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Thursday, April 21, 2011
Dining hall facelift
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London prepares for Royal Wedding visitors Page 2
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Students should not have to foot the bill for dining hall renovations Page 4
Life
Twin Towers Dining Hall will undergo $2 million in renovations this summer. John Yaun, director of housing and residence life, said he hopes the upgraded dining hall will attract more students to Marshall.
Twin Towers Dining Hall to see upgrades BY DALTON HAMMONDS THE PARTHENON
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After a year of planning, construction will begin at the end of the month on the renovation of Towers Dining Hall. John Yaun, director of housing and residence life, said the $2 million renovation will begin when students leave for the summer and be completed on August 10. “It’s going to be brand new, and the students are really going to like it,” Yaun said. The upgraded dining hall will have more food choices for students — with the addition of an Italian bar and a brick oven for students to create their own pizzas. Yaun said softer lighting and wood flooring will also be added to create a more comfortable environment for students. An open seating area with a large screen television and wireless networks are being added to modernize the dining hall, and bar stools and tables will be placed by the windows.
Yaun said the total seating of the dining hall would remain the same, which is currently a seating capacity of 322. “Students enjoy eating in the dining halls, but we needed to make some changes to update it,” Yaun said. “And student feedback echoed a need to make it more modern.” The department of housing and residence life and Sodexo, who manages the dining halls at Marshall, has been in close contact over the past year coming up with the design and schedule of construction. “We’re finally at the point where we found a design and timeline — so we’re ready to put it together,” Yaun said. Residents are excited about the prospect of having an updated dining hall to go to next year. “I think it will be great because it will be up-to-date and attract more people to come to Towers and help with the flow of people,” said Jenna Hilgefort, freshman nursing major from Cincinnati, Ohio. Michelle Cramer, freshman medical imaging major from Vienna, W.Va., said the addition of
better food options will draw people to Towers. “I like the sandwich bar in Harless and having things like that at Towers would be a good thing,” Cramer said. Yaun said the dining halls at several other universities, like George Mason and the University of California-Davis, are more than just a place to eat, and he wants Towers to be the same way. “Dining halls can be a place to do homework and hang out and be with friends,” Yaun said. “It’ll make it a much more comfortable environment.” Hilgefort said the upgraded dining hall might even play a part in recruiting students to come to Marshall. “New parts of universities attracts people to come there,” Hilgefort said. “I looked at the modern things Marshall had when deciding what college to pick.” Yaun said the modernized environment of the dining hall is good for the university in general. “Overall, any facility like this will make a huge difference in a positive way,” Yaun said. Dalton Hammonds can be contacted at hammonds9@marshall.edu.
Scholarship sends 13 students overseas Faircloth understands legislative process
BY JARED ROACH THE PARTHENON
The Center for Academic Programs Abroad recently awarded 13 Marshall University students with scholarships and the opportunity to travel abroad. One of the students chosen was Briana Blankenship, junior music education major from Grantsville, W.Va. “When I first told my family about this opportunity, they were shocked,” Blankenship said. “But they also know that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I just cannot pass up.” This scholarship will allow Blankenship to visit Florence, Italy, where she will study art, music and theater. The students will stay in Florence for three weeks and can earn up to six hours of credit. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for those students who are afforded it,” said Donald Van Horn, dean of the College of Fine Arts. “More importantly, it’s about helping to contribute to a more mature and See SCHOLARSHIP I 5
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PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIANA BLANKENSHIP
Briana Blaneknship, junior music education major from Grantsville, W.Va., is one of 13 students chosen for the Center for Academic Programs abroad scholarship. American Idol 8 p.m. FOX
30 Rock 10 p.m. NBC
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Gubernatorial candidate Larry Faircloth and past delegate of the state legislature has experience on his side and is looking to get straight to business. Faircloth served on the state legislature from 1980 to 2004 and is now in the race for governor. He said he does not have to worry about job training. He already understands the agencies and the state’s legislative process. “I am more prepared than any other candidate on the republican ticket,” Faircloth said. “I can really hit the ground running.” “He understands government,” said Steve Cohen, Faircloth’s campaign manager. “I don’t know of any other candidate who has the years of service he has for the state.” Faircloth said his three main issues are jobs, See FAIRCLOTH I 5
The Big Bang Theory 8 p.m. CBS
Wipeout 8 p.m. ABC
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Thursday, April 21, 2011
Britons prepare for big party to mark wedding day Prince William, Kate Middleton to marry April 29 at historic Westminster Abbey BY ANNA TOMFORDE DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR GMBH MCT
LONDON — “Celebrate royally — take three days off and go away for 11” reads the eye-catching slogan that prompted Louise Stewart to book an unplanned break in Scotland. Like millions of Britons, the government employee is taking advantage of an Easter break that is extended by a day off for the royal wedding on April 29, and a Mayday bank holiday on May 2. But Stewart, who used just three days of her annual holiday entitlement to make the “bridge,” will not miss the wedding. “I’ll make sure I watch it on TV,” she said. British tour operators have reported an increase of up to 200 per cent in bookings to Spain’s Costa del Sol, where packages include special screenings of the wedding ceremony, parties and “royal dinners.” “With global media coverage of the nuptials, watching the historic occasion from the comfort of a sun lounger may be the perfect solution for sun-starved Brits,” said travel expert Alison Couper. Travel company Thomas Cook said it had laid on an extra 100,000 holidays to cope with demand. However, the gap left by those joining the great wedding getaway is expected to be filled by the more than 600,000 extra visitors estimated to flock to London for the big day, according to the Visit London tourist authority. The wedding fans, who will be in London on top of the 500,000 tourists visiting the capital on a “typical day,” have been tempted with an elaborate program of royal walks and parties, concerts and balls, said a Visit London spokeswoman.
