Volume 80 No. 25March 22, 2012 www.FlorAla.net Student newspaper of the University of North Alabama

@UNAFlorAla

@FlorAlaSports

They were ‘WILLing’

photo by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff PhotographerUNA junior Will Riley hugs his girlfriend, Kaitlin Chappell, in the GUC performance center March 14 after learning he would be next year’s Student Government Association president.

Students vote Riley, Thompson for positions

In the fi nal moments before the clock struck 6 p.m. March 14 when SGA voting polls closed, UNA junior Will Riley felt nervous about hearing the re-sults. He had campaigned tirelessly for weeks to be-come next year’s SGA president.

He was sitting with friends in the performance center watching Zeta Tau Alpha’s Big Man on Cam-pus event when he learned that he was the overall winner with 66 percent of the presidential vote.

Riley said his phone battery eventually died Wednesday evening after he heard the news because he received a plethora of text messages from friends and loved ones congratulating him on his victory.

“It’s an absolute honor,” Riley said March 16 af-ter learning he would be the new SGA president. “To

me, this is one of the highest (positions) you can get at UNA.”

Riley took the SGA presidential title with 322

Robby Thompson took the spot of SGA secretary with 271 votes against opponent Mary F. Wilson.

photo by MALISA MCCLURE I Chief Photographer

Officials discuss low SGA election turnout, voter fraud allegation

Only 488 out of an eligible 6,637 students voted in the recent SGA offi cer election that was held March 12 to 14—a decrease from last year’s election, which brought in 594 votes, said SGA adviser Tammy Jacques.

Jacques said it was surprising to see so few students turn out for the election, especially in comparison to the 2011 homecoming king and queen election, which brought in 801 student votes.

Will Riley, who received the majority vote to become next year’s SGA president, said he was discour-aged by the voter turnout because this year’s candidates were much more engaged with individual cam-paigning, a presidential on-campus debate and had better collaboration with the student body.

With voter turnout much lower than anticipated this year, offi cials are also investigating allegations that a student may have falsely used another student’s L number to vote during the election.

Jacques said a UNA student claimed last week that she tried to log in to vote and the eBallot sys-tem stated she had already voted in the election when she had not. Since the speculation was made,

” We need more students engaging in running for

officer positions so the stu-dents have a choice.”

-Tammy Jacques

The academic performances of most Greek organizations at UNA fell from the spring semes-ter to the fall semester last year, according to doc-uments from the Offi ce of Student Engagement.

The overall grade point average (GPA) of the Greek organizations as a whole dropped from 2.85 to 2.67, while the GPAs of the fraternities dropped from 2.69 to 2.41. The GPAs of the so-rorities also decreased from 3.0 to 2.92.

Out of the 10 UNA fraternities, six fraternities were below the standard 2.5 GPA set by the Of-fi ce of Student Engagement, as was the average of UNA’s fraternities, though no sororities fell below the standard.

“They have sanctions that have been placed

upon them,” said DeAnte’ Smith, assistant direc-tor of student engagement for Greek life, of the organizations that averaged below 2.5. “There are consequences when you fall below the 2.5 average. Generally, the overall thing is that it begins to limit, take away or overall zero their involvement socially.”

Smith said the main sanctions for the fra-ternities were set by the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) and the Interfraternity Council (IFC) so the actual sanctions could vary, but for example a chapter that earned less than a 2.5 GPA could be excluded from Step Show and other competitions.

This drop in GPAs also coincides with a new Greek standard created and initiated by Smith and Student Engagement.

Greek GPAs fall below standard, newguidelines set in place for fall semester

Alcoho lEdu results show UNA above the national average in drunk driving, of-fi cials said.

The executive summary of the data collected during the AlcoholEdu program has been released with some surpris-es: drunk driving is more of an issue than originally anticipated by administra-tors.

AlcoholEdu results: UNA drunk driving above national average

A LOOK INSIDE

Changes are com-ing to the university’s MANE card program.

See page 3A

While students are still going on traditional

spring breaks, several students are using their time to contribute to community service.

See page 1B

ZTA is partnering with Kilby School in order to help organize and clean out their library.

See page 1B

Bobby Wallace has challenges ahead in

his return back to UNA.

See page 4B

Page 2A Thursday, March 22, 2012 • The Flor-AlaNewsNews Briefs

News Briefs are compiled by News Editor Josh Skaggs. Email jskaggs@una.edu to have your event featured in this section.

Electric departmentto conduct work on campus during spring break

Th e City of Florence Utility Depart-ment will be working on campus during the spring break, said Michael Gautney, director of facilities administration and planning.

Gautney is asking that students, faculty and staff members who have perishable items in freezers and refrigerators remove them before leaving campus for the break.

