OLD GOLD&BLACK W A K E
F O R E S T
U N I V E R S I T Y
VOL. 91, NO. 23
T H U R S D AY, M A RC H 6 , 2 0 0 8
“Covers the campus like the magnolias”
Wake ‘N Shake raises money, awareness Eviction controversy continues By Jenn Kimbal | Asst. news editor
By Kevin Koehler | Contributing editor
The controversial eviction of faculty and staff from the apartments on Allen Easley Drive will be delayed until June 2009 for most residents, the university told them March 3. Three of the 10 buildings, however, will still be renovated starting May 26 and converted into student housing for the fall semester. Residents of those buildings, number six, seven and eight, must move out by May 25, either to another of the buildings or off campus. If they choose to leave, the university will compensate them a total of $3,000, in addition to local moving expenses. The majority of residents, those living in buildings 1-5 and 9-10, have the option to move out by June 30 and receive $2,500 plus moving costs, or they can choose to stay until May 25 at the latest. At that point, all the apartment buildings will be made into student housing. “We were never asking for money. We want respect and openness in decision making and real commitment to fostering community,” wrote a group of apartment residents in a statement given to the Old Gold & Black March 5. “Dr. Hatch, please publicly admit that you and your administration were wrong to carry out discussions whose implications were so far-reaching, without consulting those to be affected.” In a campus-wide e-mail sent the day prior, March 4, Hatch said, “Whether we should have alerted residents at the moment it became an idea can be argued, but what we do know now is that it is our best available option to meet urgent student housing needs. Further, it would have been presumptuous to have alerted residents of the Faculty/ Staff Apartments to the possibility of the the change before our trustees had received reports concerning the apartments and related matters.” Contention began last month when the university announced in a Feb. 11 letter its intent to convert all the faculty and staff apartment buildings, requiring the eviction of all tenants in less than four months time. The move angered residents, as well as other faculty and staff, not only for the loss of on-campus faculty living and the disruption caused by the short notice, but for the manner in which the administration made and announced the decision. Residents began circulating a petition and
See Apartments, Page A3
The third annual Wake ‘N Shake dance marathon benefiting the Brian Piccolo Cancer Fund took place March 1 in Reynolds Gym. Students stayed on their feet for 12 hours straight, from noon to midnight, to raise money and awareness for the fight against cancer. Over 400 university students participated in the event this year. At the start of the day participants were divided into four large teams, each designated by a different T-shirt color. This created camaraderie and spirit amongst the teams. Throughout the day the teams competed in activities such as Jeopardy, relay races, singled out and limbo. At the end of the day there was a tie between the orange and green teams, but the green team came out on top as they had the most members present at 11:30 p.m. Kappa Delta led the student organizations with the most registered dancers followed by Sigma Chi and Chi Omega. Junior Caleigh Jooste, entertainment chair for this event, worked in conjunction with several university and non-university groups to make Wake
turing Chuck Folds (brother of Ben Folds), performed. Another local band, To the Nines, “kept the energy up for the dancers,” Jooste said. The university’s Dirrrty Dancers also performed. The Bouncing Bulldogs, a local youth group, came to perform their award winning jump rope routine. Kristy Younker, co-chair of Wake ‘N Shake, said, “It was the most ridiculously entertaining thing I’ve seen in my life.” Another surprise guest was President Nathan Hatch who performed Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” dance for the crowd. Throughout the day various games and competitions were set up, such as pie-eating contests and dance-offs. Members of the men’s and women’s soccer and field hockey teams came out to support the cause. “We were thrilled to have ACC athletes involved in Wake ‘N Shake this Haowei Tong/Old Gold & Black year,” Jooste said. Students danced for hours on end at Wake ‘N Shake March 1. The Members of the hospitality commitevent raised money for Comprehensive Cancer Center. tee, responsible for providing food to ‘N Shake an action-packed event. Jooste said. Head Football Coach Jim participants, sought donations from “In past years, there were lulls in the Grobe opened the event with a moti- various restaurants and grocery stores entertainment so this year we wanted vational talk and countdown to the in the greater Winston-Salem area. to make sure that there was never a commencement of Wake ‘N Shake Dancers received three full meals and minute that when by when there wasn’t 2008. something for the dancers to be doing,” Rubberband, a musical group fea- See Wake, Page A3
