NEWS
The New Hampshire
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continued from page 1 cost of his father’s professor salary, Huddleston compared that to today’s forty percent ratio, an example of the obstacles presented by the increasing gap between the extremely wealthy and the rest. The police were there, too, represented by Paul Dean, UNH’s executive director of public safety. He left his badge at home in favor of a suit and reassured protestors that they don’t need to view the department as an enemy. In the wake of the now infamous pepper spraying incidents at the University of California, Davis, and elsewhere, he said he has personally overseen retraining of his officers in the department’s policies and unacceptable uses of force and pepper spray in non-violent situations. In a movement characterized by freedom of speech and open opportunity for anyone to express their ideas, there have been relatively few examples of the system using its voice. UNH seemed interested in altering that, while also providing a peaceful and organized forum where every person in the audience had ample opportunity to weigh in. After Alex Freid, a junior political science major and member of the Peace and Justice League, and professor Nick Smith both brought up some basic questions the movement is wrestling with, the audience turned to the stage, with each of the 13 tables of about seven attendees and a facilitator engaging in its own private discussion based on those questions. Freid spoke quickly and passionately about a few of the usual tenets of the movement, depicting the increasing gap between high CEO salaries and the stagnation of workforce pay. He expressed the need to “remove money from politics.” “I don’t believe we can call this democracy when your dollar counts more than my vote,” Freid said. He reminded critics of the movement – although few, if any, showed up – that democracy isn’t an easy process, and commended the university for organizing the event. “For UNH to take this preemptive step is unprecedented and – in my opinion – deserves praise,” Freid said. Professor Smith distributed handouts that had nine questions designed to foster meaningful small group discussions, which spanned
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continued from page 1 go out on a weeknight. They suspect that the reason for their result is that those students who are going out are consuming alcohol in greater quantities before sleeping, which has been known to reduce sleep quality. On the other hand, students with earlier classes are less likely to go out on weeknights. Their sleep, though perhaps less in quantity, is better in quality. Thacher suspects that the class times make a large impact on what students choose do to
the majority of the 7- 9 p.m. event. The questions were diverse and wide-ranging, so that each group could individually decide what was most important. After much discussion, groups attempted to condense their ideas into short “This we believe” statements that were presented by one member of each group at the front of the ballroom. Ideas were diverse and didn’t always fit into the designed formula, but representatives pointed to the relatively small number of people in attendance and the need to combat apathy toward government, the importance of remaining non-violent and constructive in protest, the economic injustice between the haves and the have-nots, and the corporate influence on politics, among many other things. “Most people that I have spoken with (a total of five) seemed to get something out of it ... either a new understanding of the movement, common ground around some basic principles of humanity, or recognition of the challenges that face society and the need to engage people in thoughtful dialogue rather than diatribe,” wrote Charlie French, a facilitator for the event and community and economic development specialist for UNH, in an email. Where the movement goes from here remains to be seen, but it seems that UNH has provided a solid basis for the continuation of peaceful and pointed protest. The Occupy UNH/Occupy Durham group that has met on Thompson Hall lawn on Thursdays at 12:40 p.m. continued its presence on Thursday with about 20 participants ranging from retired Durham residents to campus employees. It is in preliminary stages, mainly focusing on organizing and spreading knowledge about the local movement. The group has a Facebook page and is in the process of setting up a website at occupyunhdurham. com, where it hopes to establish its permanent online residence. At the meeting, attendees voted to next meet in the Memorial Union Building on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 6 p.m. “[As] a community development scholar and practitioner, I recognize that there is a wide gulf between dialogue and collective action,” French continued. “Collective action has to start with discussion. So the question is, how can some of the issues and principles brought up [Wednesday] night be converted into change on the ground? … My hope is that a new cadre of young leaders on many fronts will emerge to convert the principles of the leaderless movement into action.” at night. “Those who elect earlier classes may be more motivated to find ways to offset the early start time by making healthier choices about their daily living,” Thacher said in the press release. These students have been demonstrated to earn roughly a .02 lower grade for every hour later that a class is. This might not seem like much, but with four classes each, three hours earlier in the day, this amounts to a .24 difference in overall GPA for the semester. Class times however, may only be part of the picture, with a part of the grade difference depending
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continued from page 1 tary.” “These types of lists are good only for passing amusement, ” Anne Lawing, dean of students, said in an email. “They are neither reliable or credible for UNH or any campus. ” “We have always done our best to educate students about drugs (of which alcohol is the one that is most used) and provide high quality law enforcement,” Lawing said. “We
Friday, December 2, 2011 will continue our efforts.” Last year at UNH, 29.21 percent of 18-25 year olds had used illicit drugs in the past month, while in the past year 41.54 percent used marijuana and 7.23 percent used cocaine, according to The Daily Beast’s statistics. This year’s ranking indicates that 30.32 percent of 18-25-year-olds statewide use drugs on a regular basis, but does not separate the drugs into separate surveys, as it did last year. Arrest records do not appear to be decreasing, however. The Daily Beast’s data from last year’s records
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106 on-campus arrests for drug law violations, while 129 on-campus drug arrests are listed for this year’s ranking. Another New Hampshire college is listed high on the list. Dartmouth College of the Ivy League, located in Hanover, N.H., is ranked as the third “druggiest college.” Dartmouth College was not ranked on last year’s list. Rounding out the top three colleges are the University of ColoradoBoulder, in first place, rising from fifth place last year, and Denison University, rising from 37th place.