According to a campus-wide email Gautney’s offi ce sent out, buildings being aff ected include:

-Keller Hall-Raburn Wing-Rogers Hall-Art Building-Norton Auditorium-Music Building-Black Box Th eater-Communications building-GUC-Kilby School-Lafayette Hall-Floyd Hall-Powers Hall-Stone Lodge-Willingham Hall-Women’s Center-Stevens Hall-Bibb-Graves Hall-Math Building-Wesleyan Hall-Collier LibraryFor more information cotact Gautneyat 256-765-4354.

HAVE AN EVENT?

UPC works to bring J.Cole to campus

After months of deliberation, debate and rumors fl ying around campus, the Uni-versity Program Council has begun the fi -nal preparations to bring a Grammy-nomi-nated artist to UNA May 1.

J. Cole, a rap recording artist, is the per-former the programming organization has decided to bring to campus for the spring concert.

“He is somebody new and fresh that could bring a new sound to UNA that hasn’t been heard in a while,” said Coordinator of Programming Cheryl Mathis.

UPC has entered into the fi nal stages of working out a contract with J.Cole’s management team and concert promoters, Mathis said.

After having $31,000 transferred from SGA’s Senate branch, UPC plans to supple-ment its programming with the additional money, Mathis said. J.Cole’s booking cost alone will cost UPC approximately $72,000.

Previously, UPC was in discussion with artists such as Keri Hilson, Need to Breathe and the Civil Wars among others, Mathis said.

“(Keri Hilson and Need to Breathe) didn’t work, generally, a lot of people are unaware of the bid process and it takes ap-proximately two weeks to go through the bidding process and through the appropri-ate offi cials,” said UPC Vice President Will Riley. “We went back to square one, with we’ve got to fi nd an artist.

“As soon as we found out the two art-ists didn’t work out, we started to research J.Cole.”

Riley said UPC was working hard to secure two headlining artists, but it wasn’t feasible in the time left to put on the show.

“If we would have kept searching for the two artists, we would have gotten re-ally behind due to the bidding process,” Riley said. “This timeline would have been affected if we would have went for two art-ists.”

J.Cole’s price has slightly doubled since last year at this time, Riley said.

J.D. McCorkle, a senior business ad-ministration management major, and own-er of Cork Industries, his concert booking agency, said UPC’s decision is not really the best one to make.

“The fact they were even trying to ex-tend the budget for (Keri Hilson) was just appalling,” McCorkle said. “I think Need to Breathe would have brought a ton of people. They should look at putting more money into marketing than they do into paying their acts.”

Riley said UPC plans to work with oth-er local colleges and universities in the area to get the word out there about the concert. The concert for members of the general public will cost approximately $20.

McCorkle said the way UPC markets the show is why it has not been a huge suc-cess in the past.

“What if they got people involved who actually know what’s going on with put-ting on an event, with marketing an event, with booking an event?” McCorkle said. “There’s defi nitely some lack of knowledge with the way it’s marketed and promoted.”

Jon Shyer, booking agent for Auburn

Moon Agency, books UPC’s festivals each year and said the process is daunting.

“We’ve been in communication since August about this show,” Shyer said. “We start this months and months in advance.”

Shyer said he works with the students in order to pick the best artist for the concert.

“They come up with artists they enjoy,” Shyer said. “I come up with artists avail-able in spring.

“We match up the wish list with what’s actually available.”

Shyer’s company works with many col-leges and universities to put on concerts each year.

“We know what’s best for colleges, be-cause our agency has focused on the mar-ket for 16 years,” he said. “We work for the budget, what works for the date… we work for what the students are paying.”

J.Cole is currently on the Campus Con-sciousness Tour (CCT). CCT is described by its website as a “half music tour, half social cause campaign.”

Their mission is to engage and educate “musicians and their fans to take action to-ward a more sustainable future.” They em-brace green attitudes and attempt to leave a “minimal environmental footprint.”

“(CCT is an) Education minded, envi-ronmentally minded initiative that focuses on what students can do better for the envi-ronment,” said Jon Shyer, agent for Auburn Moon Agency.

CCT has been around since 2006 and has supported artists such as Guster, Wiz Khalifa, Janelle Monáe, Passion Pit and Ben

Studentsʼ opinion vary on artist, UPCʼs decisions

Early college program sees changes

At the quarterly meeting of the UNA board of trustees March 16, the board moved unanimously to revise the early col-lege program to prevent out-of-state stu-dents from taking online and study abroad courses from UNA free of tuition.

The early college program—used pri-marily as a recruiting tool—offers one free class to area high school students, said Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. John Thornell.

“Recent changes in the early college program, including those made at the board meeting on March 16, are tailored to meet the needs of students and the university,” said UNA President Bill Cale in an emailed statement. “We are always seeking to strike the proper balance between serving pro-spective students in the region and pro-tecting the university from possible over-commitments on our faculty or fi nancial resources.”

