Prominent environmental leader and green jobs advocate Van Jones stopped by Cramton Auditorium to encourage the class of 2014 to fig-ure out what their role can be in the clean-energy revolution that Jones believes is currently underway.

China currently leads the race among global powers to develop clean-energy technology based on alternative energy sources like solar energy. According to the Pew Envi-ronment Group’s “Who’s Winning the Clean Energy Race? the Chi-nese government has invested $34.6 billion dollars in green technology – more than double the US’s invest-ment of $18.6 billion.

“The reason that China is out-performing us is because the gov-ernment has said that ‘We have a problem with global warming and we want the clean-energy solutions to be created in our country’,” Van Jones said in an interview with The Hilltop before delivering his speech in Cramton. “Our government has not said that.”

But Jones did champion the

stimulus bill, the American Rein-vestment and Recovery Act, which included $80 billion towards renew-able energy.

“It is directed toward green solu-tion: that’s a positive,” Jones said be-fore, “because we have failed to pass a climate and energy bill that will put a real rocket behind our clean energy entrepreneurs we’re starting to fall behind.”

In Jones’s New York Times best-seller, The Green Collar Economy, he advocated for a Green Growth Alliance that united mainstream po-litical groups dominated by White progressives with environmental justice organizations dominated by people of color. His speech would emphasize sparking the imagination of freshmen to learn more about what “going green” truly meant.

“We need a Green Growth Al-liance between these new entrepre-neurs who want to bring forward new technology and people who need new jobs,” Jones said. “The clean-energy revolution will create many more jobs for African Ameri-cans than this old dirty energy econ-

THE HILLTOPTheHilltopOnline.com The Daily Student Voice of Howard University Vol. 94 No. 2. .Est. 1924

Shuttle Service Goes Digital

A new cell phone service allows students to view the campus shuttles’ exact location online, and see the travel and wait time with a text mes-sage.

The shuttle tracking informa-tion is available online at www.how-ardshuttle.com. The text messaging software is accessible by texting the number 41411.

The system went into effect Au-gust 14.

Each of the 21 stops on the shut-tle routes have an assigned identifi-cation number that must be texted to 41411, followed by the words, “hushuttle.” New stops added to the shuttle service are the Brookland Metro station and Banneker Parking Lot.

Although this technology will be a great aide to students, there are some bugs to work out in the system. Dr. Judi Moore Latta, Executive Di-rector of the university’s Communi-cations and Marketing department, who is in charge of a campaign to promote and market the new cam-paign, said that accessing the inter-active feature has not been success-ful.

“When you try to use the soft-ware it says, ‘Check back soon for actual times.’ It’s very important as we market the new service that we

can assure that all parts of the sys-tem are in working order,” Latta said. “People will try immediately to access the info. A partially function-ing service doesn’t usually get a sec-ond chance.”

After sending out a university-wide e-mail, Shuttle Administrator Margo Smith said she believes it will take some time to develop the sys-tem.

“We tested the service before making the announcement,” Smith said. “The mobile feature has been having technical problems, but it’s fully functional now.”

According to Clifford Smith, Di-rector of Parking and Shuttle Oper-ations, things have improved rather than changed completely.

“We are using the same shuttle provider, just enhanced the servic-es,” he said.

Students are starting to notice improvements in the shuttle services service.

“The University has been work-ing hard to relieve student apathy with renovations, improvements in online services and now the shuttle,” said Laurin Compton, sophomore public relations major.

by Michael Tomlin-CrutchfieldStaff Writer

Ryan McCaulsky Contributing Photographer

New InitiativesRead up on all the initia-tives HUSA implemented during the summer.

p.2

HBCU RankingsWhile Howard may rank #1 among HBCUs, is the uni-versity still living up to its legacy? p.5

NFC PreviewCheck out The Hilltop’s pre-dictions for the NFL’s NFC- East. See if you agree with-our editor’s picks. p.9

Students can limit shuttle wait time by utlizing the university’s new mobile phone service.

NEWS....................... p.2

OPINIONS............... p.5

SPORTS.................... p.9

INSIDE INDEX

See MARIJUANA, p.3

See VAN JONES, p.3

WEATHERToday Tomorrow

High: 80Low: 66

High: 71Low: 65

Monday, August 23, 2010

D.C. City Council Puff Puff Passes a New Law

This year, D.C.’s City Council followed in the footsteps of New Jersey, Virginia, and California by approving the medicinal marijuana bill, which allows qualified patients to receive larger amounts of the drug.

Before the bill, patients could only receive two ounces of marijua-na if a doctor prescribed it; however, the dosage has now been raised to four ounces.

Those in opposition insist that while health is the primary concern, the safety of everyday people should not be jeopardized. In a press re-lease from Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, she explains that she cannot allow her personal beliefs and feelings to influence her to over-turn a law.

