The Vanderbilt Hustler 2-11-15 by The Vanderbilt Hustler

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VOL. 127, ISS. 6

2015 Baseball Preview

MEET THE HEROES

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Rites 2015

Young the Giant, Chance the Rapper to headline PAGE 16

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campus Complaint filed against Vanderbilt for negligent death of two research pigs Vanderbilt could face fines of up to $20,000 for negligent radiation of two pigs By KELLY HALOM Co-news editor --------------------

An Ohio-based group that works to end the abuse of animals in laboratories, Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) against Vanderbilt University for the negligent radiation of two pigs that resulted in death. The USDA oversees the treatment of research animals. According to SAEN, Vanderbilt self-reported the incidents to the National Institutes of Health and suspended the experiment protocol in January of 2014 following the deaths of two pigs after multiple doses of radiation. The self-report stated that the first pig was euthanized due to failing health and “upon necropsy, the gross and histologic views of the internal organs showed a pattern of radiation fibrosis and extensive damage.” The second pig was also reported as having internal radiation damage. According to SAEN, the incidents violate the Animal Welfare Act. Though the incidents were self-reported, SAEN lodged the report with the USDA because the federal agency has the power to levy heavy penalties against research institutions for mistreatment of animals and violations of federal laws. In a letter to the USDA this week, Executive Director of SAEN Michael Budkie requested that the USDA investigate the deaths and institute the largest fine allowable by law, which is $10,000 per infraction/per animal. “Clearly, these pigs suffered severe pain and distress due to the internal damage caused by the irradiation,” Budkie said. First-year student Carsen Smith, who has worked with animal welfare issues, said that this incident is heartbreaking and that she hopes the Vanderbilt medical and research community will explore all experimental routes that do not require animal testing before choosing to use such measures. “Considering recent USDA inspection reports claiming other ethical issues in animal-related studies, I hope the Vanderbilt scientific community takes it upon itself to review current practices and potentially seek advice from animal welfare professionals,” Smith said. According to John Howser, assistant vice chancellor for News & Communications for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the research was intended to identify safer ways to deliver radiation treatments to humans without damaging surrounding skin. More than 500,000 cancer patients are treated with radiotherapy each year in the United States. Howser also said that Vanderbilt is committed to the safety and well-being of animals used in research. “Vanderbilt self-reported this event to the National Institutes of Health and remains steadfastly committed to the very highest standards for all research protocols,” Howser said.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY “I wish I could take it all back. I wish there was a button that I could just delete everything, but unfortunately there’s not.” COREY BATEY, CONVICTED RAPIST, IN DR. PHIL INTERVIEW

Psychology study explores reducing student stress Students participate in a professor and graduate student’s research on whether coping skills or cognitive exercises lessen stress By ANNA BUTRICO News reporter --------------------

Since Dean of the Ingram Commons Frank Wcislo sent an email soliciting research participants in January, 150 firstyears have filled out interest forms to participate in two researchers’ study about the best way to reduce the effects of stress on college student mental health, physical health and cognitive function. “Stress doesn’t make you sick, but it makes it more likely that things will make you sick,” said Dr. Bruce Compas, who is leading the psychology study. “High levels of stress are related to increased risks of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse and physical health.” All college students — particularly adjusting first-years and seniors headed for employment — are under tremendous amounts of stress. Compas and psychology graduate student Alex Bettis are looking to discover the best way students can mitigate the various negative effects of stress. “It has to do with how they cope with stress, the skills they have to cope, the ability they have to manage stress,” he explained. The study is a one-semester, six-week commitment, with a final follow-up 12 weeks later. Compas said he has to narrow down the participant pool to find the ideal participants for the study. “We get a lot of folks who are doing just fine,” Compas said. “We would be polishing their skills, but they’re not really at risk.” Instead of these students who have already developed coping skills, Compas wants participants who are struggling with stress to test stress reduction strate-

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PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEX BETTIS

The psychology study seeks to find out whether the most effective strategies for reducing student stress are coping mechanisms or cognitive “brain fitness” skills. gies. However, by the time students are fully in episodes of depression and are overwhelmed with anxiety disorders, Compas and his team are too late. The goal of their study is to figure out the best way to stop these problems before they manifest themselves in students. “We have been working in conjunction with Student Health to find the student who’s not doing perfect,” Compas said. They want students who have just begun to show physical and emotional “wear and tear” because of stress. The research is two-pronged: One part

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examines coping skills, and the other examines the effects of cognitive skills — or “brain fitness” as Compas likes to call it — on student stress. The coping skills facet of his research teaches students “cognitive reappraisal,” also known as “positive realistic thinking.” This program teaches students to think about stressful situations in more positive and realistic lights to minimize anxiety by identifying sources of stress in their life. The other, “brain fitness” part of the research builds participants’ “brain — continued on PAGE 4 DESIGNERS

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CAMPUS

— continued from PAGE 2 muscles” by playing games to potentially help students deal with stress. “Sitting right underneath the surface of our ability to cope with stress is our cognitive function,” Compas said. “We need complicated thinking skills to be able to cope with stress.” Compas used a basketball analogy to explain this aspect of the research. “You want to be a good basketball player,” he said. “You have to build up your aerobic fitness, so we have you run sprints up and down the court. Now you’re stronger. The question is, are you going to be a better basketball player? Or, do I need to make sure you work on your jump shots, and free throws, and left and right-handed lay-ups?” Compas said the study seeks to investigate whether the coping skills and/or the cognitive “brain fitness” decrease negative effects of stress. Compas and Bettis realize that there is a certain pride associated with stress, that it can often be seen as a “badge of honor” for working hard in the university’s high-pressure environment. Bettis said the study’s goal is not to eliminate stress. “That’s not what we’re going to do, it’s not a magic pill that’s going to fix everything, but is hopefully going to help you fix all that stress that you wear proudly, a little bit better,” Bettis said. Compas agreed: “There’s always going to

be classwork, always going to be roommates, always going to be life happening.” Compas weighed Vanderbilt’s recent ranking as the “Happiest School in the Nation” against student stress. “Oddly enough, I don’t think those two are incompatible,” Compas said. “Vanderbilt students will say that they love Vanderbilt, that they’re happy to be here, but at the same time, they are under a lot of stress.” He added that while people probably can’t feel positive and negative emotions at the same time, they can feel them in the same day or week. “So I would say yes: Vanderbilt is a happy place, they’re glad to be here, happy with the choice they made, and, there’s a heavy load of stress with it. I think they can coexist,” Compas said.

To get involved in the study, you can contact Alex Bettis at alex.bettis@gmail.com, or vustressstudy@gmail.com. You can call the team’s office phone number at (615)3226613, or you can go to the PCC’s website (under their research link) to fill out an interest form.

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That’s not what we’re going to do, it’s not a magic pill that’s going to fix everything, but is hopefully going to help you fix all that stress that you wear proudly, a little bit better.

