02.28.11
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The Crimson White, 02.28.11TRANSCRIPT
Monday, February 28, 2011 Serving the University of Alabama since 1894 Vol. 117, Issue 92
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P.O. Box 870170 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 Newsroom: 348-6144 | Fax: 348-8036 | Advertising: 348-7845 | Classifi eds: 348-7355
Letters, op-eds: [email protected] Press releases, announcements: [email protected]
Briefs ........................2
Opinions ...................4
Sports .......................7
WEATHER todayINSIDE today’s paperPuzzles .................... 11
Classifieds ............... 11
Lifestyles .................. 12
Chance ofthunderstorms
79º/41ºTuesday 65º/38ºClear
By Zac Al-KhateebSports Reporter
It was a trying time for the state of Alabama. In 1963, Gov. George Wallace brought national media
attention to the University as he barred the entrance of Foster Auditorium, refusing to allow two black students to enroll. Soon after, some felt it was time for a change in the athletic program. In 1969 that change came, as the
Crimson Tide football team, a tradi-tional powerhouse with numerous national championships and All-Americans, reached another mile-stone in its storied history. Alabama signed Wilbur Jackson, its first black scholarship player, and in 1970 field-
ed John Mitchell, who became the first black player to start a game for the Tide. “All I could think about was Foster Auditorium,” Jackson said of when
By Jennie KushnerSenior Staff Reporter
Students in one sociology class are applying concepts from their lectures toward the eradication of the stigma of HIV and AIDS. The 20 students in SOC 360: Sociology of HIV/AIDS have teamed up with the West Alabama Aids Outreach to offer free and confidential HIV and AIDS testing in the Ferguson Center on Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Students will also be offering information and provisions. “We have secured two rooms at the Ferguson Center that do not allow others to see in. The only persons in the room will be the person being tested and the WAAO employee providing the test,” WAAO Executive Director Billy Kirkpatrick said. “Testing only takes 20 minutes, so individuals being tested would not be standing around the testing area for a long period of time,” he said. The class received a grant of $2,000 to assist with the project from the Center for Community-Based Partnerships and the office of com-munity affairs, according to class professor Bronwen Lichtenstein. Kirkpatrick said the objective of the class project and of WAAO is mutual. “The goal is to provide informa-tion on HIV to the student body,
AIDS testing offered in Ferg
Jackson, Mitchell paved pathPlayers who desegregated Tide football team refl ect on experiences
Bryant MuseumTOP: Former Alabama player Wilbur Jackson runs the ball against Tennessee. Jackson was the fi rst black scholarship football player in UA history.ABOVE LEFT: Former Alabama player John Mitchell makes a tackle against LSU. Mitchell was the fi rst black player to start a game for Alabama.ABOVE RIGHT: Football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant and basketball coach C.M. Newton were essential in desegregating Alabama athletics.
See AIDS, page 5
See FOOTBALL, page 6
• What: HIV/AIDS testing
• Where: Ferguson Center
• When: Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
IF YOU GO ...
Gospel choir performs
CW | Teresa PortoneThe Afro American Gospel Choir performed at the Christian Night Club in the Ferguson Center game room Saturday night. View more photos at cw.ua.edu
SGA ELECTIONS 2011
Swinson aims to assist VPs
Kurth focuses on involvement
By Will TuckerNews Editor
Current Vice President of Student Affairs and candi-date for executive vice presi-dent Stephen Swinson said he
wants to take more of a man-aging role over the vice presi-dents in the SGA office. “I can relate to what the vice presidents will go through,” he said.
See SWINSON, page 2
@ cw.ua.edu
By William EvansSenior Staff Reporter
Studnet Government Association executive secre-tary candidate Kelsey Kurth said she has been exposed to
what freshmen expect out of college due to her experience this academic year as direc-tor of First Year Council, a body of first-year students who represent the freshman
See KURTH, page 3
SPORTSSPORTSFree throws sink Tide in OxfordFree throws sink Tide in Oxford 77
ON
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The Crimson White is the community newspaper of The University of Alabama. The Crimson White is an editorially free newspaper produced by students. The University of Alabama cannot influ-ence editorial decisions and editorial opinions are those of the editorial board and do not represent the official opinions of the University. Advertising offices of The Crimson White are on the first floor, Student Publications Building, 923 University Blvd. The adver-tising mailing address is P.O. Box 2389, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403-2389. The Crimson White (USPS 138020) is published four times weekly when classes are in session during Fall and Spring Semester except for the Monday after Spring Break and the Monday after Thanksgiving, and once a week when school is in session for the summer. Marked calendar provided. The Crimson White is provided for free up to three issues. Any other papers are $1.00. The subscription rate for The Crimson White is $125 per year. Checks should be made payable to The University of Alabama and sent to: The Crimson White Subscription Department, P.O. Box 2389, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403-2389. The Crimson White is entered as peri-odical postage at Tuscaloosa, AL 35401. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Crimson White, P.O. Box 2389, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403-2389. All material contained herein, except advertising or where indicated oth-erwise, is Copyright © 2010 by The Crimson White and protected under the “Work Made for Hire” and “Periodical Publication” categories of the U.S. copy-right laws. Material herein may not be reprinted without the expressed, written permission of The Crimson White.
Page 2• Monday,February 28, 2011
ON THE MENU ON THE CALENDARLAKESIDE
LunchPasta ConchiglieHerb-Roasted Red PotatoesBraised CabbageRed-Skin Potato SaladAsian Chicken Mozzarella Garden Burger (Vegetarian)
DinnerChar-Grilled Rosemary PorkMacaroni and CheeseCorn on the CobMozzarella Garden Burger (Vegetarian)
BURKE
Montreal Roasted Pork LoinMashed PotatoesOrange-Spiced CarrotsPeas and Pearl OnionsAsian Seasme Pasta (Vegetarian)
FRESH FOOD
Lemon Pepper Rotisserie Style ChickenWhite RiceOkra Tomatoes and CornSugar Snap PeasEggplant Parmigianino (Vegetarian)
ON CAMPUS
What: Apwonjo bake sale benefi tting Freedom in Creation
Where: Ferguson Center lobby
When: 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.
What: Pay Equity Aware-ness Week Bake Sale
Where: Ferguson Center lobby
When: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
What: Interfaith Comedy Show: Laugh in Peace Tour
Where: Ferguson Center Theater
When: 7:30 - 10 p.m.
TUESDAY
What: Tournament Night: Alternative Fitness Wii Sports & Xbox Kinect Tour-nament
Where: Ferguson Center Game Room
When: 6 - 8 p.m.
What: Brown Bag Lecture Series
Where: Manly 102
When: Noon - 1:30 p.m.
What: First Wednesdays - an informal Meet and Greet for students, faculty, & staff. Free food, fun, interactive games, and more.
Where: Crossroads Com-munity Center, Ferguson Center
When: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Submit your events to [email protected]
SUNDAYTODAY
What: Faculty Recital fea-turing Demondrae Thurman, euphonium
Where: Moody Music Building
When: 7:30 p.m.
What: International Expres-sions: Game Night
Where: Ferguson Center Game Room
When: 7 - 9 p.m.
What: Sustained Dialogue
Where: Nott Hall student lounge
When: 7 - 8 p.m.
HRC accepting applications for summer positions
Housing and Residential Communities is accepting applications for summer posi-tions including: Orientation Manager, Orientation Assistants, Conference Manager, Conference Assistants, Summer Assistant Community Directors and Summer Resident Advisors. Applications are due by mid-night, March 7. Positions are open to those enrolled in both Spring 2011 and Fall 2011 terms. For more information on specif-ic positions and requirements, visit housing.ua.edu.
Local musicians invited to perform on 90.7ʼs Tuscapalooza
Nominations being accepted for Inspiring Educator Award Students who will graduate in May can nominate a teacher from their high school for the Capstone Inspiring Educator award. The award goes to high school teachers from across the country who inspired UA students to achieve their goals. Winners will be recognized during spring commencement. Nominations are due by April 1. Applications are available at inspiringteacher.ua.edu. For more information, contact Janet Griffith at 348-8314.
WVUA-FM 90.7 is inviting student musicians to apply for a time slot during the stations annual 12-hour music festi-val, Tuscapalooza. Artists are welcome to perform their own original music and will be given a time slot between 30 minutes and one hour. The festival will run from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. on April 3. Applications are due by 5 p.m. March 7 at Room 288 Reese Phifer hall or via e-mail at [email protected]. Applications are also available online at the-capstone.ua.edu.