“It is D.C.’s business alone to decide how to help patients who live in our city and suffer from chronic

by Tasion KwamileleStaff Writer

Van Jones Brings Clean Energy Revolution to Howardby Derrick Haynes

Staff Writer

Ryan Hamilton Contributing Photographer

Green jobs pioneer Van Jones informed students of the importance of going green at a forum in Cramton Auditorium.

Visit TheHilltopOnline.com to find out the numbers for each shuttle location.

The Howard University Student Association worked over the summer to implement several initiatives to address students’ interests and to im-prove the quality of life on campus.

Residence Life, Campus Police Chief Leroy James and the Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Barbara Griffin assisted HUSA in developing a pilot 24-hour visita-tion program that will go into effect during the fall 2010 semester for the West Towers and Slowe Hall.

“It’s long overdue. Every up-perclassmen dormitory should have 24-hour visitation,” said De’Rell Bonner, junior broadcast journal-ism major and resident in the West Towers.

Brandon Harris, a junior politi-cal science major serves as president, and Williams Roberts, a third-year law student and former vice presi-dent of HUSA (2008 – 2009) is serv-ing a second term as vice president.

Harris and Roberts have been working with administration and Student Affairs to create a Student Business Center in Blackburn this semester. Students will staff the cen-ter; operating “sort of like a campus Kinkos,” Roberts said. In the new facilities students will be able to copy, fax and print.

The HUSA administration has also been assisting students at risk

of being purged from the University due to finances.

The payment date for continu-ing and new students was changed from the traditional August 1 to July 1. HUSA worked with the university to help students on a case-by-case basis, and has made sure administra-tion extended its hours and launched an online chat to make the work more efficient.

One of the administration’s fi-nancial aid initiatives has been the creation of HUSA Grants, a pro-gram to help students in need. The program is targeted towards students that have maintained a 2.0 GPA and have exhausted all other methods of aid.

The program has been allocated $1 million in funds from the Inde-pendent Fund

Appropriations Committee to aid students between $1,000 and $5,000 away from being financially validated. The first step is allocat-ing $500,000 that will be distributed fairly based on student response.

HUSA has decided to work on student involvement by continu-ing the program, “HUSA in Your House,” which involves members of the organization heading to dorms to discuss issues around campus.

A general video series will be blogged on the new HUSA website, which is currently under develop-ment, along with a calendar of cam-pus events.

Camile Augustin Campus Editor campus@thehilltoponline.com Maya Rhodan Metro Editor metro@thehilltoponline.com

News

With the cost of higher educa-tion steadily increasing, college stu-dents are finding it more important than ever to stretch their pennies.

Although the Howard University bookstore charges full price, many Howard students have come to find alternative ways to purchase their course books.

One option that has become very popular among students is buying or renting books online. Websites such as Borders Books or Chegg.com are widely mentioned in social circles.

Shakierah Wright, junior fash-ion merchandising major, says that she obtains a majority of her course books from either Textbooks.com or Amazon, which often ship from overseas. “I like purchasing interna-tional books because they’re always cheaper,” said Wright.

When asked if she felt students should be allowed to rent books from the university bookstore, Wright re-plied with much enthusiasm, “yes”. However, she “seriously doubted” the possibility of that happening due to the decrease in profits the book-store would face.

Despite university costs and student’s financial instability, many other HBCUs, such as the rivaled Hampton University, conduct busi-ness by similar means when it comes to textbooks, with limited options for students who are trying to save mon-

ey. Hampton University sophomore and student athlete, Keiara Avant, says that although she and other athletes don’t have to pay for books out of pocket, her fellow students do. Buying used books from upperclass-men is also another alternative that students are employing.

“Regular students have to go to the bookstore and purchase them [textbooks], but if they know some-one who already has the book they can buy it from them, which is cheaper,” Avant said.

In the August 17 issue of USA Today, it was stated that this fall more than 1,000 campus bookstores nationwide would set into effect a discounted book rental program for their students.

Director of the Howard Univer-sity Bookstore, Antwan Clinton, has made it clear that despite textbook prices and online book purchasing by students, the bookstore has yet to suffer.

“On average we have not seen a decline in the number of students supporting the HUB, with exception to any decline in enrollment,” Clin-ton said.

On the subject of textbook rent-als, Clinton said that Howard is in-deed looking into establishing a text-book rental system. Currently, the university is in the process of review-ing pilot programs to see if and how they can be made to work efficiently for the Howard community.

HUSA Spends Summer Working on New Intiatives

College Students Search High and Low for Cheap Textbooks

Ryan Hamilton Contributing Photographer

by Whitney AndersonStaff Writer

Bree Gant Photo EditorFinding affordable textbooks can be difficult, but rewarding for students on a budget.