Thornell said the program was amend-ed because of several problems.

“Allowing out-of-state students to en-roll in online classes is not practical from a recruiting standpoint,” Thornell said.

“And it isn’t fi nancially feasible to allow high school students to participate in study abroad programs without paying tuition.”

Early college students will still be al-lowed to enroll in study abroad courses, provided they pay tuition, Thornell said.

The former tuition-free policy of the early college program attracted many stu-dents who would have otherwise enrolled

in online courses at other schools, though they did not typically attend UNA as a re-sult of the program, Thornell said.

“Some schools raised their concerns to us that their students would take our free online classes with no intention of going to school here,” he said. “We don’t want to be

bad school neighbors, and we don’t want to put unnecessary work on our faculty.”

Thornell said the original problems with the program were addressed at a fac-ulty senate meeting approximately six months ago.

“As it stood, a student from California could take an online course for free—with little to no chance that they would come to UNA—and that faculty member would have to spend hours working with that stu-dent,” he said.

The early college program did not re-cruit many online participants in the way offi cials intended, Thornell said.

“With online students, the professor-student relationships don’t develop in a way that would encourage students to come to UNA as much as coming to cam-pus would,” he said.

A problem offi cials had with the pro-gram was its fi nancial infeasibility, Thor-nell said.

“It didn’t make sense anymore,” he said. “Recruiting is good, but when we’re outside that, we’re just giving away free classes.”

The program waived $428,460 in tu-

”We are always seeking to strike the proper balance between serv-

ing prospective students in the region and protecting the univer-sity from possible overcommit-

ments on our faculty or financial resources.”

-Bill Cale

ARTISTS UPC LOOKED AT BOOKINGThe Civil WarsSara BareillesWale

Gym Class HeroesKeri HilsonNeed to Breathe

source: Cheryl Mathis, UNA coordinator of programming

Page 3AThursday, March 22, 2012 • The Flor-Ala NewsUNITING FOR A CAUSE

photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS IMAGES

Posters sit in the Invisible Children offi ces. The posters were created in an effort to raise awareness of Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army. College campuses around the world are holding events to help the Invisible Children organization raise awareness of its campaign.

Students at UNA come together to raise awareness of KONY campaign

UNA students have been inspired to get involved in the national movement through Invisible Children’s KONY 2012 cam-paign by planning their own local “Cover the Night” event.

UNA’s event is still in the planning stages, said student Jon McCoy. Right now, there are plans for a table in the GUC and Towers Cafeteria April 19 and 20.

The KONY 2012 campaign started with a viral video urging Americans to help In-visible Children stop Joseph Kony, leader

of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Africa. The video has more than 91,000 “likes” on the social media site Facebook. The video received more than 60 million views from March 7 to 9, according to the United Na-tions website.

Kony is the leader of the LRA, founded more than 20 years ago in Uganda. The LRA is made up of children, almost all of whom are abducted and beaten into sub-mission, according to un.org.

McCoy said the KONY 2012 video made him sad when he fi rst watched it.

“My fi rst thoughts were just grief and discomfort,” he said. “I was just sitting at my desk looking at the children and what

they went through, and I felt burdened be-cause I know from time to time I get caught up thinking my life isn’t so great, when in reality I’m truly blessed to live in a country like this.”

Though McCoy didn’t know who Kony was before seeing the video, he said the video made him want to help in any way possible.

Student Lee Cain thought the video fell short in terms of its severity.

“I didn’t think it was quite as bold as they could have made it, to be honest,” he said. “I mean, it was pretty atrocious, but I’ve heard a lot more horrible stories

MANE card program to change vendors, servicesThe MANE card is referred to by some

UNA offi cials as “the simple card that does it all,” but beginning this fall semester, stu-dents may notice the card working a bit dif-ferently.

The MANE card’s current system pro-vider is CBORD, but the MANE card of-fi ce is currently in the process of switching to a different provider called New Vision.

Karen Kennedy, manager at the MANE card offi ce, said there are several reasons for the switch.

“Our ability to design a program for students was limited,” she said. “The new software will provide more opportunities to better meet student needs.”

There have also been complaints about the current system, coming not from stu-dents but from off-campus locations that didn’t feel they were receiving quality cus-tomer service, Kennedy said.

She also said the new system is less ex-pensive than the current one.

“Ultimately, student expenses fund the system that we use,” she said. “We like to make sure that students aren’t nickeled and dimed, and if we have to switch programs to make that happen, we will.”

Students may notice at least one differ-ence in the new system. All cards currently have a lion loot account, which can be used on campus or at off-campus dining loca-tions that accept the MANE card. As part of the new operation system, lion loot will no longer be accepted at off-campus dining locations.

Local businesses involved in the off-campus program did not express a high level of concern about the change.

One such off-campus location is Lil’ Steve’s—a convenience store on Pine Street that is frequented by many UNA stu-dents.

