Month: February 2012

Categories
Arts & Life

Stadler Center’s poetry slam will offer creative outlet for students

By Heather Hennigan and Michelle Reed

Contributing Writers

Thanks to the Stadler Center for Poetry and Jamaal May, the 2011-2012 Stadler Center Fellow and three-time Rustbelt Poetry Slam Champion, students have the opportunity to take part in an interactive and performative literary experience: slam poetry. With May leading the way, the Stadler Center has instituted Stadler Center Slams, the next of which occurs on Friday, Feb. 24 at Uptown and is open to all. Sign-ups begin at 6:30 p.m. and the slam begins at 7 p.m.

But what is slam, exactly?

“A slam competition involves poets who perform their work and are scored by members of an audience, with a winner being declared at the end,” Stadler Center director Shara McCallum said. “Our series features a [non-competitive] open mic to begin the evening, a featured poet reading his or her work and then a slam to conclude. We also serve free pizza to make the event more of a social gathering.”

McCallum and May began this series last fall upon May’s arrival at the University.

“With Jamaal’s background and experience on the slam circuit and his incredible presence–he is the phenomenal host of the series–I saw the perfect opportunity for us to get this series started,” McCallum said.

The Center’s two previous slams were extremely well-attended and well-received by University students, as well as those from Susquehanna University.

“What’s terrific about slams is that they involve audience participation and allow budding poets a chance to test out their work and hone their voices. The culture of slam is youth-driven and slam, a phenomenon that has shaped poetry over the past two decade, derives much of its energy from that fact,” McCallum said.

“I think poetry slam is something everyone should check out at some point, especially if they’ve never been able to get into poetry,” May said. “I had to be dragged to my first poetry slam because I had misconceptions about poetry based on limited experience with the art form and thought it wasn’t for me. Now that I travel the country, performing at various slam venues, I constantly hear people express the same sentiment I had at my first slam: ‘I didn’t know poetry could be like this. Where have I been?’”

While the lively, interactive environment is a big part of the appeal of poetry slams, May also emphasizes the unique way that slams bring people together.

“From my experience, poetry slams make for fertile soil when it comes to planting the seeds of community. Because anyone can show up and listen, be heard or volunteer to judge, slam has an implicit openness to the format,” May said.

To those writers who are hesitant to share their work on stage, May offers his advice.

“I always say being nervous means you care. I’m always nervous before sharing my poetry, but it can be helpful to shift your focus to the poem itself. Remind yourself why the poem is worth sharing. You have something to say that no one else can say quite the way you can. The rush you feel when you step off stage that first time will make all of the shaky nerves worth it,” May said.

Categories
News

Academic West construction picks up pace

By Jason Pepe

Contributing Writer

The ongoing construction around campus is poised to take a significant step within the coming weeks. Construction of Academic West, a new academic building behind the Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library, is set to begin around the end of March. For the initial phases of the construction, Fraternity Road will be blocked off at Coleman Drive. Academic West is planned to be ready for the start of classes in August 2013.

The three-story, 70,000 square foot building will help to reinvigorate the University’s academic approach. Academic West will include large and medium-sized classrooms, laboratories and 59 faculty offices to be used mainly by the social sciences. Hearth spaces will be a focal point of the building, providing students and faculty with extra space to interact and work together.

“Academic West will have a number of attractive spaces where people will be able to put their heads together on group projects, plug in their laptops to a flat-screen TV to work on presentations, and study between classes,” associate vice president for facilities Dennis Hawley said.

The new building will be constructed with environmental sustainability in mind, as it will be built according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification standards. LEED is a rating system for green buildings that was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2000. Academic West’s silver certification means that the building will earn between 50-59 points on a 100 point scale. The most notable green feature of Academic West will be a vegetated, green roof.

Academic West will also open up space elsewhere on campus and allow for greater cohesion among various academic departments. To make space for the construction, the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity house will have to be demolished. Students living in the current Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity house will move into the new housing built by the corn fields after spring break. The Kappa Delta Rho Fraternity house, which had been uninhabited for several years, was also demolished last fall.

“Honestly, it was so much nicer than I expected. You can tell the school put a lot of effort into the house, and we’re extremely appreciative,” Eddie Guers ’13, president of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, said.

Guers noted there were some downsides to the mid-semester move. He said that it was difficult to leave a house with so many memories in it and the chapter was moving to a much less convenient location. Additionally, the fraternity’s new house only has singles, so it will be smaller than the  existing one. A few students are going to have to find a new place to live in the middle of the semester.