HUSA president and vice president, Brandon Harris and Will Roberts, lead the team of students that diligently worked for improvements across campus.

Ryan McCaulsky Contributing Photographer

Students aim to spend as little money as possible on school supplies this year.

The Hilltop P2

. . . .by Micahel Tomlin-Crutchfield

Staff Writer

As a college student, one of the most important things you’ll learn during your matriculation is how to budget. Budgeting doesn’t mean you can’t buy all of the things you want, it just helps you learn where to get the things you need inexpensively.

“Instead of buying brand name notebooks you can buy the generic brands,” said Jemeela Axell, a junior television production major. “You get the same value you would get with a name brand, but the cost dif-ference is noticeable.”

“Having the brand name note-book doesn’t really mater when tak-ing notes for class,” added Axell.

Target and CVS, both conve-niently located near campus, have the basic necessities for any college student to survive.

Target has a 10-pack of BIC ballpoint pens, while mechanical pencils are $0.99 each, and binders start at only $3.00.

CVS contains Avery 6-pocket folder organizers at only $2.99. Col-lege-ruled notebook paper is priced around $1.50 or less a pack and Av-ery 8-count insert dividers are only $1.29 a pack.

“[For] supplies such as note-books, pens, highlighters and fold-ers, you must stock up on them while the sales are at their best,” said Joc-elyn Knight, a senior biology major. “For other supplies, just buy what you need. That keeps you from over-spending on frivolous items.”

Other basic necessities such as tape, erasers, white-out, and indi-vidual organizer folders all inexpen-sively priced within a range of $0.99 to $2.00.

“Staples can have good deals sometimes but their sale prices aren’t too far from their original price so it’s not always the best place to go,” added Axell.

At the end of the day, when it comes to school shopping on a col-lege student budget, you cannot al-ways buy the first thing you see. Buy the basic necessities.

by Tasion KwamileleStaff Writer

Students Shop Smart for School Supplies

The Hilltop The Student Voice of Howard University.

omy ever produced.”The “dirty energy economy” re-

fers to the primary sources of energy that fuel the global economy: petro-leum (oil), coal, and nuclear power. All the aforementioned are fossil fuels that are finite and will disap-pear once they have been used up - unlinke renewable resources such as wind or solar energy.

While studying abroad in the Netherlands, Anese Jacobs had the chance to contrast the environmen-tal policies of America to create green jobs with that of a European Union member state.

“According to what Europe is doing, there’s a lot of opportunity there,” said Jacobs, a senior mar-keting major who aspires to market green products similar to Seventh Generation after graduation.

Seventh Generation is a compa-ny that specializes in environmental-ly friendly household products such as dishwashing soap and laundry detergents. In September 2009, Sev-enth Generation introduced the first EPA-approved disinfectant.

“I truly believe that what we’re doing to our environment it’s not good. We all need to work together to come up with a solution quickly,” Jacobs said. “Just look around.”

As a part of his presentation, Jones did just that when he sur-veyed the impact of global warming around the world. The ongoing cri-ses - the devastating floods in Paki-stan and deadly wildfires throughout Russia - and the “Snowpocalypse” of last winter were direct results of cli-mate change, which Jones summed

up as, “Global warming means local storming.”

Much of Jones’s speech consist-ed of a history lesson that focused on the origins of fossil fuels and how a fossil fuel driven society runs off of death.

“Oil is the dead blood of our ancestors; coal is the dead broken blood of our ancestors,” Jones said. “Your society right now runs by pull-ing death out of the ground and burning it. You pull death out of the ground and burn it in your engines without ceremony.”

After completing his history les-son, Jones focused on the wealth of benefits that a career in emerg-ing green technology and business promises for students.

“Who needs more of a change in this economy than our commu-nity? We’re the folks who live next to the power plants, all too often,” Jones said. “If we want to have new jobs, we need clean energy. You don’t want your community to ben-efit from the good stuff last and least when you suffer from the bad stuff first and worst.”

The source of the new jobs, as Jones and other environmentalist’s attests, will be based on developing alternative energy. Supporters of emerging green technology is striv-ing to make clean energy technol-ogy cheaper and more efficient than their nonrenewable counterparts.

“Energy is a trillion dollar global market. It’s about to totally trans-form,” Jones said. “There are people flat-broke right now who ten years from now will be multimillionaires because they took this seriously.”

Jones refuted the prevalent mis-conception that African Americans should not care about global warm-ing.

“Don’t let anybody tell you that if you care about the Earth that that’s a white thing,” Jones said. “The idea that caring about the earth, caring about life, caring about living systems is a white thing – that’s a racist comment that we will make to each other.”

“Don’t accept that from any-body,” he added. “It’s disrespectful.” He argued that environmentally conscious people were not absent from the African-American com-munity.