Alex Bettis

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Bruce Compas PHOTOS COURTESY OF ALEX BETTIS

CAMPUS

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Student org invests $90,000 in stocks Vanderbilt Investment Club uses hands-on company research to prepare students to enter ﬁnance careers By ALLIE GROSS Co-news editor --------------------

Vanderbilt Investment Club (VIC) President Nathaniel Rabin prefers delving into research on lesser-known investments as opposed to companies like Apple and Google. One time he investigated a mattress company by lying and bouncing on their mattresses. He cited the company he is currently pitching to the club, a fat renderer called Darling Ingredients, as another example of his interest in hands-on investment research. “I’m going to a bunch of meat processors and asking about their pricing structure for how they dispose of their animal byproducts,” Rabin said. “It’s a really gross company. These are the kind of companies that I love, really sort of nasty.” Vanderbilt Investment Club (VIC) was founded in 2009. By 2011, VIC had mustered about $40,000 in fundraising to start the club from donations from family and friends as well as Vanderbilt alumni interested in strengthening Vanderbilt’s position among finance employers. Since then, VIC has grown through capital gains and further donations and currently has a portfolio valued at just under $90,000. Rabin said the club provides a unique opportunity for students to gain real experience in the market. “Most colleges don’t have a system where undergraduates can actually manage real money,” Rabin said. “So when you are investing real money, the learning process is so much better because there is actually something on

the line. Kids learn to think like investors and that makes them much more attractive job candidates.” The club of 60-70 active members is divided into around 12 teams each headed by a senior analyst. At weekly meetings, the teams work to pitch stocks to the whole club and then decide as a group which stocks to purchase. Vice President and Director of Alumni Relations Scott Goodman emphasized the club’s commitment to in-depth and hands-on research when making pitches, rather than just “playing with numbers.” “From our philosophy in the club, you’re actually buying a piece of a business, so it’s important to learn about the business, really educate yourself on customers and the product and the character of the people running the business,” Goodman said. According to Goodman, this kind of “valueadded research” allows VIC members to learn more about companies than other investors and develop a different view in order to beat the market. Senior Analyst Rochelle Glazman added that the depth of the pitches has allowed her to learn about various types of companies. “I think it’s fascinating to learn about the dynamics of various companies, their internal functions and their interaction with the economy,” Glazman said. “I feel like I’ve seen and heard a lot of teams take deep dives into various pieces of the economy that eventually weave together to form the world we live in. It’s like gaining a new perspective on reality.” He added that VIC also hosts speakers and events with companies like Bank of America and Goldman Sachs for networking purposes.

Vanderbilt Investment Club Returns $1,600

$1,000 at end of period

$1,400 $1,200 $1,000 $800

$1,480

$1,508

2014

Year to date 2015

$1,380

$968

$1,065

$600 $400 $200 $0 2011

2012

2013 Year

DATA PROVIDED BY NATHANIEL RABIN

The graph traces the growth of a hypothetical thousand-dollar investment at the club’s founding in 2011 based on the VIC’s rates of return over the past several years.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

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opinion Everyone loves cheap gas … right?

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Regardless of what oil prices do, however, there are steps the U.S. and the world should be taking to secure our energy future.”

MICHAEL DIAMOND

Low oil prices are both a blessing and a curse

he plummeting price of oil seems like unambiguously good news, but, as with most things in energy policy, the reality is much more complex. Both in the United States and abroad, there are winners and losers from cheap oil. Instead of arguing over whether falling oil is a “good thing” or a “bad thing,” we should take account of the complexity involved and advocate for policies that will be best for the long run regardless of short-term fluctuations. As a major research institution, VanderMICHAEL bilt should be leading the charge against energy DIAMOND myopia. is a senior in the College Taking a step back, it is worth looking at the of Arts & Science. He reasons for the decline in the first place. Essentially, can be reached at oil prices “should” have plummeted sooner due michael.s.diamond@ to the dramatic rise in North American oil and gas vanderbilt.edu. production in the last few years and slowdowns in European, Japanese, Indian and Chinese growth, but were kept high by supply shocks from instability in the Middle East. The effects of these shocks began to wear off alongside the underlying dynamics of slower growth (especially in Germany and China) and continuing boom in places like Alberta and North Dakota. Both of these occurrences contributed to the general downturn, along with the floor falling out from under the price of oil after OPEC failed to agree upon cuts in the cartel’s production. Crude oil prices have fallen from more than $125 per barrel at the height of the Libyan civil war in 2011 to close to $50 a barrel today. It is easy to pick out the winners from low gas prices. Consumers across the globe will see their disposable incomes rise as transportation costs decrease, lowering the price of both the daily commute and many goods as well. It is similarly easy to pick out some of the losers from oil’s fall. Petro-economies like Russia’s are highly vulnerable to a sustained slump, with financial crises looming if these countries’ stockpiles of foreign currency reserves run dry. Less intuitively, a number of American states may also be hard hit, especially energy powerhouses like Texas and Louisiana. Additionally, the environment may suffer if cheap oil encourages more carbon-intensive activities like driving. Although it may seem that U.S. interests would be

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served by the weakening of unfriendly nations like Russia and Venezuela, there is always a chance that crisis in these countries will cause them to lash out or make rash decisions, just as a cornered animal is often the most dangerous. On the environment, the story is also much more complicated, with some environmental groups such as 350.org arguing that low oil prices can be good by putting “Big Oil” on the defensive and reducing the profitability of unconventional fossil fuels like tar sands. Because oil is mainly used for transportation, not electricity generation, cheap oil will not compete considerably with renewable energy sources, which continue to gain ground against coal. Even as prices are likely to rise again as global growth picks up in the long run, in the medium term low prices may well be here to stay. Regardless of what oil prices do, however, there are steps the U.S. and the world should be taking to secure our energy future. If we are to keep global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius, the international standard agreed to in 2009 to prevent dangerous warming, fossil fuel usage will need to be curtailed significantly between now and 2050. The policies needed to combat climate change are well-known: Economists broadly agree that eliminating fossil fuel subsidies (which accounted for about $550 in global spending in 2014 alone) and putting a price on carbon are two of the most cost-effective methods of reducing carbon pollution. In times of high energy costs, these policies unfortunately run into large political obstacles. However, governments can seize the opportunity offered by low prices today to cut costly and wasteful subsidies without much political backlash, as is already happening in countries like Egypt, Indonesia and Ghana. In the U.S., there is some discussion that energy reform could even be a bipartisan issue, with a New York Times poll finding that 74 percent of Americans — and 51 percent of Republicans — favor federal action to limit the effects of climate change, and some highly respected conservative pundits like Charles Krauthammer have come out in favor of energy taxes in some form. At Vanderbilt, students, faculty and research staff from the sociology department to the School of

The Vanderbilt Hustler Opinion page aims to stimulate discussion in the Vanderbilt community. In that spirit, columnists, guest columnists and authors of letters to the editor are expected to provide logical argument to back their views. Unreasonable arguments, arguments in bad faith or arguments in vain between columnists have no place in The Hustler and will not be published. The Hustler welcomes reader viewpoints and offers three methods of expression: letters to the editor, guest columns and feedback on vanderbilthustler.com. The views expressed in lead editorials reﬂect the majority of opinion among The Hustler’s editorial board and may be supposed to represent the opinion of The Vanderbilt Hustler at the time of publication. They are not necessarily representative of any individual member. Letters must be submitted either in person by the author to The Hustler office or via email to opinion@vanderbilthustler.com. Letters via email should come from a Vanderbilt email address where the identity of the sender is clear. With rare exception, all letters must be received by 2 p.m. on the Sunday prior to publication. The editor

Engineering and from the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment to the Climate Change Research Network are working to solve the world’s pressing energy and environmental issues. As a university, disseminating the findings from all this research to inform public policy on the local, regional, national and even international level should be a top priority. Low oil prices represent a blessing to some and a curse to others, but could and should be an opportunity for all.