A sharp increase in bookings has been reported by hotels and airlines since January, with visitors from the U.S. among the keenest to experience the royal wedding, followed by Japan and France, surveys have shown. For stay-at-home Britons, meanwhile, the celebrations are unlikely to match the party fever that gripped the nation in 1981, when more than 10 million people turned up to street parties to mark the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The response to street parties, a very British institution that goes back to the “peace tea” celebrations initiated after World War I, has been muted, with just 4,000 such gatherings registered in England and Wales. The apparent lack of interest in community festivities so alarmed Prime Minister David Cameron that he urged councils to “cut the red tape” and announced that he and his wife, Samantha, would host a street party in Downing Street. Organizers have complained that cumbersome applications for street closures, and complicated procedures for insurance, security and indemnity, had put off many people from staging a local event. Rather than following the traditional “British” pattern of celebrating with red, white and blue bunting, paper flags, sandwiches and tea, modern-day Britons were likely to stamp their “own style” on celebrations, according to Londoner Lisa Hiley. Hiley, who is organizing a street party in Wandsworth, south London, told the Daily Telegraph the event would strike a balance “between tradition and innovation.” It would be a relaxed affair where Jaffa
CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS | LOS ANGELES TIMES | MCT
London’s Westminster Abbey, venue for the wedding of Price William and Kate Middleton on April 29 has been a top London tourist attraction for years and carries an entrance fee of an estimated $30 (16 pounds) for those not worshipping. cakes and tea would be served, but there would also be games for children and and a bar with “pumping music” for old and young to enjoy. According to a survey published by the
welcomes applications for summer and fall 2011 editors.
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Daily Telegraph Wednesday, 34 percent of Britons would celebrate the wedding day “in some way,” with 58 percent saying that they would watch the ceremony on TV.
With sunshine forecast for the day, British retailers will hope that estimates of consumers spending an extra 480 million pounds ($786 million) on the four-day weekend, will come true.
Wildfires leave a path of destruction across Texas BY JULIE CART LOS ANGELES TIMES MCT
Ranchers flung open gates in hopes their livestock could escape fast-moving flames. One family watched in horror as two of their horses caught fire and galloped away in flames. Homes, barns, oil field pump jacks and thousands of acres of rangeland are now blackened. Such were the scenes in drought-plagued west Texas, where the mammoth Rock House Fire has raged for two weeks, part of a complex of more than a dozen fires stretching across a swath cut by the Pecos River in southwest Texas. No part of Texas has been spared. There are crown fires in the eastern Pine woodlands, fires around Dallas, Austin and Lubbock, and large fire complexes in the Panhandle and the Big Bend region of west Texas.. The unprecedented fires have been driven by fierce winds and burned nearly 2 million acres, bringing much of the nation’s available professional firefighting resources pouring into Texas. The state, said Texas Forest Fire Service spokesman Marq Webb, is burning from “stem to stern.” Two firefighters have been killed, including one Wednesday, near Lubbock. The fires continued to rage across Texas Wednesday. Every heavy air tanker in the country is being deployed here, as are four C130s and the California-based DC-10. A cold front eased back temperatures and raised humidity somewhat, but red flag warnings remained in place in nearly every county in the state. Forces have been so overwhelmed that some small towns have been left to defend themselves. Fort Davis’s 35-man volunteer fire department raced to aid a neighboring town, Marfa, when most of the fires began two weeks ago, leaving it’s own community of 1,500 undefended. The Mile High Volunteers crew found a vacant house engulfed in flames, but saved every other home in town. But as they were working, 70-mile-perhour winds pushed the grassfire skimming across bone-dry pastures, 21 miles to Fort Davis, where 1,000 visitors had gathered for an annual bike race and teens were shopping for prom clothes. The native black Grama and blue Grama grasses surrounding Fort Davis were tall and thick. The moisture in local timber had been recently measured at 2 percent _ kiln dried lumber comes in at 4 or 5 percent. It was hot, unseasonably so, with
PAGE EDITED AND DESIGNED BY MARCUS CONSTANTINO | CONSTANTINO2@MARSHALL.EDU
