sam Houston State, went 3-2 over the holiday break to hold on to second place in the SBC East.
LEFT OF CENTER
JT CRABTREE, LOC EDITOR jtc804@jagmail.southalabama.edu
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VOL. 52, NO. 1 / JANUARY 14, 2013
Jags change defensive coordinator Bill Clark leaves for Jacksonville State, Kevin Sherrer arrives from Alabama By JT CRABTREE
jtc804@jagmail.southalabama.edu
On December 18, the South Alabama football coaching staff started what would be a whirlwind of changes. The first move was the loss of defensive coordinator Bill Clark, the only defensive coordinator the program has had in its short history. Coach Clark left to become the head coach of FCS Jacksonville State University, his alma mater. “I’m very happy for Bill and his family,” head coach Joey Jones told AL.com. “I appreciate what he’s done to help build this program at South Alabama. You’re always happy for someone in this profession to move up and get a job they want.” Clark’s defenses were always top notch. In 2011, South’s defense ranked 16th in the FCS in total defense. In 2012, South’s defense ranked 50th in the FBS, and second in the Sun Belt Conference to Western Kentucky. Coach Clark’s replacement is Kevin Sherrer, a hiring that was announced on January 11 by Jones. Sherrer comes to South Alabama fresh off a national championship
with the University of Alabama, where he spent the last three years as Director of Player Development. “Kevin is one of the smartest coaches I have been around,” Jones said of Sherrer. “He has put together a great resume winning a couple of state championships at Hoover High School before going to Alabama and learning from — in my opinion — the best in the business about defense the last three years.” Sherrer played tight end for Alabama from 1993-95, and was a graduate assistant from 1998-2000. He was then an assistant coach at Spain Park and Hoover high schools until 2010, when he returned to Alabama as the director of player development. As director of player development, Sherrer was in charge of helping student-athletes with academics, community outreach and their personal lives. He has no prior experience as a coach at the FBS level. Jones explained that the hiring of Sherrer should be an easy transition, as his coaching style is similar to Coach Clark’s. “A lot of the stuff we are doing on defense we got from Kevin and
Coach Bill Clark (left) was the only defensive coordinator the Jaguars ever had in program history.
the staff at Alabama,” Jones said. “A lot of the terminologies we use come from Alabama, so I think it will be a very smooth transition for our players.” Sherrer stated that part of the reason he joined Jones’ staff was having the opportunity to continue to progress South Alabama has made so far as a football program.
“I had been down here before and seen the facilities, and it is a great area to live,” Sherrer said. “I’m looking forward to helping coach Jones and the rest of the staff win some more games and go to the next level, to building on the success that they have already experienced here.” The coaching carousel has definitely landed at South Alabama.
COURTESY OF USAJAGUARS.COM
Prior to the hiring of Sherrer, CoachingSearch.com reported that Southeast Louisiana head coach Ron Roberts had been offered the job as defensive coordinator, but that he turned it down a week later. The Jags will be a full FBS program in 2013, and will be eligible for conference championships and bowl games.
Arkansas St. wins GoDaddy.com Bowl
The GoDaddy.com Bowl had a little of everything, from Kent State’s new helmets to Arkansas State’s first ever bowl victory
JTC / LOC
The 2013 GoDaddy.com Bowl matched #25 Kent State against Arkansas State, who was making their second straight trip to the Mobile. The Red Wolves won by the score of 17-13 over the Golden Flashes. Here are some quick notes about the game: •This was the second ever bowl game for Kent State, and first since 1972. •The Jags will play both Ark St. and Kent State in Ladd-Peebles Stadium in 2013. •Both teams had coaching changes. Kent State’s Darrell Hazell left for Purdue after the bowl game, and Ark St. head coach Gus Malzahn did not coach the game after being hired as
head coach of Auburn. •Ark St. quarterback Ryan Aplin was named MVP. Aplin passed for 213 yards and one touchdown.
•This was Ark St.’s first ever bowl victory and first ever win over a ranked opponent.
