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CONFIDENCE& COMPROMISE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
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VOL. 126, ISS. 10
BLAKE DOVER / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
Former Rep. Barney Frank and former Sen. Olympia Snowe appeared at Vanderbilt’s 50th annual IMPACT Symposium, highlighting issues of equality and partisanship. Colin Powell is set to speak Wednesday, March 19
CHLOE JOHNSON / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
LEFT: Former Rep. Barney Frank speaks at IMPACT Symposium in Langford Auditorium on Monday night, March 17. RIGHT: Former Sen. Olym-
pia Snowe addresses the crowd at Langford the following evening.
By CHELSEA MIHELICH Senior news reporter --------------------
The first two nights of this year’s IMPACT Symposium, themed “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Defining Civil Rights and Responsibilities,” featured former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank and former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe as speakers. In their respective speeches, both distinguished politicians spoke about the need to protect civil rights in the modern era, but each promoted different aspects of how that process can unfold.
OPINION
Editorial: Young Alumni Trustee process needs reform
The current system prevents students from making an informed decision in this important annual election
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Frank covered several topics, including political and marriage equality, that encompass civil rights today. Snowe emphasized the need for a well-functioning government willing to compromise to secure modern rights. The last speaker, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, will address the Vanderbilt and Nashville communities Wednesday at 7 p.m. Overflow seating will be available in Light Hall. Barney Frank lives up to his name Representative Barney Frank has come to be known
for many things — his part in the creation of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act of 2010, being the first U.S. politician to marry a same-sex partner while in office, and his notorious wit and humor, even while discussing the most serious of topics. If nothing else, the former congressman lives up to his name. Though he is an innovative economic thinker, renowned congressional politician, advocator of gay rights and predominantly unashamed nonconformist, he is, above all else, quite frank. — Continued on PAGE 5
SPORTS
March Madness Bring out your brackets because the women’s basketball team is tourney-bound
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LIFE
How to be funny with Tongue ‘n’ Cheek TNC defines the art of comedy and explains what improv has taught them about confidence and failure
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campus vanderbilthustler STAFF
ANDRÉ ROUILLARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF HANNAH SILLS NEWS EDITOR
KELLY HALOM LIFE EDITOR
ERIC LYONS OPINION EDITOR
ALLISON MAST SPORTS EDITOR
BOSLEY JARRETT PHOTO EDITOR
ALEC MYSZKA FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER
Since the spring of 2011, all members of VSG have been required to maintain a GPA of a 2.75 or above. After hearing reports of several freshman VSG members being removed this semester for GPA reasons, The Hustler took a closer look into the issue By ALLIE GROSS News reporter --------------------
DESIGN DIRECTOR
JENNA WENGLER ZACH BERKOWITZ SENIOR DESIGNER
KAREN CHAN SENIOR DESIGNER
ZOË SHANCER SENIOR DESIGNER
KATHY ZHOU SENIOR DESIGNER
DESIGNERS ALEXA BRAHME HAN DEWAN HOLLY GLASS WOODY GRIFFIN EMMA BAKER ALEX DAI CHIEF COPY EDITOR
COPY EDITORS ALEXIS BANKS KATY CESAROTTI WESLEY LIN BRITTANY SHAAR KARA SHERRER SOPHIE TO
“The point is, bipartisan legislative partnerships are crucial, if not indispensable, to minimizing the political variants and maximizing the potential of our government institutions.” OLYMPIA SNOWE, FORMER U.S. SENATOR
VS(GPA)
DIANA ZHU
ASST. DESIGN DIRECTOR
QUOTE OF THE DAY
At the beginning of this semester, several members of Vanderbilt Student Government (VSG) were informed in an email from VSG adviser Courtney Salters that they were no longer eligible to be part of student government because their first semester grades did not meet the organization’s minimum GPA requirement of 2.75. While Salters was not able to disclose specific numbers on how many members became ineligible, she did confirm that the requirement, which has been in place for five semesters, tends to affect freshmen more so than upperclassmen. “The 2.75 GPA requirement was introduced in spring of 2011 by that year’s 3.5 student
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FRESHMAN OPINIONS ON THE 2.75 REQUIREMENT government administration,” Salters said in an email to The Hustler. “Since that time there are typically more first year students affected by the GPA requirement than upperclassmen. Additionally, the restructure of the CommonDores Leadership Council increased its size in the 201314 academic year, which consequently increases the number of first year students that might have been affected.” All affected students were given 72 hours to either resign their position or make an appeal to the VSG Judicial Branch explaining any “extenuating circumstances.” Given the relative newness of the Judicial Branch, the VSG election for president and vice president also includes a referendum focused on bringing the VSG constitution up to date regarding the Judicial Branch’s role in GPA appeals, a role previously held by the Executive Branch. According to VSG Attorney General Alexis Hunter, Resolution 13-14-37 would, if passed, bring “the Constitution into accordance with a practice already in place by implementing a minor language change that eradicates a disjunct between the Constitution and the Statutes.” “All appeals are done name blind and the process is facilitated by VSG Advisor Courtney Salters to ensure the anonymity of VSG members appealing grade issues,” Hunter said. According to a publicly available court order, 12 total name-blind appeals were reviewed by the Judicial Court at the beginning of this semester. Of those 12, the Judicial Court granted four appeals. This data is not broken down by class year, and so it is unknown how many of these cases
may have been freshmen. Freshman students’ opinions on GPA requirement are mixed Several freshman students who were deemed ineligible said they were aware that the GPA requirement existed, but still didn’t see the email informing them of their ineligibility coming. One student, whom we’ll call Jerry because he prefers to remain anonymous, said he was caught by surprise when he received Salters’ email. “You needed a 2.75 to stay in, and my GPA ended up being a 2.74,” Jerry said. “I can’t believe they kicked me out because I was so close to a 2.75, and also at the time I got kicked out, I was actually a project leader on one of the projects we were doing in VSG.” Jerry added that he would have preferred that the GPA requirement were mentioned during VSG meetings as the end of first semester neared. He also said that in his appeal to the Judicial Branch, he explained that his GPA was low because he had intended to be pre-med and ended up withdrawing from general chemistry, failing a biology lab and changing his major. His appeal was, however, rejected. He said he felt the process was “annoying.” “I feel like if you have the GPA requirement based solely off the first semester, which is — I don’t know statistically but from what everyone tells me, like the academic advisors — for a lot of people is where you’re going to make mistakes and where students’ GPAs are going to plummet, so I feel like kicking those people out based off first semester GPA isn’t really an efficient way to do things because their work in — Continued on PAGE 4
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CAMPUS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
— Continued from PAGE 2 VSG isn’t really reflective of their GPA, if that makes sense,” Jerry said. “I think most people who do VSG already expect themselves to have a 2.75. Typically, I would. I didn’t know my GPA was going to be like that … Coming here was like a culture shock for me because classes are so much harder, which again is (why) people need adjustment times. It would make more sense to have a GPA requirement second semester,” he said. Another student who was also asked to resign, whom we’ll call Sally, agreed that the GPA requirement poses a problem particularly for first-semester freshmen, citing the need for time to adjust to the college workload. She said that students who enter Vanderbilt pre-med are particularly disadvantaged. “Chem is objectively more difficult than some other classes,” she said. “I know a lot of people come in as pre-med, struggle in general chemistry, and then because of that their GPA was completely deflated.” One freshman member still involved with VSG said he didn’t notice much of a change in VSG proceedings after the resignation of ineligible members second semester, “with the exception of within my own house.” “It was definitely sad to see one of my floor reps have to resign because of GPA,” he said. He added that he, however, supports the
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Chem is objectively more difficult than some other classes,” she said. “I know a lot of people come in as pre-med, struggle in general chemistry, and then because of that their GPA was completely deflated.