temperatures near 100 degrees. And everything was dry, more dusty and cracked than anyone could remember. Fort Davis was in trouble. The town’s firefighters were in their rigs roaring back up Highway 17, chasing the same fire they had just herded out of Marfa. The fire’s path, which began as skinny and spear-shaped, bulged as it went north, gaining size and speed as it consumed fuel. The wall of fire that neared Fort Davis was five miles wide. The landscape in west Texas is fired adapted, able to endure annual conflagrations. So, too are its people. As the fire neared, ranchers rushed to gather their herds of black Angus, shoo goats and horses into barns or turned them loose to save themselves. One local rancher’s herd of cows and their calves fled the fire, but came to a dead stop at an impassable stock fence, where a shifting wind allowed the flames to catch them. In all, nine horses and 152 head of cattle perished. By the time the Fort Davis firefighters returned, the town had caught a momentary break. The wind’s caprice split the oncoming flames, halving the fire front and sending it around town. On U.S. Forest Service fire maps, Fort Davis is noticeable as a beige doughnut hole in an otherwise redcolored landscape. But the wind lofted embers and ignited spot fires in every direction. More than two dozen homes were on fire. With every garden hose in town going full blast and fire crews pumping their reserves from tankers, more bad news arrived. Fires incinerated power lines and Fort Davis had no electricity. The Mile High Volunteers could no longer pump water with generators. Fort Davis is still defending itself from stubborn pieces of the fire. Its residents mostly are trying to figure out how to help others who were burned out or who lost ranch buildings, fence and equipment. Officials here estimate at least two thousand miles of stock fencing has burned, which must be replaced at a cost of $5.75 a foot. An online fund to help has been established. “People are tired and a little cranky, but this is hardy country and these are tough people,” said Matt Miles, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. “We make it out of this fine.” The Rock House fire that began here is now the state’s largest and is roaring in the high country, where crews are making stand to protect a remote Boy Scout camp and the important McDonald Observatory.
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Thursday, April 21, 2011
Green and White Game offers an inside look at Herd
MARCUS CONSTANTINO | THE PARTHENON
The Thundering Herd runs sprints during spring practice in March. The annual Green and White Game, which takes place on Saturday, will be the first look fans have of the new Herd team. BY JAKE SNYDER THE PARTHENON
The 2011 Green and White Game is upon the Thundering Herd football team. The Herd will suit up Saturday to take on one another in the annual scrimmage. Senior defensive end Vinny Curry said his last spring game will be an important showcase for the team. “It’s very important as a team because we are eager to show our fans what we’re bringing this year — what kind of new flavor we’ve added and what spices we’ve added in the whole mix,” Curry said. Head coach Doc Holliday doesn’t see the spring game as anything more than another day at the office. “We’re not really concerned about the spring game,” Holliday said. “That will be just another practice for us. We’ve got four practices,
including the spring game, scheduled this week, and we’ve got to go out every day and get better with each one of those practices.” Regardless of what the spring game means, it will be one of the first opportunities for the fans to get a look at the Herd. Here are some things to look for this Saturday: Quarterback Controversy Sophomore’s A.J. Graham and Eddie Sullivan have taken a majority of the snaps under center for Marshall this spring. The Green and White Game will provide the opportunity for each to separate from the other. Quarterbacks’ coach Tony Peterson said while neither has truly separated yet, both have shown signs of progress. “Eddie has done a pretty good job of taking care of the football,” Peterson said. “A.J. has actually made a few mistakes there in turning the ball over. A.J. has probably made a few
more plays than Eddie. At the end of the day, though…whoever is going to play is not going to go out there and consistently turn the ball over.” The spring game will provide an opportunity for both sides to prove their decision making skills in live action situations. Strong Defensive Line The defense is notably the stronger side of the ball as spring practice comes to an end, especially on the defensive front. This can be attributed to several returners on the line led by defensive end Vinny Curry. The Green and White Game will allow the defense to feature their strength and put some pressure on both quarterbacks as they fight to shine. Weak Offensive Line The biggest knock on the offense during the spring has been the offensive line. The young offensive line has often struggled to find
rhythm working together but has seemed to improve lately. This spring game will be a true test in real scenarios to see if the boys upfront can protect either one of the quarterbacks. Going against a standout defensive line will also prepare the big men for a tough start in the 2011 season. A New Face at Wideout Much ado has been made about the move of freshman standout Conelius Jones to the wide receiver position. Several injuries in the spring to more veteran wide receivers have allowed Jones to grab more reps at the new position. The scrimmage on Saturday will give Jones the opportunity for some of his first live snaps in situational football. It will be intriguing to watch the adjustments Jones has made over the spring and evaluate his potential at the new spot. This could determine whether he See GREEN I 5
It’s a great day for hockey
JIM MCISAAC | NEWSDAY | MCT
Brian Boyle, 22, of the New York Rangers commits an interference penalty against Michal Neuvirth, 30, of the Washington Capitals, during Game 4 of the Eastern JIM MCISAAC | NEWSDAY | MCT The New York Rangers’ Wojtek Wolski, left, checks Alexander Semin of the Washington Capitals during Game 4 of the Conference quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday. Eastern Conference quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden in New York on Wednesday.
