Campus Times Check out the CT Web site on Thursday, March 18 for online-only content. The print edition resumes on March 25. Volume 137, Number 7 Serving the University of Rochester community since 1873 Thursday, March 4, 2010 Brad Berk returns to CEO position Berk looks to experiences as a patient in future plans for UR Medical Center mark fleming • Senior Staff Sihir Belly dancing breaks it down From left: Seniors Kayla Anderson, Ellen Frohning and Alexandra Glover participated in Sihir Belly Dancing Ensemble’s annual spring concert, called Soleil d’edyppd, which took place in the May Room last Saturday night. Futurity partners with UK universities to expand globally by ross brenneman Publisher When Futurity launched just under six months ago, it had the support of 35 research universities, all located in North America. Now Futurity has gone transatlantic. The Russell Group, a union of 20 research schools located in the United Kingdom, has been integrated into the cooperative research Web site known formally as Futurity.org. Though not all 20 schools within the Russell Group are official members of the Futurity project yet, the schools that have been added are intended not only to increase Futurity’s breadth of coverage, but also to increase exposure of Futurity to other parts of the world. “Visitors to the UR Newsroom page come from Rochester, New York City and London in that order most months, so that audience is already very important to this university,” Vice President for Communications Bill Murphy said. The United Kingdom schools added to the group include Cardiff University, King’s College London, University College London, University of Leeds, University of Nottingham, University of Sheffield and University of Warwick. They join McGill University, located in Montreal, in representing international research. The new additions have been slowly phased in since January, when the members of Futurity voted to include the Russell Group. Already, a number of pieces have been added. Cardiff released a study two weeks ago examining how the bamboo diet of pandas relates to the pandas’ genomes. Leeds released a study on Futurity last week describing the effect of collaboration between health care specialists on patients with depression and diabetes. Allowing such research to more easily reach American readers was exactly the goal of the Russell Group. “We’re very excited about our partnership with Futurity,” Director of External Relations for University of Sheffield Carrie Warr said. “It allows us to communicate our University of Sheffield research to a wider audience, and have our achievements showcased alongside leading U.S. universities.” Futurity, a Web site which showcases the research of what is now 53 institutions, exists to increase collaboration and, more importantly, easily showcase research to a broader audience. UR, Duke University and Stanford University founded the organization in September 2009, and UR’s Office of See EXPANSION, Page 4 by sandra barbosu Senior Staff Following long months of rehabilitation after a severe bicycling accident last May, CEO of UR Medical Center Brad Berk returned to his position on Monday, March 1, while still undergoing a few hours of physical and occupational therapy every day. “My first day back felt amazing. It was very exciting, anxiety-provoking and tiring,” Berk said. “It was a great day.” On May 30, 2009, Berk was involved in a bicycle accident in which he suffered a cervical fracture and an incomplete spinal lesion While Berk was hospitalized and recovering, his position was temporarily filled by thenChair of the Department of Medicine Mark Taubman. In January, Taubman was announced as the tenth dean of the Medical Center. According to Chief Medical Officer and URMC Vice President Ray Mayewski, Berk’s return to the post went as well as could be expected. “We are delighted … The transition occurred smoothly. We made this change without any great upheaval. Basically speaking, we didn’t miss a step,” Mayewski said. An important factor that motivated Berk to return was the support he received from the Rochester community following the accident. “The support was phenomenal, and played a huge part in my desire to get back because I really wanted to acknowledge all of that support and show them that it made a difference,” Berk said. A UR Web site was created after his accident, through which Berk received more than 4,000 supportive notes. In addition, his daughter was very involved with the “Wishing Well” that was put up in a cafГ© on Elmwood Avenue, where Berk received hundreds more notes. “People also e-mailed me on a regular basis, and it is obvious that the community followed the story very closely, because wherever I go, people recognize me and ask me how I’m doing,” he said. Seeing URMC through the eyes of a patient, Berk has observed firsthand both the positive and negative aspects of the facility, which he says will help guide him in his future plans. “In the first 12 days following the accident, while I was in the ICU, I was very fortunate not to get any pneumonia or any infections, so I think that is a testament to our quality and safety program,” Berk said. “We’ve remarkably decreased the number of See URMC, Page 4 Israel Peace Week comes to UR by Mark fleming Senior Staff Israel Peace Week, a movement co-founded by UR student sophomore Anna Richlin in January, came to the River Campus this week to educate students about Israel’s contributions to peace, along with other information about the nation. “We wanted to make sure that, not from a political side but from a social side, people know about Israel,” she said. Richlin and four other college students — three from the U.S. and one from Canada — came up with the idea of Israel Peace Week Inside this issue: after going to Israel with Hasbara Fellowships in December 2009. Their purpose was to portray a positive side of Israeli society and educate people about it. They created the organization and wrote a mission statement in January and launched their Web site and Facebook group in early February. From there it grew faster than they expected. Since its founding one and a half months ago, Israel Peace Week has expanded to 40 college campuses across the U.S., Canada, England and Australia. Students from many more universities and other community members contacted Israel Peace Week for help hosting their own peace week events. UR Israel Council (URIC) Co-President and sophomore Vered Idan said that Richlin approached URIC in January to collaborate on an event to educate people about Israel’s efforts at peace and contributions to the world in terms of culture, science and technology. “In a lot of people’s minds Israel is correlated with conflict, but [it] is much more than that,” Idan said. Richlin and URIC designed the event to be a series of exhibits about various aspects of Israeli culture, from News: UR Biodiesel rewarded for its efforts Page 3 Page 6 Opinions: Organized religion: good or bad? Page 9 Features: There’s no business like snow business A&E: Eric Hutchinson and Ingrid Michaelson perform Page 13 Page 15 Sports: Spring sports preview innovations in medicine and irrigation to its protection of women’s rights and gay rights. “Israel is not just sand and desert and war,” Richlin said. “It’s so many things that your average UR student wouldn’t know.” For Idan, the expo on Monday was a chance to talk about Israel’s contributions to peace without bringing politics into the equation. “I think a peace fair for Israel is important because Israel is always in the news for some sort of violence,” freshman Marissa BalononRosen, who attended the See MOVEMENT, Page 4 Courtesy of www.rochestercitynewspaper.com CEO of UR Medical Center Brad Berk was welcomed back to work this week after recovering from a bicycle accident last May, which resulted in serious spinal injury. The Editorial Board A View from Abroad: The local debate on mayoral control in Rochester misses the larger issue at hand: poverty. A UR student experiences the modern lifestyle of Amman, Jordan. Opinions: Page 5 Features: Page 12 NEWS Page 2 Five-Day Forecast Thursday Friday Mostly sunny Chance of precipitation: 10% High 32, Low 26 Partly Cloudy Chance of precipitation: 20% High 30, Low 24 Thursday, March 4, 2010 Courtesy of www.weather.com Saturday Sunday Monday Partly cloudy Chance of precipitation: 20% High 36, Low 30 Few snow showers Chance of precipitation: 20% High 37, Low 34 Few snow showers Chance of precipitation: 30% High 41, Low 34 Correction from last week’s issue The Page 1 standalone of the dodgeball tournament did not name the featured player, Freshman Kevin Layden. The photograph was taken by Photography Editor Matt Chin. In last week’s Teacher Feature: Burke Scarbrough on Page 8, it was incorrectly stated that Scarbrough helped to found Rochester’s Martin Luther King High School. Instead, Scarbrough helped to start a new high school in the building where MLK High School formerly operated. It is the policy of the Campus Times to correct all erroneous information as quickly as possible. If you believe you have a correction, please e-mail the Campus Times editor at [email protected]. This Week on Campus Thursday MARCH 4 Clothing exchange Ross Brenneman • Publisher Books stack up in rush rhees Sophomore Juan Robaina joined other UR students, faculty and staff in looking through the selection of books at the Friends of UR Libraries and the River Campus Libraries Spring Book Sale, which takes place in the Hawkins-Carlson room of Rush Rhees Library from Tuesday, March 2 to Wednesday, March 3. Security Update Two suspects caught lurking By Justin Fleming News Editor 1. Ban forms were issued to two of three suspicious individuals who were attempting to enter Gilbert and Tiernan Halls on Saturday, Feb. 27. According to UR Security Investigator Daniel Lafferty, while a student reported this behavior to UR Security, the three suspects left the area. Security spotted the suspects crossing the pedestrian footbridge and alerted officers on the other side. Two of the three suspects were stopped by the officers. The suspects claimed that they had just finished writing a paper in the UR Medical Center Edward G. Miner Library and that they were simply cutting through the River Campus. Officers noted, however, that neither of the individuals were carrying any materials that would indicate they were working on a paper. One of the suspects was found to have an undergraduate ID card in his possession, which he said he picked up after the third suspect threw it on the ground. The student to whom the ID belongs said that the card was misplaced earlier this semester. The Rochester Police Department responded to the incident and identified the two suspects. Neither were affiliated with the University, nor would they provide information on the third individual. The suspects were instructed not to return to UR property. 2. Wallet stolen from Gleason Library An undergraduate student reported that items were taken from her wallet while she was studying in Gleason Library on Sunday, Feb. 28. The student claimed that the wallet contained $25 in cash and several personal bank receipts. According to Lafferty, the student reported that she left the wallet unattended while she used the restroom. When she returned, she noticed an individual leaving her work area and that her wallet had been moved from where she had left it. Security officers checked surrounding areas for the suspect but were unable to locate the individual. One passenger was injured and complained of neck pain. Rural Metro and Rochester Police responded and transported the individual to Strong Memorial Hospital. The driver and other passengers were not injured. The vehicle sustained front-end damage, but the light pole was not damaged. 3. Driver hits light pole, one passenger injured An undergraduate student reported that his cell phone was stolen in Hoyt Auditorim on Saturday, Feb. 20, between 9 and 11 p.m. The student said that the phone likely fell out of his pocket. According to Lafferty, several calls were later made from the phone. The victim plans to file a police report at a later time. Fleming is a member of the class of 2013. Information provided by UR Security. At 1:49 a.m., on Saturday, Feb 27, a security officer noticed that a vehicle had jumped the curb of the traffic circle on Wilson Boulevard and Alumni Road and struck a light pole. The driver informed the officer that he had lost control of the vehicle as he drove around the circle. Road conditions at the time of the incident were not of optimal condition, according to Lafferty. 4. Cell phone taken from Hoyt Auditorium 11:00 a.m. - 3 p.m., Hirst Lounge, Wilson Commons Bring your unwanted clothes and exchange them for new clothes available at Grassroots’ Clothing Exchange. Clothing is not for sale — clothes for clothes exchanges only. Fulbright information session 3 p.m., Stackle Room, Wilson Commons Learn more about studying, researching or teaching English abroad as a Fulbright Scholar. Juniors, Take Five Scholars, Kauffman Entrepreneurial Year Scholars and graduate students should begin the application process this semester for the 2010-11 competition cycle. Neilly Series lecture 7:30 p.m., Hawkins-Carlson Room, Rush Rhees Library Abraham Verghese, the author of the acclaimed non-fiction work, “My Own Country,” will lecture on his experiences as a physician treating people with HIV in Johnson City, Tenn. The Neilly Series is supported by the Andrew H. Neilly and Janet Dayton Neilly Endowment and River Campus Libraries at UR. Ishmael Khaldi To speak 7:30 - 8:30 p.m., Gamble Room, Rush Rhees Library Ishmael Khaldi, the first Bedouin deputy consul to the state of Israel, is going to speak about his family, his upbringing and his adult life in the Jewish state. Khaldi spent two years living in the San Francisco area working for the Consulate, and now serves under Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman. He is the highest ranking Bedouin in Israeli government. Saturday MARCH 6 HAPPY SPRING BREAK! Roots rock reggae 10 p.m. - 2 a.m., KC Tea & Noodles, Rochester Come hear some Reggae music while eating noodles at KC Tea & Noodles at 363 S. Goodman St., Rochester. This event is sponsored by Lion’s Den Roc and Kinetic Entertainment. There is no cover charge before midnight, and a $10 cover charge after that. tuesday MARCH 9 New Horizons Big Band/ Saxology/ Latin Jazz 3 4 Eastman Music School UR Medical Center 2 Riverview Complex 7-9 p.m., Kilbourne Hall, Eastman School of Music The Eastman Community Music School offers a concert that includes New Horizons Big Band, Saxology and Latin Jazz. The Eastman Community Music School is home to the first New Horizons Band, Orchestra and Chorus, all part of an ensemble program for adults. Since its inception at Eastman, the New Horizons program has spread all over the world. This event is free and open to the public. thursday MARCH 11 Creating inclusive communities 1 5 p.m., Welles-Brown Room, Rush Rhees Library Stanley Byrd is coming to speak at UR about his experiences in the Rochester community as a trainer, facilitator and consultant to more than 25 local agencies on issues of diversity and prejudice reduction. Byrd is a Human Resources Manager for Multicultural Affairs and Inclusion at UR. This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Please e-mail calendar submissions to [email protected]. NEWS Thursday, March 4, 2010 Patent income up By Rebecca Leber tor of the College of Arts, Sciences Managing Editor and Engineering Office of TechEarlier this month, The Asso- nology Transfer Jack Fraser said. ciation of University Technology Not all of the University’s patents Managers released the institutions are put to use, and licensing each that received patent can cost the most royapproximately alty revenue to file, y the numbers $15,000 from licensed due to internal technologies in and filing costs. in early FebruThe process of ary of 2008. filing a patent dollars in licensing revenue for 2008, UR ranked can take sevthe Universities highest amount ever, acin the top 10 eral years to cording to the Association of University for its eighth see through — Technology Managers released data. year, receivingВ anywhere from $72.3 million two to eight in royalties. years. This number Once a patpercent of UR’s 2003-05 research is at its highest ent is filed, the income funded by licensing, according to in University Office of Techthe Office of Technology Transfer. history — alnology Transmost $20 milfer helps pitch lion more than the innovation the amount to established patents were issued to UR in 2008, generated in companies, or which submitted 74 patent applications, 2007. in rarer cases, according to the Office of Technology Many of the helps support highest earna University ing technolostartup, such gies have been developed at the as SiMPore and Virtual Scopics. UR Medical Center — in 2008 When a intellectual property can they were two pediatric vaccines, be put to practical use in a busia cervical cancer vaccine and anti- ness world, though, UR can see body technology applicable to the a generous return, especially on development of new drugs. vaccines. The University may only “Many patents are never licensed, see a percent or two of income, but but sometimes you license one that Fraser said that can translate to is worth a lot of money ...