BRYANT
Beef Burgundy Fresh Herb Baked ChickenButtered NoodlesSeasoned Steamed BroccoliYellow SquashAlfredo Summer Vegetable Tortellini
ADVERTISING
EDITORIAL
• Dana Andrzejewski, Advertising Manager, 348-8995, [email protected]• Drew Gunn, Advertising Coordinator, 348-8044• Hallett Ogburn, Territory Manager, 348-2598• Emily Frost, National Advertising/Classifieds, 348-8042• Jessica West, Zone 3, 348-8735• Courtney Ginzig, Zone 4, 348-8054• Robert Clark, Zone 5, 348-2670• Emily Richards, Zone 6, 348-6876• Amy Ramsey, Zone 7, 348-8742• Brittany Key, Zone 8, 348-8054• Nikki Amthour, Zone 44, 348-6153• Will DeShazo, Zone 55, 348-8041• Kelly Sturwold, Creative Services Manager, 348-8042
• Victor Luckerson, editor-in-chief, [email protected]• Jonathan Reed, managing editor, [email protected]• Brandee Easter, print production editor • Daniel Roth, multimedia editor • Will Tucker, news editor, [email protected]• Kelsey Stein, lifestyles editor • Jason Galloway, sports editor • Tray Smith, opinions editor • Adam Greene, chief copy editor • Emily Johnson, design editor • Brian Pohuski, graphics editor • Drew Hoover, photo editor • Brian Connell, web editor • Marion Steinberg, community manager, [email protected]
Swinson noted several poli-cies he plans to implement if he is elected as executive vice presi-dent, a position that will undergo several changes as a result of the SGA constitutional overhaul. For instance, the executive vice president will no longer preside over the SGA Senate as it did in the past, but will be tasked with aiding and overseeing executive council projects. Swinson said he will help vice presidents accomplish their ini-tiatives and will prevent vice presidents from interfering and invading in the other vice presi-dents’ initiatives. “Simply, if the VP of student affairs has a project that is more financial affairs related… I’ll be there to be the mediator, to help them work together,” he said. “If they have an initiative they hope to accomplish, they should do it, but work within appropriate channels.” He said this role would allow for better communication among the vice presidents and help each vice president concentrate on their own initiatives. Swinson also supports bring-ing the Zimride carpool system, a social media tool that helps
SWINSONContinued from page 1
people coordinate carpooling via online message boards, to the University. “We’re working on it right now with auxiliary services,” he said. “It would help alleviate parking pressures on campus.” Swinson said he supports making the campus healthier and safer, as well, citing a friend who drank too much and con-sumed too many substances. He suggested a policy that would give students the option of reg-istering house parties with Tuscaloosa Police so that the police could call or text the host in the event of a noise complaint, rather than having to come off the streets to break up the party. Under the plan, the students would have 20 minutes to break up the party themselves before the police arrive. “I want to at least begin talking to [Tuscaloosa Police],” he said. “The University of Colorado has a program like this … it can help students stay out of trouble.” Swinson said he would work on implementing policies that would allow students to call the police to help friends facing alcohol-related incidents and get rewarded for doing so, so that more students will not dump friends off at the hospital. Swinson said he hopes to raise $20,000 in scholarship money, as well. He said scholarships and football are probably what stu-dents care about the most. While some students do not have a positive impression of the SGA, Swinson said he wants to showcase what the SGA is doing. “One of Stephen’s greatest assets is that he’s been able to work with a large staff this year,” said Nicole Bohannon, current executive vice president. “It’s prepared him to oversee the vice presidents next year. “He’s proven to be very inno-vative this year,” she said. “That’s going to be very critical with the changes to the office with the new constitution.” Swinson will be unopposed on the ticket when students vote March 8.
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The Crimson White NEWS Monday, February 28, 2011 3
By William EvansSenior Staff Reporter
During the transition from winter to spring, weather pat-terns in Tuscaloosa can dis-rupt a student’s expectations for what clothing to wear when the temperature seems to shift from day to day. The dynamic temperature shifts are representative of the climate pattern in the south-eastern United States and do not show support for the the-ory of global warming, said John Christy, climate scientist at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. “This is the time of year when weather patterns can change drastically,” he said. “You are in winter in Alabama. This is what happens.” Christy, appointed as the state climatologist in 2000, said rapid temperature changes experienced in Tuscaloosa occur because of the effects produced by sea surface tem-peratures in the Pacific and northern Atlantic oceans. Whereas the pattern from the Pacific tends to create warmer and drier weather along the Gulf Coast, the pattern from the northern Atlantic tends to generate colder weather. Christy said the models he uses to scrutinize the theory of global warming fail to support the argument climate scien-tists make in support of human-induced climate change. “To date, we haven’t found that signal that says, ‘This is clear evidence that humans are causing changes of temper-ature in the weather,’” he said. He said although greenhouse gas emissions have a warming effect on the atmosphere, some factors in the global climate may be mitigating the warm-ing effect of carbon dioxide vapors. The convergence of the four seasons during wintertime
Expert: global warming evidence inconclusive
in Tuscaloosa has produced extreme temperatures but has not led climate scientists to conclude that global warm-ing is the cause, said Jason Senkbeil, assistant professor of geography and the director of the environmental science program. “In the past year, we have had some seasonal extremes, but it is too short of a time period to jump to conclusions,” he said. “In the southeastern United States, there has not been any statistical evidence of climate change.” For many southeastern states, the summer of 2010 was the hottest summer to be recorded in a 116-year period, and the current winter will become the top 10 coldest to be experienced, he said. The weather, however, still follows a predictable pattern, which causes the global warm-ing theory to fall short of being an indisputable fact, he said. The majority of climate scien-tists in The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an intergovernmental body of sci-entists tasked with providing information on climate change
and its consequences, support the theory of global warming, he said. “The majority of the world’s climate scientists believe there is a human relationship to cli-mate change,” he said. In a 2007 editorial to the Wall Street Journal, Christy distanced himself from the majority by siding against the consensus on global warming. “I’m sure the majority (but not all) of my IPCC colleagues cringe when I say this, but I see neither the developing catas-trophe nor the smoking gun proving that human activity is to blame for most of the warm-ing we see,” he wrote. A host of climate patterns lead to the fickle weather expe-rienced in Tuscaloosa during this time of year, which lie outside of the global warming debate, said Kristina Sumrall, observing program manag-er for the National Weather Service in Birmingham. “Outside of the whole glob-al warming scenario, there are numerous large risk pat-terns that affect our climate, and those patterns occur over decades,” she said.
CW |Megan SmithStudents enjoy the warm weather Saturday afternoon on the Quad.
KURTHContinued from page 1
class in the SGA. “They’re expecting to become part of something and to have their ideas heard,” she said. Connecting students to out-lets of involvement when First Year Council is not an option is an important step toward ensuring that freshmen can find fulfillment during their initial year at the Capstone, she said. Many of those outlets exist within the SGA and can be staffed by students who do not make the cut for First Year Council, she said. If elected to the office of executive secretary, Kurth said she would communicate with the following director of First Year Council to guide students into the committees and direc-tor positions that are abundant in the SGA. Her experience as director of First Year Council qualifies her for an executive position, she
said. “Being the director of First Year Council in itself shows that I am ready to handle an executive office,” she said. “I thought I could handle a little more responsibility.” Kurth said she hopes to continue the advancements in transparency and accountabil-ity the current SGA adminis-tration has progressed toward. Among the benchmarks established by this year’s SGA are the internal and external newsletters sent to SGA mem-bers and the student body, respectively, and the SGA web-site that informs students of legislation. “I think it is crucial to have the legislation of the First Year Council and the Senate shown on the website to show what’s going on day by day,” she said. Keeping the website up to
date, Kurth said, will help to instill a confidence in the abil-ity of the SGA to represent the student body in an accountable manner. She said she hopes to have students become more knowl-edgeable about the SGA and its activities via the SGA website. “I can see they may not know what the SGA is doing, what the SGA is about or that the SGA could help them,” she said. “I think updating the web-site can help students to gather information about their SGA.” Kurth said she hopes to work on a campaign next year, if elected to the position of execu-tive secretary, that will encour-age students to sign up for the SGA newsletters. Reformatting the newsletters and including creative advertising may per-suade students to register for them, she said.