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YONG KIM | PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS | MCT
The Philadelphia Flyers’ Dan Carcillo, 13, falls down against Buffalo Sabres’ goalie Ryan Miller, left, and Steve Montador during the first period in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York, on Wednesday. PAGE EDITED AND DESIGNED BY MICHAEL SPURLOCK - SPURLOCK36@MARSHALL.EDU
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Thursday, April 21, 2011
EDITORIAL
Cafeteria renovations need more consideration Marshall University’s dining halls offer a variety of food to its student body. Sodexo, a third-party company who has the exclusive food contract with Marshall, provides all food and drink sold at campus locations such as the Memorial Student Center Food Court, Starbucks and Harless and Towers Dining Halls. Sodexo requested a price increase on a majority of the food items sold, which means there would be a direct cut in the discretionary spending of students because some of our tuition fees could possibly increase. Food is
BISHOP NASH
CHICKEN SOUP
a mandatory purchase, and Sodexo is the only provider of it on campus. Twin Towers Dining Hall is outdated compared to the other cafeterias such as the Student Center Food Court and Harless Dining Hall, which have a more modern look. Towers’ layout needs to be changed because the current layout makes it challenging for students to get food, and carpeting styles could also benefit from an update. It is great that we’re renovating the Twin Towers Dining Hall, but students should not be held responsible to pay the price. Many issues arise when Sodexo
wants to increase their prices — most importantly, the food quality and options offered. Although food choices have improved, there could still be more options available to students. There is a discrepancy in the cost of buying items at the student center versus the price of a buffet-style meal at one of the cafeterias. One could assume this has to do with the idea of supply and demand — deriving extra income from markup that is applied to the inflated prices of items in the food court. Also, you can only use your meal plan “meals” from 1:30 p.m.
to 6:30 p.m. — the reasoning for this not readily being explained. Cafeteria hours are another problem. A few years ago, cafeterias were only open till 6:30 p.m., making it difficult for students who have late classes to eat dinner on campus. On the weekends, Harless is the only option; however they open at 11 a.m., preventing students who work early mornings to come in and enjoy breakfast before they go to work. The intent of this editorial is not to criticize the operation of Marshall’s dining facilities, but rather we want to reflect on the positive
EDITORIAL CARTOON I JEFF KOTERBA I OMAHA WORLD HERALD
RAY HARRELL
GUEST COLUMNIST
Baseball one of the purest sports around Like most American children usually are, I was afraid of the dark when I was young and trying to sleep. You might know the feeling, being prodded into insomnia by waves of anxiety and you can’t do anything to hold it back. BISHOP In that usual helpNASH less manner that COLUMNIST parents try to ease their child’s mind, my dad would tell me to think about baseball when I was afraid. And it worked. And it still works. Because baseball is one of the purest sports in which a man can participate. There is no evil in the game of baseball. But what if there was? What if negativity went beyond the pseudohatred of the ancient Yankees-Red Sox rivalry and drew battle lines between players based on race? What if teams were separated by the color of their skin and not the color of their jerseys? Enter Jackie Robinson: Had it not been for his Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers 64 years ago last Friday, baseball would not have the integrity it proudly clings on to today. Let’s take a little look into alternate history to prove the impact Robinson had on the game. Had he not had the material to become a World Series champion, National League Rookie of the Year (1947), League MVP (1949), and six-time All-Star, baseball probably would not have seen an end to segregation until the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Because he was only one brave man playing in the big leagues, it prevented the massive surge of players from the Negro Leagues flooding the MLB and causing stirs all across the nation’s teams. Ever seen Friday Night Lights? Imagine that happening on each team, all the way from the Seattle Mariners to the Atlanta Braves. It would have been a total mess overshadowing a golden age in baseball. Better a gradual inception lead by a heroic second baseman than two colliding forces mashing together. We saw how much the Steroid Era took away from the game, and I can only imagine what a Race Riot Era would have done. The crisis was averted, so the next time you see Brandon Phillips, Albert Pujols or even Ichiro put one deep, thank Jackie Robinson for helping take them out to the ballgame. Contact Bishop Nash at nash24@ marshall.edu.