В particular- tens of millions of dollars. ly thatВ happens when it’s a pharmaLeber is a member of ceutical or a vaccine,” Deputy Directhe class of 2011. B 72.3 million 10 25 Page 3 Biodiesel wins national award By Emily Berkowitz News Editor The efforts of UR students to find a solution to a common environmental obstacle were rewarded when their project, UR Biodiesel, received the Excellence in Innovations for Sustainability Award by the Association of College Unions International (ACUI). UR Biodiesel is a project created by undergraduate students to turn extra fryer oil from dining service centers into biodiesel to fuel a campus shuttle bus. The award was presented to UR on March 2, at the ACUI’s 2010 Annual Conference in New York City. According to the ACUI, the Excellence in Innovations for Sustainability Award is given to the student group that has the most groundbreaking and environmentally sustainable methods of solving an environmental problem. In addition, the ACUI requires that the winner of this award possess the capability to impact and positively influence the surrounding community with a project. “I was honored to win this award,” Chair of UR Biodiesel, member of Engineers for a Sustainable World and freshman Ellen Sadri said. “The project that won [last year] was the student union of [the University of Vermont], which was built to lead standards, so it is flattering to be compared to them.” In the fall of 2006, alumni Chris Babcock, David Borrelli, Dan Fink and current Students’ Association President and senior Eric Weissmann founded the project. They submitted their business proposal to Rochester’s Charles and Janet Forbes Entrepreneurial Competition, which included a way to save UR money by turning excess vegetable oil from the River Campus dining centers into useable biodiesel fuel. Before UR Biodiesel, the University was paying to have waste from the dining halls removed. Their proposal won second place in the competition, which prompted Babcock, Borrelli, Fink and Weissmann to continue on with UR Biodiesel. “The most important goal we had was to make sure that UR Biodiesel did not end with our graduation,” Weissmann said. Over the course of the last four years, this goal has been realized with a business proposal that has transformed into a fully functional operation. UR Biodiesel is now situated in a lab that makes 30 gallons of biodiesel fuel each week. The fuel used by the buses is mixed with diesel at a ratio of 80 percent diesel to 20 percent biodiesel. Not only is this fuel used to power a campus shuttle, but two University contractors, the AEY and P&J construction companies, also use the biodiesel to fuel their on-site equipment. In addition, the construction on Library Road last week used 50 gallons of UR’s biodiesel fuel. “UR Biodiesel is one of the few groups that connects the students, Facilities, Transportation and faculty,” Sadri said. “This has taught the separate groups to work together toward one goal, which in turn improves the health of our school.” In addition, UR Biodiesel encompasses an important academic component. More specifically, Ben Ebenhack, who is a senior lecturer in the Chemical Engineering department and the project’s faculty adviser, allows his students to participate in experiments in his lab to test the science behind the biodiesel project. All the progress that UR Biodiesel has made thus far motivates its founding and current members to continue to improve and push it toward becoming a well-established project at UR. “I can only hope that continuing leadership decides on a direction for the project to take [and] that they establish goals of their own,” Weissmann said. The current UR Biodiesel members have echoed Weissmann’s wishes. “I am hoping to find more sponsors to extend the influence of UR Biodiesel and to make us more well-known [in the community],” Sadri said. “In future years we are hoping to start a second lab producing ethanol fuel. We are actually making a difference with every gallon we produce.” Berkowitz is a member of the class of 2012. Courtesy of www.urbiodiesel.blogspot.com From left: Facilities employee Eris Oleksyn, senior Eric Weissmann, Dave Borrelli ’09 and Dan Fink ’09 founded UR Biodiesel in 2006. UR Debate finishes season strong The HIV Vaccine Trials Unit at the University of Rochester is now The Rochester Victory Alliance. Healthy, HIV-negative gay and bisexual men, ages 18-45, are needed for local studies. t7BDDJOFT$"//05DBVTF)*7JOGFDUJPO t7PMVOUFFSTJOMPDBMTUVEJFTXJMMCFQBJEBO BWFSBHFPGGPSQBSUJDJQBUJOH So вЂ�MAN UP’ and Volunteer for Victory today! AN HIV VACCINE IN OUR LIFETIME By Justin Fleming News Editor The UR Debate team had a solid showing at their regional championship last weekend, which included several members making elimination rounds and one earning a Top Speaker award. UR participates in two distinct debate formats — Policy and Worlds. In Policy debate, one topic is debated for the entire academic year, and teams must do extensive research throughout the year to develop their argument on the subject. In Worlds format, on the other hand, a different topic is chosen for each event, and teams have just 15 minutes to prepare their argument. The University fields novice and JV teams in both types, and Varsity teams in the Policy format. In both Policy and Worlds, members debate in teams of two. In the Policy format, all the novice teams and one JV team made it to the elimination rounds of the regional championships. Two of the novice teams took second and third place in the tournament. In Worlds, which the University has only been participating in for two years, all three teams were just one ballot away from the elimination rounds. UR Debate Director Ken Johnson expects that, with another year of practice under their belts, UR’s Worlds teams will make it to the elimination rounds next year. Ranked No. 11 in the nation coming into the championship, the performance of the team has vaulted UR Debate into the top 10 teams in the nation. According to the latest National Debate Tournament rankings, UR is now the No. 7 team in the country. Freshman Sean Delehanty won the Top Speaker award at the regional championship, which included teams from across the northeast. “The speaker award was defiantly gratifying, but I know that my own success is directly tied to all the help the team has given me,” Delehanty said of the award. Johnson stressed that one of the keys to the UR Debate’s success is the fact that, unlike other nationally ranked schools, the team is open to anyone. “The beauty of the UR team is that we are a big tent,” Johnson said. “We are one of the largest teams in the nation and we take anybody, even people without previous experience.” Even with its young team, UR Debate continues to improve in rankings. Last year, the team ended the season ranked 40th in the nation. “That number doesn’t sound great, but everybody worked hard and did their best,” Johnson said. “It has been great to see the team mature and put out the effort this year.” The team’s accomplishments at the regional championship are by no means the only successes UR Debate has had this year. Back in October, a team consisting of Delahantey and freshman Muran Zhu defeated Cornell University to win a tournament at the University of Vermont. Team President and senior Rona Yang and sophomore Vijay Kasschau also won the Varsity division over Vermont at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst tournament. In addition, there were a handful of Best Speaker awards won throughout the season. According to Johnson, debate can be much more than just an academic experience. “Often, a debate partner becomes a friend for life,” he said. “Debaters learn loads of lifetime skills, like critical thinking, [effective] research and teamwork.” Fleming is a member of the class of 2013. NEWS Page 4 URMC: CEO gains a new perspective Continued from Page 1 pneumonia cases for people on ventilators, and I didn’t get pneumonia despite the fact that I was at great risk.” Berk highly recommended Strong’s menu items — citing the Pasta Primavera and the cinnamon buns as his favorites. Berk highlighted the nursing staff as another strong point of URMC. “Strong has an hourly rounding in nursing which is really great for patients,” Berk said. “One area we are always working on is communication among teams. Since there are several teams taking care of you, it is difficult to keep track of all of them. Nurses and physicians put their names on whiteboards everyday, so I think the communication has been getting better.” Additionally, Berk said he would like to see more artwork, because he claimed the environment at the Medical Center is sterile. Berk added, “The Medical Center needs to change from service to care, because the kind of service we provide is care,” he said. Berk claimed this included both care for patients and care for the employees, so that everyone feels respected and valued for their work. In addition, courage is an important aspect of patient care, both courage on the part of the patients and on the part of physicians and nurses, because it is vital that they know how to deal with difficult, emotional situations. The final major concept that Berk believes is crucial in patient care is “the power of the healing touch,” meaning that it is important for the caregiver inspire confidence and comfort, rather than to just do what they are supposed to do. To Berk, this is one of the strongest ways to promote a stronger patient-caregiver relationship. AspartofhisfutureplansfortheUR Medical Center, Berk hopes to foster more compassionate relationships between caregivers and patients. “Being compassionate has an enormous impact in how people are healed,” Berk said. Mayewski embodied the excitement surrounding Berk’s return at the Medical Center. “We look forward to his continued leadership and we are optimistic [about the future].” Barbosu is a member of the class of 2010. Continued from Page 1 Communications manages the enterprise. The site operates by sorting press releases from the individual institutions into various categories: earth and environment, health and medicine, science and technology and society and culture. The Web site is not an original reporting organization as much as a hub for communicating research — one that the Russell Group looks to utilize effectively. “So much research activity these days is done corroboratively across continents, so it makes sense for the U.S. and U.K. to collaborate on communicating this research,” Warr said. Head of Communications for the Russell Group Donald MacLeod agreed. “Good science is international so the decision by Futurity to expand outside North America is logical as well as very welcome from the point of view of British universities and British readers,” he said. Still, the primary goal of Futurity is to fill a void in reporting scientific research to large audiences. Unlike most major media outlets, Futurity is focused on research alone, and its backers hopes to use this to make the Web site popular. “Futurity is one of the interesting experiments taking place now in the media as everyone tries to adapt to the steep decline in traditional newspapers and magazines,” MacLeod said. To the extent that Futurity is looking for a consistent readership, there has been steady success. According to a Feb. 23 press release, Futurity has been visited over 400,000 times since its launch. But to the extent that Futurity will find footing among wider audiences with broad interests — never one of its expressed goals — success may be more elusive. Particularly unique research tends to be picked up by the larger media outlets — indeed, a New York Times assessment of online article popularity suggests such research stories tend to be most popular. Yesterday, for instance, both The New York Times and Futurity covered a University of Michigan study about dinosaureating snakes named Macrostoma. Both Futurity and the Times provide online links to the original research, meaning Futurity is bypassed altogether if a story is accessed on the Times Web site. The effect on the research institutions is a moot point — they gain attention either way. This may, however, diminish the ability of Futurity itself to become a destination, in turn making it difficult for less flashy research to gain recognition. “We’ve always looked at Futurity as an experiment — one that is gaining traction,” Futurity Editor and Assistant Director of Public Relations Jenny Leonard said. “[UR] has helped foster that experiment from the very beginning. I’m really proud to work on the project, and look forward to seeing it develop in the months ahead.” If Futurity can gain broader public recognition, though, the benefits to the participating institutions are undeniable. “Scientists publish their work in learned, peer-reviewed journals that will never be read by the general public in a million years but ultimately they depend on the public for funding one way or another,” MacLeod said. “So the more their stories can be told in an accessible way, the better for science and the better for all of us.” Brenneman is a Take-Five-Scholar. Continued from Page 1 event on Monday, said. “It’s good to know that Israel is out there for peace around the world.” Israel Peace Week at UR unfurled with only one minor problem. One promotional flyer showed a woman in a bikini standing next to a woman wearing a veil and listed rights that Israeli women have. “Just like American women, Israeli women have all of these freedoms. Women in the surrounding Muslim countries are still waiting,” the flier said. Several members of the Muslim Students’ Association found the flier’s wording offensive and mentioned it at the group’s meeting. MSA then contacted URIC and proposed that the two groups meet to discuss the issue. “We didn’t appreciate the message they were putting out,” MSA Publicity Chair and junior Saleha Vandal said. They chose to meet in Douglass Dining Center, an open environment, to resolve the issue. Three members of MSA’s and URIC’s executive boards attended, as well as one member of Students for Interfaith Action, to explain their positions and reach a solution. “[URIC] felt that as a cultural group they had to confront stereotypes, so they understood,” Vandal said. In response to the meeting, URIC wrote a letter of apology to MSA members. Both groups said that they were satisfied with the way they resolved the matter. “There was no yelling, it was completely peaceful,” Vandal said. “We were very comfortable.” Richlin said that she viewed the meeting as a success and that it represented the values of Israel Peace Week. “This is the mission of Israel Peace Week — to make peace,” Richlin said. “It showed that this initiative can help to foster peace.” Fleming is a member of the class of 2010. Expansion: Futurity acquires global partner Movement: Groups reach peaceful solution Thursday, March 4, 2010 Campus Briefs National agency awards UR research contract UR Research, a program initially designed to provide researchers a place to digitally store their work, has been expanded to include new features for faculty, students and the general public. Features offered by the new software include the ability for researchers to securely store files digitally, authorize manuscripts and showcase their work. The system also allows for researchers to preserve the formatting of their documents, which is often lost when files are stored or shared using other methods such as Google Documents. The program also allows faculty members and graduate students to create a customized researcher page, on which they can upload their resumes and research. The changes to UR Research were initiated because of studies conducted on researching faculty members and graduate students to find out why they weren’t using the old system. The studies revealed that researchers needed a way to share their work, save different versions of manuscripts and safely share their data. According to the team at the University’s River Campus li- braries that led the changes, the revitalized program tackles all of these needs. “It’s a win-win relationship,” Suzanne Bell, the librarian charged with introducing the system, said. “Researchers get the tailor-made functions and online storage they need, Internet users get free and open access to academic research and priceless collections.” National agency awards UR research contract UR has been selected to receive a $3.9 million grant this year to research quick and accurate ways of measuring radiation exposure. Over the next four years, the funding could reach up to $42 million. The contract was handed down by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), with the intent of improving emergency care in the event of an act of terrorism or a nuclear accident. The BARDA contract is also leading to some local job growth, as lab technicians, researchers and administrators are being hired for the project. Justin Fleming is a member of the class of 2013. Information courtesy of UR Communications. In Rochester Ford drops out of Democratic Primary election Harold Ford, Jr., former Tennessee representative, who spoke at UR last week, has recently decided not to challenge Senator Kristen Gillibrand in the Democratic primary this coming September. Ford cited his belief that his presence in the Democratic primary would damage the party as a reason to withdraw his candidacy. He also stated that the Democratic Party had tried to bully him out of the race. Despite this claim by Ford, public opinion polls show that Ford was behind Gillibrand in the race. In addition to speaking at UR during his visit to Rochester last month, Ford met with Mayor Duffy and showed his support of Duffy’s plan