TECHNICIAN
Staff Writer
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An attendant at the marriage equality vigil holds a candle aloft at the Wake County Courthouse Tuesday evening. The vigil was held in celebration of the fact that the Supreme Court is currently judging the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, both of which limit the recognition of same-sex marriages.
The issue facing the nine justices will be whether or not the Equal Protection Clause of the 14 Amendment is violated by the provision. Proposition 8, a ballot initiative passed as a state constitutional amendment in the November 2008 state elections of California, included the provision that, “Only marriage between a man and a women is valid or recognized in California.” Proposition 8 overturned the California Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. After the proposition’s hearing, Ted Olson, the former solicitor general, and David Boies, an attorney, stood next to the couple involved in the case and referred to their argument as “a very thoughtful hearing.” “The court never gives you an idea of how they’re going to decide and they didn’t today,” Olson said. “We don’t know for sure what the United States Supreme Court is going to do, but we’re very, very gratified that they listened, they heard, they asked hard questions, and there’s no deny-
ing where the right is and we hope that the Supreme Court will come out in that way when they make this decision in June.” The Defense of Marriage Act, a United States federal law, defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman for federal and interstate recognition purposes. No state nor political subdivision is required to recognize the same-sex marriage of another state. “In an ideal world, both DOMA and Proposition 8 will be struck down with any other state-level constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage,” Vey said. Thirty states have placed a ban on same-sex marriages in their state constitutions, while nine states plus the District of Colombia issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Federal purposes include joint tax return filing, government employee benefits, Social Security survivors’ benefits and immigration. Obama administration has announced they will not defend section 3 in court but will continue
enforcement. Republican leadership in the House of Representatives will now defend the law for the Department of Justice. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal after eight federal courts have found Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional. Although many conservatives still oppose the government allowing marriage licenses for same-sex couples, Republican division on the issue has increased. Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio became one of the most prominent conservative lawmakers to support same-sex marriage. He announced his changed stance two years af ter his 21-year-old son, Will, came out. Senator Portman has admitted that he has not always been in support and once opposed
LGBT continued page 2
Harnessing the power of procrastination Ph.D. students, known for working hard to be experts in their respective fields, have another super power that may be the driving force behind their success — procrastination. Jorge Cham, creator of and writer for PHD comics, visited N.C. State to speak about the power of procrastination in Hunt Library Auditorium Tuesday evening as a part of the “Leadership in Technology” Executive Speaker Series. “I’m sure you would rather be in the lab, but instead you are here procrastinating,” Cham said. The comics illustrate the problems Ph.D. students often face. According to a recent survey by U.C. Berkeley, 95 percent of all graduate students feel overwhelmed, and more than 67 percent have felt seriously depressed at some point in their careers. Savera Tanwir, graduate student in computer science, said she loves Cham’s comics. She admitted that she reads “Piled Higher and Deep-
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Raleigh stands with allies
Brittany Bynum
march
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Groups of GLBT allies assembled for a vigil on the grounds of the Wake County Court House Tuesday night. Those attending the “Light the Way to Justice Vigil — United for Marriage Equality under the U.S. Constitution” stood in solidarity with protestors in Washington D.C. against California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Supreme Court began hearing arguments about on Tuesday. The vigil featured speakers as well as musical performances by Georgia Winfree of Someone’s Sister. The vigil began with the cheering and chanting of “Gay, Straight, Black, White: Marriage is a Civil Right” echoing chants in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building. Jimmy Creech, a Methodist minister from Goldsboro, spoke in the beginning of the evening citing the day as an historic occasion. “A lot divides us, but it is what we stand upon that unites us, and that is what is in the U.S. Constitution. Our movement brings together the promises and ideals of the community,” Creech said. “I am proud to be a U.S. citizen because of the promises, not history.” The Supreme Court agreed to hear Hollingsworth v. Perry after a panel of three appellate judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit in California held Proposition 8 unconstitutional. Kyle Vey, sophomore in mechanical and biomedical engineering and president of the GLBT Community Alliance, said he believes the Supreme Court agreed to hear the cases because of the prevalence of the issue. “It only makes sense that the Supreme Court would agree to hear these cases considering the size of the population that they affect. Not only are GLBT individuals outraged, but out families and friends, too,” Vey said.
wednesday
er,” Cham’s first comic, as a way to crastination is guilt. It has nothing put off doing her research. to do with not having enough time Cham began creating PHD comics to do favorable activities. as an engineering graduate student He humored the audience describat Stanford University. He made his ing laziness as a close cousin to profirst comic in 1997. crastination. Even though they are Since then, he has published four close, there is a difference between books and travels the two. around the world “Laziness is when giving lectures and you don’t do anyattending conferthing. Procrastiences at universination is when you ties, typically talkdonít want to do it ing about procrasright now,” Cham tination and life (or said. a lack thereof, as he Cham said it is said) in academia. okay for one to Cham originally procrastinate and made his comics panic. It is best to by procrastinating enjoy life and relax. Jorge Cham, founder of in his office. He saw The series norPHD comics an advertisement in mally has a crowd the Stanford Daily size of 180 attendthat was looking for comics from ees. Tuesday evening was their largstudents. est crowd yet packing out the Hunt He sent his creations in, unknow- library auditorium. ing that they would become viral to Louis Marin-Vega, dean of eneight million visitors, mostly gradu- gineering, accompanied Tate and ate students who were procrastinat- offered welcoming remarks as well. ing. Piyali Dey recommended Jorge Cham noted the problem of pro- Cham a year ago, saying he would
“Laziness is when you don’t do anything. Procrastination is when you don’t want to do it right now.”
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draw a large crowd of grad students. Ken Tate said some of the very best speakers have come from student recommendations. Cham’s comics can be found on PHDComics.com. He has also released his first screenplay, The PHD Movie,which is on the website for $5. The series itself was started in the early 2000s. The computer science department’s Strategic Advisory Board challenged the department to inject leadership development into their undergraduate curriculum leading Ken Tate to take charge of developing an executive seminarbased elective course. For the two years it was offered as a pilot course, it was the highest rated computer science course by students, but as a one credit hour course, enrollment was relatively low. “It seemed we had a great idea in bringing in some of the top executives in the area to share their
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Spirit of March Madness lives on Ravi Chittilla Deputy News Editor
Although N.C. State’s men’s basketball team may have suffered a first round defeat in the NCAA tournament, the University will not desert the spirit of March Madness anytime soon. Starting today, the Hunt Library plays host to Startup Madness, an ACC Tournament for Student Startups. Startup Madness is a competition that seeks the best and brightest entrepreneurial minds at the university level, and seeks to expose them to new and exciting ventures in a tournament fashion. In its third year, the competition will be at N.C. State for the first time, moving away from its base in Durham. Students from all 14 constituent universities have been invited to participate, and similar to the NCAA tournament, these universities will face off in one-on-one match-ups, by which the winner will advance according to recommendations from a panel of judges. Each university may submit up to two teams for a total field of 22 different companies. This year, the University selected one undergraduate and one graduate company to represent N.C. State at the competition. Representing N.C. State’s undergraduate program is a company called Koyr. Founded by Mark Delgado, a senior in nuclear engineering, the KoyrGeiger is a device that could be used in nuclear and medical facilities to monitor radiation levels and transmit those measurements directly to a facility’s computer system, giving the facility real-time radiation data. The beauty of Delgado’s Geiger is in its size. The device is no bigger than a smartphone and can be used with wireless devices such as Android smartphones. “It could be used for advanced area monitoring, where the detector is stationary, or it could be part of a constantly moving network of monitors, with detectors clipped to the belts of employees,” Delgado
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