changes that could be made in an effort to achieve a more satisfied student body. While the dining halls continue to improve each year, things still sometimes need to be updated to meet students’ changing desires. The student body should not have to feel a lighter weight in their wallets for the necessary commodity of food. We’re already paying enough as it is, and if foregoing renovations to the Twin Towers Dining Hall means keeping our tuition costs where they are now, then maybe an update isn’t what we need.
Cafeteria prices should not increase
Editor’s Note: The following was originally published on Ray Harrel’s blog, marshallpres. wordpress.com, used by permission
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Fortunately as president, I am able to serve on many committees that make decisions vital to students. Recently, I served on the committee regarding our relationship with Sodexo, the third-party company who has the exclusive food contract with Marshall and, subsequently, provides all food and drink sold on campus (Student Center Cafeteria, Starbucks, Harless and Towers Dining). This year, they came to the committee requesting a price increase on a majority of the food items sold. The two members of my executive staff, which also serve on the same committee, and I voted no — and here’s my dissenting opinion: Whereas, it is understood that inflation over the past year and impending inflation will increase costs for Sodexo, I feel that our food provider must be sympathetic to the financial situations of each of the approximately 15,000 students who I represent. While the obvious cost increases will be incurred (as a result of inflation), the company has chosen to undergo nearly $15 million in remodeling its facilities on campus over the course of two years — perhaps an area where Sodexo, respectively, could have cut expenses to defray the inflation increases. Also, I do not believe the increases should be incurred on the students because they are not showing any signs of inflating (including minimum wage). Therefore, this will be a direct cut in the discretionary spending of students because food is a mandatory purchase, and Sodexo is the only provider of it on campus. I hope students feel my decision to vote against this will best represent their interests, but I feel that cost increases imposed on our students is not the best course of action in such rough economic times. Contact Ray Harrell at ray.harrell@marshall.edu.
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Thursday, April 21, 2011
Researchers warn of Gulf spill’s lingering effects BY ERIKA BOLSTAD MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS MCT
WASHINGTON — A team that’s spent two decades studying psychological distress among residents who lived near the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska has found striking similarities among those affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill. On the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 people and fouled the Gulf of Mexico, the research team warned that the lingering psychological effects of the disaster could be expected to continue over the next decade. “Technological disasters have very unique consequences for communities, families and people,” said Steve Picou, a sociology professor at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. “It’s not like a natural disaster. Technological disasters cause long-term corrosive communities, whereas natural disasters result in therapeutic communities.” The team has been studying the long-term social costs of the Exxon spill, including increased rates of bankruptcies, substance abuse, divorce and suicides. They picked Bayou La Batre, Ala., for comparison, because like Cordova, Alaska, it’s a small community heavily dependent on commercial fishing. Picou, along with Liesel Ritchie of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Natural Hazards Center and Duane Gill of Oklahoma State University, surveyed more than 400 people in south Mobile County, Ala.
Most people were worried about their health or that of their family, the economic loss they’ve suffered and potential future economic losses because of the spill, the team found. Of those surveyed, more than a fifth were in severe psychological distress. Another fourth were in the moderate distress range — findings that were similar to Cordova following the Exxon Valdez spill. “Several people told us: ‘We know what to do after a hurricane. We know how to pick ourselves up and move on. How to plan, how to build better,’ “ Gill said. “ ‘This oil spill? We don’t know. There’s so many uncertainties associated with it.’ “ The anniversary of the spill has caused many to reflect in Cordova, where a state-ordered oil spill response drill was under way Wednesday afternoon. For Osa Schultz, the discussion about the safety of Gulf Coast seafood is especially eerie. It’s one they struggled with in Alaska, which lost market share because of the taint of the spill — if not the actual harm to fisheries. “I can’t help but think about what the people in the Gulf are doing, the small businesses and the residents, and reflect on the many years that we’ve fought to even come back up to even. Or try to anyway,” said Schultz, who continues to run a fishing boat with her husband. The researchers hope that what they’ve learned in Cordova since 1989 will aid those in the Gulf of Mexico. They’ve taken a so-called “peer listening” program they used on a much smaller scale in Alaska to the Gulf, where they’ve trained more than 600 people in the concept.