for the city school system. Even with Ford’s withdrawal from the race, a Democratic primary will still take place next September. Labor activist Jonathan Tasini will oppose Gillibrand in the race. RIT wins Google virtual tour contest Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) finished ahead of four other finalists in a Google virtual tour contest. They received almost 30,000 votes from online voters. As part of their win, Google Maps will send its Street View crew to the RIT campus, where an onboard camera will take pictures that will be posted online as a virtual tour. This will allow anyone in the world to take a virtual tour of the RIT campus. Emily Berkowitz is a member of the class of 2012. Information was compiled from the Democrat and Chronicle. Opinions Thursday, March 4, 2010 Page 5 EDITORIAL BOARD Traveling plans Poverty harms RCSD Each spring and winter recess, students struggle to find cheap and convenient transportation when they return home. Unlike other schools, UR has not managed to find a successful way to provide affordable and easy transportation during major breaks. SUNY Binghamton University, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Cortland University and Cornell University — among a handful of other upstate universities — charter buses from a private company called College Express to New Jersey, New York City and Long Island at prices as low as $25. The Office of Parking and Transportation and the Students’ Association Projects and Services Committee can look into this, as well as any other possibilities, as a cheaper option to the $92 fare of the current bus service, the newly started My Bus Home program. For the first time this year, a third party charter bus company coordinated with the Office of Parent Relations to provide buses to New England and New York City at prices that ranged depending on the number of students who signed up in advance. While other schools have provided this service successfully and cheaply, UR is only now seeing its first successful bus launch — to New England this Friday. In the winter, My Bus Home canceled two buses leaving from UR because of a lack of interest in the event. In part, the cancellation occurred because information about the program was not publicized until late November. By the time the service was fully made public, most students had already made other traveling arrangements in order to return home. Another system that has been set up is Road Trip, an online ride request and offer board for car pools to and from a given city during spring and winter break. However, the system is underused and often consists of a disproportionate amount of ride requests to offers. For both My Bus Home and Road Trip, the Students’ Association, which was already advertising the programs, can take charge of better publicizing what transportation opportunities UR has — early in the semester and often. One likely reason for the meager interest is simply that students are unaware of their options. If the University sees a need to make students’ travels easier and less expensive, it should consider providing stronger support for such programs. Once they are made available, it is the SA’s responsibility to get the information out to students in an effective manner. Last week, 19 area college presidents, including UR President Joel Seligman, endorsed Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy’s plan for mayoral control of the Rochester City School District. The presidents cited Rochester’s perpetually low graduation rates as a call to action to improve schools. We understand Seligman’s desire to take action, because a school district that graduates half of its students is a huge liability to the city’s future. The concept of school reform is a noble cause and Duffy has good intentions. However, we are concerned that the terms of the mayoral control debate are overlooking a much larger issue, poverty, that plays a significant role in the limitations of a school system. The keys to success for any child in school lie far beyond the walls of their classrooms. The lack of educational resources (computers, books) at home leads to poor performance in the class; children hungry for knowledge are unable to capitalize on their enthusiasm to learn. Additionally, there is a high correlation between family income and education success — students from financially secure families perform better in school than students from poorer families. All of these symptoms are fundamental issues of poverty, and its prevalence in Rochester is undermining the success of its students. Some of these issues are workable. For example, community centers have been built alongside schools, giving students a controlled outlet to gain helpful knowledge at the end of the day. More community centers attached to schools would be a great start to channeling the enthusiasm of our youth. There is at least one positive aspect of this debate. As evidenced at the teach-in a few weeks ago, many in the community, who are strong advocates that poverty is the rate-limiting factor in school success, are outraged at this proposal. We hope this community passion will give newfound life to the fight against poverty that plagues our city. The issue of mayoral control does not account for this fundamental question of poverty, and until it does, the Rochester City School District will remain in the same perpetual cycle of failure, regardless of who runs it. The above two editorials are published with the express consent of a majority of the editorial board, which consists of the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Opinions Editor and two other editors elected by a majority of the editorial staff. The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board make themselves available to the UR community’s ideas and concerns. E-mail [email protected]. Editorial Observer What we aren’t learning from the news These days, media outlets are faced with a real dilemma — how to stay financially solvent and report the news accurately and with integrity. That these goals conflict with each other has been a well-documented problem in recent years. But after reading The New York Times coverage on recent troop movements in Afghanistan, I think that there is a larger, more urgent problem in media. I don’t believe media outlets leave readers, and viewers, with enough perspective to comprehend the stories. The assumption that media outlets, such as The New York Times, make for an educated readership or viewership is far too generous. And accurate reporting is nothing without an educated populace. But what The New York Times misses out on is perspective. For example, the average reader may not understand the entirety of American history in Afghanistan, dating back to arming Islamic fighters to fight the Soviets in the ’80s. Or, what about the abrupt American withdrawal from the region in 1989, leaving Afghanistan to cope with a bleak economic landscape? The United States has a significant 30 year history in the region, one that has enormous implications for American foreign policy today. The lack of perspective one receives by solely reading news articles on the subject is the basis for an uneducated opinion. Furthermore, this lack of perspective is particularly glaring in the opinions formed by The New York Times Editorial Board in its coverage of the Afghan War. For example, in “Mr. Karzai Relents,” the Times published that, “The next Afghan government has no hope at all unless it is truly committed to rooting out corruption ... and delivering basic services and security to its people.” Yet nowhere in this editorial was it mentioned that the need for these basic services and security is a result of American abandonment of the region in the late ’80s. Here again, the Times is guilty of a lack of perspective. Whether the Editorial Board agrees or disagrees about America’s course of action in the region is a moot point — the argument would be stronger if it provided more perspective. It is clear that the constraints of a newspaper, and its need to be current, limits the depth of both news and editorial board articles. So if newspapers aren’t the way to learn the complete story behind the news, then what is? A striking alternative was discussed by the President of the Global Americana Institute Juan Cole on his blog, Informed Comment. Cole, an expert on the Middle East, noted that al-Jazeera, the Arabic news network, often provides a historical spot in its TV news programs, providing the crucial context that seems to be missing in other news mediums. A similar informational session would be a welcome addition to the American media. According to www.tvbythenumbers.com, an average of 1,761,000 people tuned in on a nightly basis to the 8 p.m. cable TV news shows on the four main networks — CNN, headline news, Fox News and MSNBC Conor Willis • Features Editor — between Dec. 28, 2009, and January 29. Imagine a five-minute history segment that changes and runs three times a week, over the course of that span. Providing an objective (or as objective as you can get with MSNBC and Fox) history spot three times a week could definitely help the public form an educated opinion about the complex world situations in which America finds itself. And after all, accurate and in depth coverage would be a waste without the benefit of an educated populace. Willis is a member of the class of 2011. Campus Times Editorial Cartoon Serving the University of Rochester community since 1873. Editor-in-chief Managing editor news editors Emily berkowitz Justin Fleming opinions editor Javier jaramillo* Features editors jerome nathaniel* Conor Willis* A&E Editors Becky Rosenberg Jason Silverstein Sports Editor Brandon Manrique comics editor Tim Minahan PUBLISHER Willie Clark* rebecca leber* Presentation Editor Cheryl Seligman Photography Editors Matt Chin Leah Friess Copy Editors Caitlin Olfano William Penney Staff Illustrator Jordan Cicoria Business Manager Liz Bremer * Denotes members of the Editorial Board Ross Brenneman Wilson Commons 102 University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627 Office: (585) 275-5942 • Fax: (585) 273-5303 www.campustimes.org • [email protected] Jordan Cicoria Staff Illustrator Full responsibility for material appearing in this publication rests with the Editor-in-Chief. Opinions expressed in columns, letters or comics are not necessarily the views of the editors or the University of Rochester. The Campus Times is printed weekly on Thursdays throughout the academic year, except around and during university holidays. The first copy is free. The Campus Times is published on the World Wide Web at www.campustimes.org and is updated Thursdays following publication. All materials herein are copyright В© 2010 by the Campus Times. OPINIONS Page 6 Thursday, March 4, 2010 “Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.” — John Adams Point CounterPoint Dangers of religion BY Michael Shteyn The majority of the UR’s student body is composed of scientifically devout, Epicurusabiding, sacrilegious heathens. And, really, in today’s culture, that’s pretty acceptable. Certainly, few are overt, vehement deriders of organized religion and it’s popular to proclaim just to be religiously inactive. Publicly, it’s pretty respectable to be tolerant of other people’s religious views and just to be passive when it comes to any of the countless outrageous rituals we accept as rational in the 21st century. But is it harmless to be just passively irreligious? Sure, Bill Maher may be infamous for his polemics, but his Meliora Weekend routine last semester wasn’t merely a stab at Islam for the sake of humor — he posed some very significant questions that the tolerant agnostics are too afraid to approach. Maybe it’s necessary to take another look at the impact that organized religion has had on a global scale. The most pertinent differences among humans arise from ancestral culture. Furthermore, most culture is unified by a fundamental religious ethical structure. It must be understood that this structure is inherently flawed. Above all, organized religion is the epitome of counterproductivity — although a significant common goal is man’s unification, religion is inherently exclusionary and elitist. How many conflicts have been the consequences of religious intolerance? While the Crusades and Inquisition were long ago, all around the world organized religion is the source of bloody massacres and genocides — before our very eyes today. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1992, the ethno-religious differences between those previously united by the state finally became recognized. A religious genocide ensued. By 1995, tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men, women and children were mercilessly massacred by the Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs in an attempt to “purify” the land. It should be mentioned that the Croats, Serbs and Bosnians speak virtually the same language and have nearly identical ethnic roots. This genocide occurred in your lifetime. It should not even be necessary to elabo- Defense of religion BY Naomi Ashan rate on the 6 million Jewish people murdered And Tamara Slater in the Holocaust, the unregulated Jewish When thinking about the role religion discrimination within the Soviet Union or the continual persecution they face in the plays in the world, it is important to look beyond examples of religious conflict. This Middle East today. It’s time to appropriately hold organized is not to say that religious differences do not religion accountable for the sustenance of lead to contention, because they sometimes these divisive tactics. Acceptance of religion’s do. It is to say that religions do not inherinherent insularity is only perpetuating its ently and inevitably lead to conflict, and disease. I am not advocating that we have religious division is not necessarily violent to be intolerant of other people’s spiritual or negative as a force in the world. In fact, beliefs. Rather, we should be intolerant of religious institutions play a catalytic role in people organizing to propel the segregation social progress, serving as a common unifyof a species of equally respectful, religious ing force to mobilize people. There is not a single violent conflict that individuals. This means drastically reforming our conception of organized religion’s fre- can be explained in purely religious terms. Individuals within a society are far too comquently violent role in our communities. As often as many progressive religions plex to ascribe any specific behaviors solely to the influence of one force. Socioeconomic, deny it, a central implicacultural and political factors deeply tion of any organized impact both the role religious practice is and development of that the faithless are religion — it is never inferior to the faithful. the sole cause of any Proselytizers would succession of events. hardly have a case if Overall, religion has this were not true. This been a force for good. Many instilled superiority acts in Jordan Cicoria of the great social activists in no other way than to further Staff Illustrator recent times have been deeply amplify people’s differences and encourage divisiveness. Whether or not inspired by religious faith and communities. a specific God exists is not the issue that This long list of leaders includes the Rev. Dr. fosters segregation. The people’s treatment Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Mohandas Ganof this concept is. I’ll admit it — for the longest time I thought dhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Dalai Lama. that militant atheism was just as obnoxious Not only are these individuals all activists, as the proselytizing religious fanatics. Since but many of them collaborated with each childhood, I’ve always just been contently other in fighting for various social causes non-theistic and the opposite of aggressive in their communities. Religion can also be a powerful tool for in this respect. The most important thing to recognize is that you are not wagering organizing. The Industrial Areas Foundation anyone else’s life in being anti-religious. (IAF) is a very powerful and secular network The unified faithful are, however. Being of grassroots community organizing affilipassive about a topic that is costing human ates. IAF came to Rochester in the weeks lives every day is nothing less than a moral following the riots of July 1964 to help the atrocity. We are permitting the Holocaust. African-American community organize. We are allowing Yugoslavian genocide. We In Rochester and all around the country, the IAF has often worked with religious are letting Al-Queda slide. It’s time to be brave and take a stand communities to produce change, taking against divisiveness — it is time to be vocal advantage of previously existing structures about the devastation that organized religion of unity and organization. As this outreach demonstrates, religion clearly offers utility is causing our global society. Shteyn is a member of to diverse societies by spiritually empowerthe class of 2013. ing — and physically organizing — people who need to make their voices heard. Religion does not simply increase cohesion within groups that already derive unity from other sources. It can also be an interface for solidarity and amity that is indiscriminate to divisions such as ethnicity, race, land, language and economic standing. Recent examples include the outpouring of support from religious communities to areas ravaged by natural disaster — regardless of who would benefit. Religions have traditionally offered services to promote literacy, economic development and access to medical care. Faith can also drive science and innovation, as the improvement of the human condition is a goal shared by many religions. Because of its relevance to understanding people and their behavior, religion offers an additional bridge between the known and unknown. As instruments of academic examination, faithbased histories and paradigms can provide insight into other disciplines such as history, psychology and other social sciences. Conflict on some level often predicates learning and change. A leading theory in social psychology is that of cognitive dissonance, the motivation to reduce the uncomfortable feeling of holding two conflicting ideas simultaneously by changing or rationalizing attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Dialogue across lines of religious divergence offers a platform for that kind of growth. In fact, to deny conflict in all forms is to deny the beauty of human diversity and community. Philip Hellmich, Senior Officer for Strategic Philanthropy at Search for Common Ground, noted that when conflict “is approached constructively, it is an engine of growth and transformation.” As social beings we must learn from each other in order to grow as people and as a society. In this pluralistic world, religion is a source of diversity and we must hesitate to assign too much of society’s problems on this vast and complex category. The challenge of our time is not to eliminate our differences, but rather to utilize and appreciate them. Written on behalf of Students for Interfaith Action. Ashan is a member of the class of 2011. Slater is a member of the class of 2010. The filibuster: A problem that needs solving BY Mario Morales One reason for American resentment towards Congress, and one reason Barack Obama’s promises of greater transparency in legislation and government resonated so well with the voting public, is the arcane set of rules, regulations and stipulations that govern debate in the House and the Senate. The latter is where the filibuster has come in for some severe criticism lately, given its use by both Democrats and Republicans in recent years to delay the other party’s agenda from coming to the floor. Likewise, many have criticized the wonderfully named “Mae West hold,” recently used by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) to block federal appointments to various offices in his state until he received proper quid pro quo — in the form of a military base. Then there’s the case of Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), whose antics on the Senate floor are possibly the greatest case of childish over- webpoll Does UR do enough to promote the arts on the River Campus? reaction since Congressman Preston Brooks felt it would be beneath him to actually duel Senator Charles Sumner. Rather than allow Congress to extend unemployment benefits two days before they were set to expire, Bunning stood his ground, responding to the pleas of his colleagues with “tough shit,” and had the gall to complain about missing a Kentucky basketball game while doing it. Obviously obstructionism is a huge problem in modern American politics, especially because the voting coalitions viable in Kennedy’s or Johnson’s days are no longer present in the current parties. They are divided sharply not only by economic but also by social ideology. The inner workings of the Senate have been thrown into greater relief now that the Democratic majority in the Senate has had particularly uphill battles in its attempts to pass the President’s agenda. This includes defections from its own party line, the curious case of Benjamin Nelson Not enough. The UR needs some culture shock. Just right. Good job, UR! Too much. Stop wasting money on trivialities. (D-NE) and a streak of Republican holds and filibusters — the latter of which had already broken all previous records back in December 2009, according to remarks made by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). Of course, given that a three-fifths majority is required to change Senate rules, and that both parties are terrified of being completely shut out of the legislative process once in the minority — the case for debate reform is far more easily argued than finished. Aside from ideological convictions and pork-barrel politics, there may yet be another reason why senators in recent times feel far more willing to use the filibuster. It is no longer required of them to actually speak against any bill on the floor, but merely to make the majority leader aware that they intend to filibuster it. Debate is immediately brought to a grinding halt unless sixty votes can be scrounged up for cloture. In typical Senate fashion, this rule change was a 61% 22% 17% win-win situation for everyone, except the electorate: Filibustering senators no longer had to risk their precious vocal chords or sleep in shifts, and likewise, the rest of the august chamber no longer had to hang around and listen to them. Maybe what the Senate needs, to get over its love of obstruction, is a return to core debate principles. Legislative minorities play a valuable role in moderating political agendas, but they should not be permitted to obstruct them wholesale through notes to the majority leader’s desk. Whichever party is in the opposition, it should be forced to debate legislation on the floor, or failing that, at least to take the floor. Perhaps then, to paraphrase H.L. Mencken, Americans will find out which senators are the scoundrels, which are the idiots and just how much they’re all poltroons. Morales is a member of the class of 2011. Vote Online at campustimes.org Next week’s question: Does UR produce too much garbage? Thursday, March 4, 2010 OPINIONS Page 7 Setting better priorities than Joe Stack BY Diana Duarte Two weeks ago, Joe Stack, a 53-year-old software engineer, posted his suicide note in the early morning, lit his home on fire and left to fly his airplane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas. Why did he do it? Beyond the faith that we put in government control of our money, the answer to this question reflects the poor choice of putting money before all other things in life. Why is it a bad choice to trust our government with our financial future? Stack’s suicide note reveals that he ultimately felt like the world’s biggest sucker for believing his government to be a fair system, one that not only guaranteed political and financial freedom, but also rewarded hard work. In his note, he named his dilemma “the real American nightmare,” adding, “It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie.” Last week, CNN’s Lisa Sylvester interviewed a man named Paul Dubosz who worked over 35 years in the auto parts industry. When his company went bankrupt, he discovered his pension, taken over by the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, had been reduced by over 30 percent. He said, “I felt betrayed ... mostly because I put 37 years in with the company: following the rules, doing everything I should, and then … I found out that for the rest of my life things would be changed.” It is only natural that feelings of gullibility, betrayal and devastation arise when two-thirds of your life is spent working tirelessly for an elusive goal. Stack is an extreme example, but he represents the typical thinking of our parents. The traditional American dream is that if you work hard enough, you can go from rags to riches. This was the dream of our parents, but they added, “Retire and enjoy the last 15 to 20 years of your life.” Our generation would be naГЇve if we believed our government would be holding financial security for us in the future. Our nation today stands as the following: pensions are a thing of the past, stay-at-home wives are a rarity and Generations X and Y will be lucky if Social Security is still around when they retire. And if it is, it will not be enough to sustain them — they will need much more than a 401K plan to pay their bills when they retire. Some people argue it is important to have faith in our government so that there isn’t anarchy. While it is foolish to trust in our current government given its past record, we don’t need to resort to anarchy for a new system — just a wave of new mentality. Our generation should observe Stack’s essential flaw: He idolized money. His money was the ultimate marker of life’s success. Stack’s suicide note makes it apparent that he based his entire life on what money the government did or didn’t give him. When the government took his idol, he lost his mind and took his life, along with the life of IRS employee Vernon Hunter. Stack is a warning that when we centralize our life on money, we become undone. Nothing in this world is worth killing someone for. Stack has taught us two things: Our generation cannot depend on the government for our money, and we cannot rely on money for our happiness. Just as we will need to base our retirement on several different sources, we should base our happiness on several different sources as well. Do not put your eggs in one basket, especially the wrong one. Just as our politicians have separated church and state, our generation must separate our lives from the constraints posed by money and state. We cannot allow the government to rule our lives and drive us to such desperation that we commit violence. Joe Stack is what happens when the pillar of your life is wrong. We can never feel safe. Look at Haiti and Chile — my friend’s family was in Haiti, and my entire family is in Chile. Our generation knows what happens when you base your life on things that in reality aren’t important. So what is important? Your family, your loved ones. If you lose your job, your money, your home, what will you have left? What is truly yours? In the end, money is only worth having if you have a family or loved one to spend it with. Duarte graduated in 2009. Sports stadiums: Who should bear the costs? BY Amir Khan Due to the economic recession, some state and city governments are cutting spending on essential public services such as education and mass transit. Yet in major sports venues across the United States, tax dollars are being used to subsidize the costs of building stadiums for professional teams. According to the Daily News, the sports stadium for America’s richest professional sports franchise, the New York Yankees, cost $1.5 billion to build. Four-hundred million dollars of the payment came from taxpayers in the form of subsidies. Another $1.5 million of New York state tax revenue was used to build the parking garages. Furthermore, city and state taxpayers will forgo up to $7.5 million annually in lost taxes due to the sale of $225 million in tax-exempt bonds, authorized in October 2007, by the New York City Industrial Development Agency to finance construction and renovation of the parking garages. In nearby New Jersey, taxpayers are paying $330 million in subsidies for the construction of the new Giants-Jets stadium. Across the country in Texas, billionaire owner Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys decided to replace Texas Stadium with a new stadium, which cost $1.15 billion to construct. To help fund this, the city of Arlington approved an increase of the city’s sales tax by 0.5 percent, the hotel occupancy tax by 2 percent and the costs are little or nothing, and thus may be worthy of community-wide support. Nearby car rental tax by 5 percent. Some officials question whether subsidiz- businesses such as bars and restaurants will ing stadiums for private gain is consistent also be boosted by increased stadium attenwith the goal of aiding “public” infrastruc- dance. Furthermore, jobs in construction and ture projects. New York State Assembly- dependent businesses would be created by man Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) subsidizing stadiums. But Coates’ analysis shows it is clear that protested, arguing, “Why are we funding not all citizens in a community benefit from stadiums when we can’t subsidizing a stadium. The money spent fund the MTA and we’re largely translates into salaries for wealthy cutting back on city athletes, many of whom live hospitals?” Officials outside the city where they such as NYC Mayor play. High-income indiMichael Bloomberg viduals generally spend and other proponents a smaller fraction of of funding stadiums their income than lowcounter that stadiand middle-income ums significantly people. Much of the contribute to the spending by profesvitality of the losional athletes occal economy. curs in a different Analysis of Jordan Cicoria community than where they this debate was undertaken Staff Illustrator earned it. As a result, the money by Dennis Coates, professor of economics at the University of Maryland. spent to finance the stadium does not circuThe research determined the consequences late as widely or abundantly as it would if of stadium construction and franchise it were paid to people with less wealth and relocations and incorporated yearly obser- more attachment to the city. An important aspect to consider in this vations on personal income, employment issue is the opportunity cost. In other words, and wages. Supporters argue that stadiums some- what could the tax dollars used to subsidize times host public events at which admission the stadiums be used for instead? The fund- ing for stadiums does not come directly out of an existing government budget but rather from a new source of revenue, like special taxes on tickets or add-ons to the local sales tax. These additional taxes reduce the disposable income of local citizens — taking away money they could spend elsewhere. Another opportunity cost is that such taxes could alternatively be used to fund services that will benefit the public, such as health care, disability support, education and mass transit. Critics often decry a public health care option as “socialism.” Yet, why are professional sport teams, which are private businesses, benefitting from public tax dollars when some average citizens can barely afford the price of a ticket? This is socialism to benefit the already wealthy. Moreover, it is not impossible for teams to finance their own stadiums. In Washington, Miami, Charlotte and San Francisco, owners have built state-of-the-art stadiums with their own money. Although there may be benefits in subsidizing professional sports venues, the money should be used where the benefit is greatest, namely public services. State and local governments should keep this in mind before pledging millions of dollars to fund the next new stadium project. Khan is a member of the class of 2012. BY Matthew Dawidowicz Anyone following politics today has probably noticed the bitter partisanship and ideological intensity preventing any sort of agreement in Washington. Some people wish we could go back to the days of parties working together flawlessly as U.S. representatives first and partisan hacks second. But there is one big problem. Historical trends have culminated in this current Congress to create these unbridgeable disagreements that cannot be undone, at least not without some highly improbable intervention. Anyone who doesn’t know history but follows current politics today will be beyond shocked at this next fact: The Southeastern United States, especially the deepest, poorest, most racist parts of the Deep South — today the base of the modern Republican Party, was once the most solidly monolithic supporter of the Democratic Party. That’s right: Reactionary racists like Strom Thurmond, David Duke, Jesse Helms and George Wallace were once the proudest Democrats that could ever be. The Republicans, the party of Lincoln, had virtually no presence in the South whatsoever — after all, the Republicans were the party of “Northern Aggression.” And because very few blacks and poor whites could vote, it was an all-white block of middle-class and wealthy southern Democratic men (and later women) who voted for Democrats by almost unanimous margins (in South Carolina in 1936, FDR won 98-2). For the political junkies reading, let’s imagine Chuck Schumer and Jeff Sessions being in the same party. You can’t, can you? But that’s exactly what happened during the 1930s and 40s. With liberal northern Democrats and reactionary southern Democrats, these two wings didn’t really get along. As for the Republicans, their base was New England liberals and Midwestern conservatives, and they also didn’t get along. Some of you are probably wondering: If liberals and conservatives existed in both parties, what was the difference between the parties? Here’s the answer: there wasn’t one. Liberal Republicans were sometimes more liberal than liberal Democrats. Bipartisanship occurred when there were really no party differences to begin with. In the 1950s, the parties were so similar and non-polarized that political scientists were concerned that voters were not being offered true choices. Keep in mind, this type of similarity across parties is very abnormal for a two-party system. The idea of a “conservative coalition” spanning across parties was rather unusual, especially for such a long time. What changed it? The spark was the Civil Rights Movement. The southern Democrats were viciously resistant, and so. The parties cannot return to their past. Sure, there are far more conservative Democrats than liberal Republicans, but with blogs, news channels with biased agendas and the endless need to rally your base, we are only bound to become more polarized. Pretty soon, Democrats Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu will be replaced by Republicans, and Republicans Susan Collins and Scott Brown will be replaced by Democrats. Anyone out of step with their constituents’ ideology has a hard time getting re-elected. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who won in a perfect storm of a weak opponent, discontent with Washington and unpredictable turnout patterns in a special election, has a ride for his life in 2012. Any Republican who thinks Brown is presidential material is deluded: He is pro-choice, and he has already voted with the Democrats several times. He will not survive in 2012 because of more predictable turnout patterns, a political climate better for Democrats due to a better economy and (most likely) an opponent who actually campaigns instead of going on vacation. This is obviously not a guarantee, since the future is difficult to predict. But with more ideological polarization happening by the day, political obstruction is bound to get worse. Dawidowicz is a member of the class of 2012. Bipartisanship is an unattainable objective after Republican presidential candidate Sen. Barry Goldwater in 1964 opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act for philosophical (not racial) reasons, the transition to the Republicans began with Strom Thurmond taking the lead and switching parties. With suburban development and white flight, the Consciousness Revolution that tore American culture apart at the seams, the rise of the culturally divided Baby Boomers and the aging of the civic-minded, team-building GI Generation of WWII, the liberals started to run into the Democratic Party, and the conservatives into the Republican Party. The ideological sorting is becoming more and more complete with each passing year, with moderates having no true home. The reason the remaining moderate Republicans won’t vote with Obama regardless of compromises is that standing up for themselves will earn the ire of the conservative base that controls the GOP. To be fair, the Democrats face the same constraint with their liberal base — just not as much. If you want to go back to the 1950s type of bipartisanship, you have to turn the South from a diverse, multicultural economic boom region back into a poor one-party state run by wealthy, vicious white supremacists who kept their power through fear and terrorism. And you won’t get far with that suggestion. Even if you did, it would not be possible to do COMICS Page 8 Major Life Dilemmas Thursday, March 4, 2010 by Spiels Deco Sad Trombone by Peter Berris by NAFC What if ... by Kate Bredbenner Joke of da Week Jurassic Farce by J. Silverstein by W. Penney & C. Olfano Statistics Worth Knowing by Ross Brenneman What March Brings to Mind Spring break St. Patrick’s Day Green trees It’s a Pun! Women’s History Month by Ross Brenneman Boy there, Jenkins, this is some nice spreadsheet work. We should talk about your future soon. Yep, Jenkins was really Excel-ing at life. Four Square by Tim Minahan Campus Times Arts & Entertainment Eric Hutchinson and Ingrid Michaelson bring down the house with their electric concert. Page 13 Thursday, March 4, 2010 Page 9 There’s no business like snow business Article by Willie Clark Editor-in-Chief Design by Cheryl Seligman Presentation Editor Mt. Everest sits as the tallest peak in the world, reaching a height of 29,029 feet. Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa sits at a mighty 19,341 feet. And UR, sitting in lovely Rochester, N.Y. (the 12th snowiest city in the United States), at a mere 520 feet above sea level, has one thing in common with the massive mountain giants: snow. And if you think scaling the combined 48,370 feet of both mountains is a task, imagine having to cover over ten times that amount of space. Try 6,080,000 square feet to be exact. And when winter comes, as it tends to do in full force in Rochester, can be covered with snow. And all that snow somehow has to find a new home. That is also the million dollar question as far as UR Facilities is concerned: How do you go about moving, cleaning and salting that much snow as fast and efficiently as possible? But before we get into that, how much snow exactly are we talking about here? Sure it may sometimes seem like the one small back-alley path that we take each day to class has a little snow left on it, but in the larger picture, how much snow are we really talking about here? Now I’m a word guy, but Dan Schied, the Manager of Horticulture and Grounds for UR Facilities, easily painted a very white Ansel Adams picture for me of the whole snow removal process during our conservations last week. One inch of snow may not seem like a lot, but if you add it up across the whole 6,080,000 square feet, it can be. One square inch of show is enough to amount to a solid cube (Read: Solid. Block. Giant, solid, one-piece rectangular prism) that could fill the football field at Fauver Stadium, ultimately reaching a height of 11.26 feet tall. Now, on any given Rochester night, I think it is fair to say that usually we are dealing with more than one inch of snow. Two inches falling, and double that giant box. And for even more perspective, if you were to take the 15 inches of snow that UR received last Thursday night through Friday morning, you would be staring at a snow monolith 168.9 feet tall. I bet that the Students’ Association never thought of using snow to try to Fill Fauver. Joking aside, snow removal at UR is no laughing matter, and something that is taken very, very seriously. “Snow is a big topic and the most important service we provide to the University,” Schied said, and after we toured the snow removal facilities and discussed just how much goes into snow removal here at UR, I am inclined to agree. During the week the operation is staffed 24/7, both with UR staff members and contracted professionals. With one person working evenings and another overnight to be the “eyes and ears” of snow removal, their night shift may mirror many students’ study schedules: Midnight to 8:30 a.m. is where most of the work, and usually, the snow happens. “The biggest challenge is when we get bursts of snow at sunrise and sunset,” Schied said. “This is due to convections over Lake Ontario that are disrupted at these times of the day.” But bursts of snow aren’t the only thing that Facilities have to counteract. Moving all that snow around, equipment can break, causing them to lose precious time. On top of that, if the snow keeps up, state law can also become a problem. New York State mandates the number of days somebody can work without a day off, and while it hasn’t been an issue this year, several days in a row of strong snow can work the staff as far as they are legally allowed to go. And, as with any such job, one person being out sick has its own impact. But sometimes, even with perfect machinery and staffing, Mother Nature just gets the best of you. “We had one of the worst types of snow and timing, snowing 1.5 to 3 inches per hour between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. Friday morning,” Schied said. “This, combined with the wind, created white-out conditions during that time. We had everything we own or leased out working from midnight on and couldn’t stay ahead of this rate and heavy snow.” It’s a night like this when sometimes tough decisions have to be made. There might not be time to get every sidewalk cleared, but Facilities has a plan set up to clear the routes that they find students use most often, and makes sure to get those cleared first. That isn’t to say they don’t have help. With several specialized machines, from sweepers to plows, UR has several ways that are always prepped to go out and tackle the snow. And for the roads, UR uses SEACO’s “Ice B’Gone” salt treatment. This “magic salt” was a recent addition to the snow removal arsenal, and helped bring about a thirty percent reduction in the amount of salt needed. It also works longer and in much lower temperatures than regular salt, making it a true win-win solution as far as road treatment goes. And as if that weren’t enough, for all you save-the-environment types, the new salt product recently won the EPA’s Design for Environment Award. So not only does it save the roads, but it helps save the whales as well. On top of everything that Facilities can do, sometimes it just needs to rely on luck and the weather. They also make sure to rely on their other every watchful helpers: anybody who calls in to the Snow Removal Hotline. The number, x50000 from a campus phone, is open 24/7 seven days a week and allows students, staff members and faculty alike the ability to call in and report areas of snow that have built up or haven’t yet been cleared. See REMOVAL, Page 12 FEATURES Page 10 Club spotlight: SOCA Bringing the islands to Rochester BY Jerome Nathaniel Features Editor Four years ago, senior Nadine Nicholson wanted to form a group that would share the vast Caribbean culture with the student body. As of a result, Nicholson and her friends formed the Student Organization for Caribbean Awareness, also known as SOCA (a play on words for a Caribbean genre of music). SOCA is one of three committees under the Black Students’ Union. Now, junior Amelia Stone leads the organization. While the group was primarily performance-based in its early stages, it has expanded to other cultural events. This past Friday, the group celebrated Bob Marley with an expo at the Community Learning Center. The group continues to seek innovative ways to share Caribbean culture with students through music, food, dance and entertainment. and spread Caribbean awareness across campus. ragua, Honduras, etc. What has been SOCA’s biggest success since starting? We have had numerous successes including winning the March for Creativity in Performing award from the Minority Students Advisory Board for creativity in performance. Our biggest success occurred last spring when we cosponsored the program Ox and Oxtails with the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority along with numerous other organizations. Through this event we drew parallels between the Caribbean and Chinese culture while uniting the student body for a celebration of culture and the last day of classes. Who’s contributed the most to Caribbean culture? And what country has the strongest influence on Caribbean culture? No one person has contributed [the most] to the Caribbean culture. We are one people, and we all have contributed to our culture, but Bob Marley has contributed to the spread of the Caribbean culture. ... Individuals like him allow foreigners to open their eyes to the Caribbean. Immigration has also contributed a lot to the spread of the Caribbean culture; there are a great amount of Caribbean people that now reside in Europe, Canada and the U.S. What aspects of Caribbean culture are often overlooked or misunderstood by people who are unfamiliar with it? When people think of Caribbean culture, they automatically think of the culture of Jamaica, Haiti, or Trinidad. In actuality there is an extensive list of countries that make up the Caribbean, including mainland nations. Some of these nations are Guyana, Belize, Nica- I understand that the Caribbean culture is vast and varies because of the numerous countries/islands. How does SOCA share and encompass all of those cultures? Each country has its unique culture, yet there is a lot of overlapping since we all are descendants from the same people — the indigenous people (Arawaks, TaГnos, Ciboney, etc.) and the African slaves. During Caribfest, we try to incorporate all these cultures and create fun and educational programs to showcase these cultures BY charlene cooper Columnist I walked into the suite party entering a world of shirtless girls flailing their half-covered breasts around to the sounds of Kesha’s “Tik Tok.” To my right were guys making out with girls they’d hardly remember the next morning. Coming my way was a pretty little brunette girl who, in her attempts at welcoming me, recklessly spilled half of her beer on my boots and offered me a kiss as a strange form of apology. Oh the beautiful sights of college, I thought. There’s no experience like it. Some of us come to this place called college and find our more daring and sexual sides, while others choose not to explore that side of themselves at all. Some of us take sexual risks to evaporate the loneliness of not having a partner, while others University Health Service. As do so just to take a chance. awkward as these visits may Many of these choices have be, taking such a little step by eventually proven to be misgoing to the doctor’s office could takes. The kind you wake up go a long way. to the next morning and think On those often dreaded visits “How did I get here?” or “Who to our physicians, it is common is this random girl lying in my that we walk out assuming we bed?” These are the mistakes are disease-free because we many of us would consider to never receive an anonymous be the best. After all, the best letter stating otherwise. Many mistakes are said to be the ones times we presume that this is you don’t remember. But what an indication that happens when we have no STD these mistakes the worries. Unfortuhave an afternately, this is not math? What Let Sex & the CT help you the case. happens when through your most What we may be you begin awkward sexual years. surprised to learn to develop a is that, in most nasty sore on cases, these physiyour genitals cians do not automatically perthat wasn’t there just a week form tests that indicate whether ago? someone is infected or not. Such For some sexually active colservices must be requested from lege students, it takes moments the patient. It would be nice if like these for us to realize this was done without having to that we need to take a visit to If SOCA had unlimited funds, where would be the ideal place you’d send the campus community for vacation? We would probably send the campus community to one of the Caribbean countries during its Carnival or independence day, namely Trinidad. It is at Carnival where you will be able to experience the true essence of our culture through music, dance and food. Here is also where you will experience the term “One Love.” Nathaniel is a member of the class of 2011. Thursday, March 4, 2010 things you should know this week YouTube: “L.A.R.P. Live Avatar Role Playing” “Avatar” fanatics take their love for the Navi culture to another level. Watch these grown men and women pretend to be Avatar characters as they play in the woods. Urban Dictionary word of the week: “Tiger Woods” (n.) To have several inexplicable relationships with women far less attractive than one’s wife, and subsequently ruin one’s reputation. May or may not be accompanied by a car crash. Governor Eliot Spitzer ruined his political career and marriage after pulling a Tiger Woods and soliciting a prostitute. This Day in History: March 4 1997: President Bill Clinton bans federally funded human cloning research. 1925: Calvin Coolidge becomes the first president to have his inauguration broadcast on national radio. 1493: Christopher Columbus returns to Lisbon, Portugal aboard the NiГ±a, after his voyage to what is now known as the Bahamas. Embarrassed about getting tested? Ways around it “Sex&CT ” UR Opinion go through the awkward process of asking your physician to test you for STDs, but it just isn’t that easy. The first and most vital part to ensuring that we don’t catch something nasty from our partner would be to use condoms. Unfortunately, in situations where it’s all about a good time, we forget about this option or chose not to take advantage of it. Once this option is disregarded and the damage has been done, our next choice would be to get tested. Asking our physicians to test us for STDs is a huge hurdle that many find tough to get over. Let’s be honest, it can be embarrassing and just plain uncomfortable. Leaving a note at the front desk of the clinic telling your doctor to test the cup of urine you’ve given him, or asking the nurse to relay the message to the doctor are both effective ways to avoid the embarrassment. Many people choose not to use their primary physician to test them for diseases, but instead go to outside clinics that will do it for a cheap fee. This can make things a little less uncomfortable, because once the tests are done you never have to see those people at the clinic again. Places like Planned Parenthood usually test their patients without being asked to do so, so this could be another great way to get around such discomfort. Going there will help you avoid having to discuss STDs with your primary doctor, who you have to see at least once a year. Whatever your method, don’t let your fear of asking to get tested keep you from being in tune with your sexual health. Cooper is a member of the class of 2012. What celebrity would you like to lie next to on the beach over break? by matt chin Camilo Ocampo ’11 “Probably Richard D. James. He does a good job of making himself look good on album covers.” Alena Stasenko ’12 “James Franco. Ma Man!” Zach Carr ’11 Emma Caldwell ’11 Mark Angland ’13 John Amir-Fazli ’11 “Jessica Alba. She’s smoking.” “Jessica Alba. She’s smoking.” “Johnny Depp. I feel like he’d be the most entertaining.” “Christopher Walken. I find his voice soothing.” FEATURES Thursday, March 4, 2010 The movement behind 9/11 BY Gabriel Sukenik Contributing Writer The most interesting thing about being a journalist is being able to watch the stories you cover develop and grow. The fall semester of my junior year, I took a semester off from school to cover a story that I could not afford to miss. I had been researching the events of September 11, 2001 and felt compelled to take the time to interview eye witnesses, emergency first responders, firefighters, the families of the victims and professionals in various fields to discover for myself the true nature of events that unfolded that day. During the semester I came across a group called Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, and eventually volunteered with them for the semester as a verifier for their petition signers. At the time, between 300-400 degreed architects and engineers were signatories of the petition. On Feb. 19, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911Truth) held a press conference in San Francisco at the Marines' Memorial Club & Hotel to announce that they have recently surpassed a total membership of 1,000 degree architects and engineers. These architects and engineers are demanding a new investigation with subpoena power into the collapse of World Trade Center buildings 1, 2 and 7 on 9/11. AE911Truth has gathered evidence that they claim disproves the government's official theory proposed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that the towers experienced a gravitational collapse. A petition demanding that Attorney General Eric Holder convene a grand jury and conduct a new investigation was submitted to the office of every member of the U.S. Congress. Simultaneous press conferences were held in 47 cities across the globe. Recently AE911Truth concluded an official meeting with 12 members of the Japanese parliament to review the evidence of the event that sparked the global War on Terror. Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth was founded in 2006 by Richard Gage, a member of the American Institute of Architects. Since then, AE911Truth has been vocal in its criticism of both official reports by NIST into the collapses of WTC 1, 2 and 7. NIST published their final report for towers 1 and 2 in 2005, and WTC 7 in the summer of 2008. AE911Truth was a major presence during the revisionary periods of the various reports. Its successful petitioning efforts helped lead to the discovery that WTC 7 fell at free-fall speed for a period of over 2.5 seconds. Not noted in NIST's revision was the clear implication that this feat defies the laws of physics if a gravitational collapse did indeed occur. Gage addressed some of the key forensic and physical evidence supporting a controlled demolition collapse during the press conference. All three col- Page 11 UR alum finds calling in the classroom BY Jerome NAthaniel Features Editor There once was a young and rebellious Philadelphia native named Marquisha, who would give her fifth grade teachers heck. Even though she was in the fifth grade, she read at a third grade level — perhaps a product of social promotion. From time to time, Marquisha would lead class revolts against her substitute teachers. In one instance, she stood on top of her desk and rallied her classmates, chanting, “We can do what we want. Don’t listen to her. She’s going to leave anyway.” When the average school looks at Marquisha, they see a troubled and hopeless girl who causes more harm than good. But, when members of the Knowledge is Power Program, or KIPP, saw Marquisha, they saw a misguided girl with tremendous leadership skills. After four years at KIPP Philadelphia Charter School, Marquisha graduated as the president of the middle school student body. Now, as a high school student, Marquisha is the president of the 11th grade class, an outstanding athlete and on her way to college. For KIPP, Marquisha is hardly an excep- tion; she epitomizes its mission. In 1994, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin had a vision of starting a school that would provide a healthy educational environment for under served youth. When the two Teach for America participants worked together to set up the first KIPP charter school in Houston, Texas, their mission was to provide the skills, knowledge and character necessary for their students to succeed in college and positively affect their communities. Sixteen years later, with 82 public schools across 19 states and the District of Columbia, 21,000 children are being served, 90 percent of its students enroll in preparatory high schools and 85 percent of its alumni enroll in college. It is clear that KIPP’s mission is in full effect. In 2003, Marc Mannella ’98 became integral to the mission when he founded KIPP Philadelphia. But, as an undergraduate student, Mannella didn’t seem like a likely candidate for the task. Mannella spent his first four years at UR completing his bachelor’s degrees on with a double major in biology and psychology. From See CHARTER, Page 12 Eats in the ct At Benucci’s, a vibrant setting hosts delicious food BY evan siegel Columnist Warm. Vibrant. Decorative. These are three words that come to mind when entering Benucci’s, a contemporary Italian restaurant nestled in the heart of Pittsford Plaza. Surrounded by various stores, including a Cold Stone Creamery and a movie theater, the area offers plenty of activity for a night on the town. The restaurant bustles with excitement as the dynamic Italian wine bar overflows and chatting couples, families and friends sip wines and snack on cheese and olive appetizers. On the dining room side, all of the medium and large booths fill up with parties from four to six people, who all enjoy various stages of their meals — a happy, lively scene. Walking up to the maГ®tre de, we were immediately greeted with a smile and, after giving our reservation name (which was made in the mid-afternoon), waited a mere five minutes before being seated. Considering the waves of people that entered the restaurant as we waited and the crowd already dining, this was extremely timely. Sliding into the booth, the seats were comfy. The wood paneling and beautiful lighting mirrored the dГ©cor of a pricey restaurant, which Benucci’s certainly is not. The ambiance is both comfortable and welcoming, a beauti- Roasted Garlic Cheese Bread, a ful black and white landscape salad would be a smarter way to of Italian coastline gracing the go because the entrees are so sizwalls along the interior. able. With the House Salad and “It’s a very cozy place where Classic Caesar at $4 each, they’re you can have an intimate and a steal. relaxing night out with friends,” The House Salad’s combinasenior Lyanne Yozawitz said. tion of mixed greens, cherry First to come to the table, as tomatoes, crumbled Gorgonzola expected, is water. The presentacheese and balsamic vinaition, however, was not expected. grette was Instead of being really tasty. served from one BENUCCI’S The Caesar of those plastic 3349 Monroe Ave. was croutons pitchers with were crunchy the spouts for and the easy pouring, cream-based the waitress dressing was poured the waa homemade ter gracefully Quality: 4.5/5 embodiment of from a sleek Atmosphere: 4/5 deliciousness. plastic-corked Food variety: 3.5/5 The main glass bottle, as Best Bang for Your Buck: courses are though serving substantial. wine. Two little Chicken Parmesan Pricing: Moderate Each order bread loaves came out of were served hot Red Discount Honoree: No the kitchen from the oven steaming hot with crunchy and cooked to the patron’s specicrusts and soft centers, accomfications. The best of the pastas panied by a garlic butter spread includes the Pollo Fusilli, a comthat was wonderful to taste. The bination of fusilli pasta grilled evening’s tone was set. chicken, garlic, olive oil, broccoli Glancing at the menu, it was and roasted peppers, a definite immediately apparent that it and refreshing departure from was only one-sided. Yet what a commonplace pasta dish like a the restaurant perhaps lacked fettuccine alfredo. Topped with in variety, it overwhelmingly some fresh Parmesan grated off made up for in quality. While it the block by the waitress, it’s would be easy to get caught up like putting icing on the cake, for in delicious-sounding appetizlack of a better phrase. ers, such as Calamari Fritta or For those who enjoy the classics of an Italian menu, the Italian Specialties section is your spot and the Chicken Parmesan is a dish you don’t want to miss. Two thick cutlets of chicken are well-breaded, layered with melted cheese and placed atop a bed of spaghetti marinara that could feed a small army. At $12, it is definitely this week’s Best Bang For Your Buck. Equally priced, and very close in size, are the Eggplant Rollettes, a twist on the classic eggplant Parmesan — two sizable pieces of eggplant, thinly sliced, breaded and fried, rolled and stuffed with ricotta cheese. Gracing a plate of linguine in a portabella tomato basil cream sauce makes it an appetizing vegetarian option. For the college student, Benucci’s could not get much better. The waiters are wonderfully attentive, the atmosphere is vibrant and exciting — a perfect escape from the boredom of campus dining life. With pastas averaging $12 and entrees maxing out at $19, the prices are quite fair to the student on a budget who desires a nice night out with some friends or even a date (guys, take note). Benucci’s is most certainly true to its name in serving delicious Italian food in a grand setting. Siegel is a member of the class of 2010. FEATURES Page 12 A view from abroad: amman, jordan Where modern culture meets the old By Caitlin Simpson Contributing Writer Walking through the souk, or market place, next to the alHusseini Mosque, in the heart of downtown Amman, Jordan, I feel as though I’ve entered a market straight out of Arabian Nights. The merchants have created a maze of stands and shops filled with produce and people from sunrise until sundown. Some of the merchants even sing about the fruit and vegetables they’re selling. Then, as I wander away from the souk, up one of the steep winding roads which litter Amman’s many hills, I arrive at the Citadel. The Citadel has served as a home to a Roman temple, Byzantine church and Umayyad Palace throughout the site’s 7,000 year record. Meandering on the hilltop, surrounded by the ruins and remains of Amman’s past, I hear the call to prayer as it emanates from the minarets that rise up in force against the city skyline. I feel enveloped by the capital’s traditions and history. Yet, when the alert for prayer pops up on the TV during the commercial break of the “CSI: Miami” episode I’m watching, or when I’m walking around a mall Courtesy of Caitlin Simpson The Citadel towers over downtown Amman, offering a clear view of the temple of Hercules. The Citadel is now the oldest fortification. where half the women wear the hijab and listen to “Hotel Room” blasting from the sound-system, it becomes clear that this is not the Jordan I’ve learned about in school or even read about in travel books. Despite the fact that I was academically aware that Jordan has historically been a cultural crossroads, it is still surreal to see two cultures actively colliding. Although the Roman and Ottoman traders are long gone (save all the buildings they left behind), it is amazing to me that the integration of civilizations remains one of the most striking facets of Jordanian culture. Tradition and modernity are in a constant tГЄte-Г -tГЄte here, and it is exactly this unique dance between the two which makes Amman such a livable city, where one can immerse himself in a newer kind of Middle East, without losing a sense of its ancient roots. Simpson is a member of the class of 2011. Teach for America, Mannella couldn’t shake off his calling to engage in education. Mannella wanted to serve kids who were overlooked and unchallenged — constrained in a perpetual system of failure. When Mannella started working at a North Philadelphia charter school, he reached the final straw and decided that it was time to make strides for change. In 2003, he took notice of a program that shared his vision: KIPP. Mannella took it upon himself to start KIPP Philadelphia Charter School, serving as a leader for the school for its first five years. “They believe what I believe — that all children will learn when taught in an effective high quality way,” he said. KIPP’s enrollment and graduation statistics are highly reflective of their hypothesis. Eighty percent of KIPP students are from low-income households and 90 percent are minorities. Upon enrolling in KIPP, fifth graders scored a mean of 59 percent in math and 32 percent in reading scores on their Pennsylvania System of School Assessment standardized test in comparison to the state average of 71 percent and 61 percent on respectively. Upon graduating, however, KIPP graduates score 78 percent and 81 percent on their math and reading PSSAs as opposed to the state average of 70 percent and 77 percent. The results are measurable, and the accomplishments are rewarding. Having finally found his niche, Mannella anticipates big things in KIPP Philadelphia’s future. He is currently helping expansion plans from two schools and 420 students, to 10 schools and 4,400 students. Until then, he expects to be right where he is, pacing in his office. Mannella and his cohorts continue to challenge their students to their full potential. “Ultimately, people need to remember that kids will rise to the challenge when [they are] placed in a proper school environment.” he said. “When we set the bar low, we are telling our kids something. It’s a way to make excuses for expecting less from certain children. But KIPP makes no excuses.” Nathaniel is a member of the class of 2011. Charter: Take Five sparks alum’s aspirations Continued from Page 11 day one he was convinced that medical school was in his immediate future and that he would pursue a career in medicine. But, before embarking on his journey, Mannella enrolled into possibly the most impactful program for UR students: Take Five. Mannella’s Take Five Scholar program was called “Methods of Bringing up Change in Modern America.” By the end of the program, it was evident that Take Five changed him. As an undergraduate, Mannella would work as a camp counselor during his summer breaks — he was always a natural with children. Before making any final decisions about medical school, Mannella decided to give Teach for America a try. Teach for America assigned Mannella to West Baltimore Middle School from 1998 to 2000. As a science teacher, he observed the darker side of education. “It was frustrating,” Mannella said. “There was a lot of bureaucracy, parents weren’t supporting the children and the system was failing them.” After completing his time with Thursday, March 4, 2010 Truth: Weak U.S. coverage Continued from Page 11 occur with near zero resistance such as a controlled demolition collapse rather than a gravitational collapse. Multi-ton steel ejections were also calculated to be ejected at speeds of over 60 mph and over 600 feet. Gage also addressed the complete pulverization of 90,000 tons of concrete and metal decking from both the Twin Towers and the lack of debris found at their base. Combined with the fact that the blast radius base was 1,200 feet and that no floors were found “pancaked” on top of each other, the “pancake theory” holds little water. In addition, molten metal was found at all three sites after 9/11, as reported by firefighters and news reports during the weeks after. Yet, lead NIST investigator John Gross has gone on record denying any such existence of molten metal. If NIST were to acknowledge these reports, jet fuel fires would be nowhere near hot enough to account for metal to have not just weakened, but melted. In another recent development, a former physics professor Steven Jones discovered nanoparticles of detonation material in multiple samples of WTC dust, coining the discovery “the loaded gun.” AE911Truth has received remarkable coverage internationally while being blacked out by American media. Gage recently concluded tours to various universities throughout Europe, Australia and Japan and he has been featured on major media outlets in dozens of countries. While there are many lingering (and discomforting) questions surrounding the events of 9/11, Gage and AE911Truth contend that the science behind the collapses is not one of them. In an interview with the Washington Times on February 23, Gage closed with strong words: “Government officials will be notified that вЂ�Misprision of Treason,’ U.S. Code 18 (Sec. 2382), is a serious federal offense, which requires those with evidence of treason to act,” Gage said. “The implications are enormous and may have profound impact on the forthcoming Khalid Shaikh Mohammed trial.” When I first began to follow this story I slowly began to understand the enormity of the implications, and the inevitability of this information getting out to the public. A year and a half later, it appears that the story has broken in the media. Sukenik is a member of the class of 2010. Continued from Page 9 So far this season, UR has been lucky enough to avoid the snow that the lower Eastern U.S. has seen. Recent storms led to closings across Maryland and other coastal areas. But the bigger question looms: Has such strong snow ever caused UR to close down? Schied, who has been working at UR for 16 years, could only recall one time such an incident had occurred. The culprit: a whopping 42 inches of snow over the course of three to five days, back in the good old winter of 1999. With a track record like that, it is hard to not be taken aback at just how much work goes on behind the scenes while students sleep