VSG GPA eligibility requirement. “I think a lot of people look at it the wrong way,” he said. “They see it as a punishment for having poor grades; I see it as a way of VSG showcasing that nothing is more important than academics and when someone is struggling to keep their grades up, this ensures that they aren’t too occupied with other activities.” Another student, whom we’ll call Tom, became ineligible after first semester but expressed his support of the GPA requirement for VSG, although he doesn’t think it should apply first semester freshman year. He said he has remained involved with VSG through the presidential campaigns. “I think it’s important to make sure everyone in VSG’s doing well, to keep up an image of smart, well-rounded people,” Tom said. “I couldn’t blame anyone but myself. It is a tough policy, but I agreed to it.” Sally said that while she agrees with a VSG GPA requirement in general, she was
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shocked when her appeal wasn’t granted. “I was pissed in the beginning because I worked really hard on my appeal and I explained that I was overcommitted and that the reason for my low GPA was not because of VSG,” she said. “I basically said it was because I was involved in a lot of other things and because I was taking too many hours, and that I had since dropped every other extracurriculars I was doing so I could focus on VSG and had dropped my hours by a lot, which I thought was a perfectly plausible explanation, but apparently not.” According to the court order, the Judicial Court made its decisions on appeals “based on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the following: whether the student’s cumulative GPA was substantially below the constitutional requirement, whether future involvement in VSG would help or hinder the student’s academic development, and whether the student took substantive corrective measures to improve his or her
academic performance.” “It was very frustrating trying to advocate for myself to be part of an organization that I supported, when they clearly weren’t supporting me,” Sally said regarding her experience with the GPA requirement. “I think that’s what was most frustrating about it. I understand the need for the GPA requirement, but honestly floor rep isn’t a big commitment, so I don’t think it’s as important for that.” Several houses simply didn’t replace floor representatives who had to resign due to GPA ineligibility. Others emailed out applications to replace certain positions. Salters said that VSG members are generally replaced, when necessary, in a manner similar to the way in which the original member received their position — by election or appointment. “As can be expected, transition of members within an organization can be challenging, but is sometimes necessary in order to maintain the integrity of the organization’s policies and procedures,” Salters said. Those VSG members who became ineligible second semester and were removed from VSG are eligible to be elected or appointed the following semester if their GPAs are above the minimum. Salters said any changes to the GPA policy would be up to VSG leaders through the Senate structure.
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Snowe: Political process must work to secure civil rights ‘We can bridge the political divide. It doesn’t always have to be this way.’ CHLOE JOHNSON / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
Former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe leads the IMPACT event on Tuesday, March 18, in Langford Auditorium. This year marks the event’s 50th anniversary. — Continued from PAGE 1 Prior to opening the 50th anniversary of IMPACT Symposium’s annual political series, Frank sat down with The Hustler for a one-on-one interview. In a display of his unique frankness, the former House
member responded to inquiry into his day by saying, “Now, I just don’t understand why people ask that question.” Later, this straightforward, all-business attitude served as an asset when a student
pressed him for an answer to past accusations of his supposed early support of the financial institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In response, Frank equated those accusations to “Republican myth.” In a speech filled with the congressman’s well-known humor and a sense of fearlessness in his opinions, Frank began a discussion to be continued for the three consecutive nights of the symposium: a conversation on the victories and failures of the modern fight for civil rights and responsibilities. His talk touched on a need for campaign finance reform, particularly on greater regulation of campaign gifts, an issue he described as essential for “political equality.” Frank also discussed modern ideas of same-sex marriage and medical marijuana, movements which he described as soon to be comprehensively successful. They are both issues, he explained with his trademark wit, where if a person does not agree, the fact that someone else is engaging in those activities “whether one at a time or simultaneously, has absolutely no effect on your life.” Olympia Snowe emphasizes need for bipartisanship On the second night of IMPACT, Vanderbilt Speakers Committee welcomed former member of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Olympia Snowe. Snowe’s career has been distinguished by her support of compromise and advocacy of bipartisan work in Congress. She currently serves as a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center,
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in addition to being the founder of Olympia’s List, a website with the purpose of identifying, and applauding the work of, the most ideologically centrist members of Congress. In Snowe’s analysis, the partisan political divide in our nation’s Capitol is “undermining Washington and has incapacitated its ability to solve the major problems of our day.” This includes, she noted, the protection of civil rights and liberties, the focus of this year’s IMPACT series. “The reality is, our constitution is not a wholly self-executing document,” Snowe explained. “To a large extent it must be implemented, and civil rights secured, through the political process. And that process works when political leaders and lawmakers work together.” Some examples Snowe cited of issues that deserve attention for their perpetuation of inequality are the racial disparities in education and unequal pay for women in business. “The point is, bipartisan legislative partnerships are crucial, if not indispensable, to minimizing the political variants and maximizing the potential of our government institutions,” Snowe said. “Unfortunately, today bipartisan cooperation is at its lowest.” Snowe’s talk, however, expressed optimism for change. “We can bridge the political divide. It doesn’t always have to be this way,” she said. In the past, said the former senator, “there was no golden era of bipartisanship — you just worked it out.”
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opinion THE
RANT Something got you peeved? Irked? Honked off? The Rant is your place to anonymously vent your spleen on any issue you want. To get your rant on, visit the InsideVandy.com Opinion page. Check out this week’s Rant on our Twitter account @InsideVandy.