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reserves the right to edit and condense submissions for length as well as clarity. Lengthy letters that focus on an issue affecting students may be considered for a guest column at the editor’s discretion. All submissions become the property of The Hustler and must conform to the legal standards of Vanderbilt Student Communications, of which The Hustler is a division. The Vanderbilt Hustler (ISSN 0042-2517), the official student newspaper of Vanderbilt University, is published every Wednesday during the academic year except during exam periods and vacations. The paper is not printed during summer break. The Vanderbilt Hustler allocates one issue of the newspaper to each student and is available at various points on campus for free. Additional copies are $.50 each. The Vanderbilt Hustler is a division of Vanderbilt Student Communications, Inc. Copyright © 2014 Vanderbilt Student Communications.

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Cardio, calories and control Why is Food Network always on at the Rec? ANNA BUTRICO is a first-year in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at anna.c.butrico@ vanderbilt.edu.

t has become a running joke that Food Network is always on at the Rec. Regardless if you’re on the bikes, on the treadmills or lifting weights, you can always catch Ina Garten whisking eggs in your vicinity. I, for one, enjoy watching Food Network on the treadmill. I can shamelessly listen to the “Teen Party” playlist on Spotify while watching “Giada at Home” on the lofted screens. I feel overstimulated, yet perfectly distracted from the pain I am self-inflicting. But after returning from winter break, I went back to the Rec, only to find that WWE was on instead. Muscular, in-shape men, oiled up to show their definition, relentlessly beat each other up. I couldn’t help feeling that I should be motivated by their athleticism and finesse in drop-kicking their equally brawny opponents. But I discovered the converse applied; I was less motivated. Where was the chocolate fondue being spilled onto cupcake tops? The pesto sauce dribbled onto the penne? Why did I want to watch Food Network when I was exercising? Was it that I could watch and enjoy it without sound? Was it motivation, seeing the delicious food I could eat once calories were burned? Was it just that it was colorful and filmed beautifully, serving as yet another diversion to the miseries of exercise? This question can be answered with another: Why do we want to work out in the first place? We want to stay in shape, evade the freshman 15, sweat so we can go to Jeni’s for ice cream and have that extra

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It’s in our human fabric to maintain our own homeostasis, and calories are just another thing we naturally balance.

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170-calorie beer. Many work out so they can eat, so they don’t feel guilty devouring that same chocolate fondue on cupcake tops. Others work out to burn off last night’s Pi and Leaf Mexican pizza, watching the calories tick away on the elliptical screen. By exercising, we mold the bodies we wish to have. It’s a self-empowering experience, where we can control what our body does with food and energy. The key word there is control. Our bodies are unknowable lumps of skin and bone that get sick, change, age and grow without our input. Weight is one thing we can control, through dumbbells, spinning bikes and rowing machines. Calorie input and calorie burning are unconscious fixations of the gym dweller, whether they know it or not. By fixating on the input, the swirling raspberry glaze on the TV screen, we can manipu-

late the output, the sweat drops and the pounds lost on the bike. We don’t like watching the WWE shows because they don’t have our latent concentration — food — within them. I am in no way saying that everyone who goes to the gym is obsessive over their food intake. Nor am I claiming that all gym-goers have the undiscovered beginnings of eating disorders. It’s in our human fabric to maintain our own homeostasis, and calories are just another thing we naturally balance. When we burn, we will later have to gain. It’s really no different from having Smoothie King 40 feet from the weight rack in the Rec. With a good workout and sweat comes the promise of that perfect “Hulk Chocolate” smoothie, something we fixate on and use to motivate ourselves. There’s no shame, nothing wrong with watching Food Network on the treadmill; essentially, we are rabbits chasing the carrot on the string. All I know for sure is that many miles have been much more tolerable with Rachael Ray’s generous dashes of salt and Paula Deen’s unnecessary butter additions. If watching food during exercising is an unconscious fixation, let it be so. It doesn’t change the fact that I’ll change the channel to Food Network next time WWE takes its place.

A dearth of options The lack of halal food on campus causes stress for some students ASAD PABANI is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at asad. pabani@vanderbilt. edu.

hirteen: That is the number of dining locations on Vanderbilt campus. If one added up the different stations at Rand and Commons, the number would be even greater. Zero: That is the number of dining locations which serve halal meat on a daily basis. Although there are many restrictions when it comes to defining whether a certain food is halal or not, in laymen’s terms halal rules prohibit the consumption of pig meat in any of its forms; require that meat from other animals, such as chickens, cows and goats, be slaughtered in a specific way; and require that these animals be prepared and consumed so that they do not come in contact with any prohibited foods. While dining halls like Rand, Commons and Kissam occasionally have halal options available, these options are not consistently offered. Providing halal chicken once a week or every other week does not fix Muslim students’ daily search for halal meals — and let’s be honest, the less said about the taste of the halal gyros or sausages at Commons, the better. This problem is further exacerbated by the issue of crosscontamination. Muslim students cannot even resort to eating vegetarian food at most campus dining locations (with the exceptions of Grins and Bamboo

Bistro), because vegetables and halal meats often come into contact with non-halal products. “It is really hard for me to get an omelet when they use the pan with bacon on it without cleaning it for the next one,” said junior Safiah Hassan. “I wish they reserved one just for vegetarian items. If they had different knives to cut Randwiches and pizzas, (that would be helpful) because I don’t want bacon touching my sandwich. (By using the same knife) even if it was a vegetarian sandwich, then I still can’t eat it, and that makes finding halal healthy food exponentially more difficult because it narrows down the options I have even further.” Dining locations also do a poor job of labeling which menu items do feature bacon or pork. Potato salads at Commons Munchie, green beans at the Chef’s Table and even the clam chowder at Kissam have surprised Muslim students with bacon add-ins, forcing them to throw away large portions — or the entirety — of their meals. Most of the student body does not give a second thought to issues like these. But for Muslim students on campus, these little details make a massive difference. Although statistics about the number of Muslim students at Vanderbilt are unavailable, a conservative

estimate would be at least a few hundred, since there are about 300 students in the Muslim Students Association. Considering the University requires students to stay on the meal plan up until senior year, it is negligent on Vanderbilt’s part that more options for halal food are not provided to accommodate a substantial minority of students. Students looking to keep halal should not be forced to pay thousands of dollars for meal plans which provide them such limited options. To get the University’s perspective on this issue, I spoke to Reverend Mark Forrester, the director of religious life and the university chaplain. Rev. Forrester said he understood the concerns regarding crosscontamination and halal food availability on campus and that he has met with Vanderbilt Dining to address these issues. He pointed to the introduction of Grins and gluten-free foods on campus as evidence that over the years Vanderbilt has worked to meet the dietary requirements of all its students, and he emphasized that Vanderbilt Dining has been extremely helpful in working to prevent cross-contamination and to eventually increase the variety and availability of halal food on campus. For many Vanderbilt students, these changes could not come any sooner.