“We’ve always had green, envi-ronmental people in our communi-ty,” Jones said. “We just didn’t call it that. We’ve always had a grandma-ma who grew up in the South who had a little plot in the back where she was growing her tomatoes.”

“You’ve always been broke and taking the bus – that’s green!” he said eliciting laughter from the audi-ence.

For his final remarks, Jones concentrated on advising freshmen about what they can do at Howard and around the district to get in-volved with the transition from the current petroleum-fueled economy to the clean energy future.

“Howard, by the time you get to 2014, should be a leading force for this change,” Jones said. “There are millions things that can be done that could make Howard a green gem in the middle of the Washington, D.C. area. Let the genius of your gen-eration be tapped and used to help

people.”He also argued that students

should play a pro-active role in de-manding more change.

“You should be trying to figure out what building can solar pan-els on them,” he said. “You should be trying to figure out how to have community gardens here and use some of this beautiful landscape to grow food and feed some of these poor, starving babies out here.”

After Jones’s speech ended, a booth was set up for students to sign pledges as a part of the Power Vote campaign. Power Vote is a campaign by the Energy Action Coalition, a coalition of 50 youth organizations who advocate for energy reform. The Energy Action Coalition in-cludes the Environmental Justice & Climate Change Initiative (EJCC).

“Power Vote is about making sure that we’re holding our leaders accountable to our future,” said Kari Fulton, the Youth Climate Justice Coordinator of EJCC and Howard alumna.

“Our main initiative is to make sure that more young people of color are involved in the emerging green economy wherever they see themselves playing in that economy - whether it’s in the world of fashion, politics - we need you.”

Lillian Molina, the environmen-tal justice director of the Energy Ac-tion Coalition, added that the pledges were a way to show “politricksters” - Congress members beholden to cor-porate interests – that young people are committed to a “clean and just energy future.”

“The way the system is set up

Congress ultimately makes the de-cisions,” Molina said, “We need to make sure that the people that are in [Congress] know that as young people we are the biggest voting bloc in history, the most diverse voting bloc in history and we’re not going to let them keep our future in their hands.”

Van Jones’s speech and the Pow-er Vote campaign presence attracted students new to the green move-ment.

“It gave me more awareness of what I do,” said Asia Gregory, a freshman fashion merchandising major.

“He made me want to learn more on the topic and see what I can do to help out,” said Tymeshia Hill, a freshman biology major, be-fore rushing back inside of the audi-torium to hear about volunteer op-portunities around campus and the district.

Carly Hill, no relation to Tyme-shia Hill, thought Van Jones’s poetic explanation of contemporary energy production was a highlight.

“It made me have a different perspective about how our society is actually run,” Hill said, “We’re liv-ing off of death, and that’s bringing down our whole country. It’s really important that we start living off of life now.”

A tight-knit group of students interested in environmentalism, led by Dorien Blythers, a senior politi-cal science major, helped make Van Jones’s appearance possible.

“It’s a dream of mine to see more people of color take leadership roles in environmentalism,” Blythers said.

VAN JONES continued from Front

The Hilltop P3

pain and incurable illnesses. The Council is to be commended for, not prohibited from, passing a model piece of legislation that allows pa-tients to use controlled amounts of marijuana, for specific medical pur-poses and only through the written recommendation of a physician, to help improve their quality of life,” said Congresswoman Norton.

Despite the government decision in favor of medicinal marijuana, some people believe that legalizing marijuana will remain a hot topic because it allows the government to profit from a “street” drug common-ly associated with inner-city minori-ties and criminal activities.

In a recent study conducted by cannabisculture.com, it revealed that 76 percent of marijuana users are white, while 20 percent are of black or Hispanic origin. However, mari-juana arrests and conviction rates of African Americans and Hispan-ics double and triple those of their counterparts.

Genghe Carmichael, a senior fashion retail management major at

Columbia University believes that viewing marijuana that way “will only cause more division. Most peo-ple that operate or have membership to cannabis clubs are white people so the African-American community will not truly have full access to this ‘legalized’ industry.”

Essence Payne, a recent human development graduate of Howard from Lynchburg, Va., agrees with Carmichael. “The African-Ameri-can population is the least likely to seek medical attention for any sort, so the population using weed legally won’t even be ours,” says Paine.

Recent psychology graduate Sola Zaccheus from New Jersey, be-lieves that the ultimate purpose for the legalization is to benefit the gov-ernment. Zaccheus also questions why the focus is on marijuana, a drug he says has a much lesser effect than the cigarettes he can buy over the counter.

“People are going to find ways around this ‘legalization’. If there was a way for the government to fully control it [marijuana] this wouldn’t even be an issue,” said Zaccheus.