US expands protections for airline passengers BY HUGO MARTIN AND JULIE MIANECKI TRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU MCT
WASHINGTON — Frustrated airline passengers who have lost luggage, been forced off overbooked flights and been delayed on international flights may get some relief under tough new regulations announced by federal officials. The Department of Transportation rules, most of which take effect in August, expand on a set of groundbreaking policies the department adopted last year to penalize airlines that keep passengers stuck on delayed domestic flights for more than three hours. “The additional passenger protections we’re announcing today will help make sure air travelers are treated with the respect they deserve,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday. Among other changes, LaHood announced that the fines previously imposed on airlines for keeping passengers stranded on delayed domestic flights will be extended to international flights. The rules also increase to $1,300 from $800 the maximum compensation airlines must pay a passenger who has been forced to give up a seat on an overbooked flight. Airlines will also be required to prominently disclose all extra fees on their websites and reimburse baggage charges to passengers whose bags are lost. Passengers and passenger-rights groups praised the new rules, saying they were needed to keep airlines from mistreating passengers. Joyce Cavarozzi, 79, a business traveler from Kansas visiting Washington, said she had seen the quality of airline service decline over the last few years and supported new government regulations on the industry. “If you don’t behave responsibly yourself, it’s like your parents,” she said. “They’ve got to tell you to behave responsibly.” A trade group for the nation’s largest airlines said the airline industry had made great strides in improving passenger service in the last few years and believed that more government
Green
Continued from Page 3 remains at wide receiver or begins a transition back to quarterback. Which Running Back Shines? While the quarterback battle has grabbed most of the headlines in the spring, a smaller skirmish is brewing at the ball carriers slot. Sophomores Tron Martinez and Essray Taliaferro and junior Martin Ward will each be working to gain more time in the backfield. While it is probable that the trio will split the load over the course of the regular season, the backs will be fighting to be
regulations were not needed. “Market forces, not additional regulations, are already providing customer benefits,” said Nicholas E. Calio, president of the Air Transport Association. Delta Air Lines, the nation’s second-largest carrier, said it had voluntarily adopted many rules to improve its service. For example, the airline already offers a rebate to passengers whose bags are lost or not returned within 12 hours, said Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter. LaHood’s department adopted a rule last year that fines airlines up to $27,500 for every passenger on a domestic flight who is stranded for more than three hours without being allowed to return to the terminal. Under the newest rules, the same penalty would apply to airlines that keep passengers stranded on an international flight for more than four hours. The new rule came partly in response to an international flight that kept passengers on a runway for 11 hours during a blizzard in December at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. In the past, airlines have opposed such rules for international flights, saying they could not return to the terminal those foreign passengers who had already cleared customs and immigration checks. The Transportation Department said it was working on procedures to allow airlines to accomplish this. Since the fines for domestic flights were imposed last April, delays of more than three hours have dropped dramatically. From May 2010 to February 2011, there have been only 16 delays of more than three hours, compared with 664 such delays in the same period a year earlier. The Transportation Department, which exempts airlines from fines for delays caused by safety issues or by air traffic controllers, has yet to impose one of the new higher fines. Airlines are allowed to oversell a flight to make up for passengers who don’t show up. But they must compensate passengers who are bumped from an overbooked flight as much as $800. Under the new rules, the airlines will have to compensate passengers up to $1,300, depending on how long they are delayed.
marshallparthenon.com
Faircloth
has big plans for legislation,
the economy and education. “Many young people cannot find jobs and have to leave the state,” Faircloth said. Faircloth said he wants to bring jobs back home by building warehouses and manufacturing goods in West Virginia to help the economy. Another way Faircloth plans to create jobs is drilling for gas. “We have to be mindful of the environment when creating jobs for gas,” Faircloth said. “We also have to be careful of gas companies so they don’t come into the state and take the natural resources then leave.” Faircloth said if he were elected, then he would definitely run for a full term in 2012. “In 2013, I will just be getting warmed up,” Faircloth said. Faircloth said although he’s not currently in the legislature and hasn’t seen every bill that has been passed, he
lation for jobs to encourage young people to stay here after college. Faircloth also said he is very interested in finishing Route 32 without using any tolls. He said he believes tolls are silly because he is interested in traveling tourism and wants to encourage travelers to drive through West Virginia. Another main issue Faircloth said he would push for in legislation will be improving health care as well as education. “I think I have the ability more than any other republican candidate to hammer out the differences with other parties and get good things done for the state,” Faircloth said. Faircloth said he is not interested in wasting any time, if elected. He wants to get straight to business and start reforming the state. Maribeth Smith can be contacted at smith1526@ marshall.edu.