“I can see [students] may not know what the SGA is doing, what the SGA is about or that the SGA could help them,”
— Kelsey Kurth
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Sunday was the first official day of campaigning for SGA elections but, unfortunately, there won’t be that much cam-paigning this year. Restrictive new rules from the Elections Board prohibit chalk-ing and stickers, which have been the trademarks of previ-ous campaign sea-sons. Furthermore, six candidates running for SGA executive offices are unopposed. The race for SGA president is the only contested election. We regret that more students have not decided to run for SGA office this year. Having an opponent forces candidates to propose more concrete ideas, develop more innovative platforms, and connect with more students. While getting elected to an executive office is obviously a difficult task, if more students would at least throw their hat in the ring, they could do a great service to the student body. Ultimately, candidates who are unopposed are accountable only to a campus political culture that discourages dissent and healthy democratic com-petition. There is little opportunity for voters and student organizations to leverage their influence over the elected leaders who are supposed to repre-sent them. Alabama’s current and last two governors gradu-ated from this University, and both of our senators have degrees from here. As an institution that has produced an overwhelming number of political leaders throughout the history of the state, the lack of interest and energy in student body elections is disappointing. Hopefully, the students who have stepped for-ward and put themselves up for office will build on the significant progress that has been achieved by the current SGA administration. However, all of the candidates would be better leaders and better officeholders if they actually had to work for votes, even if they only faced token opposition. With a new constitution in place, new rules requir-ing transparency and openness being enforced, and reforms to Student Organization Seating and finan-cial allocations being advanced, we are optimistic about the future of the SGA. But SGA officehold-ers, once sworn in, must take their commitment to serve the student body seriously. Even though they do not have to campaign for votes and support now, to be successful, they must engage the student body after they are elected.
Our View is the consensus of The Crimson White’s editorial board.
OPIN
ION
S
Monday, February 28, 2011Editor • Tray [email protected]
Page 4
WE WELCOME YOUR OPINIONSLetters to the editor must be less than 300 words and guest columns less than 800. Send submissions to [email protected]. Submissions must include the author’s name, year, major and day-time phone number. Phone numbers are for verification and will not be published. Students should also include their year in school and major. For more information, call 348-6144. The CW reserves the right to edit all submissions.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Victor Luckerson EditorJonathan Reed Managing Editor
Tray Smith Opinions EditorAdam Greene Chief Copy Editor
YOUR VIEW { }
Disinterestin SGAunhealthy
OUR VIEW
In short: Students running unop-posed discour-ages healthy democratic competition
{
With SGA e l e c t i o n s looming, it is becoming increasingly a p p a r e n t that our stu-dent body is at a cross-roads. We are threat-ened by a great divide, a divide so deep it risks unraveling the social fabric of the student body and even our cohesiveness as a uni-versity. I am referring, of course, to the divide between old and new money. This university, like most uni-versities, has run on old money for generations. And, judging by the state of our campus, it has done a good job. Just look at our gorgeous new frat castles, recently expand-ed Bryant-Denny Stadium and the President’s Mansion, a daily reminder of the plantation aristoc-racy that once ruled. The new money guys, though, aren’t appreciative. They are becoming increasingly assertive, almost annoying. You know them. They are the stu-dents who walk out of the Honors College, get in their foreign-made luxury car, and drive to Surin for lunch. They have fancy titles, refer constantly to things like “campus leadership,” and are always eager to plug the nonprofits, committees and programs they are starting.
They have big egos, because they actually earned their money (or, at least, their parents did). They come from places like Spanish Fort, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, Madison, or, worse, out of state. They were lured here when high-level campus adminis-trators showed up at a recruiting event, promised them lucrative scholarship packages, and, more importantly, a vaunted spot atop the campus totem poll. They were surprised and taken aback when they arrived, and found out that starting a conversation with “Well, I could have gone to an Ivy League school, but…” is actually much less impressive than, “I graduated from UMS.” They complain about all the time they have to spend doing school-work, even though their major is philosophy and they wiped a year off college in high school. At random points, the “Teach for America Application Deadline” pops up as their Facebook profile picture. Old money students, meanwhile, eat lunch at the fraternity or soror-ity house, if they make it out of bed in time. They spend their evenings at Gallettes or The Red Shed and are always asking their friends if they are “going out tonight.” They drive the Escalades and Tahoes their parents drove before they bought a new model. They don’t flash their wealth because, well, what’s theirs to flash? To them, the Black Belt is a mas-sive 18 county hunting reserve, not
a fertile ground for social entre-preneurship. Their main concern is not as much finding a job as it is avoiding a death tax hike. Vineyard Vines and Polo are fine, but there is no significant marginal value in wearing something from Brooks Brothers over a game day T-shirt. These students have likely not been to Barnes and Noble since they moved to Tuscaloosa, and probably view the Ferg as more of an airport terminal than a student center. Every few months, they devote their profile picture to a political cause, like “Bradley Byrne for Governor” or, more important-ly, “Vote Yes for Seven Day Sales.” Overall, these guys are relaxed, low-key, and legitimately fun to be around. However, such conflicting per-sonality types cannot coexist peacefully forever. I fear we are nearing a point when the sheer drive and intelligence of the new money elites will lead them to direct confrontation with the lik-ability and influence of old money. Only time will tell if we can bridge this divide, and create a united front for the future of our campus. There are reasons to be optimistic. Eventually, all this new money floating around will become old, and then a few of these guys will get a seat on the Board of Trustees. After all, they’ve earned it.
Tray Smith is the opinions editor of The Crimson White. His column runs on Monday.
Money divide causes campus strife
By Josh Gray
It seems thoughts on diversity never exactly go to where they should. Too many times the diver-sity thought just becomes a race thought or a black-white thought, but diversity is so much more than whether one is interacting with someone whose skin tone differs from them. We have to take into consider-ation that diversity is a measure-ment of variety. Diversity can com-pare so many other things than an ethnic background like social sta-tus, sex, gender, economical fitness and even how well one can toss a football! The diversity discussion is a campus-wide discussion. This is not something central to the Honors College, and it is especially not something central to black stu-dents. Black students are under-represented in far too many other areas and organizations on the UA campus. The only area black stu-dents are not underrepresented is within any historically black orga-nization. Today’s discussion on diversity on the UA campus or diversity in the Honors College goes far beyond where the typical student likes to think it does. We are facing a dis-cussion that is very much a heavy after-effect of our history. Speaking about black Americans alone, it is necessary to realize that access to education in their com-munity has not been as consistent as that of European Americans. Education is just as generational as wealth is when considering the fact that those who come before you lay the foundation for you to grow. You also have to be able to afford the University of Alabama before being able to attend it. You have to come
from a community with access to a good primary education prior to entering the Honors College. The University has one of the highest dropout rates in the nation. There’s no question about whether the University may be losing the diversity it already has while trying to gain more. The University also holds the number three spot for the amount of black students it gradu-ates, but statistics do not change history. In questioning whether honors students become isolated from expe-riencing diversity, I believe they do not. The Honors College provides its students with many outlets for interacting with people of a diverse background. The International Honors Program speaks for that by welcoming students to a world filled with diversity. Outside of IHP, Honors students have the opportunity to participate in the Blueprints program that takes place at Central High School–a pre-dominantly black high school. Honors students can choose to participate in the First Friends pro-gram that allows students to experi-ence the differences in the culture of a UA international student first hand. There’s even Documenting Justice, which places students in an arena to explore diverse social issues. As far as the student body goes, no, the Honors College does not currently represent the larger UA student body. The administrators of Nott Hall, the executive board members of the Honors College Assembly, our Diversity Committee and I understand that. We have all been committed to working toward fostering a greater community of minority honors students. That is why I am in the HCA position that I am in today.
When it comes to selection, the Honors College has its natural aca-demic standards for students. It’s an inner campus institution with schol-arship as one of its four primary foundations. There is no reducing who can attend outside of that stan-dard. Applying for entrance into the Honors College remains available to all undergraduate students who have completed at least one UA semester. If anyone feels there is a need to focus on recruiting more African-American students specifi-cally, please know that the Honors College is working hard at that. We are also working to ensure we attend to the minority students we do have so that we create a change that can begin within and grow out-wards. The Minority Experiences in the Honors College Luncheon was just held last Friday, and received positive feedback from the attend-ees. As one student said, this is not just about “a diverse body.” Like I mentioned previously, diversity is more than just a skin tone. It’s also about “a diverse face,” and our face is influenced by our University, which is influenced by the propor-tions of our entire population. I prefer to think there is still more space for minorities to grow in the Honors College versus minorities just basically being underrepre-sented. This is a discussion that our history has played the dominant role in creating. We may not be here to change history, but we are here to promote a better future. We are focused, and we are doing what we can in terms of this diversity discus-sion.