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sports

THE BIG STAT Number of strikeouts by former pitcher David Price in 2007, the year in which he won the Golden Spikes Award. This season, three current Commodores on the watch list for this award.

BASEBALL PREVIEW

194

The ability to bat from both sides of the plate has become a valuable asset to Vanderbilt and its ‘professional caliber program’ By MAX HERZ Sports reporter --------------------

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Switching up the

status quo

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Few college baseball players have what it takes to get drafted. Even fewer will make it to the Major Leagues. The ability to capably switch-hit can turn a good college player into a legitimate pro prospect, and Vanderbilt’s coaching staff clearly knows that. There are four switch-hitters on the Commodores’ 2015 roster. Florida also boasts four switch-hitters, but other than those two teams, no other SEC team has more than two, and 10 of the conference’s 14 clubs have either one or zero switch-hitters. It’s no coincidence that Vanderbilt and Florida are two of the SEC’s most successful baseball programs over the past decade, providing ballplayers with a fast track to MLB draft boards. Vanderbilt Assistant Coach Travis Jewett says his interest is often piqued by switchhitting high school players on recruiting trips. Jewett recruited all four current Commodore switch-hitters: sophomores Bryan Reynolds, Ro Coleman and Aubrey McCarty and freshman Tristan Chari. “Anytime we can find somebody that has that component, it’s always a nice thing,” said Coach Jewett. Reynolds started 71 of 72 games as a freshman for the 2014 National Title-winning team, seizing playing time by starting hot in the team’s first weekend. Most freshman hitters eventually get figured out by college pitchers, but the Reynolds’ puzzle was never cracked by the opposition. “Once you think you’ve got him figured out, you try to go to the other hand and he just flips over to the other side,” Coach Jewett said. “It’s certainly a bonus. It makes it tough for them.” Reynolds, who learned to hit left-handed at age twelve but didn’t start batting from both sides in games routinely until his sophomore year of high school, wound up leading the Commodores in batting average in 2014. His .338 mark narrowly topped Dansby Swanson, a projected first round pick in 2015. If Reynolds can continue to hit well and produce from both sides of the plate, he certainly has first round potential come 2016. Ro Coleman’s height — he’s listed at 5-5 — is undoubtedly the most unique aspect of his game. In hot pursuit of that title are his blazing speed and ability to switch-hit. The three combine to help Coleman beat out grounders for more than a few infield hits during his freshman season. Coleman, a natural righthanded hitter, says he benefits greatly from batting lefty. “It’s big because, from the left side, I can slap the ball and it’s a lot easier to drag (bunt).” “From the left side, he’s steps closer to first base. It helps him from a speed component,”

Jewett said. Coleman began to switch hit at age 6 after collecting just one hit in his first full season of baseball. His dad believed switch-hitting would give his son an edge. That edge shone through in last season’s Super Regional, as Coleman delivered a walk-off single to lift Vanderbilt over Oregon and into the Super Regionals. That hit came against a right-handed hurler from the left side of the plate. The newest addition to the Commodore switch-hitters club is freshman catcher Tristan Chari. Another natural righty who began to pursue the craft at age seven, Chari’s versatility could earn him playing time behind the dish even with the presence of defensive stalwart sophomores Jason Delay and Karl Ellison. “That could be a nice separator for him in terms of finding his way into the lineup during the season against a nasty, right-handed slider guy,” said Jewett on Chari’s switch-hitting ability. Chari knows his playing time could be limited in his first college season, but knows that hitting lefty could help him see the field. Vanderbilt’s fourth switch-hitter is redshirt freshman Aubrey McCarty, who came into Vanderbilt as a dual threat hitter and a dual threat pitcher. Despite this unique ability, McCarty did not play in a game in 2014 and has turned his attention away from switchpitching towards the bat rack for 2015. He will likely figure into a deep Commodore bench this season. Switch-hitters almost never see breaking balls, and, when they do, sliders or curveballs break towards the barrel of the bat rather than away from the hitter. “You’ve really only got to worry about fastballs and changeups since you don’t see many curveballs,” Reynolds said. This enables college hitters to sit on fastballs and get better pitches to hit. Although this benefit of switch-hitting makes game preparation easier, being able to hone this skill takes countless hours of practice. “I think the hardest thing about switchhitting is the time allotment that you’ve got to put in,” said Coach Jewett. “The guys who just hit right or just hit left have one swing … These guys have two different swings to master and the ability to weigh them out evenly to make sure they’re both good.” Even after a National Championship, Vanderbilt baseball’s work ethic is as strong as ever. That hard work is evidenced by Reynolds, Coleman, McCarty and Chari, and their commitment to raking from both sides of the dish. Switch-hitters are almost always professional caliber players, and Tim Corbin has built Vanderbilt into a professional caliber program.

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

Fulmer moves to front of the rotation Last year’s closer looks to start season on a high note in becoming Friday starter By JOSH HAMBURGER Sports reporter --------------------

With the College World Series Championship on the line, Carson Fulmer stood out as the obvious choice to lead the team to its first ever national title. And to nobody’s doubt, he delivered a performance that set the Commodores on their way back to Nashville with the trophy. Allowing two runs — only one earned — over 5.1 innings, his efforts, after pitching just days prior, proved to be the right decision for Vanderbilt. For Fulmer, however, his collegiate dominance continued into the summer on Team USA, alongside fellow teammates Dansby Swanson, Bryan Reynolds and Walker Buehler — as well as dozens of other top college players. In addition to the added playing time, Fulmer’s enjoyment of travel and new surroundings made this adventure especially memorable.

“It puts you in a really uncomfortable environment and gave you more experience, facing those crowds.” During his time on that team, his team best three wins and 0.73 ERA led an extremely talented pitching staff to a successful campaign against international powerhouses like Cuba and Chinese Taipei. Fulmer’s ability to control games and position his team to win starts before each game. The sophomore starter’s unique warmup routine of long-tossing sets him apart from many of his teammates and many other pitchers nationwide. Citing this as a common routine that began in high school, he believes that it helps condition his arm well in recovering from past starts. Seeing his pitching dominance, his teammates have started picking up on this pregame exercise. “A lot of the guys now are starting to longtoss, and that’s my big thing,” he said. Like many other pitchers, the newly designated Friday starter began his career in the bullpen as a relief pitcher and eventual closer in his first season and a half at Vanderbilt. His consistency there earned him Freshman All-American honors and a midseason call to the starting rotation on April 14, 2014. To no surprise, he pitched six scoreless innings, struck out six and took home a win in his first career start. The transition to starter, however, did not change Fulmer’s mindset or style of pitching.