Continued from Page 1 if elected. He will draft legis-
Scholarship
Blankenship said. “Due to that wonderful experience, Continued from Page 1 when I heard about the oprounded individual.” portunity to take a summer Van Horn said the CAPA course in Florence, Italy, I program can be extremely immediately applied.” selective — so it’s a testaThe scholarship applicament to Blankenship’s skill tion is based on students’ as a musician that she was GPA and submission of an chosen for the scholarship. essay. Blankenship said the es“I’m familiar with her say discussed the benefits of performance as a trumpet studying abroad and how it major and I have had the would help her grow personopportunity to hear Briana ally and academically. She said play on numerous occa- while she’s nervous about it, sions,” Van Horn said. “She she’s also excited to learn. is really a gifted musician, “While in Italy, I want to one of the finest we have.” experience as many things The study abroad course as possible that are unique to will be organized by Byron the Italian culture,” BlakenClercx, chairman of the art ship said. “I plan on taking a department, Jeffery Pappas, few trips outside of Florence chairman of music, and Ni- to places such as Venice, cole Perrone, theater faculty Rome and Naples.” member. The students will Van Horn praised the be accompanied on the trip impact CAPA can have on by Clercx, who will teach the students. course. “Traveling abroad cerThis will not be Blanken- tainly broadens a student’s ship’s first travel overseas, appreciation for the arts however. In 2009, she from other countries,” Van traveled to Switzerland Horn said. “It can also conand France with the Mar- tribute to making those shall University 12.0 Jazz students stronger artists and Ensemble. performers.” “During the course of that Jared Roach can be trip, I learned so much more contacted at roach47@marthan I had ever imagined,” shall.edu.
the premier back for the offense. A good showing in the spring game could put one of these running backs on the right track. A Final Thought Whether the Green and White Game is a significant event or just another practice for the Thundering Herd football program, it is important to note it is the last day of the spring for the squad. No doubt it will be on the minds of fans, players and coaches alike when the team reports in the fall. Kickoff for the annual Green and White Game begins at 4 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are available to the public for $10 for adults and $5 for children under 17. Jake Snyder can be contacted at snyder100@live.marshall. edu.
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marshallparthenon.com
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Social justice activist teaches with passion PHOTO COURTESY OF WENDY WILLIAMS
Wendy Williams and her fiancé Tyler visit Denmark’s amusement park, Tivoli located in Copenhagen during summer 2009.
BY KELLEY BUGLER THE PARTHENON
Anyone who visits the Women’s Studies office in Old Main will find a hardworking graduate assistant organizing events for an even harder working boss. “It’s really great working for her, but it isn’t a job for someone who just wants to come in, get their work done and go home,” said Leslee Browning, graduate psychology student from Gilbert, W.Va. “I find myself wanting to help her because I like her so much.” Browning is describing Wendy Williams, psychology professor and director of the Women’s Studies program. “I conducted research with Wendy my senior year,” Browning said. “And when I heard she would be the new director and needed an assistant, I jumped at the opportunity.” Browning said she did not even know what Women’s Studies was before Williams introduced it to her, then she fell in love with it. “She is an awesome professor who wants to be involved with her students and their work,” Browning said. Browning said Williams is so passionate about her work and her personality is so attractive that it makes it impossible not to like her. “She wants to inspire people,” Browning said. “And she is one of those teachers who really cares about what she does.” Browning is referring to how Williams cares not just about teaching her students, but also in making a difference through her ongoing research. “In her research class, we collected data to see if we perceive the American dream as obtainable or unobtainable in our lives.” Williams said after talking to and surveying low-wage workers, they still endorse the American dream — even though countless studies say it is really hard to make it happen. “I don’t want it to seem in a mean way where people hold up a mirror to themselves saying, ‘I’m never going to make it,’ but I’m looking for just a recognition that it is not as easy as it seems,” Williams said. Williams said the information she gave to Browning’s research class included a public policy report from some time around the 2009 economic crash.