Josh Gray is a junior majoring in political science and international relations and Director of Diversity for the Honors College Assembly.
Diversity concerns much more than race
MCT Campus
Tray SmithCW Poll
Have you or do you plan to donate to the restoration of Toomer’s Corner?
78%288Votes
22%79
Votes
NO
YES
Total Voters: 367
Do you plan on voting in next week’s SGA elections?
This Week’s Question:
By Elizabeth Robinson
Tuscaloosa businesses and students alike havereason to celebrate after Tuesday’s vote to allow thesale of alcohol on Sundays. Businesses are lookingforward to the increased profit accompanying theallowance of another day of selling drinks contain-ing alcohol, and students are happy they’ll no longerhave to either stock up on “Sunday beer” on Saturdaynight or make the drive to Jefferson County dur-ing the day Sunday. Even Tuscaloosa City officialsare looking forward to the increased tax revenue.The vote wasn’t just decisive, it was overwhelming:8,873 in favor of Sunday sales to 2,504 against. Sucha broad margin should send a resounding message:Tuscaloosa is ready to move into a new era. Although the vote asked us whether we want alco-hol served on Sundays between the hours of noonand 9:30 p.m., many of us who voted didn’t realizethat the Tuscaloosa city council still gets to decide inwhich venues alcoholic drinks may be served. Theyhave the option of relegating this privilege solely torestaurants, leaving out bars and convenience storesif they so please. Several council members are enthusiastic aboutallowing every establishment that currently has aliquor license to serve alcohol during the aforemen-tioned hours. Some are more cautious, saying theyneed to put more thought into whether or not barsand lounges, venues that only serve alcoholic drinks,should be included. Leaving out some businesseswould not only be an economic disadvantage for thecity, Would Houndstooth, Buffalo Phil’s and Innisfreebe allowed to serve me a pitcher of beer on Sunday,because they serve food, but Rounders and Gallette’snot? At what point is an establishment a restaurantthat serves alcohol and not a bar that serves food?Every one of these businesses has already gonethrough the arduous task of acquiring a liquorlicense, proving they are responsible. They are allalready monitored by the ABC Board to ensure theircompliance to the plethora of state laws regulatingalcohol sales and consumption. Why would these law-abiding establishmentsbehave any other way on Sundays? Why would thecity council discourage people from buying alcoholin a store and taking it home where they can drinkwithout worrying how they will get back? The city council meets this Tuesday, March 1, todecide who will be able to sell alcohol on Sundaysand who will not. Contact members of the city coun-cil to remind them to whom they answer. We spokeloudly last week; 78 percent of the voting citizensof Tuscaloosa said we wanted to have the option tolawfully buy and consume alcohol on Sundays. Anytruncation of that is an affront to the democraticvoices of the people our council members serve.
Elizabeth Robinson is a senior majoring in politicalscience and economics.
Don’t limit Sunday salesLETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Crimson White NEWS Monday, February 28, 2011 5
By Jasmine CannonContributing Writer
There are seven sites that compose The University of Alabama Museums. Some of them are on campus, such as the Gorgas House and the Alabama Museum of Natural History in Smith Hall. Others, such as the newly renovated Jones Museum at Moundville Archaeological Park, can be visited off campus. At its peak, Moundville was America’s largest city north of Mexico. Now, the park not only serves as a tourist attrac-tion, but also as one of the pre-miere sites for students to get involved with volunteering and research. Bill Bomar, director of Moundville Park, teaches a museum studies course through New College and the department of American stud-ies. “Several of my students have completed internships [at Moundville] or have vol-unteered to help with exhibit maintenance or public pro-
Moundville offers summer internships Students can get involved with Moundville activities this summer during the interim semester when doctoral stu-dent Jeremy Davis will lead the field school excavation of por-tions of a prehistoric building that was discovered through innovative use of a magnetom-eter to create a geophysical survey. Davis has been working at Moundville since 2006. “Moundville is of national importance and it’s right here on the outskirts of Tuscaloosa,” Davis said. “There’s no other place in Alabama that has something like [the oppor-tunity of being involved at Moundville], especially that’s being actively researched by their professors. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved at Moundville from the National American Festival to the museum. “Most people don’t know a
lot about Moundville, but it’s extremely important,” he said. “I think as a result of the muse-um it’s going to get into the public eye a lot more.” The Archaeology FieldSchool course begins May 9. For more information, Davis can be contacted at [email protected]. The museum is home to more than 200 artifacts that were significant to Native American life, the Moundville website states. According to Clouse, the museum was built in 1930 to house exhibits that were built into the walls—the way museums used to present information. The renovations now allow the exhibits to tell a story. For more information on Moundville visit Moundville.ua.edu, and to get involved con-tact Clouse at [email protected] or 371-8718.
Much of the student involvement is derived from research projects conducted through the arc haeology and anthropology departments. John Blitz, an anthropology professor, leads excavations at Moundville each fall semester. Blitz has written a book, as well as scholarly articles, about Moundville. “I encourage [student par-ticipation] at Moundville and seek out students in the intro-ductory courses that might be interested,” Blitz said. “I tell them about the field school. Moundville has docents and they’re our students for the most part. That experience has also gotten them to participate in the field research part of it too. One thing that’s changed since the new museum would be that the Moundville Archaeological Park has taken on more students.”
“Lack of education is a real problem for young people who are at highest risk of being infected with STIs,” Lichtenstein said. Heather Powers, a junior majoring in criminal justice, said she signed up for the class because of the positive reputa-tion of the professor and the interesting title. Powers said she is excited to see the reactions of students who pass the class’s booth in the Ferg. “I hope that people realize that AIDS is a serious issue and that everyone needs to be educated,” Powers said. “I hope that it benefits a lot of students, but I don’t know if it will be effective at all based on the fact that college students probably will disregard the message.” Andrew Martinez, a junior majoring in media production, encourages students to visit the booth.
“I hope that I can broaden the University’s knowledge on HIV/AIDS because every-body’s at risk for it,” he said. “It’s not a disease that should be takenlightly.” Lichtenstein said she is aware of three UA students who have HIV. “I learned about these unidentified students from a clinician who told me that she had seen two newly-diagnosed UA students in one month alone,” she said. “There are more than three HIV-infected students at UA but I do not have access to the total number,” she said. “HIV is a highly treatable condition,” Lichtenstein said. “Testing helps to prevent HIV transmission to sexual partners and ensures that HIV-infected people get the treatment they need to lead a healthy life.”
AIDSContinued from page 1
knowledge of WAAO’s services, and to reduce the stigma associ-ated with the disease,” he said. According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, there were about 11,000 Alabamians living with HIV in 2009. Lichtenstein has been offer-ing the class since the spring of 2008. Lichtenstein said she offered the class because she wanted to remove the stigma of HIV and address common misconceptions. “I was concerned that UA students had little idea about the social impact of the HIV epidemic in the South,” she said. “From studies I had con-ducted, I also knew that stu-dent knowledge of [sexually transmitted infections] was lacking in significant ways.”
gramming,” Bomar said. “We have a number of UA students who volunteer each year at the Moundville Native American Festival. This is a huge annual event, held the first week of October, usually attended by about 12,000 people over four days. “We could not put on this event without several hundred volunteers, many of whom are students,” he said. “Also, we have commonly had students on our part-time staff at the park as admissions or gift shop cashiers. Students are also very involved in research at Moundville, both at the gradu-ate and undergraduate levels.” Robert Clouse, director of the Office of Archaeological Research, said students have contributed to the advance-ment of Moundville and there
has also been an increase in student involvement at the park. “As part of the overall reno-vation we had to archaeological research,” Clouse said, “A num-ber of archaeology students—students from the anthropol-ogy department—were hired to do archaeological research. Since then there have been students who have been serv-ing as docents or volunteers in the museum. We oftentimes hire students [in the Office of Archaeological Research] to be involved in archaeological research. “There’s considerable poten-tial for [involvement for] people that have an interest in muse-um studies or maybe even in marketing,” he said. “We had essentially no student involve-ment [prior to the renovation].”