“I didn’t want to change anything if I was going to start. The only thing that was going to change was me having the ball a longer period of time throughout a game,” he said. Coming into the season as the top pitcher on the number one-ranked team in the nation would seem to create higher stress and expectations from the team and the public. However, Fulmer brushes over all this public attention. “It’s something that in a way motivates us because we know how big the target is going to be,” he said. Understanding his own role on the team and the overall public presence of Vanderbilt baseball, Fulmer has simply put his focus on winning and “staying at the caliber of baseball” that has become synonymous with his name — and the school overall. What really separates Carson Fulmer is his desire to make a difference every day. ESPN’s coverage during the CWS showed Fulmer sneakily crossing his name off the inactive list and writing atop as active for that game, even when he had pitched the day before. This is no ploy, though; Fulmer honestly feels that he can contribute daily, and he enjoys the presence of his teammates in a competitive and spirited dugout. On Friday, Feb. 13, the preseason AllAmerican Carson Fulmer will take to the mound against Santa Clara as the Commodores begin their four-month quest to repeat

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as champions “I’m excited. This is a day we all look forward to, and we know the season is going to be great,” Fulmer said with a wide smile.

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Stacking the deck 10

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

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The College World Series Champions are back again, unanimously ranked No. 1 in the preseason polls. Despite losing stellar talent, Coach Tim Corbin has continued his remarkable recruitment streak, putting together another championship-caliber team By Allison Mast, Sports editor 1B Zander Wiel (43)

3B W

Class: RS Junior Hometown: Murfreesboro, TN Bats: Right; Throws: Right Height: 6’3”; Weight: 225 In his first season as the everyday first baseman, Wiel had solid numbers at the plate, batting .260 with 44 RBI and 61 hits. He showed some of the power that earned him a spot on the All-SEC Freshman Team the year before, smacking five home runs to lead the team.

Class Hom Bats Heig Altho scho susp Cons No. 4 selec Yank

2B Tyler Campbell (2)

First BASE ZANDER WIEL

Class: Junior Hometown: Portland, OR Bats: Right; Throws: Right Height: 5’11”; Weight: 170 Campbell’s time on the field was limited last season, but he played and played well when it really mattered. His heroics in the College World Series earned him a place on the All-Tournament Team; he knocked in the winning run to advance his team to the finals.

SS D

Second BASE TYLER CAMPBELL

Third BASE WILL TOFFEY

LF Bryan Reynolds (20)

CF No

Class: Sophomore Hometown: Brentwood, TN Bats: Switch; Throws: Right Height: 6’2”; Weight: 210 Another one of Vanderbilt’s All-Americans, Reynolds quickly made his way into the starting lineup as a freshman. He finished the season with a .338 average, 53 runs, 95 hits and 54 RBI. Despite his small frame, he fit four home runs, good for second on the team.

Class: Home Bats: L Height On Op the dis to star 39 gam bats, h scored

RF Rhett Wiseman (8)

Left FIELD BRYAN REYNOLDS

Class: Junior Hometown: Mansfield, MA Bats: Left; Throws: Right Height: 6’1”; Weight: 205 At times last season, Wiseman was a major offensive and defensive force for the Commodores. He was named to the CWS All-Tournament team after hitting .308 with two doubles and two RBI. He also made a late-game catch at the warning track to send Vanderbilt to the finals.

Class Hom Bats Heig Swan shor mak impr five four the t

DH R

Right FIELD RHETT WISEMAN

Center FIELD NOLAN ROGERS

Class: Home Bats: S Heigh Colem an effe the se Belmo a hom great option

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SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

Who’s heading to the Hawk? Vanderbilt baseball’s February home schedule

Feb. 13 - Santa Clara (4 pm) Feb. 14 - Santa Clara (2 pm) Feb. 15 - Santa Clara (12 pm) Feb. 20 - UIC (4 pm) Feb. 21 - UIC (2 pm) Feb. 22 - UIC (12 pm)

Feb. 24 - UT-Martin (4 pm) Feb. 25 - WKU (4 pm) Feb.27 - Illinois State (4 pm) Feb. 28 - Illinois State (2 pm) March 1 - Illinois State (1 pm)

Will Toffey (10)

s: Freshman metown: Barnstable, MA s: Left; Throws: Right ght: 6’2”; Weight: 195 ough Toffey played shortstop in high ool, he is expected to fill in for the pended Xavier Turner at third base. sidered by Baseball America as the 4 player in Connecticut, Toffey was cted in the 2014 MLB draft by the kees in the 23rd round.

RH PITCHER CARSON FULMER RHP Carson Fulmer (15)

Dansby Swanson (7)

s: Junior metown: Marietta, GA s: Right; Throws: Right ght: 6’1”; Weight: 190 nson came back from an injuryrtened freshman season ready to ke an immediate impact. Following an ressive season, he batted .323 with runs scored and three doubles with stolen base in the CWS, earning him title of Most Outstanding Player.

SHORTSTOP DANSBY SWANSON

olan Rogers (18)

Sophomore etown: Bloomington, IN Left; Throws: Right ht: 5’9”; Weight: 175 pening Day last season, Rogers had stinction of being the only freshman rt in the field. He went on the start mes and appear in 57. Over his 148 at he posted a .203 average with 20 runs d, 30 hits and six doubles.

Class: Junior Hometown: Lakeland, FL Bats: Right; Throws: Right Height: 6’0”; Weight: 195 Fulmer’s fastball, which usually clocks in at 97 miles per hour, originally distinguished him as an elite closer, but midway through the season, he proved he could be just as effective as a starter. He ended the season with a 1.98 ERA, a 7-1 record and 10 saves.

RH PITCHER TYLER FERGUSON RHP Tyler Ferguson (45)

Class: Junior Hometown: Fresno, CA Bats: Right; Throws: Right Height: 6’4”; Weight: 225 In his 77 innings of work, Ferguson showed great improvement from his freshman season, dropping his ERA to 2.69. He started 15 games and came on in relief twice. Building off his 65 strikeouts last season, he should be a solid Sunday starter in an impressive weekend rotation.

RHP Walker Buehler (13)

Class: Junior Hometown: Lexington, KY Bats: Right; Throws: Right Height: 6’2”; Weight: 175 The All-American and Team USA member had a phenomenal sophomore season that featured two complete games. In 102.1 innings pitched, he posted an ERA of 2.64 and a 12-2 record. Buehler is projected to be a first-round pick in the upcoming draft.

C Karl Ellison (25)

Class: Sophomore Hometown: Naples, FL Bats: Right; Throws: Right Height: 6’0”; Weight: 185 Ellison will likely split time with fellow sophomore catcher Jason Delay. The Florida native started 20 games as a freshman and appeared in 35. He struggled from the plate, finishing the season with a .192 average but committed only one error behind the plate.

Ro Coleman (1)

: Sophomore etown: Chicago, IL Switch; Throws: Right ht: 5’5”; Weight: 150 man’s patience at the plate made him ective designated hitter throughout eason. In a midweek game against ont, he showed some power, hitting me run. He has the potential to be a base stealer and another outfield n.