MARIJUANA continued from Front

Leo Brooks Staff PhotographerA new medicinal marijuana bill makes the drug more accessible for patients that have a prescription for the drug in D.C.

Check out TheHilltopOnline.comWe’re bigger & better!

Reporting the news 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Go online for photos, videos and more in-depth coverage of Howard University News.

Crystal Cooper Opinions Editor opinions@thehilltoponline.com

Opinions. .

To all of you who are return-ing to Howard, welcome back! And to those of you who are new to the Mecca, welcome to Howard. More importantly, welcome to our family.

I am sure that many of you do not know what the term “ombuds-man” means, so I’ll tell you. I am the liaison between YOU and the paper. Whenever you have issues, just send me an email at MHBarnett@thehill-toponline.com and I will take them directly to the paper and find the best solution. The Hilltop is striving to be the best paper for you, and any suggestions and opinions are openly welcomed.

The name of this column is sig-nifying to say that I am a represen-tative to the people, and I am not bound to make favorable opinions of or concerning The Hilltop.

As you may already know, The Hilltop is undergoing a series of changes this academic year, and will look very different from the way it has looked in the past. At the sur-face, the changes may seem extreme, but I urge you to look closer at the changes before jumping to your final judgment. As the saying goes “in-nocent until proven guilty.” So here is our case.

The first of these changes is the fact that we will no longer run a print publication every Monday through Friday. Pause. Don’t overreact, be-cause The Hilltop will still be there

for you on a daily basis. The print version of the paper will be printed every Monday and Thursday. But we’re still going to be there for you because now, we are a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week online news source. That’s right, this week marks the be-ginning of our Online Multimedia Convergence, a new wave of online media.

One point that I don’t think anyone will argue with me on is that online is the most convenient form of media that there is. Now, as op-posed to having to wake up on that day when you don’t have classes and go downstairs and pick up The Hilltop, you can roll over, grab your computer and visit us www.The-HilltopOnline.com for your campus news needs.

The Hilltop Online underwent a facelift this summer. The new, user-friendly site allows you to navigate easily and also has a much easier search engine. This will allow you to more quickly and concisely search our archives for an article that may have run months, even years ago.

In an ever-evolving media world, The Hilltop must remain competi-tive. Aren’t you proud of being able to say that you attend the school where the nation’s number four col-legiate newspaper is located? Well think of how much better it will be to say that you are on the campus of the number one collegiate newspa-per…AGAIN. The new HU Guide featured in the Hilltopics section will serve as a guide to what’s going on daily. Not only does it look better, it is cheaper for campus organizations to advertise.

And last, but most certainly not least, in the past The Hilltop has got-ten some less than favorable compli-ments about the content within the paper. It is our hope that this con-vergence can give us the opportunity to add better content to the paper, and better satisfy the needs of our entire readership. From current students, to faculty and alumni, we want everyone to be able to enjoy The Hilltop regardless of where they are in the world.

So there you have it. These are the facts, now you decide.

by Marquis H. BarnettOmbudsman

Earlier this month, students were proud to be a part of Howard’s legacy when news surfaced that we became the #1 HBCU ranked by Associated Content. However, when considering the premise of this ranking, you’ll re-alize that our university still has a long way to go.

We were ranked number one simply be-cause of the average SAT scores of incoming fresh-man (1655) with a 54 percent acceptance rate. It was because of our academics before arriv-ing at Howard, not while enrolled. It wasn’t because of our actions on campus that made us number one.

Through the partying and the social canvas we’ve painted, some students tend to forget about aca-demics and the fact that our univer-sity should be “leaders of the global

community.” By being honest with ourselves, you’ll realize that some students just “get by” in classes,

building upon their networks to be successful, only.

As a whole, our campus is not meeting standards to truly be consid-ered number one. More importantly, we need to maintain the acclama-tions that we already have. The title is easy to slip away; easier than it was

for our climb to the top. President Ribeau has made

it consistently clear that he wants Howard to be ranked in the top 50 schools by 2012, most recently in a speech when Devaul Patrick came to campus. Students should mirror this same notion, asking themselves why we can’t see past being the top HBCU? Can Howard not rival other Ivy-league schools like Yale and Har-vard? Do we really want to be the Ivy-League of JUST African-American institu-tions?

Being number one in any fashion causes for a well-deserved, worthy celebration. But while we’re celebrating our strides, we can’t stop striving to really be on top. Our standards should be set higher, along with our daily actions.

Looking Beyond the RankingsSTAFF EDITORIAL

OUR VIEW“Howard’s legacy was built on academic excellence. It is our duty to carry on the standards

that made us The Mecca.”

The Hilltop

Unbought, Unbossed,Unbiased

Richard Montgomery Cartoonist

Got an Issue? Got a Voice?We want to know what you think.