People that ask trivial questions and argue with Professor Lachs in Introduction to Ethics: You know who you are. STOP IT! When a professor invites questions for clarification, this doesn’t invite you to waste time and bore the class with your personal arguments and theories. Waste your own time outside of lecture. Can we please stop pretending that these VSG campaigns are actually concerned with student issues and just acknowledge that VSG elections are a popularity contest? These ceaseless, trivial Facebook promotion pictures only prove that each campaign cares about face-recognition and popularity. Stop plastering your faces all over campus and the Internet. Calling serious things like inappropriate sexual behavior “forcible fondling” just makes them sound amusing. The alliteration is what does it. Africa is such an offensive theme for S.S. Rand. It’s a diverse continent with tons of different cultures. I’m sure its foods are way, way more diverse than Texas (last year’s theme). I literally do not care who wins the VSG presidential election as long as the winner promises to FREAKIN’ PUT PIZZA LUNCHABLES, FRUIT ROLL-UPS AND GUSHERS IN THE MUNCHIE MARTS. IS THAT REALLY SO MUCH TO ASK FOR?
QUOTE OF THE DAY “(Vanderbilt’s) diversity is not something that the ‘old unity’ was built to handle, leading to the fragmentation we see today. Traditions were more supported by the homogeneity of the student body than by meaningful love for the school.”
MICHAEL GRESHKO
Young Alumni Trustee process needs reform THE HUSTLER EDITORIAL BOARD
STAFF EDITORIAL
L
ast year, The Vanderbilt Hustler broke precedent and endorsed a candidate for the position of is composed of Young Alumni Trustee. This annual the five editors election elevates the winning graduating of The Hustler and the director senior to a seat on Vanderbilt’s highest of InsideVandy. governing body — the Board of Trust — These editors for four years to serve as a student voice present the major- in a room full of influential individuals, ity view of The many of whom have never taken a class at Hustler staff. Vanderbilt. The Hustler decided to take a stand in an election that is overshadowed by the much higher-profile VSG presidential elections year after year, and its endorsed candidate, David Head, currently holds a seat on the Board. The Hustler would like to continue to do this — but there is a catch. The Hustler will not be endorsing a candidate for Young Alumni Trustee this year in its own and in the candidates’ best interests. Candidates for Young Alumni Trustee in general do not engage in any campaign activities during the process. This year, candidates were asked to check with the Alumni Office before committing to do an interview with any campus media source, and The Hustler, while not subject to most university regulation, determined that it would be inappropriate to engage in this activity so as not to jeopardize candidates’ standing with the Alumni Office and the Board of Trust. The aforementioned restriction, as well as other characteristics of the process, strike The Hustler’s editorial board as unnecessary checks on the amount of information that students have on which to base their vote. At present, the Young Alumni Trustees have released a short, 200-word biography detailing their involvement on campus in student organizations and in an academic capacity, and if applicable, their postgraduate occupation. Aside from this, the average, unassociated student has no other piece of information with which to make an informed decision about whom they would like to be sitting on the Board
vanderbilthustler EDITORIAL BOARD ANDRÉ ROUILLARD
TYLER BISHOP
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF editor@insidevandy.com
INSIDEVANDY DIRECTOR director@insidevandy.com
HANNAH SILLS
KELLY HALOM
NEWS EDITOR news@insidevandy.com
LIFE EDITOR life@insidevandy.com
ERIC LYONS
ALLISON MAST
OPINION EDITOR opinion@insidevandy.com
SPORTS EDITOR sports@insidevandy.com
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The point of holding a student election is so that current and recent students may best choose the nominee that best represents their views ...
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of Trust for four years. Along with the absence of campaigning, Young Alumni Trustees (or anyone else for that matter) cannot send out campus- or class-wide messages about the process, nor can they post online or on Facebook explicitly asking friends to vote for them. However, they are allowed to post on Facebook to raise awareness of the process in general, and strangely, friends of the nominee may post on Facebook and talk elsewhere about voting for their candidate of choice. Nominees are permitted to use their student organization listservs to ask the members of the organizations that they lead to vote for them in the process. This seems to lead to the conclusion that the nominees that head the largest student organizations will generally possess most of the voting power — otherwise, the election becomes a contest of which nominee knows the most people. These restrictions, along with the absence of any other form of nominee differentiation, appear to prevent the inclusion of campus issues of substance and positions on these issues by the candidates. This apparent intent seems odd, especially considering that this is, after all, an election — of sorts. According to the bylaws of the Board of Trust, part of the purpose of the Young Alumni Trustee is to “bring the viewpoints of current and recent students to the deliberations of the Board.” The point of
The Vanderbilt Hustler Opinion page aims to stimulate discussion in the Vanderbilt community. In that spirit, columnists, guest columnists and authors of letters to the editor are expected to provide logical argument to back their views. Unreasonable arguments, arguments in bad faith or arguments in vain between columnists have no place in The Hustler and will not be published. The Hustler welcomes reader viewpoints and offers three methods of expression: letters to the editor, guest columns and feedback on InsideVandy.com. The views expressed in lead editorials reflect the majority of opinion among The Hustler’s editorial board and are not necessarily representative of any individual member. Letters must be submitted either in person by the author to the Hustler office or via email to opinion@insidevandy.com. Letters via email should come from a Vanderbilt email address where the identity of the sender is clear. With rare exception, all letters must be received by 1 p.m. on Tuesday. The editor reserves the right to edit and condense submissions for length as well as clarity.
holding a student election is so that current and recent students may best choose the nominee that best represents their views — and in its current iteration, the Young Alumni Trustee process does not ensure that this happens. No “viewpoints” or campus issues are discussed whatsoever in the context of this campaign. This is why the process needs improvement if it is to accomplish its stated and implied goals. To best “bring the viewpoints of current and recent students” to the Board of Trust table, students must first know which viewpoints their Young Alumni Trustees hold before submitting a vote. We understand the reasoning behind prohibiting a formal campaign in the same vein as the VSG presidential elections — however, there are other solutions. A simple one would be to require a personal statement that reflects in which areas they feel campus is strong and the areas in which they feel it needs the most improvement. Another solution would be to submit a questionnaire with crowdsourced questions to each nominee that would give students an accurate idea of where these candidates stand on certain campus issues. More complex would be to host a live panel so that voters can get to know their nominees. Without this kind of reform, the Young Alumni Trustee election devolves into a simple popularity contest. While the process is guided heavily by the Alumni Office and the Board of Trust, with the Alumni Association (and a committee of recent grads and juniors) narrowing the pool of nominees to three and the elected nominee requiring final approval by the Board, the current avenue of student input seems merely a token gesture allowing students some choice in the matter. We hope to soon see the Young Alumni Trustee process undergo critical internal reform so that Vanderbilt students, the most capable authority on choosing to whom to give their collective voice, will be able to best exercise the opportunity for choice that they have already been graciously given.