JT CRABTREE / LOC
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Opinion
NOAH LOGAN OPINION EDITOR opinion.editor@usavanguard.com
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VOL. 52, NO. 1 / JAN. 14, 2013
The Vanguard Viewpoint Tough love Over and over again, people preach about getting involved and becoming a part of the University instead of just a passerby. Many think that they’re here to get an education and get out with a degree in hand and that organizations and clubs mean nothing. Those people won’t get very far. Unless you immerse yourself in the college experience or get involved in something you care about, then how is what you’re doing worth a damn? The retention rate at USA is pathetic, and the faculty and staff are working diligently to rectify that. But just as you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink, you can’t make a student learn. What you’re learning isn’t just on the expensive inked pages laid out before you on your comforter while Friends plays in the background. It’s the people you meet, how they challenge you and how you react that molds you into more than a successful degree recipient. It makes you a better person. While some may feel that the college and university system has become a profit scheme, the goal is not to get you off the stage with a piece of paper
that has your school’s emblem on it. It’s to provide you with the skills you need to fit into the real world, a place many here haven’t seen yet. If you don’t get involved, you’re not learning how to adapt. Accept responsibility for that. When you’re applying for jobs, people want to see experience, well-roundedness and a desire to succeed. Simply making it through doesn’t cut it. Earning a degree entitles you to nothing outside of that piece of parchment after a walk across the stage. In fact, no one here owes you anything. But the fact that you’re here means you owe it to yourself to give it all you’ve got. It’s a new year, semester and a fresh start. Maybe you don’t believe in fresh starts, but this could be one. Focus on your goals but don’t put blinders on. Live a little and explore what’s offered around you. Say yes. Take a risk. That is what you’ll take away from college, even when you don’t remember all the formulas on page 143 in stats. Put up or shut up and start 2013 right, USA.
New Year and new strategy for Speaker John Boehner By NOAH LOGAN
ncl1101@jagmail.southalabama.edu
House Speaker John Boehner was not hoping to be the face of the Republican Party at the beginning of the Noah Logan New Year. If Opinion Editor Boehner and the rest of the Republican party had it’s way, Mitt Romney would be giving orders to the House Republicans of the 113th Congress instead of them having to be the one to give orders to their leader. However, it is now 2013 and the House Republicans have decided Boehner’s New Year’s Resolution for him; “Do whatever it takes.” Boehner is returning with three key negations dealing with our budget looming in the next 90 days and Boehner’s record against President Obama has not satisfied the members of his party. Now his Republican allies are privately and publicly urging him to do something that he has never been willing to do: be willing to shut down the government. “Whether it is the sequester, debt ceiling or [government funding], House Republicans are united in doing whatever it takes to change the direction of spending in our country,” said Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio).
JagPulse
What are your ways to save money on textbooks? Joshua Goff: steal your roommates Brittney Elizabeth Patrick: Half.com! I got my $200 statistics book for $25 and it was in perfect condition. Brandon Barnhill: Buy a tablet and pirate the Pdf file lol
Tiffany Scobey Anderegg: Buy used from Amazon. Also, sell the books back to Amazon at the end of the semester if you don’t want to keep them - Amazon will typically offer you a higher buyback price than the bookstore will. Doug Johnson: Don’t buy until after you get the syllabus and only buy if class will use it
Mary Beth Hartley: Rent from Chegg.com.... It has saved me sooooo much money Halisaurus Mason: I check ratemyprofessor.com to see what other students say about the professor. Usually they’ll comment if the textbook was used or not. Shannon White: Download the PDF. Whatever you do don’t buy from the bookstore.
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has shown his displeasure on House Speaker Boehner’s leadership after he moved to pass the fiscal cliff bill without a majority of the party’s caucus, a violation of Hastert’s rule. “Here is the problem. Maybe you can do it once, maybe you can do it twice, but when you start making deals when you have to get Democrats to pass the legislation, you are not in power anymore,” Hastert said on Fox News Radio Thursday. By securing his Speaker of House Spot by three votes more than the minimum required number, House Republicans have shown their distrust in Boehner. As a result, Boehner has already taken drastically different approaches with the future negotiations from how he dealt with negotiations of the past. Boehner has already ruled out private, one on one dealings with the President. In 2011 and during the fis-
cal cliff negotiations the Speaker of the House sought out several one on one discussions with the President. Also, Boehner has not wasted any time in delivering the main ultimatum: any increase in the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling has to be matched by equal cuts in government spending. Hopefully Congress will waste little time with these future negotiations so we can avoid another bare minimum agreement that does nothing but extend the problems at hand for another three hands. Immediately, Barack Obama called Boehner’s bluff by stating that he “won’t negotiate” with House Republicans, who vow to match the debt ceiling increase with spending cuts of an equal or greater magnitude. The New Year begins with same chess match that ended a sour 2012 with Boehner on what could be his last shot.