“The report said that although previous generations are doing better than past generations — meaning kids today are doing better than their parents — it still depends on where a person starts,” Williams said. Williams said the report stated people at the bottom are most likely to stay at the bottom, people at the top are most likely to stay at the top and people in the middle have an equal likelihood of going up as they do going down. “All we ever talk about is the going up part and not the part about if you are born at the bottom, you are most likely to stay there,” Williams said. Tyler Sergent, Williams’ fiancé and religious studies professor, said Williams’ concerns for social justice, especially pertaining to gender and social class stigmas, comes from her big heart and her own adolescent hardships involving her parent’s divorce and her family’s drop in economic standing. “When her stepfather lost his job, their economic status changed tremendously,” Sergent said. “Her experience in the comfortable middle class and suddenly dropping down into lower economic class affected how she felt and how she was treated. I think it had a lot to do with her academic interests now.” Williams said she was always curious about why things are the way they are when she was a child, especially pertaining to the way her special needs sister was treated by society. “I saw in vivid, living color by simple accident of birth all the things that I had that she didn’t have,” Williams said. When Williams was in high school, she had the opportunity to go to Girls State at the University of Tennessee, which is a summer leadership and citizenship program sponsored by the American Legion. “I think that was one of the first times I actively took on the mantle of being a feminist,” Williams said. “I’m not even sure I used the label, but if I had one defining moment where I enjoyed being around other passionate, engaged women, that would be it.” Williams said while attending Girls State, she ran for a representative spot to propose legislation that would allow her special needs sister to attend the program. “The criteria for picking the young women who attended was able-bodied and high-achieving,” Williams said. “I thought
everyone would jump onboard for my equality legislation, but it didn’t pass. I learned a real hard lesson about entitlement and apathy, and not everybody saw the same things I saw from my experience, even in this great place.” Williams said a common misconception about feminists is they are better than men, but feminists believe in equality between men and women. Also, it is commonly misunderstood that only women, not men, are feminists. “One thing we talk about regularly is feminism at its root is simply about treating people equally and not having inequalities and imbalances between genders,” Sergent said. Sergent said the things Wendy does professionally are the things that matter to her personally. “Being the director of women’s studies has been something she really, really cares about and has done a great job at that in every standard,” Sergent said. “There are things she is publicly involved in that are personally important to her.” Williams has a full plate with working and planning her wedding that is scheduled for Saturday, May 21, at Heritage Farms in Huntington. “Tyler is a great support to me, and I think what ties us so closely together is that he is really about social justice as well,” Williams said. Not only does Williams work hard, but she plays hard as well. “We love spending time together,” Williams said. “It doesn’t really matter what we are doing as long as we are together. We enjoy anything from being lazy coach potatoes to exploring historical and cultural events.” Sergent and Williams both love to travel and have gone all over the world together. One particularly special trip for both of them was going to Denmark last summer. “Wendy had a student in one of her classes, Camilla Overup, who is originally from Denmark,” Sergent said. “One of the really good days we had while we were over there, we visited Camilla and met her parents and spent the day with them. It was just a great day, and the weather in the summertime in Denmark is absolutely beautiful.” Whether it’s spending time with her fiancé, working with students or traveling around the world — Williams puts everything into what she is doing. Kelley Bugler can be contacted at bugler@marshall.edu.
West Virginia whitewater rafting adventures attracts students PHOTO COURTESY OF ACE ADVENTURE RESORTS
ACE Adventure Resorts allows visitors or groups to rent out rafts to use during their adventures traveling the New or Gauley Rivers.
BY ELIZABETH STEWART
the world doesn’t prepare you for the feeling that overcomes you when you get on the river. “I love to watch the looks on people’s faces when As the weather warms up, students can use the riv- they first slide into the water,” Scott said. “All that apers of West Virginia to cool down by driving just a prehension and fear just melts away and you are just couple of hours to enjoy the New and Gauley Rivers completely in the moment.” in Oak Hill, W.Va. Scott said his love for the river is what inspired him The Gauley River is known as the “Beast of the East” to become a rafting guide in the first place. and features class four and five rapids. And it is ranked “I started rafting when I was 15 and just fell in as one of the best whitewater runs in the world, ac- love with it then,” Scott said. “It’s great to have a job cording to the West Virginia where I can show others what Department of Commerce’s a beautiful and amazing area “Rafting this style of website. rivers is something you this is.” The New River, which Students who take a whitewacan only do here in features an upper and lower ter trip should be prepared for a West Virginia.” river, has rapid intensities long but exciting day, Scott said. - Brad Scott ranging from class one to “The rapids are different evclass five. This gives visitors ery day so you never know with different rafting experiwhat’s going to happen — from ence levels an opportunity to participate. rafts flipping to colorful guests, every day is an adven“This is an excellent time of year to raft because the ture,” Scott said. spring water is really high right now,” said Brad Scott, Scott suggests Marshall students especially should river guide for ACE Adventure Resorts. experience rafting the New and Gauley Rivers during Visitors or groups can rent out a raft and spend ei- their time in Huntington. ther a day or a whole weekend rafting down sections “This is a cultural experience unique to West of either the New or Gauley Rivers. Virginia,” Scott said. “Rafting this style of rivers is “It’s really a lot of fun, especially for groups,” Scott something you can only do here in West Virginia.” said. “Rafting is definitely a bonding experience.” Interested students can visit the West Virginia DeStudents who have never been rafting have no need partment of Commerce or ACE Adventures’ website to fear when rafting with an experienced river guide. for more information on whitewater rafting in West In the morning before each trip, the trip leader goes Virginia. Elizabeth Stewart can be contacted at stewart52@ over safety precautions for whitewater rafting, according to Scott. Yet, even Scott admits all the talking in marshall.edu.
THE PARTHENON
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