Manager Nick Suns is disappointed, but not concerned.

“When school’s in, a lot of our business comes from students,” he said. “I hate (that we won’t have the MANE card option), but I doubt it’ll affect business that much.”

photo by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

A UNA student purchases beer with his MANE card at Lil’ Steves. Currently, students at UNA can shop at off-campus locations with their cards.

Recent disease outbreaks put UNA on alert

UNA has an encompassing and detailed plan in the event of a campus-wide inci-dent, offi cials said.

The Incident Response Plan covers ev-erything from virus outbreaks to violence to weather emergencies. Depending on the incident, there are detailed options which the proper offi cials would take based on the level of emergency and amount of students which need to be notifi ed.

“We want to be transparent, timely and truthful when alerting people of a campus emergency,” said Vice President of Student Affairs David Shields.

Shields said the more information peo-ple are given the better decisions they can make. He stressed the importance of good

communication as well.“We don’t want to create panic, but we

need to be timely,” Shields said.During a 2006 mild outbreak of tuber-

culosis on campus, UNA used regular press releases as opposed to Lion Alert or UNA email to keep students informed about what was going on.

Students have to sign up for the Lion Alert service, so not everyone would be able to be contacted by that service. Us-ing multiple sources of communication al-low UNA to spread the information needed to those who need to be informed without causing overreaction or panic.

UNA’s protocol during a response to an emergency is what the state of Alabama requires of other state universities, offi cials said.

During the 2009 outbreak of the H1N1 fl u, Director of University Health Services Cindy Wood said UNA handled it well.

“We sent out a lot of informative emails and posted a lot of information online,” Wood said. “If we can relay useful infor-mation to the students, then they can make good decisions as whether to go home or stay home.

“When I see a trend in illnesses on campus, the fi rst thing I do is contact the health department and determine if this is a campus problem or a community problem. From there, the implementation of the Inci-dent Response Plan can help in determining whether an illness is problematic.”

UNA student Laura Lopez said she would initially be shocked, but thankful, at an announcement from the university if it were to have to close down due to a virus outbreak.

“I would want to be told the truth about what is happening as well as ways I can fi nd treatment,” Lopez said.

UNA student Katie Maples said if a virus outbreak occurred at UNA as it did recently in Muscle Shoals, she would also hope to receive information about preven-tion.

”We want to be transpar-ent, timely and truthful when alerting people of a campus

emergency.” -David Shields

Page 4A Thursday, March 22, 2012 • The Flor-AlaNewsCampus classroom to get upgrades

Last February, the SGA approved $34,000 to be taken from the student recre-ation fee charge account to put toward the remodeling of room 131 in the communi-cations building. UNA will also donate ap-proximately $35,000 to the project.

The remodel will include transforming the stadium-style room into a refl ection of a theater. The renovation will allow for the room to be repainted and carpet will be added to the room to reduce noise.

The old seats will be pulled out and re-placed with more comfortable seats that in-clude the fl ip-down desks for note-taking. A new projector and sound system will be added, depending on the cost, said Depart-ment of Communications Chair Dr. Greg Pitts.

Pitts approached SGA last semester for the remodel.

“When I learned that SGA had funds for long term projects, I started looking into a comfortable movie setting,” Pitts said. “There is something so special about watch-ing a movie in a large, darkened room.”

Pitts said he noticed UNA lacked space for events like movie screens. He said the performance center is often booked or even too large for some screenings.

“Sometimes, you need a little more inti-

mate setting,” Pitts said. The new movie room will also be open

to the entire university and organizations will be able to book the room for events, Pitts said.

“The room belongs to the university, not the department,” he said. “Sometimes, we get too territorial.”

Robby Thompson, a senator for SGA, wrote the bill for the room to be remod-

eled after Pitts approached SGA. He said he was searching for a use of the student recreation fee charge account that would benefi t the most students.

“I feel that SGA helping with the reno-vation would help the student body and give UNA something unique to improve its image,” Thompson said. “I think it’s going to be really benefi cial to the student body to have the movie room on campus.”

Some UNA students are excited about the remodel.

“I think it’s good because we want to have the best,” said David McCreary, a communications student at UNA. “We want the best classrooms and teachers to help bring people to our department.”

Pitts said renovations should start in the summer and be fi nished by the fall semes-ter.

• SGA provides funding to renovate classroom into movie space

photo by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

Communications Instructor Stephanie Montgomery teaches her students in communications building room 131. The room will soon be renovated and have cushioned seats and an upgraded audio-visual system.

Harper and the Relentless 7.This year, the tour is bringing free Ben

and Jerry’s ice cream to participating cam-puses. They will also be partnering with Head Count, an “organization that uses the power of music to register voters and raise political consciousness,” according to the website.