RH PITCHER WALKER BUEHLER

Designated HITTER RO COLEMAN

PHOTOS BY BOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

CATCHER KARL ELLISON

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

SPORTS

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Stone’s slider: the plus plus pitch Sophomore Hayden Stone stood out in the College World Series thanks to his secret weapon: a nearly-unhittable breaking ball By BEN WEINRIB Asst. sports editor --------------------

Hayden Stone grips the ball in a spike grip – almost like a knuckle curve – with his index finger knuckle on one seam and his middle finger laying along the next seam. With two strikes in the count, his catcher will flash him a sign as if to say “hook ‘em,” as Stone unleashes one of the nastiest pitches in college baseball: his devastating slider. Stone’s slider grip is actually a bit unique, since most pitchers use two fingers on one seam instead of his spike grip. A slider normally gets its bite not by a pitcher twisting his wrist, but by the ball spinning off the index finger. However in Stone’s case, it works by spinning off his extended middle finger. This unique grip goes back to Little League, where Stone taught himself the first variation of the pitch. He developed it on his own over time, and it was nearly perfected by high school, where he set Columbia Central High School records for wins (26) and strikeouts (350).

Stone was one of Vanderbilt’s most dominant relievers last year, finishing the season with a 1.71 ERA and a remarkable 80 strikeouts over 58 innings. Those are impressive numbers for a freshman and even more impressive considering he only throws two pitches. Stone works with a fastball that mostly sits in the 89-91 mph range, but he makes up for his lack of velocity with excellent movement and that mid-80s slider that he throws nearly half the time. The fact that he throws his slider nearly half the time is unique. Even at the major league level, no starter threw a slider more than 42 percent of the time, and only three relievers threw a slider more than half the time. “I just think it’s a pitch that can bail me out of situations at times,” Stone said of his slider. “And if it’s going to be successful, I don’t see why I shouldn’t throw it.” Stone, himself, doesn’t like to refer to the pitch as a slider (he calls it a breaking ball), but whatever you call it, it’s extremely effective. Baseball Prospectus writer Nick Faleris graded the pitch “plus plus,” which generally comes out to a 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale. “First he throws it with really good arm speed,” said Vanderbilt pitching coach Scott Brown. “We talk about it all the time: He has fastball intent with it. He has the ability to create tremendous spin on the baseball regardless of if he’s throwing a fastball or a

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Stone demonstrates how he grips the ball while throwing his slider, which he throws nearly half the time he is on the mound. slider. “Hayden actually ended up having one of the highest spin rates in college baseball period (according to 3D radar technology TrackMan), so what it tells you is that he has the ability to generate good arm speed, stay on the ball for a long period of time and create high RPMs, which makes it difficult to pick up on as a hitter. That’s why you see a

lot of the swing and miss.” A lot of swings and misses – nearly half the sliders he throws – and a lot of easy outs too. Opponents hit a dismal .121 off the pitch last season. Last season, Stone pitched exclusively out of relief in mostly long appearances, and the coaches plan to use him in a similar role this season. Brown doesn’t like to use one closer, but has a group of reliable relievers he calls “the garage.” “What that means is ‘the garage’ is available from the 5th inning on under normal circumstances,” Brown said. “We can hand the ball to Hayden Stone in the 6th, and he may be the closer that day. If he’s rolling, we just kind of do that. If we think there’s a better matchup or things have changed in the performance, we bring another piece out of the garage.” Stone has been quick to find success in college with his dominating slider and what coaches have touted as great competitiveness and consistency. And the way things are going, Stone may be unleashing his slider beyond his years at Hawkins Field. “I’ve told people this too: I got a feeling that a lot of his memories are still to come,” said Columbia Central baseball coach Mark Pickle. “I think he’ll pitch in someone’s bullpen until he’s 40 years old if that’s what he wants to do. He’s got a lot of baseball ahead of him both at Vanderbilt and beyond, and I think he’ll pitch as long as he wants to pitch as long as he’s healthy.”

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New baseball design could boost Commodore offense

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By PATRICK BURR Sports reporter --------------------

The dawn of a new season ushers in a spate of steep expectations for the defending NCAA Champions. Bestowed with the honor of a preseason number one ranking by two major polls — the USA Today Coaches’ and Baseball America’s — the Commodores return six of

eight position-playing starters as well as two of last season’s three weekend-rotation hurlers. While Vanderbilt’s situational hitting prowess led them to the College World Series (CWS), it was a home run off of John Norwood’s bat which proved decisive in the Championship’s final game. This year, perhaps the fresh directive passed down by NCAA baseball’s bigwigs will

help facilitate such hits — both in Omaha and away from the historic college hardball haven. On the heels of a study conducted by Washington State University’s Sports Science Laboratory aimed at examining the effect of seam height on the distance a batted ball can be expected to travel, the Division I Baseball Committee chose to retire the old, raisedseam balls in favor of a flatter-seamed option. The research showed that all things equal, the latter, which is akin to the ball used across the Minor Leagues, can be expected to travel 20 feet farther than the former. From 2011 to 2014, CWS teams, which had averaged a collective 33 home runs per year between 2001 and 2010, hit just 22 total four-baggers. While the stadium configuration at TD Ameritrade Park — which sits lower on the Nebraskan plains (altitude-wise) than its forebear, Rosenblatt Stadium, and thus suffers the effects of constant in-blowing winds — shoulders at least partial responsibility for the disappearance of the long ball, it cannot account for the entirety of the drastic decline. In the wake of multiple head injuries both at the professional level and in college, the NCAA abolished the use of traditional-style metal bats in favor of the BBCOR-certified model, which the NCAA claims fosters a safer on-field atmosphere by mirroring the performance of a wooden bat more than its predecessor. Because both the new stadium’s opening and the bat regulations’ implementation occurred in 2011, analysts are uncertain of just how dynamic an effect the new baseballs will have on this season’s offensive numbers. While there can exist no concrete method

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

of projecting the end result with any certainty, here’s some food for thought: Shortstop Dansby Swanson, who hit three home runs last season, hit two in one of the Black and Gold Series games this fall. This not to say that hitting the ball far is the sole progenitor of success — last year’s NCAA Champions hit a mere 22 over the course of 72 games. The top-ranked Commodores will be sure to collect their fair share of wins with or without higher numbers in the home run column.

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Hayden Stone grips the new 2015 baseball.

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GO DO

life Craft a lil’ for your little THIS

Vandy Spoken Word: Soundtrack of our Lives

On Feb. 13 and 14 Vandy Spoken Word presents their eighth annual showcase in Sarratt Cinema. They aim to pay homage to the music that has been most influential in their lives and share the stage with guests including VIBE, the Dodecs, Vanderbilt Variations and Emmy Griffin. Tickets are available for $5 (Rand wall)/$7 (door).

Want to impress your little with something crafty, but don’t have the time to get full-on Martha Stewart for her? Here’s a quick craft you can whip up by yourself or with some friends over the course of an afternoon By Christie Bok, Life reporter

Start by painting the base of your letters. We started here with a sky blue color, but painted two coats to get to a darker blue.

Allow the base to cool for an hour or two before adding decorations or designs with additional paint. Using a hot glue gun, add a small amount of glue to any appliques and press on the dry letters for 4-5 seconds.