“I encourage [student participation] at Mound-ville and seek out students in the introductory courses that might be interested.”
— John Blitz
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6 Monday, February 28, 2011 NEWS The Crimson White
By Charles ScarboroughStaff Reporter
University of Alabama History Professor Howard Jones received an honorable mention for the 2011 Lincoln Prize for his book, “Blue and Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations.” The Lincoln Prize, which is sponsored by The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American
By Taylor HollandSenior Staff Reporter
The University has varying guidelines for its faculty and staff in regards to taking mater-nity and paternity leave in the event of childbirth or adoption. Faculty members have specif-ic guidelines for taking materni-ty leave, while UA staff members have no separate leave policy designated for them. According to the University’s faculty handbook, a faculty member is eligible to receive maternity leave for periods as long as six months. The faculty member’s maternity leave cov-ers recovery from pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, childbirth and from any resulting disabili-ties. “When a faculty member goes on such a leave, the depart-ment chairperson or dean must arrange for colleagues to carry out the faculty member’s obli-gations or must make other arrangements for fulfilling those obligations,” the hand-book reads. “In order to facilitate programmatic planning, a fac-ulty member should notify the department chairperson or dean of the need for maternity leave as far in advance of the antici-pated leave period as possible. The faculty member should not commence maternity leave until advised to do so by her physi-cian.” Despite the faculty’s ability to take such a leave, the University does not have a separate leave policy designated for maternity and paternity leave for UA staff, according to UA Director of
History and Gettysburg College, will be awarded in a May 11 cer-emony at the Union League Club in New York City. Professor Jones has studied and written about the American Civil War for over two decades. “Blue and Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations,” provides a holistic overview of the confederacy’s foreign policy dealings with European powers. Jones focuses on how the entire landscape of the Civil War, as well as the history of the United States was extreme-ly close to being dramatically shifted by the South’s near rec-ognition as a credible diplomatic entity. “If the South had won diplo-matic recognition in the first eighteen months of the war, when everything was hanging in the balance, it could have gone either way,” Jones said. Sitting in an office adorned with civil war memorabilia and a portrait of Abraham Lincoln
prominently featured over his desk, Jones mentioned how honored he was to receive the award. “It means quite a bit. It really does,” Jones said. “There are so many books that are published on the Civil War. To have over a hundred nominated and to be among the seven at the top it means quite a bit to me.” Out of the 106 nominees for the 2011 Lincoln Prize, six received honorable mention, the highest tally yet in the 21-year history of the award. The winner was Eric Foner, a Columbia University professor, who wrote “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.” Kari Frederickson, chair-woman of the history depart-ment, said she was extremely proud of Jones’ being rewarded the Lincoln Prize Honorable Mention. “To receive Honorable Mention for the Lincoln Prize is a tremendous accomplishment,” Frederickson said. “The Lincoln
Prize is one of the most presti-gious awards given for works in American history. This award further confirms that Dr. Jones is among the top scholars in his field.” Frederickson said Jones is a special writer because his read-ership spans various communi-ties and thus is a huge boon to The University, as his notabil-ity adds prestige to the history department. “What is amazing about Dr. Jones’s impressive body of work is that its readership is not confined to a small group of academics,” Frederickson said. “Just yesterday I met with a prospective undergraduate who is considering attending the University of Alabama. Her father is familiar with the work of Dr. Jones and was excited to hear that his daughter could pos-sibly take one his classes. For a scholar to have this kind of reach is truly impressive and reflects well on the University of Alabama.”
Professor recognized for book
Maternity leave open to faculty, not staff
CW | Teresa PortoneThere are many expectant mothers currently working at the University of Alabama.
Alabama recruited him. “[Wallace] was trying to stop any blacks. When you look at it like that, it was a little sur-prising… [But] gosh, it felt pretty good.” For Bill Oliver, an assistant coach under famed coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, the sign-ing of Jackson and Mitchell was a sign that society in the South was changing. “Somebody’s got to start somewhere,” Oliver said. “The biggest thing is, the society changed. There were more blacks available [for recruitment]. It was a process that took time. It was a cul-ture that needed to develop.” Former Alabama assistant Pat Dye said, “I think it was them just having to be the first ones. No transition, they walked out there and were football players the first day.” Still, Jackson was not the first black scholarship ath-lete ever at Alabama. It was Wendell Hudson, who signed with Alabama in the same year and went on to have an excellent career playing for the basketball team. C.M. Newton, the head basketball coach at the time who recruit-ed Hudson, said his recruit-ment of Hudson, more than anything, was what persuad-ed Bryant to start recruiting black players. “I think it had an influence, because Wendell [Hudson] came in and just tore down all the stereotypes,” Newton said. “He was a good student, just a tremendous player, and an all-around good per-son. Had Wendell not suc-ceeded, I don’t know if Bryant would have gone and got Wilbur [Jackson] and John [Mitchell].” Many people, however, attribute the desegrega-tion of Alabama football
FOOTBALLContinued from page 1
to the 1970 game against the Southern California Trojans. In that game (played in Alabama), a black fullback named Sam Cunningham ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns en route to a 42-21 blowout against an all-white Alabama. Jackson, who was already on the team, didn’t play because freshmen at the time weren’t eligible. Still, many think Bryant purposefully scheduled that game, knowing Cunningham would perform well against them, to demonstrate Alabama needed more black players. However, many who knew Bryant said this wasn’t true. “He scheduled them because he and their football coach were very good friends,” Newton said. “I think that has been a myth. That whole USC thing has been mythologized. Knowing Coach Bryant, they were very good friends. I don’t think it was scheduled for Sam Cunningham.” Whether the myth is true or not, Cunningham’s performance opened many eyes in the South to the talent and worth of black players. Newton not only attributed the integration of the football team to the recruitment of his own player, Hudson, but also to a shift in Southern high schools that started integrating their programs. “I think more importantly was the pool of talent that became more available through the state,” Newton said. “The timing came about 1968 when Alabama and Georgia integrated their high school programs. And what that did, it took the black players and mixed them with predomi-nantly white schools. And that had more of an impact. “I think ultimately when [Bryant] saw many of the best high school players in our own state were going to be black, Bryant made the decision – he didn’t care if they were polka-dotted, or whatever.” Still, once Jackson and
Mitchell were on campus, there was a possibility of an incident arising because of their race. Jackson said he was a little apprehensive that it might happen. However, he said during his and Mitchell’s time at the Capstone, no inci-dents arose. “Everything was fine,”Jackson said. “I think coach Bryant had a real grasp of the program at the time when I got there. Bryant always talked about class. During the time I was there, everything went rela-tively smooth.” Eventually, Mitchell and Jackson would establish them-selves as dominant players for the Tide, resulting in the two being voted team captains on the team in ’72 and ’73, respec-tively. “I think it’s the most amaz-ing thing with the two of them,” Oliver said. “We talk about the way things are today, and you go back and relate that to those two guys. We didn’t have any black players. And the way they han-dled themselves with character, with self-discipline, getting bet-ter and better while they were there. That is mind boggling.” Looking back now, Jackson said he had some amazing expe-riences playing for the Crimson Tide, and developed some friendships he still carries on today. “The best part about it is the memories,” Jackson said. “When you look back at it now, you’d do it all over again. It was a good experience and helped mold me into the person I am today.” Alabama, the state and uni-versity, had come a long way, from Wallace’s stand in the schoolhouse door to Jackson and Mitchell’s success on the football field. Still, for Dye, race was never a prevalent factor in football, for him, the players or Bryant himself. “Football players – they don’t have no color,” Dye said. “They’re all red on the inside.”
Media Relations Cathy Andreen. “The University follows fed-eral guidelines concerning the Family and Medical Leave Act,” Andreen said. “Employees on FML have the option of using a portion of the University’s gen-erous annual leave/sick leave policy for maternity/paternity needs.” According to UA’s staff hand-book, staff members who meet eligibility criteria may take up to 12 weeks of FML within any 12 month rolling period and be restored to the same or to an equivalent position upon their return. “Eligibility criteria are: must have been employed by the University of Alabama for at least six months and must have com-pleted 625 worked hours in the past six months OR must have
worked 1250 hours in the past 12 months; and must have complet-ed the appropriate Family and Medical Leave application pro-cess,” the staff handbook reads. Baillie Schantz, a senior major-ing in English, said she hoped UA staff would soon gain the same rights as UA faculty members. “I think everyone deserves equal time off because everyone works for the same University, just at different levels,” Schantz said. “Why is staff limited to half the time of leave? What if a staff member needs maternity leave and doesn’t meet the criteria?” Both the faculty and staff handbooks are available online at ua.edu/faculty.html for stu-dents and all others interested in learning more about the University’s faculty and staff policies.
