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Serving James Madison University Since 1922
Sunny n 74°/ 47° chance of precipitation: 0%
Vol. 91, No. 5 Monday, September 10, 2012
Caught in the middle Faculty and staff look to potential provosts to ease their tension with administration By COREY ALMEIDA and JEN EYRING The Breeze
A provost may be a student-centered position, but it was faculty and staff members who spoke up at the provosts’ public forums. On Thursday, a crowd of about 80 faculty and staff members came to the Forbes Center for the Performing Arts to hear Jerry Benson present why he should be the next provost. There did not appear to be any students at the event. Benson, the interim provost, spoke about his experiences at JMU and his vision for its future. He said JMU’s strong liberal arts core and the ability to produce enlightened and engaged students are some of the factors that contribute to the university’s future. But once the floor was opened up for questions, a tension that has been building between the faculty and staff and higher administration revealed itself. “JMU has a history of unusually acrimonious relations between faculty and upper administration,” said Elizabeth Brown, a chemistry professor, after attending the forum. “There’s an atmosphere of distrust and disrespect going both ways.” A main concern contributing to this frustration involves how money is spent on campus. Bill O’Meara, a philosophy professor who attended the forum, was shocked that JMU spent $36 million on the new athletics center, University Park. “I was so upset with the athletic fields,” O’Meara said. “I just couldn’t believe it.” Benson countered that when JMU students are deciding what universities to attend, they look at the overall campus and the different facilities available to them. “I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be consistently looking at the budget,” Benson said. “But I am saying we don’t want to cut our nose off to spite our face.” Several faculty members also brought up the issue of frozen salaries and lack of compensation for professors who have dedicated their lives to working for the university. Faculty and staff members haven’t received a pay raise since 2007. They’re also facing salary inversion, meaning professors hired after 2007 have higher base salaries than professors who have been working here for more than five years. Benson said this is an issue the administration has been working to solve, mentioning the three percent bonus faculty and staff received last spring and another one they will receive December. This bonus was meant to help compensate for the lack of raises. Benson sees this as a sign that the administration is taking this problem seriously. “I take those as positive indications that there really truly
is commitment here to try to continue to do something and move faculty salaries to the place they should be,” Benson said. “It’s not going to happen overnight.” Benson hopes that the state can provide funding for salary increases next year. “If we get some kind of salary support from the state, we can supplement that with some money from within the institution and begin to try to address some of these issues,” Benson said. Benson added that if the state can’t provide the funding, he would like to work with the president and other administrators to create a faculty committee to address this issue. This committee would create a prioritized list of concerns related to salary that faculty members would like to solve. The committee would then try to find new ways to gain funding. Benson explained that there’s a limited amount of money that funds JMU. If administration adds money to one budget, the money has to be taken from somewhere else. He wants faculty and staff to understand that it’s a complex decision to make. see PROVOST, page A4
MARGIE CURRIER / THE BREEZE
Plagued by penalties: Despite win, Dukes disappoint By JOSEPH KUYKENDALL contributing writer
Though JMU racked up 42 points to outshine the Braves’ 3 on Saturday, the team was more concerned about a different number. In total, the Dukes had 17 penalties recorded in the game (ASU-10, JMU-7). For JMU, that is the most combined penalties they’ve had in a game since they played Liberty last September and the two teams racked up 19 penalties. Despite holding a big lead early, the Dukes weren’t making head coach Mickey Matthews happy. “I was really upset how we played undisciplined,” Matthews said. “We had three big penalties in the first quarter.” After a first down run by redshirt senior quarterback Justin Thorpe, redshirt senior offensive guard Earl Watford was flagged for a personal foul, pushing the current JMU drive 15 yards back. Ultimately, the drive resulted in a Thorpe interception hauled in by Braves’ senior Brandon Thompson in the ASU end zone for a touchback. The frustrations with JMU’s penalties was coming from the fact that they were avoidable penalties. Of their seven penalties, three were personal fouls, one was an illegal block, and one was running into the kicker. Although a successful night for the Dukes on many accounts, the
Forces collaborate on crime By ALISON PARKER The Breeze
Nearly 60 officers from multiple law enforcement agencies have teamed up to patrol the Harrisonburg City and Rockingham County Streets. Working together, they caught four men who allegedly robbed three other men at gunpoint on Sept. 5. Around 11:30 p.m., three men ages 18, 17 and 16 told police they were robbed.
Participating agencies n State Police n Rockingham County
Sheriff’s Office Harrisonburg Police Department Commonwealth Attorney’s Office RUSH Drug Task Force CHARGE Gang Task Force Department of Corrections US Marshals District 39 Probation and Parole Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office n Emergency Communications Center n Harrisonburg Fire Department n n n n n n n n
They were standing outside a car on the 1300 block of Hunters Road when four other men approached them. The offenders showed guns and demanded all of their personal belongings. They fled the scene in a car after taking a wallet, cellphone and money. There were no injuries from the incident. Lt. Chris Rush, Criminal Investigations Division Commander of the HPD, said nearby officers patrolled the area to develop suspects and caught the offenders early the next morning. State police also had members of its Counter Terrorism and Criminal Interdiction Team help at various checkpoints. Officers issued three felony charges: hit and run, grand larceny and eluding police. Two misdemeanor charges were given for reckless driving and driving on a suspended license. District 39 Probation and Parole officers made house visits to people that had outstanding warrants, which resulted in five charges for marijuana possession, one arrest for methamphetamine possession, one arrest for cocaine possession and two probation violations. S e v e n p e o p l e w e re a r re s ted on outstanding warrants due to drug distribution, conspiracy charges and child endangerment. see CRIME, page A4
9/10 INSIDE
ASHLEY GRISHAM / THE BREEZE LEFT Redshirt junior defensive tackle Jordan Stanton grabs the facemask of freshman offensive lineman Mike Minton. The Dukes had seven penalties on SEAN CASSIDY / THE BREEZE Saturday. RIGHT The team prepares for kickoff after an hour-long rain delay.
penalties seemed to put a damper on the night in Matthews’ mind. “I could have let anything happen tonight except those three penalties in the first quarter,” he said. “I was just livid over those three.” All three personal fouls and the illegal block were committed in the first quarter in addition to an offsides. Redshirt senior cornerback Ryan Smith said the penalties made for a tough start to the game. “We started out slow,” Smith said. “With the penalties, we were killing ourselves with the personal fouls. But
once we got over that, we got rolling.” Despite the penalties, Dae’Quan Scott and the JMU offense found the end zone twice in the first quarter to put JMU up 14-0 after one. Scott’s 107 yards of rushing was the ninth 100yard rushing game of his career. Scott showed off his athleticism on his 67-yard touchdown run. Earl Watford was able to get in front of Scott and open up a lane before running into another block. “I just ran under him and saw someone coming from my right, [so]
I cut back,” Scott said. “I saw [Daniel Allen] down field making a good block and I ran off of that and cut back and scored.” JMU played a penalty-free second quarter and was able to match its first quarter output and make two more touchdowns to take a 28-0 lead into the locker rooms. At the end of the half, Scott limped off the field with a minor left ankle injury. see FOOTBALL, page B2
A3
NEWS Crawling critters
A5
OPINION No more gyros?
B1
SPORTS From athlete to athlete
B3
LIFE Convenient cards
A foreign species of ants has moved into East Campus.
The return to campus brings some welcome and unwelcome changes to dining choices.
JMU athletics gives back to the community by spending time with Special Olympians.
Grad’s app turns an oldfashioned gesture into a high-tech endeavor.