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Vol. 87, No. 25 Thursday, December 2, 2010
Serving James Madison University Since 1922 breezejmu.org
BASKETBALL page 11 PREVIEW EDITION
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The men’s and women’s basketball seasons are underway, with both teams looking to capture Colonial Athletic Association championships. Read the Sports section for analyses of the teams’ records, key players and future opponents.
On the search for the next big idea
PART 1 OF 3
A DUTY TO SERVE
By TYLER McAVOY The Breeze
COURTESY OF JUSTIN CONSTANTINE
LEFT In addition to providing critical care treatment to soldiers, Lt. Rachel Engler (‘05) also treated local Afghanis. RIGHT Maj. Justin Constantine (‘92) recovers after doctors reconstructed his face with bone from his leg after he was shot by a sniper in 2006.
GLOBAL CONFLICT, small world
Two JMU graduates’ military experiences cross paths in an unexpected circumstance. COURTESY OF RACHEL ENGLER
This is the first of a three-part series detailing JMU students and military service. Part one shares the story of a passion for service and a unique and coincidental connection between two JMU graduates. Find parts two and three in next week’s issues. By JOHN SUTTER The Breeze
In October in a remote desert town, an area wrought with destruction, a sniper waits. The blinding desert sun and the sniper’s coverage on the urban battlefield in the Al Anbar province, Iraq, protect him from his enemy. The targets appear. The sniper peers into his scope and aligns the crosshairs. He applies pressure to the trigger, squeezes, fires. Miss. The shot ricochets off the concrete wall behind the targets. Seconds pass. The targets duck for cover. The sniper reloads, realigns, secures the target and releases the trigger. The bullet penetrates the skull of a United States Marine major in the one-inch gap between his body armor and helmet, entering behind his left ear and exiting through his mouth. He hits the ground, his body frozen and his life teetering on the edge of death. Another shot rings out, striking a second Marine between the eyes and knocking him out. Two seemingly fatal hits. The Marines form a defensive perimeter around the downed soldiers and search
for the sniper, to no avail. The sniper’s second shot struck the other Marine’s goggles, saving his life and preventing the bullet from piercing his forehead. “Don’t worry about the major, he’s dead,” the Marines yell. But Naval Corpsman George Grant immediately performs an emergency tracheotomy to open the major’s airway and prevent him from drowning in his own blood. That major was Justin Constantine, a JMU graduate. As he lay on the street, bleeding profusely from his head and gasping for every breath, Constantine didn’t know his path to recovery would soon cross with a fellow JMU graduate.
Shocking News
More than , miles away, Dahlia Hamza rode past a cemetery in London for American soldiers in World War II with an overwhelming sinking feeling. Dahlia, Constantine’s then-girlfriend and now his wife, said she knew something was wrong when she didn’t hear from Constantine all day. Later that evening Constantine’s mom sent Dahlia an e-mail that forever changed her life.
“I was sitting in my room and there was this shock,” Dahlia said. “I didn’t cry for several hours and I didn’t move out of my chair. I was just staring at my computer screen for hours.” Once the tears came, reality slowly began to set in. “We knew there was a sniper in the area, he had already killed a few Marines actually,” said Constantine, now , as he recounted the story recently. The Marines moved Constantine’s body into a convoy vehicle to transport him to the nearest hospital. Typically convoys crawl along the desert streets at miles per hour to minimize the damage from an improvised explosive device. “The Battalion Commander told Lance Cpl. [Jordan] Buehler, ‘Get the major to the hospital. I don’t care how fast you have to drive’, ” Constantine said. Putting their lives in danger, Buehler reached mph, speeds that would instantly flip the vehicle should it hit an I.E.D. Constantine was eventually transported to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. for treatment where, by mere chance, a young nurse in the surgical ward shared his alma mater. see SERVICE, page 4
Students can have a say in JMU’s direction for the next seven years. The Quality Enhancement Plan is a program designed to allow the JMU community to submit ideas on the future of student education. The program began taking suggestions from faculty and students on Nov. . “This is really for the students,” said Lee Sternberger, associate provost and chair of the QEP Committee. “Students will be the largest benefactor of whatever is implemented.” The program, which is required for reaccreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, is meant to establish better education by holding an open forum. Reaccreditation occurs every years, with a five year review in between by SACS. A diploma from an accredited school is required for many graduate programs, and only accredited schools receive federal student financial aid. Anyone in the academic community — from students to professors — can submit ideas on ways to improve the educational environment. “The idea is to think about what it’s like to be a student on campus,” Sternberger said. “What would you like to see better different or improved?” The best ideas will be selected based on how effectively they enhance student education. “Suggestions for more parking on campus isn’t what we’re looking for here,” Sternberger said. “We’re looking for civic engagement, environmental sustainability and service learning. We’re looking for a big educational picture.” QEP is a program designed by SACS to help improve specific areas in education for a particular school. Schools like Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University have adopted similar QEP structures. JMU’s QEP committee plans to fully implement the selected idea by . “This is a great way to get institutions to reflect on who they are and what they can be,” said Andy Perrine, vice president of Communications and Marketing and chair of the Communication Subcommittee for the QEP. According to Sternberger, by January the committee will take three or four from that group of suggestions and back them with funding to fully develop the idea. These will then be presented to the public the JMU community via a blog and physical presentations. In two weeks, the response has been abundant. According to Perrine, the QEP committee has received dozens of e-mails and short proposals. Only one idea will be selected for full development by , but Sternberger said the QEP is hopeful that parts of other ideas can help augment the final plan. Even though many current students will have graduated by the time QEP is implemented, a suggestion will still have a strong impact on up and coming classes. According to Sternberger, QEP will select proposals based on blind reviews to eliminate the chance of bias, and the committee is working on the selection process to make the first cuts. “We really want suggestions to be unrestricted,” Sternberger said. “This is really an act of self-evaluation for ourselves and how we can enhance our own educational experiences.” CONTACT Tyler McAvoy at mcavoytl@dukes.jmu.edu.
12/2 INSIDE
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NEWS Swiping in
Clubs change rules to verify members’ identities.
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OPINION TSA troubles
America’s security predicability is exactly what terrorists had in mind.
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LIFE Going the extra mile
A new GKIN section preps students for a marathon.
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SPORTS New look
Additions to roster will provide depth for Dukes.