Let the letters dry for a few hours, usually sitting overnight, but after that feel free to display them at the top of your basket.

If you’re crafty, you may have your own ideas of what you might want these letters to look like, but if not, Pinterest has some great ideas that you can gear toward your sorority colors or your own theme.

Find an arts and crafts store like Michaels to buy the letters and any paint or decorations that you might not have on hand. These are a great craft to do with friends so you can share the supplies.

Set up your work station with a few paint brushes, a glass of water, paper towels and a paper plate for the paint. We always recommend a few old copies of The Slant to cover your table — we wouldn’t want you to get it dirty.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CHRISTIE BOK

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Your guide to Singles Awareness Day The day that singles all over the world dread is quickly approaching, but are you going to spend the day moping? Nope. These activities will fill your day, and who knows — maybe you’ll even pick up a special someone along the way By Eliza Yass, Life reporter Watch Out

Eat Up

Fifty Shades of Grey premiere This much-awaited movie premieres on Feb. 13, and while you can act like you’re not going go to go see it, let your curiosity get the best of you this Valentine’s Day. While couples are busy hogging all the reservations at nearby places, grab a few friends, sneak in some take-out and cringe at a few sex scenes for what’s sure to be an entertaining night.

Chocolates and Brews with Olive & Sinclair Chocolate Co. Who needs to be drunk in love when you could get chocolate-wasted, right? Olive & Sinclair is hosting a craft beer and chocolate event on Valentine’s Day from 5 to 10 p.m. If you’re legal, have a few beers, and if not, there’s no one carding you for the chocolate, so snag some extra for us.

Singles Awareness Improv Celebration by Nashville Improv If you’re sad about being single on Valentine’s Day, there’s a comedy group who feels your pain! The show starts at 9 p.m. on Valentine’s Day at Bongo After Hours; topics of discussion include hookups, OkCupid and “not putting a ring on it.” You can count us in for sure.

Serve it Up Hearts of Hope Luncheon This luncheon is a nice reminder that there are much bigger heartaches in the world than being single on Valentine’s Day. Listen to inspirational women speak and support Nashville Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter for women around Nashville. Plus, Reba McEntire is a special guest!

Get Out There Hot Chocolate 15K So you don’t have a significant other to buy you chocolates? Who cares! Run this 15k through Nashville and get rewarded with tons of delicious chocolate treats. The race begins at 7 a.m. and the finisher medal is a giant chocolate bar. Plus, if you’re going to be splurging on all the discount candy CVS has to offer on the 15th, you might as well squeeze a workout in beforehand. Cupid’s Undie Run Bet you thought your nice undies weren’t going to come out of their hiding place this Valentine’s Day … you thought wrong! This “mile-ish”-long run begins at noon on Valentine’s Day and raises money for neurofibromatosis, a debilitating genetic disorder in children. The best part? Everyone runs in their skivvies!

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FRIDAY Matoma:

In short: Your frat’s DJ, if your frat’s DJ didn’t suck. Look for: Feel-good remixes of Biggie and Eminem — things you recognize, but with a twist. Must-listens: “Eminem- Business (Matoma Remix),” “Matoma & The Notorious B.I.G. - Old Thing Back (Feat. Ja Rule & Ralph Tresvant),”

RAC:

In short: Hipster-friendly EDM? Say it ain’t so! Look for: Upbeat remixes and originals with lots of indie collaboration. Think Tegan and Sara, Tokyo Police Club and St. Lucia Must-listens: “Hollywood,” “Cheap Sunglasses”

T-Pain:

In short: You grinded to this in middle school. Look for: Don’t look for his signature dreads — those are gone — but hopefully the auto-tune is here to stay. Must-listens: “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin),” “Bartender”

Chance the Rapper:

In short: The reason you’re happy you go to Vandy right now. Look for: His blend of hip-hop, acid jazz and bluesy soul plus his signature drug references and live freestyles. Must-listens: “Sunday Candy,” “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” “Juice” Tickets available in Sarratt Box Office starting Feb. 19. Students $30, faculty/staff $35, public $50

special

HOW TO BUILD A LINEUP By ANGELICA LASALA Social media director --------------------

The annual lineup announcement for the Rites of Spring Music Festival follows a familiar pattern: Vanderbilt Programming Board’s Music Group unveils the year’s acts, typically via mass email. Students react over lunch conversations and social media platforms. Cheers and jeers resonate in equal measure. The buzz dulls once midterm season takes over and rekindles roughly a week before Alumni Lawn becomes Bonnaroo Lite. Long before any of this happens, however, the Music Group convenes a number of times from late fall to early spring, each session an exercise in reconciling dream scenarios with pragmatics — dollar signs, artists’ tour schedules, contracts. This process begins the week after Quake. “We had a pretty long meeting — about an hour and a half, maybe an hour forty-five,” Music Group Chair Kern Vohra said, “And built out a spreadsheet that was organized by genre. It had over 300, maybe 350 artists on it. Everything from classic rock to indie to hip-hop, EDM, kinda miscellaneous, some pop acts in there as well.” According to Vohra, “the generation of the list is all in-house,” a product of raw brainstorming by the Music Group’s 11 members. From there, the spreadsheet gets sent to a

booking agency for review. “We work with a middle booker out of Florida,” Vohra said. “She’s our middle man, our point of contact for all the (artists’) agencies and agents themselves.” She holds onto the list for around 10 days, compiling price quotes and artist availability, and sends the data back to Vanderbilt. This is where the whittling down happens. “What a lot of it comes down to is (that) we want to make a good value play,” Vohra said. “So we’re looking at the spreadsheet and we’re really trying to look for which artists are underpriced.” Vohra poses a hypothetical scenario: “(Let’s say) this guy is $30,000 versus somebody maybe in a different genre who’s $75,000. They have roughly the same amount of fans on social media, they play roughly the same-sized shows, the same festivals.” It’s common-sense number crunching. “We’re gonna get the guy who’s $30,000, most likely.” Continuity’s the name of the game for this year’s festival, Vohra explains, hence the Music Group’s decision to split Rites into genrespecific days. “Making sure that each day is an experience by itself is pretty important,” Vohra said.

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lfeature Creating the lineup ends up being a top-down process — headliners first, then supporting acts that fit with the lead’s overall feel — a necessary tactic in order for the group’s vision to work. Friday comes together more easily than Saturday, with the Music Group determined to bring Chance the Rapper to campus. “We knew we wanted Chance from the start,” Vohra said. “We were pretty hell-bent on making sure we got him. And that worked out. So as soon as we got him, we were like ‘Okay, we can build out the rest of Friday on Chance.’” Not wanting to leave Chance hanging as Rites’ sole rap representative, the Music Group considers the autotuned stylings of T-Pain as a supporting act. The throwback quality of an artist who rose to fame when most Vanderbilt students were in middle school can’t hurt, they figure, and on top of that he’s been working on new material. “All these people were saying like, ‘Oh, he’s having a career renaissance’ and all this stuff, so we really looked into him and were able to snag him as well,” Vohra said. As for Friday’s earlier acts, the Music Group’s next move puts hip-hop and EDM together — an intuitive choice, given that both genres tend to attract high-energy crowds. “RAC was just kind of exploding onto the scene over the summer … and Matoma’s more of an up-and-comer in the genre,” Vohra said of the two electronic acts rounding out Friday’s setlist.