Lengthy letters that focus on an issue affecting students may be considered for a guest column at the editor’s discretion. All submissions become the property of The Hustler and must conform to the legal standards of Vanderbilt Student Communications, of which The Hustler is a division. The Vanderbilt Hustler (ISSN 0042-2517), the student newspaper of Vanderbilt University, is published every Wednesday during the academic year except during exam periods and vacations. The paper is not printed during summer break. The Vanderbilt Hustler allocates one issue of the newspaper to each student and is available at various points on campus for free. Additional copies are $.50 each. The Vanderbilt Hustler is a division of Vanderbilt Student Communications, Inc. Copyright © 2014 Vanderbilt Student Communications.
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OPINION
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United we fell, divided we stand Our divisions are recent — and we should embrace them as we rebuild campus solidarity
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MICHAEL GRESHKO
is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at michael.a.greshko @vanderbilt.edu.
hy have our student government campaigns focused on the issue of campus unity? From “Come Together” to “One Vanderbilt,” the McKenney-Gacke and Owen-Young tickets have papered campus with campaign slogans that both aspire to greater campus unity and admit that our current campus culture could be less fragmented than it is. I wholeheartedly agree with Ryan and Tanner’s observation that we could be more united, and I commend both of them on their desire to address it. But I wish the discourse centered more on the causal factors behind our campus’ currently fragmented state. Is this a problem that Vanderbilt has always had, or is it a recent problem? I maintain that the splintering of student life is relatively new in Vanderbilt’s history, brought on by the sudden collision between a newly diverse student body — a “new Vanderbilt” — and an “old unity” that has been rendered obsolescent. Part of this “old unity” undoubtedly came from the students’ solidarity as white Southerners. Originally founded to bring together North and South after the Civil War, Vanderbilt quickly became a destination for some of Nashville’s and the South’s wealthiest young scions. On a campus dominated by Nashvillians — Montgomery Bell Academy graduates had their own social club — the only whit of diversity Vanderbilt experienced at the dawn of the 20th century came from the Divinity School through its missionaries in East Asia and Latin America. Unity also came from the relative marginalization of women. There were no on-campus housing options for “coeds” early in Vanderbilt’s history, and even into the midcentury, articles in The Hustler waxed fondly about
“panty raids.” The Miss Commodore contest, the female equivalent of today’s Outstanding Senior Award, played to crude stereotype as a hokey beauty pageant with contestants from each sorority. And then there was Greek life. The social fraternities and sororities that nucleated campus life early in Vanderbilt’s history were so universalized and integral to the campus social experience — driven in part by the Wonder-Bread-and-Dixie student body — that they served as a unifying force within student life. In the 1930s, for example, The Hustler covered interfraternity basketball games and fraternity parties in the sports and life sections, which seems fantastical in today’s day and age. Starting in the late 1960s and 1970s, Vanderbilt began to change with the times. The slow and steady racial integration of the undergraduate body, coupled with the brave political pluralism trumpeted by Chancellor Alexander Heard and student leaders, assuredly broadened the scope of what it was to be a Vanderbilt student. But new ideas and new people brought with them new conflicts, a pattern that has only accelerated in the last decade or so. Due to the meteoric growth in Vanderbilt’s selectivity — driven by rising numbers of college applicants in the 2000s and enormous Vanderbilt investments in financial aid, faculty and student life — we are now more socioeconomically, ethnically, regionally and culturally diverse than ever before, and we are the better for it. However, this diversity is not something the “old unity” was built to handle, leading to the fragmentation we see today. Traditions were more supported by the homogeneity of the student body than by meaningful love for the school.
Fortunately, we’ve tried to combat it with the generation of new commonalities, but the earnestness of our efforts is betrayed by the youth of our results. We all know that The Commons was founded in 2008, but did you know that VSG only dates to 2007? And you might know that the Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life was founded in 2002, but did you also know that Founders Walk is just as young? One only need go to a football game to see both facets of our tradition problem in stark relief. We mumble our way through “Dynamite,” our decades-old fight song, and then have to be led by a scoreboard in our rendition of “Anchor Down.” We would do well to frame our current pro-unity fervor within Vanderbilt’s broader historical context. Failing to recognize the deep historical undercurrents behind our current fragmentation would minimize the apparent scope of the problem — and it may hamstring us in our efforts to address it. We cannot hope to solve the problem by restructuring co-sponsorships, VSG Senate allocations or VSG committee compositions; these steps will only get things moving. The real work must come from all of us, from student to student, if we have any hope at finding a new cluster of unifying factors that define the Vanderbilt experience. To do so, we must consciously subvert the calcified niches in which we all find ourselves. Sit with someone new at lunch. Talk to that person you always sit next to in class. Without that chance — the glorious risks we all took as new Vanderbilt students — we cannot Come Together. We cannot be One Vanderbilt.