Students around campus have been var-ied on their opinions of the decision to bring J.Cole to campus.

Even though senior Nick Murphy doesn’t know who J. Cole is, he has a positive out-look for the UPC spring concert.

“I think it’s good musical development,” he said. “I think it’ll be good exposure for our campus. This is a small town, and I think it’ll be good for our campus.”

Graham Harkness is in the same boat.“I really don’t know him. I’ve never

heard of him before,” he said. “I think it would have a more eclectic draw as far as audience is concerned.”

Sophomore D’lavante Gibson does know who he is. He agrees with Murphy, but says that it will be a good time for students to ex-

perience new music.“He’s becoming more popular and more

known,” Gibson said. “For those who don’t know him, this would be a good time to come know what he is all about.”

DeForrest Brown Jr. knows who J. Cole is too but isn’t excited.

“He’s alright,” Brown said. “I think he’d be okay. It’s a decent name that’s not crap. I think it would be attractive to a lot of peo-ple.”

He adds that the Mutemath show from 2009 was a success because the band was more middle of the road that appealed to a wide audience.

McCorkle is not impressed at all.“I mean, I think it’s cool; They could

defi nitely do worse,” he said. “J. Cole is a good rising hip-hop artist – I just don’t know if that many people here know who he is.”

McCorkle remembers when UPC brought Big Boi to campus. He says that even though Big Boi is a huge hip-hop name, the concert was poorly attended. This might bode ill for J. Cole.

“J. Cole is defi nitely not (at the same sta-tus as Big Boi),” McCorkle said. “They are wanting to bring him to Florence where ris-ing music isn’t really in focus.”

Let us know what you think! Answer our poll on

florala.net and voice your opinion.

Page 5ANewsThursday, March 22, 2012 • The Flor-Ala

UNA student and Lil’ Steve’s employ-ee Tamsen Brooks said she doesn’t believe the absence of off-campus locations will impact her.

“The main reason I use lion loot is to print; I don’t really use it off campus,” she said. “Lion loot is just your own money, anyway. Honestly, I think that on-campus students will be the only ones affected. I really don’t think it’ll matter either way.”

Ginny Thompson, general manager of Zaxby’s on Cox Creek Parkway, said much of the store’s business comes from college students, but few actually use the MANE Card.

“We have always enjoyed having the MANE Card at our store and UNA stu-dents visiting,” she said. “Hopefully, UNA students like our food enough to keep coming.”

UNA freshman Brandon Pennington said he does not believe the absence of off-campus locations will have a negative reception among students.

“I’ve never even used my lion loot, and I don’t know many people who do,”

he said.Kennedy is optimistic about the fea-

tures of New Vision, one of which is an improved online card office called MANE Stop, a webpage where students can view

their balances and activity and get monthly statements, she said.

The system is currently undergoing development and will go live May 25. Students will use the same MANE Card they had before the system changed.

“I think that students will appreciate the changes,” Kennedy said. “We’re making this change to better serve the students.”

When compared to the national aver-age, UNA scored less in most aspects. Some of the specifications include blacking out, experiencing a hangover, missing class or being taken advantage of sexually due to excess alcohol consumption.

“We’re pretty much below the national average in most things,” said Dr. Kimberly Greenway, director of student conduct and student affairs planning and assessment. “The two where we’re higher is drinking and driving and riding in a car with some-one who has been drinking and driving.”

Greenway is one of the officials over-seeing the implementation of AlcoholEdu on campus. AlcoholEdu was introduced last fall as attempt to record and analyze statistical information about the drinking habits of incoming freshmen.

Senior university nurse Peggy Bergeron was caught off guard by the results of the data.

“We’re kind of surprised by (the preva-lence of drinking and driving),” she said. “Ironic that 75 percent (of students) didn’t drink because they were driving.”

Bergeron, and the executive summary, said students were asked why they do or don’t drink. The most popular reason was because they were going to drive.

The data also showed that 60 percent

of drinking—in the freshman population—occurs off-campus, but that an overwhelm-ing 72 percent of students are classified as “non-drinkers.”

This statistic disproves a lot of college stereotypes, said Lynne Martin, associ-ate director of University Health Services counseling and disability services.

“The ‘Rite of Passage’ kind of thing: ‘I’m in college. I have to drink.’ Well, the data doesn’t back that up,” Martin said. “You really can say ‘no’ and still be in the majority.”

The real concern lies deeper than the data, Greenway said.

“It’s not just a matter of finding out what students’ drinking habits are,” she said. “It’s a matter of what they need from us as an institution so that we can educate them based on their behaviors”

Greenway said the target isn’t drinking itself, but, more specifically, drunk driving.

“We’ll be using some of this next year,” she said. “We’ll be addressing some of the things that, this year, indicated a problem.”

Martin said the address will come in the form of campus-wide education.