to make sure, as much as possible, that the snow is gone by the time that blaring alarm rings for class. And for Schied and his staff, their goal is a simple one. “[Our goal is to] provide safe passage and limit the inconvenience of winter,” he said. “We can’t do away with it, but we can work tirelessly to make the saf- est environment we can and limit the inconvenience of it.” Schied was also quick to mention the real work behind the snow services — В the people who are actually out operating the machines and working to clean the pathways. “Our snow removal professionals are the ones making the sacrifice … snow doesn’t seem to know what holiday it is,” Schied said. “This is a combination of in-house staff and management and partnerships with very dedicated vendors that all work together to achieve the results we have.” So next time you wake up and notice there is a little snow outside your door, just remember that there was over 6 million square feet around the River Campus that also needed to be taken care of. Or, if you are really concerned, be proactive and call it in to the Snow Hotline. To put it in words by a famous forest ranger, “Only you can prevent UR snow blizzards.” Clark is a member of the class of 2012. Removal: Where does it go? Courtesy of UR Facilities The snow removal professionals have to plow through tons of snow, covering 6,080,000 square feet to clear the UR grounds. Arts & Entertainment Page 13 Thursday, March 4, 2010 Eric and Ingrid bring strange fun to campus by Meredith Gaylo pacted by the short staff of musiStaff Writer cians, and she still managed to Some of the most famous produce a beautiful performance. songs ever written were about In fact, the lack of a full set of the strangest subjects. The band members opened the door Beatles, after all, sang about a for a very exciting opportunity. yellow submarine, and Queen One of Michaelson’s songs called has a tune devoted to “fat botfor three backup singers. Since tomed girls.” she only had two available, she This past Friday, at a perforasked the audience if anyone mance in Douglass Dining Cenwanted to stand in as a third. A ter, Eric Hutchinson followed very happy UR student, freshsuit and improvised a ballad man Shukri Hassan Abdi Duabout the infamous Garbage aleh, was chosen from the audiPlate. This song, which was ence and sang alongside Ingrid personalized for the UR audiMichaelson, center stage. ence, is a good representation of In her bizarre themed song, the concert’s overall tone. Both Michaelson sang a tune devoted Hutchinson and his opener, entirely to Mexican food, inviting Ingrid Michaelson, crafted the eager audience members to humorous sing along about performances tacos and quesacustom-made dillas. Hutchinson and for UR stuMichaelson’s dents. set list was also Michaelson Michaelson improvised specrafted humorous cifically for this started the concert with performance. In performances a playful folk fact, she treated custom-made for the audience rendition of Lady Gaga’s to a song that UR students. “Poker Face,” she had never asking for performed beaudience parfore, deciding ticipation in on which key to singing the chorus. She divided play it on the spot. the audience into two groups: Overall, the first half of the “sexy warriors” on one side and concert was delightfully per“gentle lovers” on the other. sonal, quite humorous, and, of This elicited quite the collective course, full of gorgeous, welllaugh, and ignited a light, fun played music. mood that lasted for the duraMichaelson showed the audition of her performance. ence her strong vocal talents, Michaelson spent much of her even mimicking operatic singing between-song banter discussing during one song. Equally impresthe snowy weather conditions in sive was her use of the ukulele Rochester, explaining that the and piano, both of which perice caused Allie Moss, her guifectly complemented her melodic tarist, to fall over several times. and often understated songs. The snow, however, had an Eric Hutchinson, as a followeven greater impact on Michaelup act, did not disappoint. He son’s show, because weather-reimmediately demonstrated his lated delays left her short three talent and confidence as a perband members. Amazingly, her former, singing with such a music was not noticeably imSee CONCERT, Page 14 Bradley Halpern • Senior Staff UR students enjoyed Eric Hutchinson’s improvisational songs that discussed Rochester-related subjects such as Garbage Plates. Courtesy of media.movies.ign.com The chemistry between Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as police officers is the only enjoyable thing in “Cop Out,” director Kevin Smith’s major-studio homage to the buddy cop films of the вЂ�80s. Kevin Smith loses his comedic spirit with lame вЂ�Cop Out’ by Jason Silverstein A&E Editor Kevin Smith fans who cringed at the thought of the one-time indie underdog directing “Cop Out” — a big budget action movie that marks the first time he is working with a script he didn’t write himself — were perhaps wrong to immediately assume the worst. After all, every movie Smith has directed in the past 10 years has added to the droves of disappointed fans, and his last effort, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” proved that he seemed incapable of keeping his foul-mouth slacker shtick fresh outside of the Jay and Silent Bob universe that made him famous. Putting Smith on a movie exclusively for his directing skills is like getting Hendrix to do a capella, but it’s clear that ever since saying goodbye to the View Askew characters (twice), Smith has been having trouble maintaining his own character. Turning to others — in this case screenwriters Mark and Robb Cullen — for fresh ideas perhaps wasn’t such a bad decision. But if “Cop Out” is actually Smith’s idea of broadening his repertoire, he might as well start thinking about stretching “Clerks” out to a trilogy. The film is an homage to the cheesy buddy cop flicks of the 70s and 80s — a genre of films that, in case Smith or anyone else forgot, were usually structured around a few threads of whimsy, and a lot of forgettable nonsense. “Cop Out” stays true to that standard, in the sense that the partnership at the film’s center is enjoyable enough and everything else is incredibly lame. The friendship here is between NYPD officers Jimmy Monroe and Paul Hodges, played by Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. It’s noble how much of an effort both actors make to play against type — Willis’ cop is a hard-ass old guy with daughter problems, Morgan’s is a loud and obnoxious black guy who screws up every task he’s assigned. Of course they do police work in all the wrong ways — letting informants get killed, stealing bikes so they can pursue shootouts in broad daylight — and get suspended from the force. Most of the plot revolves around Jimmy’s quest to find a stolen baseball card he intended to pawn so he can pay for his daughter’s wedding, a quirky idea that might actually make you think the whole movie won’t be completely by-the-book. But the two cops soon get caught up in a local drug ring operated by a family of Mexicans so stereotypical and uninteresting it’s as if Carlos Mencia had been put through an assembly line. Willis and Morgan are, at least, fun. They lack the back-andforth tension that would have elevated their relationship to hilarity, and even some of their best banter doesn’t match the level of fine-tuned wit or singularity that Smith flaunted in his own dialogue. But they seem like the kind of guys you’d love to spend a day with, which is the point. Like “Sherlock Holmes,” “Cop Out” is an utterly vapid action movie that’s almost salvaged by the bickering friendship at its core. Sean William Scott has a hilarious supporting role as Dave, a roof-leaping burglar with a penchant for maniacal laughter and knock-knock jokes that reach the level of psychological torment. He often steals the show when sharing the screen with Willis and Morgan, but when left on their own, the two stars always riff off each other with glee. If Smith had the good graces to let this chemistry shine for all of “Cop Out,” it might have actually worked. After all, this is the guy who once said that if he were to write an action scene, it would consist of a couple guys standing around and talking about the action scene. “Cop Out” completely betrays that spirit, as if Smith has lost touch with his inner film geek. It dutifully attends to a number of dull conventions that dilute whatever simple pleasures the film offers. The whole plot about the Mexican drug dealers is given an inordinate amount of attention and seriousness, as if Smith believes he is actually crafting something like an interesting crime story. Paul is given a sub-plot about his suspicion that his wife is cheating, because it simply wouldn’t be fair to only let one cop have all the conflicts. Adam Brody and Kevin Pollack play another NYPD duo who continuously compete with our heroes and yet never seem like a threat See SMITH, Page 14 A&E Page 14 Thursday, March 4, 2009 Families come together in вЂ�Parenthood’ pilot By Becky Rosenberg A&E Editor Several times throughout the year, my family gets together for the holidays to enjoy the craziness that large family gettogethers seem to bring. There is “drama” among the adults, tantrums from the children, and my sister and I always get stuck between the kids and adults — not quite sure which end of the spectrum we belong to. But at the end of the day, when we all sit down to eat with one another, there is heart and warmth flowing through the air in a family that I am glad to say I belong to. Watching several families come together for dinner on NBC’s new dramedy “Parenthood” felt familiar enough to grab my attention for the hour. The show, which is a spin-off of a 1989 film of the same name, begins when Sarah (Lauren Graham), a single mom who escaped from a marriage with a “tortured musician,” decides to uproot her two teenage children, Amber (Mae Whitman) and Drew (Miles Heizer), and move back home. Meanwhile, Sarah’s brother, Adam Braverman (Peter Karuse) is not only dealing with bad um- nah Paige Rae). Her husband piring throughout his son’s little Joel (Sam Jaegger), on the other league game, but is taking hold hand, gets the advantages of beof his wife Kristina’s (Monica ing the stay-at-home Potter) recent discovery that their The Idiot Box dad whom cuts Sydney’s food and sings son Max (Max Burher to sleep. If Sydney kholder), has been weren’t so darn adordiagnosed with Aspergable, this would er’s Syndrome. probably be my least While at times the favorite storyline, pilot episode did have given its been-therea melodramatic and done-that feel. But stuffy feel, the scenes she’s just so cute. in which Adam and Finally, the youngKristina realized est brother of the four just how much they adult siblings, Crosby (Dax needed to help their son really Sheperd), is dealing with his resonated. own commitment issues when he The choice to accurately porfinds out that his girlfriend Katie tray a child on television with (Margerite Moreau) is keeping this disability, which was made donated sperm in her fridge beout of the personal connection of cause her biological alarm clock one of the creators, has proved is about to go off. As Crosby is to be a bold and wise choice. It about to finally jump into a real brings the heart of the family to relationship with Katie, an old the forefront of the action. flame walks right into the picture But while this was the story with a son he didn’t know exthat really catapulted the pilot isted. Of course. episode, there was a hell of a lot Tying the whole family togethmore taking place. Adam and er is the overbearing father, Zeek Sarah’s other sister, Julia (Erika (Craig T. Nelson), and the oddly Chistensen), is the stereotypical workaholic mom who has allowed seldom-seen mother, Camille (Bonnie Bedelia). With stories the demands of her career to branching off from every chartake precedence over the needs acter in every possible direction, of her daughter, Sydney (Savan- ADDICT Courtesy of Presscounselpr.com The large cast of NBC’s “Parenthood” keeps the show unique. with me over the course of the the nature of the show can feel hour. They seem totally in tune somewhat overwhelming. with each other, which helps creBut this proves to be both the ate a very believable on-screen curse and blessing of “Parentfamily — something many other hood.” The constant flow and televisions shows struggle with. smooth transitions between the While the show may not have plots of the brothers, sisters and that immediate love at first sight their children allows for new feeling I’ve had in the past, it stories to keep the show fresh. certainly had the strength and There were a few too many tears room for growth that I am more (six crying scenes if I counted than willing to tune in to see. correctly) and not quite enough “Parenthood” airs on ABC on laughs. Tuesdays at 10 p.m. Yet, it was still a very fun Rosenberg is a member of the episode. The actors had a family class of 2012. friendly chemistry that resonated Concert: Hutchinson and Michaelson win over students Smith: Continued from Page 13 perfect pitch and clear tone that one would have thought it was his recorded album playing through the speakers. Hutchinson’s band members were also incredibly talented. The drummer, Jimmy Coleman, had intense solos that kept the entire audience up and dancing all night. Like Michaelson, Hutchinson worked hard to keep his performance engaging, largely by dancing energetically on the stage and begging the audience to clap along with his catchy tunes. His ode to Garbage Plates contained lyrics that seemed to be composed of equal parts curiosity and disgust. He wondered what was in a Garbage Plate, but also how often UR students ate such things. Hutchinson speculated that if the frequency of consumption was anything more than “rarely,” the student body should be “hooked up to IVs.” There is something rather whimsical about the notion of UR students going through a Garbage Plate detox process. Along with this silly interlude, Continued from Page 14 or even a matter of interest. Of course, these are all conventions of the genre — according to the movies Smith is working off of, no cop duo is complete without bad guys, rivalries and average guy turmoil that can and will be happily resolved before the credits roll. The problem is that this film doesn’t attend to these details with any sense of nostalgia, irony or, indeed, personality. With “Cop Out,” Smith gives further legitimacy to the concerns he’s been raising with every film he’s made since “Jersey Girl:” His inability to tell a bad joke or an eye-rolling convention when he directs one, his inability to keep a movie going without awkward hit-or-miss pacing and his inability to deliver anything surprising in the final act. He can still get some fun out of his movies, even if its stupid fun. But you’d think he’d have enough comedic common sense to make “Cop Out” a lot funnier, or at least be more attuned to its obvious failings. Is this really the best he can do? Silverstein is a member of the class of 2013. he also performed a multitude of other enjoyable songs, such as his popular “Rock and Roll,” and the dance-inducing “Food Chain.” These songs were punctuated by witty monologues; in one song, in reference to his hightech water bottle, Hutchinson jokingly remarked that he’s from the future, and that it was “Thanksgiving on [my] home planet.” Hutchinson certainly worked hard to communicate with the audience on a personal level. In fact, he stopped playing at the beginning of one song to comically reprimand several students for leaving in the middle of his show. Perhaps the most telling fact about Hutchinson’s personal approach is that he dined at our very own Pit prior to the concert. In the end, that’s what makes a concert worthwhile — the individualized, one-time-only nature of a live show, which is the kind of thing that can’t be gained from simply playing an album in a stereo. Gaylo is a member of the class of 2012. Bradley Halpern • Senior Staff Despite weather mishaps, Ingrid Michaelson delivered an exciting and involved performance to the students at UR last friday evening. M ov i e T i m e s UR Cinema Group The Little Theatre Friday Hoyt Auditorium Saturday Up in the Air 7:00, 9:15, 11:30 The Blind Side 7:00, 9:30, 12:00 Shutter Island Crazy Heart The Last Station The White Ribbon • *Note: Times are for March 16th & 17th. No screenings on March 5th & 6th. WRUR 88.5 FM bi-weekly top 10 • Friday and Saturday 240 east avenue Call for times (585) 232-3906 Seraphine 6. Xiu Xiu 1. Corinne Bailey Rae 2. Vampire Weekend 7. Yeasayer 3. Watson Twins 8. Local Natives 4. Midlake 9. Freelance Whales 5. Magnetic Fields 10. Laura Veirs SPORTS Thursday, March 4, 2010 This Week in Sports Friday, March 5 •Squash at College Squash Association Individual Nationals at Trinity College, 10 a.m. •Men’s Track and Field in Eastern College Athletic Conference at Championships Smith College, 10 a.m. •Women’s Track and Field in ECAC Championships at Smith, 11 a.m. •Women’s Basketball vs. SUNY Cortland in the National Collegiate Athletic Association First Round, 8 p.m.