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Page 7 • Monday, February 28, 2011
Editor • Jason Galloway crimsonwhitesports@
gmail.com
MONDAY
SATURDAY
• Women’s Golf Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate: All Day
• Men’s Basketball vs Florida: 6:00 PM in Gainesville, Fla.
•Women’s Golf Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate: All Day
SPORTS this week
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Tide falls to Rebels on the road
0 | Number of teams that have outscored the Tide in the paint. Though teams have tied with points in the paint, Alabama has never lost that battle. Against Ole Miss, the team had 36 points to Ole Miss’s 28 points.
BY THE NUMBERS
11-3 | Alabama, as the No. 1 West team, and Florida, as No. 1 East team, will have matching SEC records going into the game Tuesday in Gainesville, Fla.
2006 | Tuesday’s game against Florida will be head coach Anthony Grant’s first trip back to Gainesville after being an assistant coach there from 1996-2006.
80 | Percent of Ole Miss’s completed free throws. Alabama sent the Rebels to the line for 34 attempts, and the team converted 27 points.
10 |Number of free throws Alabama had in the game. Though the Tide missed six free throws, the team lost by only five.
3| Number of Southeastern Conference losses this season. Despite its latest loss on Saturday, the Tide will still remain on top of the SEC Western Division.
AP Photo | Rogelio V. SolisOle Miss guard Chris Warren, forward Steadman Short and guard Zach Graham force a turn-over by Alabama guard Trevor Releford in the second half of the game in Oxford, Miss., Satur-day.
Alabama
J. Green (17)
C. Davis (6)
J. Green, C. Hines (7)
Points
Assists
Rebounds
Ole Miss
C. Warren (25)
C. Warren (5)
Z. Graham (10)
GAME LEADERS
Chris Warren
Ole Miss’s Chris Warren had 25 points with five assists, two rebounds and two steals against Alabama. As the No. 1 free throw shooter in the NCAA, he went 11-12 at the line, which made a big enough difference to win the game.
PLAYER OF THE GAME Toward the end of the
game, Trevor Releford had a breakaway layup that he didn’t convert. When an Ole Miss play-er rebounded, Releford fouled and sent the play-er to the line. The Tide’s frustration became apparent, and though the team fought, they were not able to catch back up to the Rebels.
KEY MOMENT
For the second game in a row for Alabama, free throws made the biggest difference in the game. Alabama had only 16 free throw attempts while Ole Miss had 34. Alabama lost the game by five, while missing six free throws, and Ole Miss converted 27 points off free throws.
THE DIFFERENCE
Traina helps softball team stay perfect
From staff reports
The No. 2-ranked Alabama softball team claimed its third tournament title of the season as it earned the USF Fairfield Inn and Suites Tournament championship with a 12-1 win over host University of South Florida Sunday afternoon. With the win, the Crimson Tide improves to a perfect 16-0 on the season. In game one on Saturday, freshman Jackie Traina made history as she became the first Alabama player to hit three home runs in a single game as she helped lead the Tide to a 12-4 victory over Western Michigan. In game two, the Tide played its first ranked oppo-nent of the season but con-
QUOTE OF THE GAME“I thought we got into a rhythm in the second half and were scoring effectively in transition, and then the pace of the game of the game changed. Ole Miss is a great 3-point shooting team and we were able to overcome that, but we couldn’t overcome the free-throw line.”
— Head coach Anthony Grant
SPORTS in brieftinued its winning ways by downing No. 15 Missouri, 3-1. The Tide swept its way through the first day of the tournament by running past Central Connecticut, 17-1 Friday night after the team opened the tournament with a 7-0 victory over Illinois State Friday afternoon at the brand new USF Softball Stadium. Traina proved to be the differ-ence as she pitched six score-less innings and drove in four runs, including a three-run home run.
The Crimson Tide dropped all three games in the tour-nament and is now 4-3 on the season, while Central Florida improved to 6-1 overall. Saturday’s game against the South Alabama Jaguars ended with two unearned runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, making the final score 10-9, giving Alabama its second loss of the season. In a game that produced 19 total runs, eight crossed the plate in the final inning and a half. With Alabama leading 6-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth, South Alabama’s Jordan Patterson hit a three-run home run with two outs off Trey Pilkington to give the Jaguars their first lead of the game at 8-6. Alabama’s first loss of both the tournament and the season came Friday against Southeast Louisiana, falling 6-2.
Tide baseball drops three-game series
From staff reports
The Alabama baseball team completed the South Alabama Classic with a 12-4 loss to Central Florida on Sunday afternoon at Stanky Field.
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8 Monday, February 28, 2011 SPORTS The Crimson White
Tide upsets Georgia by improving on uneven bars
4 | Alabama scored a 49.525 on beam against Georgia, the fourth-highest single-event score in school history.
BY THE NUMBERS
GYMNASTICS
5| Five of the Tide’s six beam competitors Friday night either matched or bettered their career high scores on the event.
6 | Friday was the first time in six years the Tide has beaten Georgia in Athens.
1 | Alabama has only one loss this year, compared to nine wins.
2| Two Alabama gymnasts are tied for the highest all-around score in the country this season. Kayla Hoffman and Geralen Stack-Eaton have both scored a 39.675.
3| The Crimson Tide has posted a season-high score three straight weeks, most recently a 197.675 Friday night.
Alabama
49.5
49.325
49.525
49.325
197.675
Vault
Bars
Beam
Floor
Overall
Georgia
49.35
49.225
49.225
49.425
197.225
TEAM STATSKayla Hoffman
Senior Kayla Hoffman scored a career-high 39.675 in the all around, including a career-best 9.95 on beam. She tied teammate Geralen Stack-Eaton’s 39.675 from last week’s meet against Kentucky as the highest all-around score in the country this year.
GYMNAST OF THE MEET
With Diandra Milliner out because she was sick, freshman Hannah Toussaint scored a 9.875 on her first career beam routine. It was a pressure situa-tion in the fourth rotation, and Alabama went on to score the fourth-highest score in school history on the event.
KEY MOMENT
Alabama’s uneven bars performance. The event has gotten the Tide into a huge bind early in two other road meets this season, and head coach Sarah Patterson said last week that consistency on bars is the biggest concern for her team. Starting the meet with a 39.325 gave Alabama the edge.
THE DIFFERENCE
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“We were on fi re tonight. Kayla and Geralen both had an amazing night. And for our freshmen and sophomores, this is the fi rst time they’ve competed here in Athens, and they handled the atmosphere like champions.”