Beyond Academic West, more plans are in place to expand academic space and student housing on campus. Another building, dubbed Academic East, will be raised across from Academic West to form a new academic quad. A new art building is also in the early planning stage, and additional student housing is tentatively set to open by Aug. 2015. Parking lots are also in development.

Categories
News

L&IT adds Google+ to Gmail accounts

By Siobhan Murray

Writer

Google+ is now available to campus as a service of Bmail accounts. The service, brought about by Library and Information Technology, is part of the Google Apps for Education software, which includes Google Docs. The addition was completed with the hope that the program will “be useful” to the campus community. The addition may serve as an alternate means of communication between University students beyond Bmail, myBucknell, Message Center, Facebook and Twitter.
Google+ is a social media tool used for communication where users can create a profile, video chat with one another and share content, among other things. Faculty, staff and students can now easily utilize the program through their current Bmail accounts to connect with one another in addition to anyone else with Google+.
“The service will establish a community online and be applicable to everyone on campus. We think Google+ is going to get huge, so we’re glad that we’re jumping on the bandwagon now,” said Kamran Khan ’13, a Library and Information Technology Desk employee. “Last semester, Google+ had come out but we were hesitant about introducing it to the campus. But this semester, with the various updates that Google made, it will be more customized for Bucknell, and hopefully more useful.”
Library and Information Technology, directed by Chris Weber, approved the change after Google made several improvements to the service. Although Google+ has been available under the Bmail umbrella for many months, Library and Information Technology made the decision to introduce the service to the campus when Google removed its 18-year minimum age requirement to a more reasonable 13 years. This age requirement had been an issue for the University, as well as for other universities.
Google+ introduced the social networking world to its original “hangouts” feature, a live video chat service that can be accessed from the website or from a mobile device. This feature alone lead several faculty members to push for the addition of Google+ to the University’s online network.
“All of this led to my decision to enable the service following discussions with an informed and knowledgeable L & IT staff,” Weber said.
The decision wasn’t a difficult one for the team.
“Unless there is a clear reason why we shouldn’t activate a service, L & IT will typically enable it,” Weber said.
An important factor of their decision-making process, the Library and Information Technology staff knows that Google services tend to be popular with University users. As most services are also appropriate in the educational setting, the decision regarding an addition of new software is rarely challenging.
Those behind this decision don’t have a specific vision for how Google+ will be used by the campus community. They assert that there are no attendant expectations surrounding the new service and they only hope that the change will be useful.
“Any attempt to stipulate only specific uses for a service will undoubtedly be shown to have underestimated the imaginations and creativity of Bucknell’s students, faculty and staff,” Weber said.
Students are more optimistic about the addition of the program to the University’s network.
“Google+ will continue with you throughout [your] life, even after graduation, if you want it to,” Charles Cole ’14 said. 
Categories
News

Study shows drinking is not all bad

By Nicki Briggs

Writer

Chandler Hoopes ’12 and Morgan Beeson ’12, interested and agitated by the University’s  Campus Climate Report, chose to research the question of what really determines future salary expectations for their Econ 341 project. After considering multiple factors, the two determinants found to be most influential were social life and GPA.
Their results suggest that students who drink more often do better in the job market after graduation than those who stay in and study on a more regular basis.

“Those results are somewhat consistent with what other studies have found, that heavy drinking reduces a person’s income but that people who drink moderate amounts on average often have higher incomes than people who never drink,” associate professor of economics Christopher Magee said.

They put together a survey that was sent out to 1,500 alumni from the classes of 2001, 2006 and 2010 and received a promising sample of 251 responses. The survey contained questions about college major, employment, salary, how often they stayed in at night to go to the library and how often they went out to drink.

“The people who are really successful in the outside world were not the kind of people who would have stayed in Saturday night,” Hoopes said.
The data showed that as GPA increases by one point, salary moves up half an income bracket. Data analysis also found that one unit increase in the nights one goes out and participates in “binge drinking” (consuming five or more drinks for men, four or more drinks for women) raises his or her income bracket by one quarter. In other words, two more nights of binge drinking each week has the capability to raise income bracket by the same amount as raising GPA by 1 point.

Hoopes and Beeson’s study by no means encourages students to spend all of their time drinking instead of studying. Instead, it supports the importance of making time for both socializing and studying.