www.house.gov
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VOL. 52, NO 1 / JAN. 14, 2013
Become an intellectual in 2013
Takin’ Care of.. nothing
By RYAN WALLACE
By COLIN AL-GREENE
ryanwallace2010@gmail.com
As any Facebook friend of mine knows, I’m a bit of an old-fashioned kind of conservative. This is perRyan Wallace haps to be expected, since I hail from north Alabama and headed to Texas (and one of the most conservative universities in the country) for my undergraduate degree. For the most part, 18-year-old me was only interested in knowing what I knew, politically speaking, and not engaging in discussion or compromising what I had learned over the first years of my life. In my sophomore year, I met one of those banes of the university experience, the professor who shared political views different than mine, and (more importantly) wasn’t afraid to let all of us know about it. Since the class in question was public speaking, the battlefield of opinion was regularly staked out and contested by my professor and some
csa602@jagmail.southalabama.edu
of my fellow students who were more willing to debate than I was. One day, this professor said something particularly grating and, in spite of myself, I began to argue with her. To my humiliation, I was unable to defend the positions I held, as the Waterboy defense (“Mama say that…”) is not an acceptable way to present and support one’s ideas. After sulking and licking my wounds for some time, I realized that part of being an adult is not knowing WHAT one believes, but WHY one believes it. The point, of course, isn’t simply being able to cite a New York Times or National Review article to back up why you’re right. The point is that when two people engage in a debate using facts and reason to support their positions, the environment is ripe for new understanding and compromise. Two sides standing across from one another and yelling “Communist!” and “Nazi!” at each other is easy to do, but the reward of solidifying (or perhaps even modifying) one’s own views is replaced by the temporary satisfaction of feeling like
Freedom from fear
By Jacob Burchfield
jab1202@jagmail.southalabama.edu
T h e shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary was as senseless an exercise in evil as has ever been; it evoked in Jacob Burchfield me the same basic human emotions it did in most people: anger, fear, sorrow, and confusion. We often think the world should follow a set of fundamental rules; one of the first of which being that parents ought not to have to bury children. You can’t help feeling compelled to do something, anything, to mend the torn fabric of the natural order. That same day, the first salvoes in the battle of public opinion had been fired. We must act now, it was said. If we only made this or that illegal, if only so-and-so cared about the children, if it weren’t for the NRA- which one would be forgiven for thinking was a co-conspirator in the madman’s plan – and Republicans, none of this would have ever happened.
It is as though gun control advocates, if not for their pesky, barbarous foes, would rid the world of badness – that badness could at last be banished from menacing the lives of America’s children. But evil gives no reprieve to the innocent; it gives no quarter to the unarmed; and it has engendered murder and jealousy among mankind since Cain killed Abel in the field. Rather than talk about measures citizens can take to prevent these kinds of atrocities, like putting a trigger lock on a rifle or storing bullets separately, those in favor of gun limitations have raised a hodge-podge of exhortations that goes, generally, “We must ban all guns. Or at least some guns. Maybe not the kind the killer actually used, just this other kind that we might be able to ban now while public sentiments all stirred up; we must stir up public sentiment now!” For all their prodigious ad hominem attacks on their opponents, for all the impatient sighs heaped upon the arguments against them, no legislation has been proposed to meet their lofty goals. “Gun control,” if words have meaning at all, must start by amending the Consitution. Otherwise, all the selfrighteous indignation in the world can-
a point has been won against the opponent. Webster’s defines a fanatic as one “marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion.” The key word, of course, is “uncritical.” When I left home in 2006, I was a fanatic, intensely believing what I believed without knowing why I believed it. This did nothing to serve my maturity as an individual, nor enrich those with whom I discussed political, religious, or philosophical opinions. I know that there are many who don’t feel moved one way or the other by political convictions, and that’s fine, as long as you’re not voting for someone based on their good hair or electric guitar prowess. But if you find yourself a fanatic, believing whatever it is that you believe fervently but without introspection, I challenge you to use this new year to instead make yourself an intellectual, someone “given to study, reflection, and speculation.” After all, that is what we are all here for, right?