— Head coach Sarah Patterson
SPORTS in brief
Women’s basketball topples Arkansas
From staff reports
Junior Ericka Russell hit eight 3-pointers – tying a school record – and scored 28 points to
lift the Alabama women’s bas-ketball team over Arkansas, 92-79, in Bud Walton Arena on Sunday. Joining Russell with dou-ble-figure points was senior Varisia Raffington, freshman Shafontaye Myers and senior LaToya King and junior Alicia Mitcham. Senior Tierney Jenkins collected a game-high 11
rebounds, while King’s eight assists were both a game-highand career-best. The Tide continued to lead throughout the game building as much as a 26-point lead in the second half. The Razorbacks were able to pull within 12, scoring the majority of their points from the free throw line,but could not come any closer.Myers was clutch for Alabama at the charity stripe over the final 3:01, hitting all eight of herattempts. For the game, the Tide hit 55.7 percent of its shots from the floor (34-for-61) and col-lected 23 assists. In addition, Alabama converted 24 points off turnovers. Next up, Alabama will head to Nashville, Tenn. for the 2011 SEC Tournament. The Tide enters the tournament as the No. 10 seed and will take on sev-enth-seeded LSU on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
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The Crimson White LIFESTYLES Monday, February 28, 2011 9
By Nikki Davis
I don’t know about you, but every time I was given a hall pass in junior high or high school, it instantly became my duty to take as much time as possible with whatever mis-sion I’d been given, making as many pointless stops and mis-adventures along the way as I could. It’s not the most respon-sible way to get things done, but it was fun while it lasted. This is the pervading atmo-sphere of “Hall Pass,” only on a much bigger, more serious playing field. Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are thirty-something married men with a problem: both of them have shamelessly wandering eyes, and their wives have had enough of it. Having got-ten the idea from a psycholo-gist friend, Maggie (Jenna Fischer) and Grace (Christina Applegate) decide to give Rick and Fred hall passes: one week off-duty from their marriages. They are allowed to do what-ever or whomever they want with no consequences. The dumbstruck duo quickly takes advantage of their new-found freedom by rounding up their highly amused married buddies and planning to pick up as many girls as possible. However, the challenge soon becomes seeing if they have the patience, the skill, or indeed, the energy to live the single life they haven’t had for so long. “Hall Pass” is part of this newer breed of comedies that seems to consist of two build-ing blocks: middle-aged people acting like college kids and gross shock humor. For some reason, thirty- and forty-some-things exploring their sexual natures is laugh-worthy, as they are apparently complete-ly inept and unable to handle the pressure of how “the game” has changed. I can’t decide if that reflects more poorly on their generation or ours. Meanwhile, badly done shock gags aren’t working
REVIEW | FILM
New comedy induces more frustration than laughteranymore. If I wanted to feel sickened while being enter-tained, I would watch “Jersey Shore.” Another annoying thing this film does is stereotype. As men, Rick and Fred read as two overgrown horndogs who can’t control their libidos. As married people, they’re depict-ed as dorky, pitiful and out of touch with the mainstream world and the younger gen-eration that they’re trying to appeal to. Maggie and Grace are made to come off as more clever than their counterparts, but with interests that are considered dumb and trivial. Stereotypes exist for a reason, but the over-all message seems to be that marriage turns people into uninteresting basket cases who can’t get out of their own way to solve their own prob-lems. I’m a little torn over what this movie accomplishes, if anything. On the one hand, I can’t believe we now have a film about people giving their partners permission to cheat and it being treated like some sort of fantasy – the comfort of home life as well as the excite-ment of promiscuity. The plot sounds like a sar-castic comment a woman might throw out at her hus-band during an argument: “Fine, if you’re so bored with me, why don’t you go cruising downtown for the night? Have fun!” It toes a very bold line that puts things into perspec-tive. On the other hand, the sheer ridiculousness of the situa-tion emphasizes the movie’s main point: we often don’t know the true value of what we have until we realize how it would be not to have it. The truth is, sometimes we need to be taken out of the situations we’re stuck in to come to terms with what we really want. “Hall Pass” achieves that end through insanely questionable means, but I suppose the les-son is worth the trouble.
Runtime: 105 minutes
MPAA rating: RRelease date: Feb. 25
CW critic’s rating:
Bottom line: ‘Hall Pass’ is lackluster and unin-spired.
‘HALL PASS’
rottentomatoes.comTop: Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis star as disgruntled husbands Rick and Fred in “Hall Pass,” which opened in theaters Friday.Above: Owen Wilson and Jenna Fischer’s character’s lackluster marriage serves as the backdrop to the plot of ‘Hall Pass.’
Walk to Class & to the Strip 345-0564
10 Monday, February 28, 2011 LIFESTYLES The Crimson White
By Stephanie BrumfieldAssistant Lifestyles Editor
Deep in the heart of Greensboro, just 45 min-utes south of Tuscaloosa, traditional business models are a thing of the past. For PieLab, this means blurring the line between restaurant and design studio, and more importantly, the line between for-profit business and non-
Building communities easy as pie
is “to sell the most delicious, high quality pies with the most creative flavors.” She also sees the impor-tance of promoting PieLab out-side Greensboro. “I see my job as spreading the story and our mission,” Powell said. This past Tuesday at the Bama Theatre, Powell pro-vided free pie to moviegoers before the screening of the last film for the Bama Art House Winter Film Series. In 2010, the Bama Theatre hosted a fundraiser for PieLab called “Black Tie Pie,” which fea-tured singer-songwriter Amy Stroup and several groups from the University’s depart-ment of theatre and dance. “Tuscaloosa is the closest big center and hub of not only great art but great network-ing opportunities,” she said. “Events like these are great opportunities for PieLab to expand its customer base.” But Tuscaloosa is not the only place where PieLab has received recognition. The New York Times published an arti-cle about PieLab last year, and out-of-towners from places like Tuscaloosa, Atlanta and even New York stop by all the time, Powell said. “It’s gotten a lot of national press, and I think it has to do with our mission,” she said. “That’s what American busi-ness needs right now – local communities creating jobs and outlets for community devel-opment.” Even Powel l was immediately attracted to
PieLab’s mission. Though she grew up in the South, she fought her roots for most of her life. After going to school in California, studying abroad and receiving her master’s in international affairs from Georgia Tech in Atlanta, she began asking herself, “How can I get back to the South? That’s where I really want to be.” She said, “For some reason, pies kept entering my mind. I initially thought I’d open a pie shop with my father, who is a lawyer by day but cooks as a hobby.” And then she visited PieLab. After driving 12 hours round-trip with her parents, being in Alabama for only 12 hours and buying six slices of pie each, she knew PieLab was the place for her. She volunteered with PieLab a few weeks later, and after devising a shipping program that would allow PieLab to ship their pies throughout the country, the director offered her a six-month position to promote sales, and she’s been doing that for the last three weeks. “I fell in love with this place and the idea of social busi-ness,” she said. Lucky said, “It’s a great place. I like what they’re doing here.” PieLab, which is located just 38 miles south of Tuscaloosa on Greensboro’s Main Street, is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit pielab.org.
It’s gotten a lot of national press, and I think it has to do with our mission. That’s what American busi-ness needs right now – local communities creating jobs and outlets for community development.
— Cate Powell
profit organization. It all started when 14 designers, graphic artists and industrial engineers from the Northeast packed their belongings and moved to Alabama’s Black Belt. They had a vision. They wanted to change the community sur-rounding Greensboro, and they planned to do that by serving free pie and using design in creative, humanitar-ian ways. The designers became inspired after they served free pie to passers-by in downtown Belfast, Maine, where they were working at the time. They realized the power of pie to bring people together, and soon PieLab was born. “Conversation plus design – that has always been PieLab’s motto,” said Cate Powell, who coordinates PieLab’s sales and marketing. “We believe in bringing community mem-bers together. You come in, you get pie and you sit at two long tables with complete
strangers.” Though its mission is the same as it was when it first opened, PieLab has undergone significant changes since its establishment in Greensboro in 2009, Powell said. Initially a non-profit orga-nization run by “outsiders” of the town, PieLab served free pie, provided a space for locals to gather, and engaged in projects ranging from giv-ing locals running water to
designing websites. The founders meant for PieLab to be a quick proj-ect that would eventually grow into a sustainable busi-ness owned and operated by Greensboro citizens, and it has done just that, Powell said. “We’ve transitioned from being a graphic design studio to a sustainable, locally oper-ated business,” she said. “It’s nice to think about non-profit work, but unless customers are coming through the door, the business just isn’t sustain-able.” Now, as a for-profit busi-ness that’s backed by the non-profit Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization, PieLab sells cheap pie while also providing job-training to locals. PieLab itself employs several Greensboro citizens and is also very active with YouthBuild, a national program connected to HERO that offers job-training to high school students. PieLab
also employs two incarcerated prisoners. “They help me a lot,” said Deanna Lucky, the head chef and manager of PieLab. “They’re allowed to work during the day, and they are involved in everything. They wash dishes, cook, clean… everything.” Another employee was working as a cashier at a gro-cery store before she came to PieLab and another hadn’t ever had a job before coming to PieLab. Neither knew any-thing about cooking. For the last five months,
Lucky, who attended culinary school, has been teaching her employees and giving them culinary experience, hospi-tality training and business skills. She said she didn’t hesi-tate to take the job when it was offered to her. “I’ve never been in a posi-tion to be able to teach,” she said. “I was excited about it. People who come in here aren’t trained, and I teach them and get to see how their learning progresses and evolves.” Powell said PieLab’s main focus is to provide jobs and job training, but its other goal
CW FilePieLab, located in Greensboro, started as a non-profi t business. Now it provides jobs and promotes community with its pies.