Send us your perspective and we will publish it on this page.Email opinions@thehilltoponline.com

P4

The Hilltop Newspaper

Aleesa Mann Editor-in-ChiefGenet Lakew

Managing Editor

Camile Augustin Campus EditorMaya Rhodan

Metro EditorTahirah Hairston Life & Style EditorCrystal CooperOpinions EditorAaron Randle

Special Issues Editor

Christina Downs Copy Chief

Dilane Mitchell Asst. Copy ChiefBriana Evans

Copy EditorMichele Steele

Copy EditorAlexa Murray

Copy EditorLauren Griggs

Copy Editor

Marquis H. Barnett Ombudsman

Ronesha Dennis Web Editor

Riley Wilson Asst. Web Editor

Bree Gant Photo Editor

John F. KnightMultimedia Editor

Brittany J. Harris Business Manager

Jasmine D. Carpenter Asst. Business Manager

Arbie Mosley Local Ad Sales Manager

Kayla R. Brooks Operations Manager

Le’Dia J. Smith Marketing Manager

Erica HawkinsLayout & Design Manager

The Hilltop encourages its readers to share their opinions with the newspaper through letters to the editor or perspectives. All letters should include a complete address and telephone number and should be sent electronically to feedback@thehilltoponline.com.

All inquiries for advertise-ments should be sent directly to The Hilltop Business office at:

The Hilltop2251 Sherman Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20001businessoffice@thehilltoponline.com

The Hilltop The Student Voice of Howard University.

by Dexter WilliamsContributing Columnist

THE BISON FIX

More Than an Institution, Howard is Home

As a transfer student from the University of Pittsburgh-Titusville and Old Dominion University, I have to say what all of us as transfer

students say, “Howard may have not been my first choice, but it was my best choice.”

The aforementioned schools are predominately white institutions. They were good schools. They were academically challenging, the so-cialization was good, teachers were “nice,” and many more aspects you expect with a university.

At the same time, for some reason, they don’t compare to How-ard. In fact, three of my professors at Old Dominion University en-couraged me to transfer to Howard because it has more prestige, more resources, superior networking op-portunities, and it is conveniently located in my hometown D.C.

Howard is a university where all walks of life cross The Yard. It’s a place where African Americans can seek a quality education without hav-ing the pressure of being the “good token-negro” in the classroom, un-like the majority institutions I pre-viously attended. As I said before,

those institutions were academi-cally rigorous and the socialization was good. However, they lacked the holistic approach that nurtures the student academically, socially and personally. I always felt there was something missing.

I could never seem to figure out what it was until I came to How-ard and then the light bulb came on. The professors at the other universi-ties didn’t really care about educat-ing the whole student. They cared more about meeting deadlines and covering course material than the student being able to keep up and have a rich understanding of the course. Now, some will argue that this style of educating allows the student to educate him or herself in-dependently. At some point, though, wouldn’t the student need some form of proper guidance from the instructor?

Please don’t get me wrong; I would never ask for any professor to hold my hand like a toddler. That

being said, it doesn’t hurt to have an instructor who not only wants you to succeed in their course but for you to lead in your field globally.

Here, they guide you in the right direction, nurture you as an individual, open doors to unbeliev-able experiences, have unmatch-able networking opportunities and lay the ground work for a prosper-ous and giving career. That’s what makes Howard a unique university. It has a luster unto itself. It’s hard to describe the Howard experience in words. I guess many Howard gradu-ates were right: it’s a place you have to experience for yourself.

Dexter Williams is a junior Health Administration major from Washington, D.C.

Tell Us What You Think!The Hilltop has a new layout and a new look online. Check it out and take our poll!

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The Hilltop The Student Voice of Howard University.

Freshmen Week 2010 Recap

Bringing your car to college is considered an advantage by many and envied by many others, but, having a car at Howard University may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

For Lamarione Sherperd, a ju-nior business major from Missouri, having a car is bittersweet.

Over the summer, Sherperd enjoyed driving into Maryland and Virginia, but recently said that deal-ing with parking passes at Howard has been a hassle.

“I was told that the parking passes are on a first come first serve basis and they will not be given out until Sept. 8,” said Sherperd.

For now Sherperd, and numer-ous other students, have to pay $4.00 to park their cars at a meter until parking passes become avail-able. If students choose not to pay at the meters they could face towing charges.

This, however, is not the only disadvantage to having a car, as it requires a driver to have car insur-ance.

According to a State Farm In-surance representative, the price of insurance for a 21-year-old female living in Washington, D.C. who drives a 2002 Camry with almost 100,000 miles would be $385 for full coverage a month.

State Farm offers free quotes to students considering car insurance. The process requires the student’s social security number, driver’s license number and the state, ad-dress, and number of tickets since being licensed and full name of the car owner.