In the popular 1970’s song Takin’ Care of Business, the musical group Bachman-Turner Overdrive are taking care Colin Alof business, and Greene working overtime. They are dedicated, motivated, and goal orientated. In a world in which they were in charge, I’m sure 70’s rockers would find a way to work with others in order to accomplish a meaningful task. This is, however, in stark contradiction to the mind-blowing mediocrity of the Congress. They had one important task to perform. They were to trim the budget in order to avoid the Fiscal Cliff. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of the Cliff, it was a series of automatic spending cuts and tax increases that were put into place by a group of Senators in 2011 that would automatically kick in if deficit reducing measures were not implemented. Fast forward to New Year’s Eve 2012. The Bush Era tax cuts would ex-
NOAH LOGAN|OPINION EDITOR
pire at midnight on the 31st. More than a year had passed, and no progress towards a budget deal had been made. And then we got the news; the U.S. would go over the “Cliff.” We awoke on January 1st to discover that our taxes had gone up, and that across the board budget cuts were coming. In an attempt to not look to incompetent, a late deal was struck. Income taxes would not go up on those making less than $400k. They managed to cut out a little bit from the deficit. This sounds like a win, right? No, not really. All they managed to do was to pass the buck off to the next Congress. In two months, we will have reached the debt ceiling, meaning that we will be at our borrowing limit. That means we will have another round of ineffective media rants, and a chorus of budgetary buzz words. We all know how the song goes; “fiscal discipline,” “welfare reform,” “the rich Continued on Page 19
“
“ No free man shall ever be debarred the
use of arms … serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”
not erase the only four words about the right to bear arms that matter: “shall not be infringed.” It’s hard to change the Constitution – and rightly so. And the 2nd Amendment was passed, not as a right to purchase outdoor sports equipment, but as an absolute negation of the government’s power to disarm its citizens. Thomas Jefferson saw it that way: “No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms … serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” In Federalist 29, Alexander Hamilton tells us that any power used by the federal government against its citizens could “never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little if at
” all inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights and those of their fellow citizens.” Go forth, gun controllers, and sway the opinions of two-thirds of Americans to your cause. Win the argument on its merits; should be easy enough, seeing as though only Neanderthals believe the 2nd Amendment means what it says. But let’s not sneak in a bad law that breaks a good one, proclaim the freedom from fear of banana clips in “high-powered assault rifles,” and pat ourselves on the back until the next crisis rises from the dark.
SOUTH POLLS South Alabama Life Question: What phacet of South Alabama life do you most hoped to see improved for the Spring 2013 Semester? ► A:
Dining. ( Fresh Food Company, Food court, Delta Deli, etc...) 42.4%
►
B:Campus Life. ( Jag Productions, Mitchell Center events, Speakers on campus, intramurals, dorms) 24.2%
►C:
Parking. (Parking spaces, parking pass system, parking ticket system) 42.4%
► D: Student Health. (Wait
time, facilities, patient treatment, organization) 12.1%
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Congress failing Continued from page 16 “the rich need to pay their fair share!” And we still haven’t made meaningful reductions to the deficit. Until we can make some sort of budget, and begin to live within our means, we will be trapped in an endless cycle of tax battles. I am not suggesting that we just slash and burn our spending randomly. There are things that need to be funded. Education, health care, and research are high on my list.
We should make sure the poor have opportunities to improve their lives. But we must make sure that we remain on a sustainable path. We cannot continue to increase our debt by the trillions. There will be long term negative effects on the economic growth of the nation and our financial sustainability. Because Congress has not acted, in a meaningful way, they have not lived up to their duty. That is why I would say they are mediocre beyond belief.
The Vanguard facebook.com/TheVanguardUSA
VOL. 52, NO. 1 / JAN. 14, 2013
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