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The writing is on the wall
O
ver the weekend the Jewish community at Vanderbilt and around the world celebrated the festival of Purim, which commemorates the thwarting of a genocidal plot against the Jewish community of Persia during the fourth century JEREMY B.C.E. Yet as I celebrated this joyBLOOMSTONE ful time, a far greater tragedy in is a senior in the Jewish history overshadowed my College of Arts thoughts. and Science. He The writing is on the wall. Arbeit can be reached at jeremy.o.bloomstone Macht Frei. “Work makes you free.” Seeing these words duct-taped on @vanderbilt.edu. a wall on Vanderbilt’s campus was the first time in four years here that I felt unsafe — threatened to be Jewish at Vanderbilt. This German phrase was displayed on the gates to several concentration and death camps during the Holocaust. For many Jews, these words symbolize the single greatest tragedy in our people’s history, and no matter how much we work, or build, or excel, we will never be freed from this devastating past. These words presented a misguided hope to all those who passed under them as they entered the gates to Auschwitz, Dachau and Theresienstadt, instilling in them the belief that the yoke of the Nazis could be broken with labor, leaving out the chilling truth that death awaited nearly all of them regardless. Last week a student installed what he described as a public art project that displayed these words on the walking bridge to The Commons. I do not care what the intent was of this brazen and apparently thoughtless act. Nor do I care if the individual who felt compelled to exhibit these words in this way is anti-Semitic, racist, bigoted or intolerant. Nor do I believe he is. But the writing is on the wall, and that individual must be held accountable for the representations, memories, ideologies and atrocities that those words reflect. The Holocaust is not owned by the Jewish people, but its place in public discourse is certainly limited, and its lessons stark and clear. This individual violated the bounds of cultural sensitivity and in my opinion far surpassed the legal limits of free speech in his public exhibition. Public art challenges the way we understand and define artistic expression. It opens our mind to new ideas about the act of interpretation. There are clear limits and boundaries for what should be accepted as public art, especially on a campus that strives to build a community of inclusiveness and of respect for cultural, religious, political, social and sexual dif-
ferences. If I installed a cross on Alumni Lawn, set it ablaze and endowed it with an interpretive message about the downfall of religion (or anything else other than what we all know it has historically represented), I can only imagine the response I would provoke on this campus. That image is tied to a similarly devastating narrative of racism, violence and hatred. There is no amount of explanation or interpretation I could spin to avoid being labeled a racist, and I should hope that students on our campus would call for my exclusion from the Vanderbilt community going forward. There are certain actions, words and symbols with such a sinister history that people must be held fully responsible for invoking them in the public sphere, no matter the intent of the symbols’ use. Yet the symbolism evoked by the phrase “Arbeit Macht Frei” is not subject to interpretation; the message displayed by those words is irrevocably linked to antiSemitism, to genocide and to the Holocaust. There is no reinterpreting the Holocaust, nor will we ever truly grasp the depths to which humanity was debased by it. This “installation” thus can only be understood through one lens, and the only message it displayed was one of hostility toward the Jewish people. I am the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, and I have had the privilege and honor of being able to sit with my grandfather and hear him recount his narrative, despite the pain that clearly remains behind his eyes and slowly trickles down his face as tears. My Jewish identity is deeply shaped by the experiences of my grandfather. “Never Again!” should anti-Semitism be tolerated in any instance, and in every instance it should be challenged. I am ashamed by the lack of response by our university’s administration, and by those who claim to be the “home of Jewish life” at Vanderbilt. For too many hours the outlines of those words remained unwashed from the walking bridge to The Commons, and for too long have you maintained your silence. Your job may not be to punish the perpetrator, but when these words are published on your walls, you have an obligation to your Jewish students, your Jewish faculty and the Vanderbilt community to defend the values you seek to enshrine in our beloved institution. The writing is on the wall. It was clear, it was ugly and it was threatening to Jewish life on our campus.
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life
MOSAIC: Seeing past the stereotypes By ELISABETH KATZ Life reporter --------------------
On Feb. 14, 300 high-achieving high school seniors received something even better than a Valentine’s Day card in the mail: an early acceptance to Vanderbilt, along with an invitation to MOSAIC weekend, a three-day multicultural student recruitment program designed to woo outstanding applicants whom admissions officers feel would add diversity to Vanderbilt’s student body. While most of these students are invited with the hopes of increasing ethnic diversity on campus, some are invited with the intention of promoting socioeconomic and geographical diversity as well. Roughly two-thirds of these seniors made their ways to Vanderbilt over the weekend, many of them laying eyes on the campus for the first times in their lives. They were treated to three jam-packed days of informational events and activities and were hosted overnight by Vanderbilt students. The program’s Facebook event page states that the weekend is designed to give the admitted students “better support, guidance, and an accurate perception of student life on campus.” Many of the prospective students agreed with this, largely seeing the weekend as Vanderbilt’s attempt to steer them away from stereotypes they may have held about the university. High school senior Lauren Slosky from Los Angeles said that MOSAIC helped her better understand Vanderbilt’s undergraduate population. “I think that stereotypically, Vanderbilt and southern schools in general are thought of as really white, and especially here people can have the perception of (it being) sort of ‘white elitist,’” Slosky said. “I think that MOSAIC’s to show that that’s not what Vanderbilt’s about at all.” Other prospective students also voiced their concerns about this “white elitist” stereotype when asked about their perceptions of Vanderbilt prior to attending the program. “I feel like at any academically rigorous school there’s a perception that there’s not a lot of diversity,” said Avery Stephenson from Plainfield, Ill., “and combined with the fact that Vanderbilt’s in Tennessee, myself included, a lot of people would just assume that it’s a very homogeneous campus before coming here.” However, Stephenson felt MOSAIC helped to change these preconceived notions. “It was a really eye-opening experience,” she said. “It showed me that there are opportunities to interact with people of different backgrounds here, of different interests or different ethnicities. I think that MOSAIC’s done a really good job of showing the diversity here. I’ve met a lot of different types of people this weekend.” Meagan Ajami of Jacksonville, Fla., felt similarly. “I think that MOSAIC exists to kind of get rid of the perception that Vanderbilt is bad with dealing with diversity, because in reality they don’t seem like they are at all. It’s a good way to kind of bring perspective students in and show them what Vanderbilt’s really about before they have to make the big decision (of which college to choose).” It was clear that many prospective students felt the weekend helped them make that significant choice. “I’ll be honest, when I first got into Vanderbilt I was pretty excited,” Stephenson said, “but it wasn’t that close to being one of my top choices. But after my weekend here it’s actually moved up quite considerably.” “It’s definitely given me a lot more information and a lot more tools to decide with,” said Kyle De Souza from Sicklerville, N.J. “I’m really thankful for that.”
GO DO ‘Climate Connections: Bridging the Gap Between Students and Sustainability’
THIS
On Thursday, from 5-7 p.m. in Sarratt Cinema, SPEAR and VSG are co-hosting an informative discussion on the intersection between environment and society. The event will include two TEDx-style talks as well as an open panel to address how our climate interacts with life on a daily basis. Environmental organizations will be at the event to connect students to sustainable resources in Nashville. There will also be an opening performance by the BhangraDores, raffle prizes throughout the event and free Chipotle at the door.