“Ideally, (alcohol education) would be included in a freshman experience course that we don’t have right now,” Martin said. “Behind the scenes, our goal is to take it to different departments on campus and go through the hierarchy.”

Greenway said the implementation team has expanded to include faculty,

SGA, ResLife, athletics and others.“We feel like we have a broad team

now, so we can get a 50,000 foot view,” she said. “Alcohol isn’t just about conse-quences for individuals. It’s a holistic view of how it affects you, community and your future.”

Even with the growing implementation

team, Bergeron said she knows the infor-mation collecting process is a long one.

“I think we’re just starting,” she said. “We’re still in the formation stages of get-ting the whole campus involved. We need more information, but it’s a good starting point.”

AlcoholEdu records, analyzes information about drinking

photo by CHRISTINA COVINGTON I Student Photographer

UNA students Samantha Foust and Wesley Hughes play beer pong at a party earlier in the year. Students at UNA are above the national average when it comes to drinking and driving or riding with an intoxicated driver.

about it. I’ve heard of women getting their boobs cut off so they can’t feed their babies, dudes getting their noses and ears and hands cut off and forced to eat them and stuff.”

Cain said the video is misleading because it makes it seem like this is going on in Uganda currently, though Kony has not been active in Uganda since 2006.

“But you’ve also got to realize the LRA is in another country now,” he said “So, yeah, you pushed them out of Uganda, but now it’s some-body else’s problem. So, I guess the focus should have shifted from Uganda to where the LRA is now.”

McCoy said while Kony may not still be in Uganda, the people affected by the LRA are.

Both McCoy and Cain said they plan to participate in the “Cover the Night” event at UNA. Though they said they don’t believe the event will

change the world, they think it’s important to get the word out about Kony.

“I don’t really know that there’s any kind of solution to the problem, but I just think if Congress is going to sit around and talk about baseball, they might as well talk about African warlords,” Cain said.

ition for 735 high school students in 2011 and brought approximately 40 percent of participants to UNA for college.

Thornell said many high school resi-dents of nearby states like Tennessee who participate in the program do return to UNA for college.

“It does make sense to let some out-of-state students take classes when they are within a 50-mile radius,” he said. “Then they are more likely to familiarize themselves with the university and come to campus.”

Members of faculty senate are work-ing to develop an early scholars program

that would target outstanding students in varying disciplines, Thornell said. With so many high school students participating in the growing number of early college programs, the new program would serve to distinguish outstanding high school stu-dents from their peers, he said.

“The whole notion of high school kids taking college classes used to be kind of rare,” he said. “Now, just about everyone does it.”

Despite the problems the early college program has encountered, Thornell said it is a necessary and important part of UNA.

“I was asked at the last board of trustees meeting why we are keeping the program,” he said. “My answer was that we really have no choice; we have to remain com-petitive with other universities.”

CURRENT BUSINESSES WITH MANE CARD CAPABILITIES

Domino’s On the Rocks

QuiznosLil’ Steve’s

Zaxby’sCVS Pharmacy

Montagu’s Frostbite

Off-Campus BookstoreWing Shack

source: www. una.edu

With the NCAA basketball tournament starting last week, I expect-ed nothing but madness going on, with teams I have never heard of pulling off big upsets.

I mean, that is how it is every single year, as the

teams who you think are going to go far end up going down earlier. So, when I filled out my bracket in hopes of picking a lot of games right, I tried to find that big upset and also picked my final four teams.

Every year, I always ask off work for the opening-round games so I won’t miss the buzzer-beaters and the upsets that go on. Of course, on the opening day of games there was one upset in VCU beating Wichita State, and all the other games were blowouts.

I then said to myself: “Man, this has been a terrible start to the tournament, with no excite-ment at all.” It was so bad that I started falling asleep watching the games.

The next day of games came and chaos began to happen down the bracket.

Upsets started happening in just about every game that was played, but in the mean-time, my bracket started to fall apart as my elite eight teams and one of my final four teams (Missouri) fell on the very first game they played.

A total of four teams seeded higher than a 12-seed, and two 15-seeds advanced to the second round—something that has never been done in history. Friday was the day that most sports wanted to see happen, even though most of us threw our brackets in the trash that night.

As the weekend began to unfold, much of the same happened—upsets continued to occur as teams punched their tickets to the sweet 16. There isn’t a single matchup that I got right, so from here on out, no more picking, just cheering from me.

I’m really hoping to see some unexpected teams reach the Final Four, like 13-seed Ohio or 11-seed NC State, instead of the power house programs that seem to make it every other year.

Let’s go Cinderella teams; that’s what I will be cheering on these next two weeks. NCAA tournament, let’s keep the madness going a little while longer and leave us all amazed at what just happened.

To contact Tommy, call 256-765-5098 or you can follow him on Twitter at @TommyBolton2.