To determine the cost of in-surance, State Farm factors in the coverage one would need to insure their car, the age of the individual, driving tickets acquired, and all ac-cidents.

Robert Seymour, a 20-year-old broadcasting major, said knowing the disadvantages to having a car is

what kept him from bringing his car from Memphis.

“You have to worry about your car getting broken into, [and] driv-ing around without D.C. tags, and tickets,” said Seymour.

Another major deterrent for students deciding whether to bring their vehicles to campus is the fact that students can get ticketed for having unregistered, out-of-state tags. According to the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles, cars within the district for 30 consecutive days must be registered through a process called ROSA, which stands for registration of out-of-state automobiles.

To enforce ROSA, the Metro-politan Police Department constant-ly monitors residential and business areas for cars not in compliance with D.C. registration requirements, according to the District of Colum-bia DMV. Proper registration also requires cars to display a valid D.C. inspection sticker.

Car Ownership in D.C. a Hassle for Students

The Hilltop P6

by Jarondakie PatrickStaff Writer

Bree Gant Photo Editor

Students can limit shuttle wait time by utlizing the university’s new mobile phone service.

Photos by Bree Gant, Photo Editor & Leo Brooks, Staff Photographer

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Karim Alammuri Sports Editor sports@thehilltoponline.com

Sports. .

With a few short weeks until the NFL season begins, predictions have already been made as to which teams will prosper or fail during the season. Here are the predictions for the NFC East:

1 . Dallas CowboysAfter clinching the division last

year and winning a playoff for the first time in more than a decade, the Dallas Cowboys have emerged as the sexy pick in the NFC to reach Su-per Bowl XLV. Emerging star Miles Austin returns as the team’s number one wide receiver alongside Roy Wil-liams and first round draft pick Dez Bryant from Oklahoma State. Dal-las is relying on Felix Jones to be a starting running back as he enters his sophomore year with Marion Barber coming in as backup. Dallas enters the season stacked on both sides of the ball, along with a talented special teams unit. Their biggest opponent this year will be themselves as they battle egos and try to satisfy their ec-centric and very demanding owner Jerry Jones. Prediction: 12-4 (Division Win-ners)

2 . Washington RedskinsAfter suffering a disastrous 4-12

season with one of the worst offen-sive lines in the NFL, the Washing-ton Redskins decided to clean house for 2010. The Redskins acquired Donovan McNabb, from the Phila-delphia Eagles, and signed head coach Mike Shanahan. After a dra-ma-filled summer centered on defen-sive tackle Albert Haynesworth and his conditioning tests, expectations are high in Redskins Nation. The defense will be looking to force more turnovers and put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks in their new 3-4 defensive scheme. The Redskins are going into the season looking impressive on paper, as in previous years. In order for them to be suc-cessful, they must click on both sides of the football and avoid injuries. Prediction: 10-6 (Wild Card Berth)

3 . New York GiantsThe New York Giants started off

hot last year winning their first five games, but their hot streak cooled down as they finished their last 11 games 3-8, resulting in a .500 record. Ranking 15th in passing defense last year, the Giants boosted their sec-ondary by acquiring safeties Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant. Another key move was the firing of defensive co-ordinator Bill Sheridan and replac-ing him with Perry Fewell from the Buffalo Bills. Up and coming wide

receivers Steve Smith and Hakeem Nicks are both returning healthy with Eli Manning under center, who is becoming one of the NFL’s best signal callers. Without a doubt the Giants are very talented on of-fense, but its up to their defense to dictate how well they play this year. Prediction: 9-7 (Miss Playoffs)

4 . Philadelphia Eagles

After 11 years in Philadelphia, one Super Bowl berth, and five NFC championship games, the McNabb era finally came to a close as the Eagles handed over their franchise to young signal caller Kevin Kolb. The Eagles are obviously building their team through youth, cutting Brian Westbrook and placing LeSean Mc-Coy in a starting role. Multidimen-sional talent Desean Jackson returns after a great year catching and re-turning kicks. Philadelphia fans may face a letdown this year, with an inexperienced quarterback under center offering potential headaches. Philadelphia has a lot of young tal-ent that can win in the future. But with a very tough schedule, youth will come back to bite them in the end. Maybe after this season Phila-delphia fans will appreciate all that McNabb has done for the franchise. Prediction: 6-10 (Miss Playoffs)

Upcoming NFL Season Hopes to Change Teams’ Previous Rankings

UpcomingHoward

Sports Games

Women’s Soccer

Sunday, August 22 Temple

Philadelphia, Pa. 1 PM

Wednesday, August 25

George MasonWashington, D.C.

7 PM

Tuesday, August 31 Wagner College

Staten Island, N.Y.