“Balance is important. It’s not just about getting good grades,” Hoopes said.
“I think everybody subconsciously believes this, that people who are more sociable will excel. We defined what sociable was in our minds,” Beeson said.
Although GPA was still the most important factor in determining future salary, it becomes less important the farther away from college one gets. The social skills you develop will stick with you and help you to continue to be successful in your life. Hoopes and Beeson’s study is sound evidence that perhaps taking the time to build balance in life is something that all University students should consider doing.
Categories
News

Brad and Nancy Neu Paulis

By Jenni Whalen

Staff Writer

“Rumor has it that if you take your sweetheart to the benches above Freas and kiss while the sun is setting, you are bound to get married in the future,” Kalila Beehler ’12 said.Whether the rumor is true or not, University students definitely have a reputation of marrying other University students. And if you’ve been purusing the University’s Facebook page recently, you’ve seen examples of this high rate of marriage in the newly popular photo album “Bucknell in Love,” an album featuring married couples who have graduated from the University in the past 50 years.
Couples are invited to submit photos along with a description of how they met. Eighty-six stories have been submitted so far. Nate ’09 and Steph Danilack Contrella ’09 met during their first year on campus. “We were alphabetically assigned lab partners in organic chemistry lab. We began dating in January and have been together since!” they said.
Brad ’89 and Nancy Neu Paulis ’88 met in the summer of 1985. “We met at Bucknell during marching band camp. Brad (a math major) played the tuba and I (a music major) played the piccolo,” they said.
Countless other couples met in typical circumstances, including the basement of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, as a soccer player and student trainer, on a first-year hall, at House Party, as staff members for “The Bucknellian,” on study abroad programs, at a date party and in Calculus III.

This past summer, two seniors, Drew Stonesifer and Theresa Narus joined the ranks of “Bucknell in Love” when Stonesifer proposed to Narus at a nearby lake.

“We lived right around the corner from each other on  Lari 2 freshman year but didn’t actually notice each other until we went to the same InterVarsity small group in late October that year,” Narus said.

The couple dated for more than two-and-a-half years before Stonesifer proposed. On the day of the proposal, Narus was working at a summer camp and had no idea Stonesifer  was planning to ask her to spend the rest of her life with him.
“A mutual friend played chauffeur and escorted me down the road to a nearby lake where Drew was all sorts of dolled up and waiting with a bouquet of flowers for me,” Narus said. “After we walked to Drew’s planned destination, I saw he had brought his keyboard, that sap. He had written me a song to make sure I would say yes. Then he got down on one knee and proposed! I responded with an enthusiastic yes!”
Narus and Stonesifer will be married on July 21, 2012 in Idaho. They plan to move to a new part of the country together after the wedding to start their life together.

 

Categories
News

Kappa Kisses

By Christina Oddo

Writer

Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity sold Kappa Kisses in the ELC Mall Feb. 8th – 10th from 11-1 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. Kappa sold one bunch of chocolate kisses for two dollars or three bunches of kisses for five dollars. It was a fun, easy way for students to send their love to a friend or significant other.
“Kappa Kisses was a huge success and is a philanthropic event that is done annually by Kappa chapters all across the country,” Liz Fennell ’13, president of Kappa Kappa Gamma said. “We are donating to ‘Bike the US for MS’ who organizes cross country bike trips that raise awareness for Multiple Sclerosis research while volunteering for patients along the way. We chose this philanthropy because one of our Kappa sisters, Kaitlyn Smith and her boyfriend Mike Anderson (also from Bucknell) are participating in it this summer in honor of Mike’s father who was diagnosed with MS in 1996. We wish them the best of luck on their journey and look forward to more successful philanthropy events in the future!”
The event raised nearly $500 for the charity.
Categories
Opinion

NCAA oversteps its boundaries

Joshua Haywood

Contributing Writer

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is overreaching its authority as a regulatory organization when it comes to students’ conduct off the field, specifically in the realm of social media. Two recent suspensions handed down by the organization acted as a response to two players’ posts on Twitter and have started a controversy over what role, if any, the NCAA should play in monitoring player conduct in the social media arena.