Fund provides opportunities for third-world research By Caitlin Brooks | Staff writer
After a “life-changing” trip to Africa with Professor Slyvian Boko in 2007, senior James Beshara decided to take action in under-developed countries by creating The Dvelo Fund. Dvelo, short for “development,” is a program designed to provide financial assistance to undergraduates across the country wishing to study development issues in under-developed nations worldwide. “We (the Dvelo Fund) are not setting up an orphanage in Kenya or helping with a subsistence system for farmers. We are not that type of nonprofit,” Beshara said. “The fund is designed to get young Americans involved in the world around them and for them to come back with their own projects. That’s how it works as a non-profit.” “My experience (last summer) would not have been possible had it not been for a grant from Wake Forest,” Beshara said in a press release. “Sadly, many universities are beginning to cut funding for study-abroad research grants because of the extreme expense. My hope is that the Dvelo Fund will offer students the same opportunity I had, and in turn, they might return from their experience and feel compelled, as I and so many others have, to continue to assist those who need it most.” Beshara works with co-founders Sylvain Boko, associate professor of economics, and sophomore See Dvelo, Page A4
Alison Cox/Old Gold & Black
Senior James Beshara, with the help of Associate Professor of Economics Sylvain Boko, created the Dvelo Fund to help undergraduates to study underdeveloped nations.
A POLLO’S F IRE
Professor investigates happiness By Molly Nevola | Staff writer
Alison Cox/Old Gold & Black
Secrest Artist Series presented Apollo’s Fire, the Cleveland baroque orchestra, with special guest mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore March 5 in Wait Chapel.
INSIDE: Brieflies
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Police Beat
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Spotlight
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The Hot List
B8
Sudoku
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In a nation addicted to happiness, he calls for the pursuit of sorrow. But it is a call to a contemplative life – a life of peace and one of hope. The university’s very own Thomas H. Pritchard Professor of English Eric Wilson has taken a stand, criticizing the nation’s overemphasis on joy at the expense of sadness in his newly acclaimed book Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy. The book, which has generated public heat in reviews across the country, has a two-fold purpose, according to Wilson. He noted that first, it challenges what he sees as America’s addiction to happiness Second, it explores the power of forcing oneself to divorce the conventional and find the
self-revelatory power of melancholy. “About 85 percent of people say they are happy or very happy,” Wilson said, “And this is a statistic I find strange, due to all the tragedy in the world.” But this professor of American and British romanticism by no means fails to distinguish between depression and melancholy, nor does he make light of the medical condition. Rather, he challenges an America desirous of a self-help fix, of constant contentedness. “When we are melancholy, we have a deep yearning for a richer experience, an intimacy with the world and more creative and innovative ways of seeing the world,” Wilson said. When asked about what led him to draft the book, Wilson pointed to his own personal experience.
Life | B7 Southwest flavor
Sports | B1 Naz-T Deac
A review of South by Southwest, a Mexican restaurant that’s gotten people talking.
A look at the man who busts out the dance moves at home basketball games, his origins and his love of everything Wake Forest.
In Other News
• Q & A with commencement speaker E.J. Dionne | A2 • Student helps out with local Special Olympics | A3
“During certain pivotal times in my own life, my melancholy has led me to insights that I never would have gotten otherwise,” he said. Wilson grew up in Taylorsville, N.C. where he was groomed to be a fine young man, he said. The star quarterback of his high school football team, Wilson was encouraged to be popular, but felt as if he led a double life. He would return home from school and listen to the music by the likes of John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen and read the works of Franz Kafka by night. After graduating high school, Wilson went on to the United States Military Academy at Westpoint, where he suffered a period of doubt and sadness. “I realized I didn’t want to be there – the values I had been brought up See Happiness, Page A4
Opinion | A6 Standing firm Osteen argues that students should fight to keep Campus Grounds a university tradition.