* SATURDAY, March 6 •Baseball vs. Neuman University in Vero Beach, Fla., 9 a.m. •Squash at CSA Individual Nationals at Trinity, 10 a.m. •Men’s and Women’s Track and Field in ECAC Championships at Smith, 10 a.m. •Softball in National Training Center Spring Games vs. John Carroll University in Clermont, Fla., 11:30 a.m. •Softball in NTC Spring Games vs. Ohio Northern University in Clermont, Fla., 5:30 a.m. Sunday, March 7 •Baseball vs. New Jersey City University in Vero Beach, Fla., 9 a.m. •Squash at CSA Individual Nationals at Trinity, 10 a.m. •Men’s and Women’s Tennis vs. The College of New Jersey in Orlando, Fla., 11 a.m. •Softball NTC Spring Games vs. TCNJ in Clermont, Fla., 11:30 a.m. Page 15 2010 Spring sports preview Baseball, softball and women’s lacrosse teams begin the quest for postseason success over the upcoming spring break Campus Times File Photo Baseball returns after a first round loss in the Liberty League Championships last season. “The baseball team looks to improve on the 2009 season,” head coach Joe Reina said. “We return several key players but a lot will depend on pitching.” Monday, March 8 •Men’s Tennis vs. Vassar College in Orlando, Fla., noon •Women’s Lacrosse vs. Susquehanna University in Baltimore, Md., 3 p.m. •Men’s Tennis vs. Wesleyan University in Orlando, Fla., 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 9 •Men’s Tennis vs. Coe College in Orlando, Fla., 10 a.m. •Women’s Tennis vs. Haverford College in Orlando, Fla., 11 a.m. •Softball vs. Case Western Reserve University in Altamonte Spring, Fla., 12:30 p.m. •Women’s Lacrosse vs. Lynchburg College in Baltimore, Md., 3 p.m. •Men’s Tennis vs. Wabash College in Orlando, Fla., 4:30 p.m. •Baseball vs. Case Western in Sanford, Fla., 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 10 •Women’s Tennis vs. Malone University in Orlando, Fla., 9 a.m. •Softball vs. Brandeis University in Altamonte Spring, Fla., 10 a.m. •Softball vs. Emory University in Altamonte Spring, Fla., 12:30 p.m. •Women’s Tennis vs. Emory in Orlando, Fla., 3 p.m. •Men’s Tennis vs. Drew University in Orlando, Fla., 3 p.m. •Baseball vs. Emory in Sanford, Fla., 6 p.m. Thursday, March 11 •Softball vs. Washington University in St. Louis in Altamonte Spring, Fla., 10 a.m. •Baseball vs. WashU in Sanford, Fla., 1 p.m. •Women’s Lacrosse vs. Nazareth College, 4 p.m.* Friday, March 12 •Men’s and Women’s Track and Field at NCAA Championships at DePauw University, 10 a.m. •Softball vs. Case Western in Altamonte Spring, Fla., 10 a.m. •Baseball vs. Case Western in Sanford, Fla., 11 a.m. •Softball vs. Brandeis in Altamonte Spring, Fla., 12:30 p.m. SATURDAY, March 13 •Men’s and Women’s Track and Field at NCAA Championships at DePauw, 10 a.m. •Softball vs. Emory in Altamonte Spring, Fla., 10 a.m. •Baseball vs. Emory in Sanford, Fla., 11 a.m. •Softball vs. WashU in Altamonte Spring, Fla., 12:30 p.m. •Baseball vs. Brandeis in Sanford, Fla., 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 17 •Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving at NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, Minn., 9 a.m. Thursday, March 18 •Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving at NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, Minn., 9 a.m. *denotes home competition Stat of the Week .59 The seconds ahead of the National Collegiate Athletic Association provisional qualifying time that junior track and field runner Jacqueline Cinella put up in the 800-meter run. She posted a time of 2:15.91 at the New York State Collegiate Track Conference Championships last weekend. Dan Wasserman • Senior Staff Campus Times File Photo (Left) A disappointed loss in the first round of the Liberty League Championships ended the women’s lacrosse season last year but an energized team brings new hope for UR. (Right) After making it into the NCAA tournament last season, the softball team is determined to prove it wasn’t a one-time deal. “The team is returning seven out of nine starters from last season and the majority of the offensive power in the line-up, including junior Lindsay Macaluso and sophomore Kim Grimes. Senior Juliana Nicholson will be in charge behind the plate,” head coach Margaret Yerdon said. “The team will have a different look on the mound this year, but Sara Hutchinson is ready to take on the top pitching spot, supported by sophomore Cara Celorio, junior Brittany Hylen and freshman Maddie Skellie.” From the Pressbox Spring time blooms a new season By David Maystrovsky Senior Staff Writer It’s March and you know what that means — free steroids for everyone! Hang on, I’m sorry to say that apparently giving out vials of “The Cream” and “The Clear” is actually illegal under United States law, so you’ll all have to settle for the start of baseball season. Baseball, as we all know, is suffering from a crisis of confidence brought on by the shocking revelations that the dudes who looked almost too muscled to be actual human beings were in fact getting help from steroids. Wait, it gets better. You see, most of the baseball players in the majors are not what we would call “Mensa material.” When Congress called in the biggest of the big to question players about their alleged use of performanceenhancement drugs (apparently insulin is banned which means our excess of overweight youth can no longer aspire to be baseball players, how sad), what followed was an embarrassing display of ineptitude. But enough about the embarrassing, red-light district side of baseball. It’s spring time (in Florida and Arizona, but seriously when is it not springtime in those two places?) and time for the people in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. to have dreams of glory. By glory, I mean winning half their games. By the way, how sad is it that sports teams aspire to win half their games? What kind of pathetic, half-assed mentality is that? Not only that, but can you imagine being one of the three people in Pittsburgh with season tickets hoping to see a mediocre team? It’s not like these people get paid or anything. Oh wait, they do. I suppose that being a Red Sox fan and having experienced two World Series titles in the past six years (that’s right Yankees, two titles and we didn’t have to spend half-a-billion dollars to do it) gives me a certain authority to discuss the game. I can, for instance, tell you that the Tampa Bay Rays will never be a consistent winner because they play in a crapbox of a stadium, they are too cheap to join the elite teams of the game and eventually their farm system will wither away and die. I can also let you in on a little secret — Manny Ramirez is the modern-day Samson and without his glorious dreadlocks, he loses all his power (it’s a little-known fact that the woman’s hormone that he was caught with last year was actually meant to help him maintain his luxurious locks). But enough about me and my Nostradamus-esque ability. No baseball article would be complete without mentioning the greatest nicknames of those play the game. Brave men like Boof Bonser, Coco Crisp and Eric “Captain America” Byrnes give me endless joy. Not that I would in any way condone drinking games during baseball games, but if you gather together some buddies and drink every time the anchors on ESPN’s SportsCenter trot out the nicknames during highlights, there’s a 90 percent chance that you will get wasted within the first two minutes. I suppose you want me to give you some kind of wacky prediction (to fit with the theme of the article). I predict that by June, Stephen “the Gimp” Strasburg will be in crutches and that someone from the Steinbrenner family will be in jail by August. If I had to choose a World Series matchup, I can only hope for a Rangers-Marlins series — if only to force Selig to shorten the playoffs, because I’m tired of watching baseball in November. That shit ain’t right. Maystrovsky is a member of the class of 2010. S p o rt s C a mp u s T i m e s Page 16 Results Men’s Basketball (15-10) UAA standings: 1. Washington (13-1) 2. Brandeis (9-5) 3. NYU (7-7) 3. Emory (7-7) 3. Chicago (7-7) 6. UR (6-8) 6. Case Western Reserve (6-8) 8. Carnegie Mellon (1-13) Feb. 27: Emory University 85-71 (W) John DiBartolomeo scored 17 points, four assists and three rebounds. Colin Cubit scored 13 points, three assists and two rebounds. Bill Serle scored 21 points, four assists and four rebounds. Mike Labanowski scored 12 points, three assists and four rebounds. Women’s Basketball (19-6) UAA standings: 1. Washington (13-1) 2. Chicago (11-3) 3. UR (9-5) 3. Brandeis (9-5) 5. NYU (5-9) 6. Case Western Reserve (4-10) 7. Emory (3-11) 8. Carnegie Mellon (2-12) Feb. 27: Emory University 67-62 (W) Jodie Luther scored 11 points and five rebounds. Melissa Alwardt scored 10 points and nine rebounds. Madeline Korber scored 10 points and five rebounds. Amy Woods scored nine points and eight rebounds. Men’s Tennis (2-1) Women’s Tennis (1-0) Men’s Track Feb. 26-27: NYSCTC Championships at RIT Finished fifth out of nine Will McMunigal was named the NYSCTC Field Event Athlete of the Meet. He finished in first in the long jump, third in the high jump and McMunigal, Justin Lyttleton, Ceylon Mitchell and A.J. Lee finished in fifth in the 4x200 relay. McMunigal, Mitchell, Gregory Hartnett and Alex Federation finished in fifth in the 4x400 relay. Lee finished in first place in the 500 meter run. Ethan Kaplan finished in second place in the weight throw. Andrew Fleisher finished in second place in the mile run. Hartnett fininshed in second place in the 800 meter run. Thursday, March 4, 2010 Men’s Hoops Women’s basketball rolls into NCAAs By Ross Brenneman Publisher May it never be said of the 2009-10 women’s basketball team that they fail to bring some drama to the court. Many of the games this season have been marked by reversals of fortune — and when the games matter most, those turnarounds have been the most pronounced. Three months ago, when UR took on Emory University’s Eagles in an away game, the Yellowjackets gained an early lead, but lost it just before halftime, coming up short in a 50-60 loss. When UR played Emory again this past Saturday, in the comfort of the Palestra, the Yellowjackets again took the lead. And again, Emory took it away. Only this time, there was one major difference: UR took it back, winning 67-62. The game had more than pride at stake. While the win against New York University on Feb. 24 helped secure a place in the NCAA Tournament, nothing was guaranteed until the regular season finished. A chance to prove their endurance, exact revenge and make the postseason — well, that’s just high theater. The last loss UR suffered, against Brandeis University on Feb. 19, came when Brandeis snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The win against NYU ran the opposite way. The biggest question, then, was whether UR could take the lead and actually maintain it. “If it was the beginning of the year, we may have lost the game, but I think [this] season’s experience has been a great advantage,” senior guard Jessica Mastronardi said. The Eagles drew first blood this past weekend, but only momentarily, as sophomore forward Kate Agan went on a shooting spree, bringing an early 6-2 lead further developed by shots from sophomore forwardcenter Jodie Luther and freshman forward-center Amy Woods. Then, only nine minutes into the first half, that horrible feeling of dГ©jГ vu struck. With the exception of two successful foul shots, UR scored nothing for almost eight minutes. With 1:24 left in the first half, Emory reclaimed the lead. In the second half, the true brawling began, with UR trying to pull ahead yet again, while Emory brought things back even. Two free throw shots by junior guard Melissa Alwardt propelled UR into a 55-53 lead that was then undone 25 seconds later, after UR fouled Emory Campus Times File Photo Throughout the season, Kristyn Wright helped get the Yellowjacket women’s basketball team to the NCAA’s. sophomore guard Becca Feldman. Emory subsequently fouled Luther, who started UR’s victory run in earnest as the Yellowjackets kept the Eagles at bay and Mastronardi nailed the last point in the game for the 67-62 victory. That success also proved enough not only to cement UR’s place in the playoffs — the NCAA announcement came out on Monday — but also means the Yellowjackets will kick off hosting privileges this Friday. They will be preparing for the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons, especially with their senior forward Jessica Laing, who was recently nominated for the prestigious Jostens Trophy recognizing outstanding ability in DIII basketball. “We have worked really hard all season and this is our reward,” sophomore guard-forward Caroline Bernal-Silva said. “This is when the season starts to get really fun.” Brenneman is a Take Five Scholar. being named the New York State Collegiate Track Conference Field Event Athlete of the Meet. The team finished just a point-and-a-half behind host school RIT and trailed third-place Ithaca College by eight points. McMunigal won the pentathlon at last week’s NYSCTC Pentathlon meet at Ithaca, before winning the long jump on Friday night and finishing third place in the high jump. “The conference meet was one of the most competi- tive meets I’ve been a part of,” McMunigal said. “We would have liked to finish a little higher in the team rankings, but the competition within the top five spots really brought out the best performances in a lot of our guys. Knowing how close it was going to be, our coaches really stressed the importance of scoring in each event, and I think that motivated us.” The Yellowjackets look to keep their drive up on the road ahead. “Overall, the indoor season has gone really well. We’ve had opportunities to compete in big meets and in great facilities,” McMunigal said. “The key thing is to improve week-to-week and we have done this so far. We want this to continue going into ECACs and hopefully even Nationals.” Also finishing well for the men was junior A.J. Lee, who won the 500 meter. Second place finishers included senior Ethan Kaplan in the weight throw, sophomore Andrew Fleisher in the mile run and sophomore Greg Hartnett in the 800 meter. With NYSCTC behind them, both teams head to the ECAC Championships next weekend in Northampton, Mass. Clark is a member of the class of 2012. ECACs next after successful meet BY Willie Clark Editor-In-Chief Last weekend both the men’s and women’s track teams raced to great success at the New York State Collegiate Track Conference Championships for indoor track and field at Rochester Institute of Technology. The women’s team placed second out of nine participating teams. The team took three first place finishes — junior Jacqueline Cinella in the 800-meter run, sophomore Hillary Snyder in the 1000-meter and the in the 4x400 meter relay. “I am really proud of the way the team competed this weekend,” captain and senior Heather Graham said. “People stepped it up and really gave their races, jumps, and throws everything they had. We had a lot of people finish better than their seeds and people who were seeded outside of scoring break into the top eight. We have had a great season and everyone really left it all on the track.” The men’s team finished fifth out of nine schools, with sophomore Will McMunigal Women’s Track Feb. 26-27: NYSCTC Championships at RIT Finished second out of nine Jacqueline Cinella finished in first place in the 800 meter run and fourth in the 200 meter run. Hillary Snyder finished in first place in the 1000 meter run. Lisa Cole finished in third place in the 1000 meter run. Melissa Skevington finished in third in the triple jump and broke a school record. Campus Times File Photo Shanthi Chodagiri (left) and Laryssa Hebert (right) sprint for the Yellowjackets. Win finalizes season BY Brandon Manrique Sports Editor As the final game of the season comes and goes for the men’s basketball team, hopes arise for the possibilities of the next chapter of the team’s basketball career. “We will learn from our mistakes this year and be better off next year for it,” junior guard Mike Labanowski said. “I am really excited about the ability this team will have next year, as the majority of the team will be returning and be much more experienced.” The season went out with a bang with the easy win over University Athletic Association rival Emory University, 85-71. Sophomore forward Bill Serle led UR with 21 points, four assists and four rebounds. With the win, the men ended the season tied in sixth place in the UAA standings, with a 6-8 conference record and 15-10 overall. Unable to clinch a spot in the NCAA tournament, UR reflected on this weekend and what this season has meant for them. “This season was a great learning experience and to me it meant nothing comes easy,” junior forward Marcus Roberson said. “It really showed me nothing comes easy and you have to work for everything you get in life.” The season started off on a high note with a five game winning streak but issues with having a young and inexperienced team plagued the Yellowjackets. “We are a very young team this year and this extra year that everyone had to get playing time and learn how the system works is going to be a huge help for us next year,” sophomore forward Nate Novosel said. With a 12-2 record after winning the midseason Wendy’s College Classic, UR seemed as if they were going to roll into the postseason. Fate had a different plan when the team lost eight of their last 11 games. For next season, the men are aiming high and will try to keep their momentum up throughout the winter. “We have a lot of potential with the young group of guys,” Novosel said. “Our goal is always going to be a national championship and that won’t change. The team will return most of their starting line, hoping to be a formidable opponent next fall. Manrique is a member of the class of 2012.
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