Saturday’s trickier. With the diversity of music styles Rites brings to Alumni Lawn every year, how can the Music Group maintain the cohesion they’d built into the festival’s first half? That’s where the survey comes in. Vohra sends an email to Vanderbilt Programming Board’s listserv on Dec. 5, 2014, asking students to select three artists each from three tiered lists. Indie rock band Young the Giant comes out on top of the “Tier 1” list. The Music Group books accordingly. Portugal. The Man, the No. 2 act on the “Tier 2” list, secures its place on the lineup. The winner of that tier, singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, turns out to be unavailable during Rites weekend. “Saturday really happened once we had the survey,” Vohra said. “We just didn’t know what we wanted to do, sent the survey out, got what we needed to get from the data, picked up Young the Giant and filled out the rest of the day from there.” And so alt-folk group The Lone Bellow and local indie outfit Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes round out Saturday’s bands, with Belmont student and singer-songwriter Louisa Wendorff opening Rites’ second day. “People who enjoy music in general, I think, are really going to love Saturday,” Vohra said. With that, on Feb. 11, 2015, at 10 a.m. the Music Group arrives at its critical moment. The Rites lineup goes live, out in the open for the Vanderbilt and Nashville communities to scrutinize. And they do. It’s predictable and exciting at the same time.

What has (and hasn’t) changed This year, Rites features 10 acts over the course of two days — slightly fewer than in years past, when 12-14 acts was the norm. On both days, the festival will open at 6 p.m. Music Group Chair Kern Vohra believes the decision to downscale will pay off, emphasizing that a larger lineup doesn’t necessarily mean a stronger one. “We figured we wanted to spend a little more per act and get some better-quality acts to come in,” he said. Rites’s structural changes are also meant, in part, to accommodate concertgoers who choose to partake in afternoon festivities. In previous years, Vohra explained, the overlap between tailgates and opening acts made for sparse audiences earlier in the day. “Every fraternity is going to have a tailgate, and every fraternity is going to have a party Friday night, for the most part. And they absolutely can and absolutely should — it’s the biggest weekend of the year,” he said. “We want to make sure that people are able to do everything they

want to do. If they want to go to a tailgate and then they want to go to Rites of Spring to see an artist, they should be able to do both.” Perhaps the most noticeable difference between Rites 2015 and its predecessors is the stark genre divide between Friday and Saturday: The prior mainly focuses hip-hop and electronic music, while the latter features alternative and indie stylings. This, too, was a strategic move. According to Vohra, the Music Group’s vision for this year’s Rites stressed flow as well as variety — the idea that each day of the festival should stand on its own as a fully-developed experience. Music Group hopes that doing so will give attendees continuity throughout the day. “So you’re gonna come at the beginning and stay until the end — stay until 12, 12:30 at night when the last act comes off, as opposed to, ‘Oh, I come for one act, and then I leave and then maybe I come back,’” Vohra said. “And I think that, conceptually, is something we really wanted to test out.” Substantial changes in lineup ethos aside, concertgoers can expect a fundamentally similar Rites experience to years past. Vohra mentioned that the Music Group will use the same stage and production company as in previous festivals. Food truck dining options and a merchandise tent will be readily available, and the alcohol policy remains the same: BYOB if you’re 21 and older, maximum one six-pack of 12-ounce beer cans per guest. Student ticket prices sell for $30 until the Sunday before Rites and will rise to $40 afterward — $10 cheaper than last year’s cost of admission.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

SATURDAY Louisa Wendorff:

In short: The girl next door (literally — hey, Belmont). Look for: The mashup that got a Twitter shoutout from T-Swift herself. Must-listens: “Blank Space/Style Taylor Swift mashup,” “Arrow”

Daniel Ellsworth and The Great Lakes:

In short: Indie — plain and simple. Look for: These Nashville natives to set the tone for the day with their upbeat indie rock. Must-listens: “Shoe Fits,” “Phantoms”

The Lone Bellow

In short: They do Nashville better than Nashville does. Look for: Watch these Southern transplants bring us some Brooklyn with their alt/country/folk blend. Must-Listens: “Green Eyes and a Heart of Gold,” “Cold As It Is,” “Then Came The Morning”

Portugal. The Man

In short: Relaxed rockers who like to keep it out of the box. Look for: These festival fixtures to bring their toneddown psychedelic rock to mellow out Alumni Lawn. Must-Listens: “Modern Jesus,” “Atomic Man,” “Purple Yellow Red and Blue”

Young the Giant

In short: If the Melodores were a band. Look for: Alternative rock that screams (in the most relaxing way possible) summertime. Must-Listens: “My Body,” “Cough Syrup,” “It’s About Time”

LIFE

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

Leslie Smith’s Valentine’s picks By MICHELLE PHAN Life reporter --------------------

“I like the concept of Valentine’s Day, expressing love,” Smith said. “But we’re too materialistic in this country. We should be expressing the spirit, expressing the gratitude.” Smith doesn’t believe that Valentine’s Day and this expressing of gratitude only pertain to romantic relationships. Her students in particular are representative of this mentality. “I love my students so I’ll probably bring treats to class, hearts with Valentine’s Day sayings, and say something appreciative.” In terms of romantic relationships, Smith had practical advice to offer. Couples often search for an appropriate point in a relationship to give each other gifts. There’s always the chance that one person could give someone a present without a return gift or be disappointed by his or her significant other’s reaction. “As I say, all gifts are nice if a person receives them well. A lot of people feel uncomfortable receiving them, so just go get something because it feels right, not because it’s Valentine’s Day,” Smith said. As she’s reiterated, Smith doesn’t believe in materialism. The perfect gift she recommends this February 14 for college

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When asking neuroscience professor Leslie Smith (best known on campus for her Human Sex course) for her take on Valentine’s Day gifts, The Hustler expected to be advised with gifts that were on the risque side. But instead of “Fifty Shades of Bae,” the popular professor offers a refreshing take on what she feels is the most appropriate way to celebrate the holiday of love

students romantically interested in each other is simply a shared meal. “The perfect experience is the dinner date,” she said. “From the man’s point of view it’s eating. From the female’s point of view it’s talking.” The human sex professor does believe that Valentine’s Day can change significantly in terms of sexually active college students — for both those that are single and committed. For those in relationships, there may be more expectations. “Traditionally, he’s the gift giver and she is the receiver. But there’s been a real trend for females being empowered and equality,” she said. “Having said that, the world is also changing towards the male agenda. There’s sex without commitment and the hooking up culture. I’m not certain that’s a good thing.” But what about all the single ladies and gentlemen? Smith recommends that college students revel in their stereotypes for that one. “Have a party,” she said. “Share your gratitude for the wonderful friendships you’ve made. There are lots of you and you are not alone.” However, if you are to give someone anything materialistic this Valentine’s Day, Smith recommends chocolate. “Chocolate is always a nice gift because of course because it’s an aphrodisiac.” PHOTO COURTESY OF VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

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