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Arts & Life Sleeping Around

Sleeping Around: The V-Card

By Stacey Lace

Columnist

With Valentine’s Day just passing, let’s talk about another big V in our lives.  I’m talking about the biggest V you can think of that pertains to your late night indiscretions.  I’m talking about virginity, and, yes, this is about to get a little personal.

You can probably all guess that I’m not a virgin.  I’m pretty sure The Bucknellian wouldn’t let me write this column if I was, but that’s not to say I was sexualized too young or anything like that.

I lost the v-card after coming to college.  I was in a steady relationship with a guy who was not as chaste as myself.  I don’t regret the guy or the circumstances, but at age 18, I thought we needed to have “the talk.”

I don’t mean the “where do babies come from” talk, I mean the “I need to know this is the right decision and that I’m not going to regret having made it with you” talk.

Honestly, I’ve never stopped having that talk.  Prior to every new sexual encounter, I’ve had “the talk.”  I just think it’s important to know where both partners are physically, mentally and emotionally when it comes to having sex.

With STIs, STDs and STFs (sexually transmitted feelings) going around campus, understanding your partner’s sexual history or lack thereof is just as important to your emotional stability as it is to your fear of herpes.

One day last week while I was at lunch with my girlfriends, my peppy cheerleader friend Reilly* was filling the group in on James*, the guy she’s been seeing.

Her hookup concern of the week?  Reilly was beginning to think about taking the next step and actually sleeping together.  However, Reilly’s feelings weren’t the problem.  Before any canoodling, Reilly wanted to know if James was a virgin, but she didn’t know how to bring it up.

This prompted all eight of the girls to start talking about how you ask your partner if he or she is a virgin. We all agreed it’s awkward to just flat out ask, yet it seemed like having that talk was so important.

I know that talking about the v-card can be almost as awkward as asking your mom to refill your condom stash next time she’s at the pharmacy, but it seems to be something we’ll all have to overcome at least once.

I wish I had advice for you, but all I can really say is that the brief moment of humiliation that comes from asking the question is almost always cancelled by the resulting conversation and activity.

If you still think it’s too awkward, take my roommate’s advice: “If you can’t have the talk, just don’t have sex.”

*Names have been changed.

 

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Editorial Opinion

Editorial: Administration too power-hungry to realize realities

The University prides itself on its extremely high alumni salary ranking: fourth among liberal arts schools across the nation, according to the Huffington Post. In many senses, it is doing what it is designed to do in a social context—prepare students to succeed in a capitalist culture. Why, then, are they implementing rules and regulations to degrade this dynamic?

In a recent study conducted by University seniors Chandler Hoopes and Morgan Beeson, a direct correlation between socializing and post-graduation income levels was found. These findings leave us to wonder why the administration would continuously attempt to minimalize the Greek presence—the most prevalent social outlet on campus—and to make stricter rules against holding parties on campus.

While we are not saying that students should go out every weekend and binge drink, we are saying that going out on a Friday or Saturday night does, in fact, cultivate important life skills. In light of this fact, The Bucknellian staff cannot help but notice an exponential increase in busted parties this past school year.

What’s more, this increase certainly does not reflect students’ actions; Public Safety has grown more aggressive, but students have not become more obvious. For example, a Greek date party should not be busted for reasons such as, “we heard clinking bottles” (over the loud music of the party? Really?).

Even though the house is registered, Public Safety still possesses the power to come in and break up a social event that without a doubt teaches students valuable lessons about interacting with people. That is something they will need later in life just as much as knowledge of engineering or biology.

With the heightening of these strict policies, the administration is only harming itself. In an effort to cleanse this university, it is in fact watering down the life skills students will learn.

Consider the school ranked as number two on the alumni salary list, Colgate.  According to collegeprowler.com’s college report card, Colgate’s Greek life receives an “A+.” It also provides comparable Greek life in other schools. First on the list reads “Bucknell University, A+.”

Clearly, there exists a strong relationship between socializing and success in the real world. We are not implying that students should forgo studying for partying, but they should be allowed to go out on the weekends without endless pursuit from police and Public Safety.