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Today’s Birthday (02/28/11). Use your talents to take advantage of the op-portunities that come this year. Your number of friends keeps growing. Treasure those true friends that you can count on in times of trouble. They are your true wealth. Take care of a garden for delicious peace.Aries (March 21-April 19) -- Today is a 6 -- It’s funny how confidence can turn so quickly into self-doubt. Accept your thoughts, learn from them and love yourself. Trust your intuition.Taurus (April 20-May 20) -- Today is a 6 -- You’re yearning for adventure but are afraid of dangers ahead. Don’t let negative thoughts block your imagi-nation. Follow your dreams anyway.Gemini (May 21-June 21) -- Today is a 7 -- Negative thoughts come into your head. Just thank them for their opinion, and move on with your day. There’s plenty of work to do. Reframe with new language.Cancer (June 22-July 22) -- Today is a 6 -- You’re right to be suspicious and trust your intuition. Not everybody is who they say they are. Choose your friends by their actions, not who they say they know.Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Today is a 7 -- Negativity looms and threatens your health. Make sure to get plenty of rest, and don’t take yourself too seriously today. Tell those fears you’ll get back to them later.Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Today is a 6 -- When you strive for perfection, you
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Page 12 • Monday, February 28, 2011
Editor • Kelsey [email protected]
TODAY
TUESDAY
• Interfaith Comedy Show: 7:30 p.m., Ferguson Center Theater
• International Expressions Game Night: 7 p.m., Ferguson Center Game Room
•Poetry Slam: 7:30 p.m., Bama Theatre’s Greensboro Room
LIFESTYLESthis week
By Karissa Bursch Senior Staff Reporter
[email protected] Bob Alper has been doing stand-up comedy since 1986. “Actually as a toddler I was very funny, but I started working in earnest in the late 1980s,” he said. Alper is a rabbi, author and stand-up comic who will be per-forming along with two other comedians at the Interfaith Comedy Show tonight at 7:30 in the Ferguson Center Theatre. The other two comedians are Azhar Usman, an American-Muslim comedian, and Rev. Susan Sparks, who, according to the press release, is “America’s only female comedian with a pul-pit.” Alper said the three of them will do tag-team comedy, which they have been doing together since 2002. “Comedians don’t perform together unless there is a straight man and a funny man like Abbott and Costello,” Alper said. Each member of the trio will do about a 30-minute stand-up comedy session and will end
by joining together on stage to tell how it all came about, share some of their history and have a question and answer session. “It’ll be about 100 minutes if people laugh and 34 minutes if they don’t,” Alper said. Alper said the show is satisfy-ing on many levels. “I almost feel guilty because it’s so much fun and so incred-ibly satisfying on so many lev-els,” Alper said. “Actually it’s on three levels: One, just being able to artistically perform stand-up. Two, being able to hang out with my friends Azhar and Susan. And three, looking out there and watching kids from really differ-ent backgrounds hanging out together and laughing together.” The event has been in the works for almost a year now and Kathy Merrell, program-ming director for the Hillel Association, said it has definitely been worth it. “We all tend to live in our own little worlds and tend to make ste-reotypes about groups,” Merrell said. “When you learn about somebody and their religion personally it’s not only intrigu-ing but you know yourself and them so much better. You may
not end up agreeing with them but you will end up not lumping a group of people together. We all just feel this is a really impor-tant topic and the best way to go about it is to laugh.” Although tickets were free and open to the public, students could reserve tickets online before the event, but the event is now cur-rently sold out. Merrell said there will be an over-flow option for students that still want to attend. There will most likely be a viewing area in the Ferguson Center, such as the Ferguson Center Ballroom, where students can watch a live-feed of the event. Merrell, who originally recom-mended the event to the Campus Ministry Association, said she previously heard of the event get-ting a very positive response at other universities, like Auburn. Kristen Robinson, the market-ing coordinator for the Ferguson Center, said the response to the event at Alabama has been very positive as well. “We have received an over-whelmingly positive response,” Robinson said. “The tickets were sold out almost a week before the event.”
Robinson said he agrees that it is a great chance for students to learn about other cultures and religions. “The Interfaith Comedy Show will be a cultural experience that students would not usually be able to get on campus,” Robinson said. “It is a wonderful opportu-nity for students to learn about other cultures and religions in a setting that is comfortable and fun — a comedy show.” Michelle Hunter, the UA Wesley Foundation’s campus minister, said Campus Ministries fully supports the event. “The overall goal of CMA is to foster appreciation and accep-tance of all faith traditions on the UA campus, and this event really supports that goal,” Hunter said. “CMA hopes that this event will spark a discussion about true understanding and acceptance of our faith traditions. Through humor, we will see our strengths and differences through new eyes, and come to understand that we are more alike than dif-ferent.” The CMA always hosts a speaker for the Faith Seeking Understanding event and in order to attract more students,
the comedy trio was invited to campus. Hunter said the message behind the event is still important. “Attending this event doesn’t mean that a person will convert to any faith tradition, but it does give us an opportunity to better understand where other people are on their faith journey, and in so doing we better understand our own journey” she said. “This event is not about converting people — it is a place to meet in the middle, get to know each other, and offer respect and dig-nity to each other.” “There is an implicit message of healing and understanding that we really love to share, but we’re not preachy,” Alper said. “We don’t hit people over the head.”
Stand-up blends laughs, faith
• What: Interfaith Comedy Show
• Where: Ferguson Center Theater
• When: 7:30 p.m.
• Cost: Free
IF YOU GO ...
• What: Poetry Slam
• Where: Bama Theatre
• When: Tuesday at 7:30p.m.
• Cost: $3
IF YOU GO ...
By Ashley ChaffinStaff Reporter
The Bama Theatre is opening its doors to poets Tuesday for its first ever poetry slam. The event starts at 7:30 p.m., but anyone interested in signing up to participate is encouraged to get there early because there will be only 12 available slots due to time constraints. “A poetry slam is basically just a poetry contest,” said Rebecca Rothman, president of the Arts Council of Tuscaloosa. “It’s not just people who want to work in poetry professionally. It’s for peo-ple who write and want people to hear their work.” There are only three rules poets will have to follow when participating in the contest: Poems cannot go over three min-
utes, the work must be original and no props can be used. “No props is the tradition of poetry slams,” said D. Jay Cervino, who is helping to put the slam together. “It’s just a forum for folks to be heard and to have a creative outlet.” He said poetry slams started in the 1980s in Chicago, but he thinks people had been getting together to share their work and compete for many years before that. He said he is excited that the Bama Theatre is able bring this type of event to Tuscaloosa. “I’m most excited to feel the energy of the place,” he said. “I think that poets bring their own unique energy to a room, some better than others, and I think we’ll see that in the competition.” The competition will take place in two separate rounds. After all of the contestants get a
chance to share their poems, the judges will pick the top six poets to move on to round two. The top three contestants at the end of the night will win a cash prize. “We’re going to have at least one celebrity judge, someone who is a known name in the poet-ry and creative world, and we’re working on getting a second,” Cervino said. In addition to the celebrity judges, a few audience members will be picked as judges. “The idea is to have poetry that doesn’t only appeal to poet-ry professors, but that appeals to the audience and everyone who comes,” Rothman said. The host for the poetry slam will be Abraham Smith, a poet and professor at the University. He is well known in Tuscaloosa for his part in bring-ing Poetry Out Loud, a national
high school poetry competition, to schools in Tuscaloosa. Anyone who doesn’t get to par-ticipate in the contest or is inter-ested in showcasing their work without being judged will have the chance to perform during the open mic portions of the night. Tuesday’s event is the first time the Bama Theatre has host-ed an event like this. Typically the Greensboro Room, where the event will take place, is used as the concessions lobby and for acoustic shows. Rothman said she thinks this will be the perfect venue for a poetry slam. “I think people that have never been there or who have been to the Bama but never in the Greensboro Room before will be really surprised and really excit-ed that Tuscaloosa has some-thing like this,” she said. The cover charge is $3, but
there is no entry fee for contes-tants. The money collected at the door will help to fund the prizes given to the winners. The Bama Theatre will also be selling drinks and giving away free pop-corn throughout the event. “I think this is a way for people to participate in cultural events that are going on in Tuscaloosa,” Cervino said. “It’s a time to hang out with other poetry aficiona-dos, and it’s a way to get some free popcorn.”
Poetry slam comes to the Bama Theatre