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continued from page 1 to seeing Two Door Cinema Club headline for the first time. He said he saw them open for the popular French band Phoenix in Dijon, France, and was impressed by their performance. Though doors for the show were supposed to open at 7 p.m., there was a 40-minute delay due to a late sound check for the opening band, Rubblebucket. Despite the late opening, the show – meant to start at 8 p.m. – started just a few minutes late. Rubblebucket, a jam band based mostly out of New York, was chosen by SCOPE to open the show. According to Matt Philbrick, SCOPE’s production director, the band has a number of interesting elements that bring its performances to life. Rubblebucket features a female vocalist who also plays the baritone saxophone, a brass section featuring trumpet and trombone, and a myriad of percussion instruments that offer a unique sound. “They were playing shows at the Stone Church last year,” Philbrick said. “Now they’re doing shows at the House of Blues. It’s pretty cool. They’ve come a long way.” Rubblebucket played for about 45 minutes Tuesday night, and slowly but surely began to pump up the crowd before Two Door Cinema Club took the stage. “We’re hoping we can get you guys really hot and bothered and sweaty,” said Kalmia Traver, lead singer. Later, she added, “I don’t really see you guys movin’. I know it’s a Tuesday, but what is a Tuesday, really?” By the time Two Door Cinema Club took the stage, just before 9:30 p.m., the crowd was noticeably
more excited. The band played a wide mix of songs, including older material, current material from its record Tourist History, and new material. Lead vocalist Alex Trimble noted on several occasions that the Field House was the first venue the band had played in two months. They have been working on material for a new record, he said, and are going into the studio in January 2012 to begin recording. “It feels so good to be playing a live rock show,” Trimble said. “It’s been so long.” Bassist Kevin Baird said that the Field House show was unique for another reason, as well. “We’ve never played in a basketball court before,” he said. The crowd danced and bounced around through the entirety of the Two Door Cinema Club set, responding to new songs with hand claps and excited shouts that were rivaled only by more familiar songs. When the band closed
its three-song encore and the show with “I Can Talk,” nearly everyone in the Field House was on their feet and singing along. Jason Marcil, SCOPE’s publicity director, said the show was a success in spite of low ticket sales. “We’ve gotten positive feedback from people that attended the show and we didn’t have any problems during the show that were out of the ordinary,” Marcil said. While acknowledging the many angry responses SCOPE received from the student body when the organization announced this show just over a month ago, Marcil said that SCOPE aims to please students who are fans of many genres. “Our mission is to hit as many popular genres as possible because students have different tastes in music. That being said, we can’t please everyone with every show that we bring. If there is at least one show per year that a student is interested in going to then we are succeeding in our mission,” Marcil said.
on personal preference, as could be expected. Freshman Kathryn Tirrell said that her grades are better in her later classes contrary to the study. Two seniors, Kelsey Metcalf and Adam Palkin, both agreed saying that they think they do better in later classes. They also added that they prefer classes in the late morning, around 10 for Metcalf and 11 for Palkin, though interestingly they are also more likely to attend later classes. “The only reason to skip is sleeping,” Palkin said. Mike Sudak, a graduate student, believes that his grades have been fairly equal for both early and late classes, with time not
playing a significant factor. He said that there does seem to be an energy lag around 2 p.m. Contrary to Palkin and Metcalf, he said that he is probably more likely to skip a later class. Responses by a fifth student who prefers to remain unnamed agreed with this. The student said she is far more likely to skip a later class than an earlier one. The issue extends to other schools as well. Valerie Zhao, a freshman at Dartmouth College in Hanover N.H., said that she feels she does better in earlier classes, and intentionally signs up for classes that fall earlier in the day. She added that she is definitely more
likely to skip a later class. The next question, then, is do professors notice this difference in student performance? Teacher assistant Josh Bunker-Worley said that in his experience students are less likely to attend earlier classes and also perform less well in them. He also believes students intentionally sign up for later classes. Susan Curry of the classics department has not seen a difference in attendance based on class time. “I have noticed that some students have had a harder time concentrating early in the day, but others thrive at an earlier time, so it seems an individual thing,” Curry said.
samantha pearson/staff
Two Door Cinema Club and lead singer Alex Trimble put on an energetic hour-long show at the Field House on Tuesday night.