Page 6A Viewpoints Thursday, March 22, 2012 • The Flor-Ala

Student newspaper of the University of North Alabama

LUCY BERRYEXECUTIVE EDITOR

JOSH SKAGGSNEWS/MANAGING EDITOR

ANDY THIGPENLIFE EDITOR

TOMMY BOLTONSPORTS EDITOR

ALEX LINDLEYCOPY/OPINIONS EDITOR

JORDAN BRADLEYONLINE EDITOR

CAMERON KELLY-JOHNSONBUSINESS MANAGERSAVANNAH COMER

GRAPHIC ARTISTJULIANN LOSEY

CIRCULATION MGRMALISA McCLURE

CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHERKAYLA SLOANBARRY MINOR

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERSREBECCA WALKER

ADVISER

EDITORIAL BOARD: LUCY BERRY

ALEX LINDLEY

The Flor-Ala welcomes and encourages Letters to the Editor.• The deadline for submitting letters is 10 a.m. Monday, the week of publication.• Letters must not exceed 400 words. • Letters must be accompa-nied by the writer’s name, mailing address, phone number and email.• The Flor-Ala prefers to publish your letters exactly as written, but reserves the right to reject slanderous or libelous material.• The publication of any let-ter is left to the discretion of the Editorial Board.• Priority is given to letters critical of The Flor-Ala, or written in direct response to an editorial, a column, or a news story.• When the editors deem it necessary for ease of understanding or to clarify facts, an Editor’s Note may accompany a letter.• Address correspondence to The Flor-Ala. UNA Box 5300, Florence, AL 35632.Email: florala@una.edu. Letters may also be submit-ted through our website at florala.net.• Phone: 256-765-4364

Letters Policy

Copyright © 2011The Flor-AlaAll rights reserved.First copy free.Additional copies $1 each.

Cartoon of the Week

Congrats to Staff Writer Elise Cofield for being named Writer of the Week for The Flor-Ala. Also, great job to Chief Photographer Malisa McClure for having Photo

of the Week in the last edition of The Flor-Ala.

SHOUTOUT!

Sports Column

PAWS UP, PAWS DOWN

Calling it like we see it at UNA, in the Shoals,

across the state and around the world

UNA’s faculty senate rejected a resolu-tion proposed by the Student Government Association to extend Thanksgiving break to one week. The resolution would have removed fall break and started classes one day early to make up for the lost time. Officials from faculty senate cited issues with classes that only meet on Mondays losing an entire week of school among their reasons for rejecting the resolution. SGA President Ralph Akalonu said SGA will continue advocating the proposal.

The Department of English held its 29th annual Writers’ Series March 20 with renowned author Ishmael Reed and his daugh-ter, Tennessee Reed. The Writers’ Series is a yearly event that features authors from a large spectrum of genres and different writing styles. Pam Kingsbury, Daryl Brown and Dr. Will Verrone worked tirelessly to organize the series, which brought a packed out audience to the GUC performance center.

Want to be a columnist for The Flor-Ala? Email alindley@una.edu with your ideas and a writing sample to

be considered for publication.

There’s been one question consis-tently asked around campus for the past few weeks: What are you doing for spring break?

I’ve asked it my share of times out of curiosity or for the sake of con-versation. Every year, it looms up into the general subconscious like com-ments about the weather or presidential candidates. Well, here is what I’m doing for spring break: noth-ing.

I say that with no bitterness. My dad and I had planned to go camping in the Florida Keys for a week, but that fell through. And while that sucks, I’m not bitter about it. I stay so busy with school, the newspaper and my internship that I’m looking forward to a week of watching paint dry or finding shapes in the clouds.

In fact, I think that’s one thing I’ll enjoy most about this year’s spring break. During school, we get so caught up in work and routine. I feel we often lose track of appreciating little things in life. Oftentimes, I’ll look up at the sky and think, “Woah. When was the last time I actually stopped—just for a second—to look up?” It’s incredibly sad that I usually can’t remember.

I have a great admiration for the peo-ple who have the energy and selfless-ness to do things like Alternative Break Board or other community-based proj-ects. I think, for those people, service is

their version of “looking up.”And I’m happy for the people with

the money and time to spend a week at the beach/mountains/wherever.

For me, I just want to sit still. I just want to be. Sure a beach trip or a road trip would be great. But I’m pretty OK with floating down Cypress Creek, camping in Waterloo or sitting in Wildwood Park with a guitar and not going anywhere.

Don’t confuse this with laziness. I’ll still be working at my job. I’ll still be doing schoolwork. It’s not in my nature to stop moving. I’ve got the twitch of the Puritan Work Ethic, minus the extremism.

So, if you’re at home for spring break, and you’re bummed about it, don’t be. Just take some time to enjoy time. Hit the snooze button. Eat break-fast. Talk to your parents. Read a book. Do whatever.