It played out similar to a case of states’ rights versus federal authority in which each individual university represents a state in the union who has established their own unique set of rules. The NCAA acts as the federal government, which can place sanctions on organizations, as well as individual players who break rules set forth by the organization’s by-laws. Recently, Lehigh wide receiver Ryan Spadola and Stony Brook linebacker Matt Faiella were suspended over a tweet that Faiella, whose account at the time was set to private, posted that Spadola subsequently retweeted and happened to contain a racial epithet. The tweet was not directed at anyone in particular but was rather a response to Faiella’s friend, in regard to an opposing player supposedly talking trash. The NCAA determined this comment to be inappropriate, thus suspending the involved students.

“This was a very unfortunate incident, but racially insensitive characterizations are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. The offensive language of this nature by Mr. Spadola, whether intentional or not, was unsportsmanlike and discredited the championship overall,” the NCAA said.

Monitoring this behavior does not seem to be appropriate. The issue should have been left up to the school. I agree with the NCAA that the content of the tweet was inappropriate, but disagree with the suspensions because I feel as if the organization overextended its control into a player’s life off the field. There seems to be a lack of personal privacy on behalf of the NCAA, as the punishment should have ultimately fallen in the schools’ hands. Interesting enough, the NCAA does not have any official policy that establishes rules for social media use and has stated that it does not plan on establishing such rules any time soon. This being said, nothing could have changed the outcome other than the NCAA reversing its decision as the organization’s power supersedes any university’s set of rules.

The NCAA is setting a dangerous precedent as the ruling monarch of college athletics. It seemingly opens Pandora’s Box as to how much power the organization has over college athletics and a player’s right to freedom of expression, as well as defining what level of personal privacy is to be expected. The ruling in this case was not based upon a set guideline, but rather on the organization’s discretion. The NCAA is trampling over a university’s right to control their own students and is totally unwarranted in their suspension of the two players, leaving more questions than answers. What if people in the situation changed and the players involved had been of the other race? Would the event’s final outcome been different? Who is the NCAA to even define what players can and cannot say off the field, and what is their justification behind it? What will this mean for future student athletes who are active social media users?

When all the dust settles and the smoke clears, the precedent set by the NCAA is too overpowering and takes away the ability to determine proper conduct from the university. I am not condoning what was tweeted in any way, but I do believe that the right to free speech and privacy greatly outweighs the NCAA’s control over player expression.

Categories
News

PL scholarship announcement

By Chris McCree

Sports Editor

After more than a year of discussion and debate, the Patriot League Council of Presidents formally announced its decision on Monday to alter the league’s existing athletic scholarship policy, allowing all league members to award athletic merit aid for football starting in the fall of 2013.

The move, which will apply to all current Patriot League members as well as football associate members (Fordham and Georgetown), grants each program the ability to award 15 scholarships each year, limiting the total amount of active scholarship players on the roster to 60 at any given time.

“The council has chosen to set this limit even though NCAA policies allow Football Championship Subdivision schools, such as those in the Patriot League, to award the equivalent of 63 full scholarships,” President John Bravman said in his latest press release.

By setting a lowered limit, the Council of Presidents hopes to maintain a balance between strong academics and athletics that many feared would be lost with the change.

“The League’s commitment to high academic standards will continue to be a hallmark of the League and we expect that our graduation rates for football and other sports will remain among the top in the country,” the Council said in response to questions about how the change will affect admission standards. “Patriot League institutions believe as strongly as ever that the academic and athletic values can be, and must be compatible.”

Although the league currently allows for use of athletic aid in each of its other 22 sponsored sports, a strict need-based aid program established in 1986 has prevented football programs from enjoying the same recruiting advantages. With the expanded aid policy, Patriot League programs will possess greater resources to attract and bring in more highly-touted recruits.

“The introduction of the Patriot League’s new financial aid model for football will strengthen Bucknell’s ability to compete for outstanding student-athletes while continuing to uphold the high academic standards of the League and our campus, said Athletic Director John Hardt. “In addition, the ability to offer merit aid should substantially increase the number of high quality prospective student-athletes that our football program can recruit.”

On top of to the recruiting benefits the programs will receive, the Patriot League will use the new policy to boost its image to outsiders in hopes of attracting other like-minded institutions.

“The League will now be able to direct its attention to potential membership growth,” Femovich said. “We anticipate that this change in policy will make the Patriot League a more attractive destination for potential expansion candidates for both football-only and all-sport members.”

With the policy not setting in place until 2013, it is unlikely that we will see many noticeable differences any time soon. That being said, the decision certainly has the potential to bring about some exciting changes to Patriot League football.