BEHIND THE LAUGHS
with Tongue ‘n’ Cheek By SARAH VOLLMAN Life reporter --------------------
Tongue ‘n’ Cheek, Vanderbilt’s premier improv comedy troupe, doesn’t just make us laugh during their witty performances at 7:37 p.m. on Fridays — it works at its art constantly. Because comedy has no exact formula, the group is constantly trying to identify how to improve upon this complex art form. David Johnson, otherwise known as “Primo,” currently serves as the group’s director and one of the main judges during auditions. When searching for new members, the troupe seeks those who possess a mix between innate and potential talent. “There are two big things that we look for: where you are right now and where you could be in the future,” Johnson said. “TNC philosophically has thought that if someone has a raw ability to express themselves and a sense of humor, then we can teach them improv.” Senior Peter “Vespa” Linck can attest to this, as he originally struggled with being on stage. “For me, the acting part is the most difficult,” Linck said. “Improv groups at other schools tend to be mostly theater majors, but what’s unique about TNC is that very few of us do anything theater-related. I have the wit and the brain for it, and I can keep up with it, but I struggle sometimes with acting and doing object work and displaying a range of emotions.” To overcome difficulties on stage, the troupe members use their practices to hone in on their skills and focus on how to structure a joke. “It was pointed out to me doing The Slant and TNC that a lot of comedy is based on breaking expectations,” Linck said. “The reason why something is funny is because a comedian sets up what you think the punch line is going to be, then flips it into something completely different. That is a way we structure jokes in TNC — we build an expectation and then break that expectation. Build a formula and then take it to the next level, make it more ridiculous each time.” And once you’ve found something that works, go with it. “It’s called finding the game, where you find that place that the audience laughed
BLAKE DOVER / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
Senior David Johnson, also known as “Primo,” performs with Tongue ‘n’ Cheek in the September 2013 “Kidz Prov” show in Sarratt Cinema. the most at, and you can bring it back,” said sophomore Adina “Jazz” Rosenberg. “For example, you keep on tripping, or you keep on having to one-up your scene partner.” Though different comedic techniques can be improved through practice, the group still recognizes its members’ innate strengths. “Any group of improvisers, if you know your troupe well, has the head and the heart,” Johnson said. “The head is that kind of cerebral ‘improvness’ where you can see these connections and know which character to bring in at the right moment or situation, and the heart are the people who can really put themselves out there and play with their heart on their sleeve.” But despite practicing together and building off their strengths, sometimes things still go wrong. One of the most difficult aspects of improv, and consequently one of the most thrilling to watch, is being able to successfully fail in front of a group. “We actually worked with a professional improviser in a workshop where she emphasized that in improv — and also in every field — it’s never okay to fail anymore,” Linck said. “But when you fail, it’s
not a bad thing; it’s actually a good thing because when you fail, you learn the most about what doesn’t work.” This ability to draw positives from mistakes transcends the stage. “Before I joined TNC, I was a lot more self-conscious,” Rosenberg said. “Having the experience of really exposing myself to a large number of people both in practice and in performance has changed me as a person. I’m no longer really embarrassed by things or afraid of failure.” Johnson also feels he has learned from the fundamentals of improvisation. “One of the founding fathers of improv, Del Close, always said, ‘Follow the fear,’” he said. “I’ve come to the point where I’m proud of my failures because it means I tried something that was risky. If you are never failing, then you are never pushing yourself or using your potential to its fullest.” Tongue ‘n’ Cheek will have its “Big Ass Show” on the last day of classes, April 21, and will participate in Vanderbilt University Theatre’s “Cabaret Vanderbilt” on April 16, which will showcase collaborations between various performing groups.
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AROUND CAMPUS Melodores host, compete in ICCA South Semifinal
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anderbilt University’s male a cappella ensemble, the Melodores, competed on Saturday in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) South Semifinal, held in Vanderbilt’s Langford Auditorium. Though they were the most crowdpleasing of the night, the Melodores placed seventh out of the 10 competing teams. Seven of the competing teams were coed, and the rest were all male. Each team had 12 minutes to perform. For more than three hours, the auditorium was filled with voices, lights and plenty of choreographed — and sometimes suggestive — dancing. In the end, The University of Delaware’s Vocal Point won and will move on to the ICCA finals on April 26 in New York City. Belmont University’s the Beltones placed second, while Florida State University’s All-Night Yahtzee took third. ALEC MYSZKA / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
— Rachel Meehan, life reporter
A star is born: Sarah Jennings wins songwriting competition Though it was one of her first public performances, Vanderbilt Divinity student Sarah Jennings won Next Step’s Vanderbilt Star, a competition among songwriters on campus By MICHELLE PHAN Life reporter --------------------
Sarah Jennings, a third-year master’s degree candidate of the Divinity School emerged from a pool of nine contestants to win Next Steps’ Vanderbilt Star on Thursday, ending the search to find “Vanderbilt’s most talented songwriter on campus.” Jennings’ quirky charm and Sara Bareilles-esque voice during her performance of her original song “Addicted to You” wowed the celebrity judge panel and crowd of approximately 150 people. Designed in an “American Idol”type fashion, the show featured a panel of judges consisting of emerging country artist Kelleigh Bannen, Grammy Award-nominated songwriter Gary Harrison, Tony and ACM Award-nominated country artist Lauren Lucas and ASCAP Award-winning country artist Michael White. The judges gave each contestant feedback and decided on the final three. The audience then voted on a winner from the finalists. A native of Samoa, Jennings said music was a key aspect of her
upbringing. “I could sing and dance before I could walk and talk,” Jennings said. Even so, music has not always been something she has shared publicly. Before the competition, the only times Jennings had ever performed in front of a crowd were small open mic nights hosted by the Divinity School and in front of her songwriting class she took last semester. Because of the magnitude of the competition and considerably sized crowd, Jennings was up against her nerves. “I was a mess and unable to eat dinner before the competition,” she said. However, once she was onstage she found that her nerves had considerably subsided. “I was confident in my song being catchy and fun, and I hoped the judges and audience could see that,” Jennings said. Jennings learned of the competition just one week before the deadline and was strongly encouraged by her friends to submit a recording. After some convincing, Jennings decided to record her song a few days before the deadline and submitted it just minutes before it
was due. Though Jennings said she never expected to win Vanderbilt Star, the feedback from the judges, audience and her peers has given her the confidence to more persistently pursue music. After one judge commented, “That’s a hit,” after her performance, Jennings was blown away. She later said those words gave her a newfound confidence in writing and performing music, even if she had not won Vanderbilt Star. Jennings’ prize is a single-song recording contract and publishing agreement from Nashville indie label Lamon Records. Jennings was incredibly humbled and excited to professionally record her song. “I’ve recorded in home studios, but I’m excited to see what I sound like on a professional level,” Jennings said. “I can’t wait to get creative juices flowing in the studio. I’m envisioning a rocking horn section.” In regards to the future, Jennings said she is very passionate about her studies in the Divinity School, but music has always been a passion. If given the opportunity, she said, she would dive in head first
JAMES TATUM / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
Vanderbilt Divinity student Sarah Jennings sings her original song “Addicted to You,” leading her to win Next Steps’ Vanderbilt Star on Thursday. to share her music with even more people. As for now, Jennings said she hopes that Dave Moody, head of Lamon Records, is prepared for her. “I’m ready to work hard and will be asking a ton of questions to learn as much as I can,” Jennings
said. Vanderbilt Star, held in the Martha Rivers Ingram Center for the Performing Arts, benefitted Next Steps at Vanderbilt, a two-year nonresidential certification program on campus for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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sports
THE BIG STAT Number of NCAA tournament appearances in Vanderbilt women’s basketball’s history, placing them third in the SEC
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The Vanderbilt women's basketball team and cheerleaders sing the Alma Mater after the women's basketball game against the LSU Tigers in Memorial Gymnasium on Jan. 19. The game ended in a Commodore victory with a score of 79-70.
