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VOL. 132
ISSUE 25
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W E D N E S DAY, AP R I L 1 3 , 2 0 1 6
Registration delays schedules by john riedel jpriedel@uvm.edu
At 7 a.m. Thursday morning, sophomores across campus ran into unexpected difficulty when attempting to register for fall courses. There was a 10-minute “slow down” in the registration system April 7, Registrar Keith Williams said. “I described it as a slow down because everyone was able to log back in and pick classes, but the explanation that I got from the system people was that people actually got dropped,” Williams said. “If you’re getting in there and get dropped, I can see why it would feel like a crash.” Sophomore Renee Willard expressed concern for students getting courses they need specific to their major. “It should be some sort of rolling registration with priority given to students in the major for classes they need,” Willard said. “My friend couldn’t get into cultural anthropology because people take it for fun, but she needs it for her major.” The registration issues were not because of the number of
byjohn riedel jpriedel@uvm.edu
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION PHIL CARRUTHERS
sophomores logging in, but the timing, Williams said. “Students were waiting until the very last minute to log in, so then there were all these requests in the system at a rate we never anticipated,” he said. Sophomore Julia Iannazzi said it took her over half an hour to register. “I was trying to get into labs
that only had eight seats so it made everything more difficult,” Iannazzi said. “And I wish UVM would have sent out an alert or email or something letting us know when the problem was going to be fixed.” Slow downs don’t happen every year, Williams said. “In fact, we’ve had years where in general registration
happens kind of between 7 and 7:05, where we’ll have 5,000 courses get registered for in five minutes,” he said. The reason why registration wasn’t worse than it was is because the office had staff monitoring the system and making adjustments as necessary, Williams said.
Debate team places first nationally by bryan o’keefe bpokeefe@uvm.edu
Two UVM students are returning home from the two major debate tournaments with a first-place trophy in tow. Seniors Taylor Brough and Khalil Lee took home the win at the Cross Examination Debate Association’s National Policy Debate Tournament. The tournament took place at Binghamton University in New York March 26 to 29. The tournament is often referred to as the “people’s tournament,” Brough said, because teams do not need to qualify to compete, unlike the National Debate Tournament, which they competed in after their appearance at CEDA. Lee said he and Brough go against the traditional grain of National Debate Tournament because they are black and native students, respectively. Brough and Lee both said National Debate Tournament is regarded as an elite competition debate; the top 16 ranked teams in the nation are automatically invited to participate, while other teams need to qualify through a series of prelimi-
ALANA Center may be renamed
nary events. Brough and Lee’s team qualified as one of the firstround invitees to NDT. Brough and Lee participated in the American policy debate, which involves the selection of a year-long topic which they then research intensely and present arguments that both affirm and negate it at competitions throughout the year, Brough said. She said preparation involves collecting massive amounts of research and evidence, and she and Lee spend about 20 hours a week working on debate, not accounting for travel time.
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and Northeast Asia, Brough said. Lee said policy debate isn’t purely concrete analysis of U.S. policy, but about using the resolution as a metaphor for gaining inroads into broader conversations. Their argument this year discussed the ways in which violence is normalized, he said. They employed the concept of a black hole as an alternative version of reality in which marginalized persons could live without pressures from white heteronormativity, colonialism and classism. “The metaphor was that gravity works on a perpetual
COLE WANGSNESS/The Vermont Cynic
The metaphor was that gravity works on a perpetual axis of hate.
“It’s like a part-time job,” Brough said. The topic this year was whether or not the U.S. should increase its military presence in the Horn of Africa, Persian Gulf
The trophy for the Cross-examination debate association National debate competition.
KHALIL LEE SENIOR axis of hate,” Lee said. Their performance at CEDA and the National Debate Tournament this year were the last two tournaments of their career as debaters, Brough said.
They’ve participated in 11 tournaments this year so far, she said, and travel roughly every three weeks. They miss an average of 21 days of class a semester, Lee said. Some professors are more flexible than others regarding assignments. He said he doesn’t think debate should be an excuse for getting out of work, but some professors offer no room for compromise.
After years of discussion, the ALANA Student Center may soon be known by a different name. The proposed name change coincides with the African, Latino(a), Asian and Native American Center moving from the Blundell House on Redstone Campus to the Living/ Learning Complex. The name change was originally proposed by Rep. Kesha Ram ‘08 while she was a student. “An open process to determine how students would like themselves to be termed would be beneficial, as ‘ALANA’ doesn’t capture this sentiment,” Ram said. ALANA was originally known as the Black and Third World Educators from 1973 to 1996, according to their website. Open forums for the community to discuss a name change were held April 7 and 8, and another will be held April 14, Assistant Director Sarah Childs said “Over the years there have been a lot of different conversations,” Childs said. The current name does not include everyone, such as people who are multinational or transexual, she said. “It just seems timely for us to consider a name change,” said graduate student Dimitri Gogue, who also works at the Center. ALANA has gone through name changes before, Gogue said. “The name right now is not all-inclusive,” senior David Waller said. Waller said people ask him where the white student center is and he directs them to the Davis Center. “I ask them to look around and see how many people are like you,” he said. Junior Maya Arima said the center is important to the community. “All the staff here is so welcoming… and it seems like this is the kind of place where a community thrives,” Arima said. A name change is needed but it should not be too long or complicated, she said. If the center changes its name, it will have to be approved by President Tom Sullivan, Childs said.