The University needs to ask themselves soon what is actually important, and what its role really is in developing students. Is it to impose totalitarian order, or is it to prepare students for success? The answer is easy, but the administration has become too powerful to accept it.

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Opinion

The infamous college sexile: She Said…

When it comes to navigating the complicated role of being a good roommate, the conflict of “sexiling”—being exiled from your room due to a roommate’s rendezvous— inevitably comes up. To me, it generally seems that girls tend to be less accepting victims of a sexile than guys, but just as there are a variety of roommate relationships there are as many varied feeling towards sexiling. Overall, the general rules seem to be as such:

No school night sexiling. As someone who likes to do late night work in my room, my roommate’s hookup should not get in the way of my studies.  Similarly, if I have a big test or presentation the next day, I want to be able to get the good night’s rest that only sleeping in my own bed provides. One of the most annoying parts of being sexiled is not being able to get back into the room to get my things without having to see my roommate spooning or doing the nasty with some guy. Trust me, having to interrupt to get something you need from the room can be extremely uncomfortable for both you and your roommate.

Forewarning must be given. I really don’t want to see anything of the hookup nature; it is best if I don’t know what’s going on in my room. Late warning is more acceptable on the weekends when I don’t really have anything to do until the afternoon, but 12 a.m. on a Wednesday night tends to be rude. It is also nice to get some warning so that I can leave before the partner returns, as the awkward small talk with my roommate’s hookup is just plain painful—we both know what is about to go down in my room. The roommate relationship is one based upon open communication and awareness of each other, so a long as my roommate asks for the room and we have open dialogue on what is and is not acceptable when it comes to sexiling, I say get your sex on.

The hookup better be worth it. It has always struck me how I tend to be more accepting of being sexiled if I know the guy is cute and not an ass. If I am going to be kicked out of my room, I would rather it be for something that is going to be good. I am more readily accepting of my roommate’s boyfriend staying the night than a random hookup, but to an extent. I could never handle having that roommate whose boyfriend sleeps over, sans fooling around, almost every night. Something about sleeping a couple of feet away from them cuddling is just plain uncomfortable.

But overall, my biggest rule is I just don’t want to see, and preferably hear, anything.

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Opinion

The infamous college sexile: He Said…

By Ben Kaufman

Sports Layout Editor

To be blunt, being sexiled is a part of college. It is something that either everybody does or something that happens to you.

Personally, I have not been sexiled frequently. It has only happened a few times to me, and only once has it actually affected me. This was due to the fact that my roommate’s partner stayed the weekend and did not leave until Monday and I had to be in a physics lab at 8 a.m. that morning. To put it frankly, that sucked. When it comes to being sexiled, as long as it does not affect my schoolwork during the week, then I honestly do not care.

I grew up sharing a room with my older brother, who had a girlfriend until my junior year of high school. That was the first time I was actually sexiled. I did not mind the situation, as I am close with my brother, and the circumstances surrounding the relationship were different: he was in a long-distance relationship and therefore did not see his girlfriend often. So in this case, I did not really care about being sexiled, especially since my parents had a rule that our girlfriends were not allowed to sleep over if they were home. 

Here is the thing: as long as it does not affect my schoolwork then I really could not care less. It is what is known as “Bro-Code.” It is an unspoken rule in which you try to help out your friend, or “bro,” as often as possible. If that means sleeping on a couch or on a floor for one night, then so be it, life will go on. If my roommate at school decides to bring someone back to our room, I would have no issue sleeping on my friend’s floor for the night, or on a couch in my fraternity. As long as the person who is sexiling people does not take advantage of their roommate, then it is really not a big deal.

It frustrates me when people get so annoyed about being sexiled since it is usually just for one night every once in a while. Your life will go on if you sleep on the floor for one night, so be civil and accepting.

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Arts & Life Featured Study Abroad

Memories of Italia!