HOLY TOLEDO! By ALLISON MAST Sports editor --------------------
The Vanderbilt women’s basketball team anxiously awaited the unveiling of the 2014 NCAA tournament bracket on Selection Monday. After losing its first SEC tournament game to Georgia, the team was no longer qualified to receive an automatic bid. That left an atlarge bid as the only remaining way for the Commodores (18-12, 7-9 SEC) to appear in March Madness. The team listened to the announcement of the Lincoln, Louisville and Stanford regionals before its name was called as the No. 8 seed in the Notre Dame portion of
the bracket. The Commodores will open their 15th straight tournament appearance in Toledo, Ohio, where they will be facing the No. 9 seed, the Arizona State Sun Devils. The Sun Devils (22-9, 11-7 Pac12), much like the Commodores, suffered a slump during the conference portion of the season. They lost six of their last eight games, including a 61-35 blowout at the hands of the Stanford Cardinal. Arizona State has struggled offensively at times this season. Its leading scorer, Deja Mann, averaged only 11 points per game, and no other Sun Devil averaged in the double digits. One of the biggest problems for Mann and her teammates was
The road to Nasvhille starts in Toledo, Ohio, for the Commodores’ 15th consecutive NCAA Division I tournament appearance
3-point shooting. Collectively, they shot .328 from behind the arch and .417 from the field. The Commodores look to rebound against the offensively challenged Sun Devils, despite working through a slump of their own. Vanderbilt has dropped seven of its last eight games and made an early exit from the SEC tournament. Wins over tournament-bound teams like Tennessee, as well as impressive play from sharpshooters Christina Foggie and Jasmine Lister, helped the Commodores earn a bid. The two led the team in scoring with 19.1 and 13.9 points per game, respectively. Foggie has made Vanderbilt history by collecting more 3-pointers
in her career than any other player, while Lister has played a record number of minutes during her four years on the team. Both were named to the All-SEC Second team, and both are capable of outshooting the Sun Devils. Unfortunately for the Commodores, freshman standout Rebekah Dahlman and sophomore Heather Bowe will remain on the bench in Toledo. Dahlman, who was injured in mid-December, was leading the SEC in 3-point shooting and averaging 11.4 points per game. Starting forward Bowe was suspended from the team in late February. She is no longer enrolled at the university due to an academic policy violation.
Despite these losses, Vanderbilt still retains its roster’s depth. Freshmen Kylee Smith and Marqu’es Webb have played big minutes for the Commodores, and sophomore Morgan Batey averaged 5.3 rebounds per game, the most on the team. If the Commodores can outshoot the Sun Devils, they will advance to the round of 32 and face the winner of the Notre Dame and Robert Morris matchup. Notre Dame is the No. 1 seed for the region after finishing the season 32-0. It will be difficult to upset the Fighting Irish, but with two prolific shooters and a handful of talented freshmen, Vanderbilt could give them a run for their money.
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Missing out on the madness By MATT CITAK Sports writer --------------------
JAMES TATUM / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
Not much was expected out of the Vanderbilt men’s basketball team heading into this season. Having lost Kedren Johnson, Kevin Bright and Sheldon Jeter, the Commodores entered the season without three of their standout performers from the previous year. Despite these losses, the season started off reasonably well for the Commodores. Even with starting center Josh Henderson injuring his knee during the eighth game of the season against Marshall, Vanderbilt was still able to go 8-4 in its first 12 games, with three of those losses coming from NCAA tournament-bound teams (Providence, Texas and St. Louis). The true turning point for the men’s team came a few days into January, when starting guard Eric McClellan was suspended from
Vanderbilt for the spring semester and later dismissed from the basketball team after he was charged with theft. McClellan had led the Commodores in scoring with an average of 14.3 points per game. After the suspension, Vanderbilt was down to seven scholarship players and a few walk-ons. The lack of depth showed early on for the Commodores, as they lost four of their next five games, all against SEC opponents. However, on Jan. 11, playing in a televised game against Kentucky, Vanderbilt came close to taking down the then-No. 14 Wildcats. Freshman Damian Jones had 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Kentucky star Julius Randle was held to just seven points on 3-of-10 shooting. The highlight of the season was the fourgame winning streak that stretched from the end of January to the beginning of February. During these games, the Commodores beat four SEC teams, including Texas A&M, Georgia, Mississippi State and instate rival Tennessee. Senior forward Rod Odom scored a career-high 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting and went 4-of-7 from 3-point range against the Volunteers. After the win streak ended, it was clear that the success of this seven-man rotation was not going to be able to last much longer. During those four games, numerous members of the starting lineup played
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
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the majority of or even all 40 minutes. The fatigue began to show toward the end of the season, as the Commodores lost eight of their last 10 games, none more disappointing than the 76-38 smackdown at Tennessee on March 1, during which Vanderbilt shot 22.4 percent from the field. The season came to an end with a first-round loss in the SEC tournament against 14th-seeded Mississippi State. The loss put the Commodores at 1516 — one game under .500 — making them ineligible for postseason play for the second consecutive year. Although Vanderbilt’s absence from March Madness brackets might make this season seem like a letdown, a near-.500 record with a depleted roster is something to celebrate. Captain Odom and guard Kyle Fuller may be graduating, but they will be leaving the team in good hands. SEC All-Freshman Jones finished his freshman season averaging 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and showed flashes of pure dominance at various points throughout the season. With this talented freshman and other veteran players returning, a solid recruiting class — including two Rivals.com four-star shooting guards — and the readmittance of Kedren Johnson to the team, it looks like the future could once again be bright for the men’s basketball program.
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
SPORTS
HUSTLER BRACKETOLOGY
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Why these sleepers should be in your Final Four By Matt Lieberson, Allison Mast, Patrick Givens and Ben Weinrib, sports staff
No. 7 New Mexico No. 11 Providence No. 9 Oklahoma St.
