TECHNICIAN
technicianonline.com
Raleigh, North Carolina
LUIS ZAPATA/ TECHNICIAN
A group of people built a snowman more than nine feet tall on the sidewalk facing Hillsborough Street by the Bell Tower Tuesday evening. It had plastic trays for eyes and ash trays for buttons.
MEREDITH FAGGART/TECHNICIAN
Palmer Fox, a freshman in engineering, puts a mustache on a snowman he built early Tuesday morning between Turlington and Alexander halls. “I sent my sister a picture text of the snow and she told me I had to make her a snowman,” Fox said. PEGGY BOONE/TECHNICIAN FILE PHOTO
President Obama talks to a crowd of supporters at the North Carolina Fairgrounds during his campaign trail June 6, 2008.
Obama promises to ‘meet challenges’ facing nation New president makes promise to ‘meet challenges’ facing nation Derek Medlin Managing Editor LUIS ZAPATA/TECHNICIAN
Students run at each other throwing snowballs in a massive snowball fight during the first snowfall of the new year. No one truly organized the battle, but people showed up and snow was thrown. The lower side won after pushing the other side up and over the hill.
STUDENTS CELEBRATE CANCELLED CLASSES WITH OUTDOOR PLAY Class cancellation leaves students to enjoy snow James Cox Staff Writer
DIANNE SEXTON/TECHNICIAN
Jay Dawkins, student body president, charges shirtless across the snow-covered Court of North Carolina during a snowball fight Tuesday afternoon.
TIM O’BRIEN/TECHNICIAN
Ashley Perry, a junior in zoology, throws a snowball at Meaghan McGrath, a freshman in mechanical engineering, on Lee Field Tuesday morning.
COSTS OF MISSING ONE DAY OF CLASS DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER TYPE OF STUDENT
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Undergraduate (12 hours +)
$37.67
$125.51
Graduate
$40.66
$126.72
Vet School
$75.97
$238.57
Master of Business Administration
$98.70
$183.86
Master of Accounting
$89.32
$174.92
Master of Global Innovation Management
$98.70
$183.86
Bachelor of Architecture
$44.10
$183.86
Masters in Design
$47.81
$133.86
University officials canceled classes for the entire day Tuesday morning due to the snow, leaving students to find ways to enjoy the day off. Provost Larry Nielsen said there are a couple of factors that led to the cancellation of classes Tuesday and that a decision on Wednesday’s classes would be JONATHAN STEPHENS/TECHNICIAN made in the evening. John Larkins, freshmen “We try to take into account in history, shoots a threethe conditions and the physical manned slingshot downhill plant people tell us how quick- at the Court of North Carolina ly they can get the campus in snowball fight. shape,” he said. Nielsen also said local schools’ decisions’ impacted N.C. State’s. “Not everybody has a sled, “We also pay attention to what but everybody has a fist and the public school systems do most people can make a because if our faculty and staff snowball,” he said. can’t get here because their chilHowever, Barnwell warned dren’s day is messed up, then it students to be careful. messes us up as well,” he said. “We understand that stuThe snow day passed without dents like to have fun, and ask much in the for caution way of crime, a nd t hat Capt. Jon they keep Barnwell of TECHNICIANONLINE.COM in mind Campus Pot hat inSee more pictures from Tuesday’s snow on lice, said. juries do www.technicianonline.com. “ We h a d happen,” sure to send your snow day photos to o n e i s s u e Be he said. photo@technicianonline.com. that resulted The in disorderly weather conduct, another with students conditions prevented some on unauthorized property on workers from getting to their Centennial and one traffic ac- jobs. cident,” Barnwell said. Crayton Garrell, the direcJay Dawkins, student body tor of food service at Fountain president, said the snowfall was Dining Hall, said every ema once in a college experience ployee showed up for breakevent. fast, but some people weren’t Dawkins helped spread the able to make it in for lunch word about a massive snowball and dinner. fight on the Court of North Car“In those cases, RAs from olina with more than 300 student participants. SNOW DAY continued page 3
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When Barack Obama took the oath of office to become the president of the United States Tuesday afternoon, he became the first African American president to be elected to the office and proved to many that the work of leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., who was honored one day earlier, was not in vein. The symbolism and connection between the two days, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Inaugural Tuesday, simply could not be ignored during the inau-
gural process. Obama did not ignore it, and neither did much of America. Estimated crowds of more than one million people from across the country packed Washington, D.C. to watch the 44th president take his oath. Those in Raleigh who could nvvv ot make the trip to the capital watched the inauguration wherever they could. Citizens watched the inauguration in dorm rooms and apartments, in coffee shops and in restaurants, in Witherspoon Cinema and even live on the Internet. The 44th inauguration ceremony truly transformed into a national event that drew everyone in, regardless of race, gender or political point of view. CEREMONY continued page 3
Task force pushes for mandatory diversity class Campus Culture Task Force makes initial recommendations to chancellor Samuel T.O. Branch Deputy News Editor
The Campus Culture Task Force has completed its initial recommendations and has handed the proposal over to Chancellor James Oblinger. The recommendations, if Oblinger puts all of them into action, will affect students in several aspects, including requiring mandatory diversity classes. “We are looking at … making a diversity class under the general education department,” Matt Woodward, who works with the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Center and is a member of the task force, said. “[We recommended] some sort of mandatory class.” Woodward, a freshman in microbiology, said while the task force proposed the class to be mandatory, the group did not recommend exactly how to implement the class. “We are just going to propose
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the class,” he said. “The chancellor should create another committee or board to decide how to implement it.” The task force did lay out some perimeters for class’ structure, however. According to Woodward, the class will be very interactive if implemented. “It’s not so much a formal class, but a discussion board,” he said. “We don’t want it to teach a specific thing. It [will allow] for another form of expression.” Woodward went on to say the class will attempt to teach students how to hear each others views and treat people properly. “People come here and graduate with book smarts, but sometimes they don’t know how to interact with people [in that way],” Woodward said. But Brandon Andrews, a junior in criminology, said there is a negative side to a mandatory class. “I can see the positive and the negative, the positive being you will be introduced to different cultures, or certain aspects of them. But negatively, you’re not really giving [those taken DIVERSITY continued page 3
Devils dismantle State late. See page 8.
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