4 PM

Women’s Volleyball

Saturday, August 28 West Virginia (WVU Classic)

Morgantown, W. Va. 7:30 PM

Sunday, August 29 Buffalo (WVU Classic)Morgantown, W. Va.

11 AM

Sunday, August 29

Akron (WVU Classic)Morgantown, W. Va.

4 PM

Men’s Soccer

Tuesday, August 24 (Exhibition - Greene Stadium)

Howard, Washington, D.C. 7 PM

Friday, August 27Mary Washington (Exhibition)

Howard, Washington, D.C. 7 PM

Men’s Football

Saturday, September 4Holy Cross

Worcester, Mass. 1 PM

Saturday, September 11Hampton

Howard, Washington, D.C. 1 PM

The Power of Sports

If this summer has shown us nothing else about sports it has shown us the true power that sports and its athletes hold over fans and media alike. This summer, Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Brett Favre, had every part of their lives chronicled and each word they spoke gone over with a fine tooth comb.

Sports have the power to cap-tivate neighborhoods, cities, states and countries. In 1936 the Olympics were held in Berlin, Germany when Adolf Hitler was in power. African American track star Jesse Owens won four gold medals and defied the Nazi ideology of being the Aryan race. Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title for refus-ing to fight in the Vietnam War. His defiance was applauded by many blacks around the country who felt they shouldn’t fight for liberties they couldn’t receive.

Why do these athletes and sports hold this power? The most obvious answer is that many kids grow up wanting to play these same sports and emulate these athletes. Then reality smacks us in the face when it becomes clear that it’s hard to make it in the NBA if you don’t grow past 5’8.

Once people come to un-derstand they are not going to be a professional athlete the next step in the process is to begin transferring one’s love for the sports into another area besides playing. This transfer of energy is where the power of sports begins, because now fans believe they have the right to praise, criticize and ridicule athletes. The day of the “Decision” was a sad day because many believed that James respected the fans of Cleveland enough to not bring them on national television and stab them in the back. The true power of sports can was ultimately shown by what happened next to the Cleveland Cavalier fans. There were grown men crying, women sobbing, and even more people so angry that they began to rip their LeBron para-phernalia off their bodies stomping, and burning it in the streets. The next day Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke out against the Cavaliers’ owner and his Comic Sans tirade ignoring the injustice of the Oscar Grant trial in Oakland, Calif., and once again showing the world true power of the LeBron James media frenzy.

In many ways our lives and the lives of our friends revolve around sports. This past Monday we did not go out to hang with our friends because our fantasy football draft was at 11:00 p.m. Even though the league is made up of graduate stu-dents and young professionals who had no business being up at 2:00 a.m. arguing over who each person chose for their team, we were there for one simple reason, the POWER OF SPORTS.

Deontay Morris and Kellen Sims share their views at sports3-6-5.blogspot.com

Bree Gant Photo Editor

by Karim AlammuriSports Editor

The Hilltop P9

by Deontay MorrisKellen Sims

Contributing Columnists

The new sports season brings new opportunities for the fall sports teams at Howard, including football, women’s and men’s soccer and volleyball.

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Fall TV PreviewThe Hilltop The Student Voice of Howard University

Bad Girls ClubTuesdays, 9 p.m. on Oxygen

A new set of bad girls has joined the Bad Girls Club for the fifth season of the real-ity show, which was shot in Miami. Expect more fights, hook-ups, and breakthroughs as the seven girls are placed under one roof in this series from the same producers of MTV’s The Real World.

Grey’s AnatomyThursdays, 9 p.m. on ABC

Fans of the popular medi-cal drama can expect major changes for the doctors of Se-attle Grace Hospital after an explosive season finale where a shooter entered the hospital. Watch to see the aftermath of the hospital shooting and the new faces who will join the cast when the seventh season returns on Sept. 23.

Criminal MindsWednesdays, 9 p.m. on CBS

The crime series prepares for another season with the Behavioral Analysis Unit con-tinuing to profile and catch more serial killers. Look for

the team to catch a new set of criminals when the sixth season returns on Sept. 22.

Law & Order: Los AngelesWednesdays, 10 p.m. on NBC

Viewers of the popular Law & Order franchise are excited for the upcoming spin-off set in Los Angeles. Viewers can continue to expect the same drama as well as stories “ripped from the headlines,” with a cast including Terrence Howard, Regina Hall and Al-fred Molina when the series premieres on Sept. 29.

Jersey ShoreThursdays, 10 p.m. on MTV

The cast of Jersey Shore has returned for a second season of non-stop drama, partying, and hook-ups, only this time they left the Jersey Shore for Miami. Recently, the fourth episode of the second season garnered its highest ratings in the show’s history, with an es-timated 5.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

- compiled by Michele Steel, copy editor

HOWARD CHANNEL GUIDEPrimetime Shows

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