Pretty soon, we’ll all be out of col-lege and in the job market. We’ll have families and things going on, and “free time” will be our attempts to catch up on all the things that have piled up in the meantime.

Spring break 2012, for me, is going to be a week of rest and relaxation. I’ll use it as a time to cleanse myself from all the stress that has built up from all the overscheduling, overwork-ing and overextending I’ve done since Christmas. I’ll do so much nothing, it’ll make school feel like therapy.

The best part is, I’ll be right here. To contact Andy, call 256-765-5233

or you can follow him on Twitter at @TheFlorAndy.

Doing nothing for spring break

Keep the March Madness coming

Page 7AThursday, March 22, 2012 • The Flor-Ala Feature

Though the SGA has spent months re-searching for and drafting a resolution to extend Thanksgiving break to one week in-stead of three days, members of the faculty senate came to a majority decision March 15 to reject the resolution.

The resolution originally called for the removal of fall break and proposed that classes begin Tuesday instead of Wednes-day of the fall 2012 semester. The SGA’s resolution would attempt to make up the two lost days by implementing such chang-es in the academic calendar.

SGA President Ralph Akalonu said he was shocked to learn of the faculty senate’s decision to reject the resolution and thinks next year’s SGA will have to return to the drawing board if members decide to pursue this concept again.

“I am surprised because SGA spent a lot of time with this, and what I think SGA is going to do now maybe in the foreseeable future is hold off on continuing to pursue the extended Thanksgiving break,” he said. “But, we’re not dropping the idea because students really want it, and SGA will keep advocating for it.”

Darlene Townsend, president of faculty senate, said the senate decided against the Thanksgiving break resolution because it did not account for undergraduate classes that only meet on Monday afternoon and would lose an entire class period with no opportunity to make the course up under the proposed changes in the SGA resolu-

tion.She said this is the second consecutive

year SGA has attempted to extend Thanks-giving break to an entire week.

“The SGA did make great steps for-ward to address some of the issues that were raised last year,” Townsend said. “I think they need to consider the (academic) calendar a little more closely and talk to the different department chairs because they all have different needs.”

The SGA voted in favor of the ex-tended Thanksgiving break resolution Jan. 26 to benefi t all students, especially non-traditional and international students who are affected by the current length of the Thanksgiving break, Akalonu said.

The resolution states that nontraditional students with children who are in school have trouble with the current Thanksgiving holiday because they have to miss UNA classes or fi nd a babysitter for their chil-dren who receive an entire week off from school for the break.

International students, as well as those who live further distances from the univer-sity, are also affected because they are un-

able to travel home for the holiday due to having such a short break.

Additionally, the resolution states that the shorter Thanksgiving break does not al-lot enough time for students to get ahead on studying and other college projects.

SGA conducted a poll through Face-book earlier in the academic year and found that the majority of UNA students voted in favor of a longer Thanksgiving break and would be willing to make the necessary

changes to see such changes come to light.SGA adviser Tammy Jacques said more

students should speak their minds about the extended Thanksgiving break if they want to see a similar resolution succeed in the future.

“If students really want this, they need to voice their opinions to the senators and the rest of SGA and help SGA continue to pursue this or tweak the (resolution) pro-posal again.”

photo by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

SGA President Ralph Akalonu speaks to SGA Senate during a weekly meeting early in the 2011-2012 year. The senate’s Thanksgiving resolution was rejected March 15.

Faculty senate rejects extended Thanksgiving break resolution

FOR MORE INFO:To see the SGAʼs

extended Thanksgiving break resolution, visit our site at florala.net.

Let us know what you think. Visit florala.net to voice your opinion about the faculty senate’s decision.

Page 8A Thursday, March 22, 2012 • The Flor-AlaImages

A diehard fanThe show in Birmingham last

weekend was my fi fth time seeing the Avett Brothers live. Pretty cool, right? I must be a huge fan. Not ac-cording to a mother and daughter I met there. The daughter was attend-ing show number 17. Her favorite songs? “Talk on Indolence” and “When I Drink.” She is 10.

That’s exactly why I love the Avett Brothers. They embody raw, unadulterated honesty to self. And their honesty is easily accessible for everyone. They write with a scary conviction, saying things I could never say to myself—not to mention crowds of thousands.

From rolling around on barroom fl oors, to dancing on stage in packed auditoriums, the Avetts play with a captivating intensity that brings au-diences to new highs and lows. This show was no exception. Whether pounding out the chords to “I Killed Sally’s Lover,” or quietly singing a rendition of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” the crowd followed ev-ery step of the way.

They breathe with the crowd. They smile when you yell their names. And you can tell that every strum and pluck and scream means as much to them as it does to you.

By Andy Thigpen - Life Editor - pathigpen@una.edu

To see more work from Andyʼs series, visit our site at florala.net.