A No. 7 seed in the South region, New Mexico comes into the NCAA tournament hot off a Mountain West title win over No. 4 seed San Diego State. UNM is eighth in the country in rebounding, and that will serve them well in their second-round game against Stanford. The real challenge for the New Mexico Lobos will come in the round of 32, when they most likely have to face No. 2 seed Kansas. These two teams already played this season, with Kansas taking an 80-63 road win over the Lobos. But that game featured Joel Embiid’s highest-scoring performance of the season for Kansas, and his status for the first weekend of the tournament is up in the air with his back problem. Embiid had 18 points that day, with four blocks and six rebounds. Without Embiid, the board-crashing Lobos could be ready to strike and limit Kansas’s second-chance opportunities. Also in that game, center Alex Kirk was 2-of-8 with only four points for New Mexico. Kirk has not shot below 50 percent since February, and he was dialed in for the entire MWC tournament. If Kirk can continue to shoot well and MWC tournament MVP Cameron Bairstow can pull down rebounds like he has all season, New Mexico is primed for the upset, whether Embiid sits out or plays limited minutes. Possible later matchups include Ohio State or Syracuse, both teams sliding into the tournament. Their region’s No. 1 seed, Florida, has one victory over a ranked opponent, Kansas, so things could possibly break very nicely for the Lobos.
The 11th-seeded Providence Friars enter the tournament fresh off of a Big East tournament championship over the Creighton Bluejays, whose roster boasts senior All-American Doug McDermott. Although McDermott led all scorers with 27 points and added a team-high five rebounds, Providence’s Bryce Cotton secured the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player honors. Cotton tallied 23 points and five rebounds in the 65-58 victory. Although Cotton will need to perform well in the tournament if Providence wants to become this season’s Florida Gulf Coast, the team’s resume suggests that Cotton will not need to carry the team. In the Big East tournament, three different Friars led the team in scoring in each of the three games. While Cotton was the hero in the final game, sophomore guard Josh Fortune and junior forward LaDontae Henton took control in Game 1 and Game 2, respectively. The roster’s depth and balance led the Big East champs to a 23-11 record. Providence’s first tournament matchup since 2004 will be against the storied University of North Carolina Tar Heels, a No. 6 seed in the East portion of the bracket. Despite entering the season as one of the perennial powerhouses, UNC quickly became mortal with a loss to Vanderbilt’s Nashville neighbor, Belmont. The Tar Heels were able to claw back to a 23-9 record, but Providence has momentum on its side. UNC lost in the first round of the ACC tournament to Pittsburgh.
When selecting a bracket sleeper in the Midwest Region, look no further than the ninth-seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys. Yes, the Pokes did suffer through a seven-game losing streak in late January and early February, but three of those losses were without star point guard Marcus Smart after he was suspended for shoving a fan. Smart and the Cowboys certainly seem to have righted the ship since then, winning five of their last seven contests. This team has all the pieces to make a deep run, and it has far too much talent to be seeded at No. 9. Smart, an AP first team All-Big 12 selection, is considered by many draft pundits to be the No. 1 point guard prospect in college basketball. He finished second in the conference in scoring average with 18.6 points per game. Add in second team All-Big 12 member Markel Brown and 3-point sharpshooter Phil Forte III, and you have one of the most talented backcourts in the country. The Cowboys are a bit undersized, but Smart, Brown and 6-7 wing Le’Bryan Nash all average more than five rebounds per game. If Oklahoma State can get past a tough Gonzaga team in the first round, it’ll likely set up a matchup with freshman phenom Aaron Gordon and No. 1 seed Arizona. The Cowboys certainly won’t be favored, but their guards should be able to speed up the defensively minded Wildcats. Win this one, and the Midwest regional opens up for the Pokes to make a run all the way to Dallas.
No. 8 Kentucky How sad is it that No. 8 seed Kentucky is a sleeper pick after starting the year top in the nation? Well it’s the first team that has gone from preseason No. 1 to unranked since the 1979-80 Indiana Hoosiers. Still, the Wildcats are as talented as ever, starting five freshmen who were all ranked in the top 11 of the 2013 recruiting class, according to Rivals.com. The problem is they have a large chasm between their talent level and actual playing level. Kentucky has the ability to slow down the game and pound the ball down low with Julius Randle — one of two tournament players to average a double-double this season — and a pair of seven-footers in Willie Cauley-Stein and Dakari Johnson. That size is much of the reason UK was fifth in the nation and second among tournament teams in rebounding. The team usually gets into trouble when guards Andrew Harrison and James Young try to do too much and turn the ball over excessively. Luckily, the Wildcats have a fairly easy road for an eighth-seed. Their second-round matchup would be against Wichita State, who is undefeated but largely untested this year. The Shockers faced the 111thhardest schedule this year, while Kentucky faced the second-hardest one. After that, UK would likely face Louisville, whom they already beat 73-66 this season. The Wildcats are no sure bet to go far, but if three of their diaper dandies can play well in each game, this team is as talented as any other team in the nation.
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5 players to watch in spring practice With football’s Black and Gold game just around the corner, these guys could play a crucial role By Ben Weinrib, asst. sports editor
ALEC MYSZKA / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
JAMES TATUM / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
JENNIFER LI / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
BOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
BOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER
OLB Caleb Azubike
DL Adam Butler
WR Kris Kentera
RB Brian Kimbrow
QB Johnny McCrary
With Derek Mason switching to a 3-4 defense, all the defensive ends have been moved to outside linebacker. Azubike is a great fit at 6-feet-4-inches and 260 pounds. Despite missing three games, he led the team with 9.5 tackles for a loss and was second on the team with four sacks. He’s coming off a leg injury he suffered against Kentucky last season but appears to be recovering pretty well.
Butler, previously a defensive tackle, has been taking reps at defensive end. He was a disruptive pass rusher last year coming up the middle. Building off a season in which he had six tackles for a loss, two blocked kicks, a forced fumble and two pass deflections, Butler will be a key part of the biggest defensive line in Vanderbilt history, which will likely include three 300-pound linemen.
Last season, Jordan Matthews and Jonathan Krause caught 154 of the 176 passes caught by wide receivers, and both have graduated now. Instead of just relying on a deep freshman class, Kentera will be making his second position switch, moving from H-back to wide receiver after originally coming in as a quarterback. At 6-feet-4-inches and 220 pounds, Kentera has the frame to become a solid possession receiver.
Mason prefers his running backs pound the ball up the middle rather than try to outrun fast SEC defenders, which is more of Jerron Seymour’s strength, but Kimbrow is worth keeping an eye on because of his blazing speed. He has been taking reps as a returner, something he did as a freshman, and with the team’s lack of experience at receiver, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him catching more passes.
McCrary is the highest-recruited quarterback in Vanderbilt history and will battle Patton Robinette for the starting role. New offensive coordinator Karl Dorrell’s playbook features a lot more downfield shots than John Donovan’s playbook did, and Mason said he is looking for playmakers, not managers. This style favors McCrary, who possesses a stronger arm than Robinette.
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
backpage TODAY'S CROSSWORD
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Answers to last week’s puzzle
Answers to last week’s puzzle