By Zack Beltran

Contributing Writer

Last semester, I had the privilege of studying abroad in Florence, Italy. Being Italian, I was so excited to “go home.” I could not wait to eat pizza, pasta and gelato every day, visit all of the major sites and “be Italian!” And that’s exactly what I did.

I studied abroad at Syracuse University in Florence, with eight other University students. During my experience, these students (and many other young adults on the program) became some of my best friends. We laughed together, ate together and traveled to eight countries and twenty-five cities together.

While in Europe, I visited Italy (obviously), France, England, Ireland, Malta, Germany, Austria and the Vatican. I ate crepes in Paris, pasta in Italy, schnitzel in Austria and pretzels in Germany. We visited the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Colosseum, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, just to name a few. I went shopping in Paris and toured the very green hills of Ireland. I had the perfect European semester abroad!

While I can look back now and say that studying abroad was one of the best experiences both during college and in my life (I want to go back!), it definitely had its challenges. Going to Italy, I had never even taken an Italian class and was nervous to interact with the locals. I eventually began to learn more and more of the language and felt comfortable in Italy.

Like anything that pushes you out of your comfort zone, studying abroad has challenges that reap great rewards. After my return to America, I feel so much more cultured and have a new appreciation for the luxuries we have in America and at the University.

I’m studying economics and sociology here, and I believe that studying in Europe has further enhanced my education. I can use my knowledge and experiences from abroad in the classroom and extra-curricular activities as well as my job search. For anyone considering going abroad, I think that it is definitely one of the best decisions you can make. No matter where you choose to go, whether it’s Italy or down under in Australia, you will learn so much about a new place, a new culture and yourself. You may never want to leave, but coming back to the University is always great! Going abroad literally gives you the best of both worlds.

 

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Arts & Life From the Mind of Wiley Jack Humor

From the mind of Wiley Jack: Bucknell Girls

Jack Wiles

Columnist

The typical “Bucknell girl” has multiple personality disorder. For those of you without a PhD in psychology, this is a serious concern. It has taken me four long and arduous years to gain anything remotely close to an understanding of this creature, and this is what I have compiled.

Personality 1: The in-class “Bucknell girl”: Here, she is attentive, constantly scribbling down notes and sitting with good posture. Never will she disagree with her professor, and if she disagrees with him, it is because the teacher is encouraging disagreement, so she’s still technically agreeing with him. If the “Bucknell girl” went out, had a boy over or was too busy having a passive-aggressive pillow talk with her roommate the night before, she is wearing a baseball cap. Oh, and leggings, a sweatshirt and UGGs. (Typically black, gray and brown, respecively). She conveys to her peers that she truly cares about the world, politics, her classes, etc. She is responsible and would rarely do anything wrong.

Personality 2: The “Bucknell girl” after dark. Here, she is dressed up. Whether it is in the theme of the night, or a “dress,” she is scantily clad, leaving little to the imagination, trying to look hotter than all of the other girls that are out that night. Just like the in-class “Bucknell girl,” the nighttime girl often incorporates a table into her routine. While the in-class girl is studying on it, the night time girl is dancing on top of it, double-fisting mixed drinks. She is hammered. Nighttime girl has no problem cursing loudly, dancing suggestively or being completely inhibition-free. She also may head back to a male’s bedroom … but I’ll leave that for Stacey Lace to cover in “Sleeping Around.”

There’s a reason girls get better grades–-they have figured out how to beat the system. They can be complete idiots at night and have fun just like guys while Personality 1 does their homework for them. It’s like they have a clone that does school for them. The “Bucknell guy” is not good at hiding that he is hungover or doesn’t care about the class while in class. ­He often stupidly disagrees with the professor and loudly talks about what he doesn’t like about the professor while standing right next to him. Generally, the “Bucknell guy” is honest, brutally honest in fact, so much so that he can come off as a dick. But he’s not a dick. He also does not have multiple personality disorder, but maybe he should. “Bucknell girls,” you’ve figured it out; you know how to win here. Have some pity on us guys, we’re just simple people trying to make it out here on these hard, hard streets.

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.

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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.

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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.