“As the policy is implemented and evolves, there may be increased flexibility with our scheduling of non-league opponents,” said Hardt. “Bucknell might see an old rival like Delaware or Villanova reappear on our schedule or a Richmond or a William & Mary.  As it evolves further, there could be the occasion where we play an FBS (Division-1 bowl subdivision) opponent like an Army, a Navy, or an even a team like Rutgers or Penn State.”

Categories
Opinion

All should have right to marry

By Connor Small

Contributing Writer

On Feb. 7, proponents of same-sex marriage won another victory, as the California State Court of Appeals overturned Proposition 8 by a 2-1 decision, giving same-sex couples the right to marry in California. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Washington D.C. are the only other states to recognize same-sex marriage. While this decision is a step in the right direction, it has only reignited the debate.

In his dissent, Judge N. Randy Smith states same-sex marriage laws are to be treated in the same manner as laws regarding bestiality, incest and polygamy, saying, “Gays and lesbians are not a suspect or quasi-suspect class” and are thus not entitled to the courts’ increased scrutiny of laws that affect them. In the opinion, Judge Stephen Reinhardt and Judge Michael Hawkins say that Proposition 8 “serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.”

While I am inclined to agree with Judges Reinhardt and Hawkins, I can understand where some of the opposition comes from. Much of the antagonism to same-sex marriage comes from the fact that it conflicts with many sacred laws (the most prominent being that of Christianity) that argue that marriage is a holy sacrament between a man and a woman. While this may seem legitimate to religious groups, any argument against same-sex marriage that is argued from a religious standpoint should be moot because it conflicts with constitutional law and also goes against many of the teachings of these religions.

The First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Therefore, any line of reasoning against same-sex marriage based on religious grounds should be defeated. But this is not the case, as gay-rights activists still struggle to push through legislation in the majority of the United States.

Lately, same-sex marriage has been a growing issue around the world. While same-sex marriage is legally recognized in a number of countries such as Canada, Argentina, South Africa and Spain, many countries in Africa and the Middle East uphold severe penalties for engaging in same-sex relations, such as life in prison or even the death penalty. While such penalties seem horrific to Americans, it is sadly just a way of life in these countries.

Some opponents argue that homosexuals should be allowed to enter in civil unions, saving marriage strictly for heterosexuals, but civil unions do not grant all of the rights marriage does. While marriage is recognized in all states, this is not the case for civil unions, which are recognized by some states, but not others. Couples in civil unions are also unable to file joint tax returns, allowing for certain tax breaks which are only afforded to married couples.

At the risk of sounding like a hippie, in my opinion, this issue comes down to two main points: freedom and love. I believe that everybody, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation should be afforded the same rights. If all men are created equal, then why can’t two men have the same rights as a man and a woman? Why should two people who love each other, who want the same rights as everybody else, not be given them just because they are the same sex? It’s time for the intolerance to stop.

 

Categories
Opinion

Outrage justified against Komen

By Sarah Morris

Writer

It’s hard to believe that an organization so powerful for the heath of women everywhere, like the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, would ever pull funds from another organization (Planned Parenthood) that works to keep women safe from health issues. It is easy to understand why the public was outraged that the money was pulled due to political issues surrounding Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood offers a number of health services to women everywhere who might not be able to afford them otherwise. They offer STD screening, contraceptive methods, pregnancy and prenatal services, family practice services, abortion and, of course, cancer screenings. The last two listed were the main issues for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

It actually infuriates me that anyone would stop the support of an organization that gives so much help to women simply because they offer a few politically controversial options in their services. I have not had to use Planned Parenthood for anything health related yet, but I have many friends who have gone there for advice on birth control methods and breast cancer screenings. I imagine if I found out I was pregnant, Planned Parenthood would be a service I would be happy to get information from about my options.

Despite the public backlash faced by the Susan G. Komen Foundation after the announcement, the organization remained strong, at first supporting its decision. Recently, though, the Komen Foundation has released a statement declaring the pulling of the funds will be reversed and Planned Parenthood will still be able to apply for grants from the breast cancer foundation. 

This is what is right. Any group that wishes to apply for grants from the Susan G. Komen Foundation should not be based on political banter that occurs in America. The issue here is women’s health, and it is good to see the Komen Foundation realized that. Planned Parenthood is an organization we should be proud to have alongside the breast cancer foundation. It shows our dedication to keeping women healthy everywhere against the risk of this killer disease.