www.redandblack.com Wednesday, September 15, 2010 Vol. 118, No. 22 | Athens, Georgia Why is everyone so happy? An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia community ESTABLISHED 1893, INDEPENDENT 1980 Black & Red The sunny. High 93| Low 64 Index FIGHTIN’ WORDS Check out the second edition of our guide to student activism. Page 7 News ........................ 2 Opinions .................. 6 Variety ..................... 7 Sports ...................... 9 Crossword ............... 2 Sudoku .................... 9 WHO-MANITARIAN? Have you updated your status with the University? Page 2 GOT DOCS? Check out our website to see which Georgia coach submitted a strong rebuttal to Spurrier. Where’s Mikey? Adams will be at a 10 a.m. president’s conference meeting in an administration building room called the PBR. The Bud Light room was already taken... By POLINA MARINOVA THE RED & BLACK For the fifth consecutive year, the University’s pri- vate gifts and commit- ments have topped $100 million. In spite of the dismal economic state, the University has raised more than double the amount of the $48.3 million in private gifts and commitments it brought in 10 years ago. “We were pleased to have this level of support in a year when clearly the economy has been on a decline, and yet our alumni and friends continue to step up,” said Tom Landrum, senior vice presi- dent for external affairs. A record number of 59,650 donors made gifts to the University this year, which is an 11 percent increase from fiscal year 2009. The University tried a new and more focused approach to raise funds this year — contacting past donors regularly to express appreciation for their con- tinuation of support. “In times of economic decline, you understand that not everyone is able to make the kind of gift that they have been in previous years,” Landrum said. “So you stay in touch with them and you thank them for their past support with the idea that when times are better they will want to again make the kind of gifts they’ve made in the past. So we did that, and I think that’s helped us a great deal.” This year, the University’s academic giv- ing increased, while contri- butions from the Athletic Association declined. “I think that the See GIVE, Page 3 Record number of donors give support By CHRIS MILLER THE RED & BLACK About two years ago, a few members of Athens’ extensive cycling scene decid- ed to come together over the one thing they all had in common: the love of rid- ing bikes. “There’s all these factions of cycling groups: the road racers, the mountain bikers, the guys that commute, the hip- sters, all these random groups,” said K Sakai, an original member of and unoffi- cial coordinator of bike polo in Athens. “We thought we should get a game that everyone can play and have fun.” The idea behind the sport is relatively simple, though highly variable depend- ing on the town. Athens rules go like this: two teams of three men each all have their own croquet-like mallet. From there, it’s basically like hockey or soccer, with either team trying to See POLO, Page 7 MEGHAN PITTMAN | The Red & Black Activists with the Georgia Students for Public Higher Education encourage student participation in an upcoming rally against budget cuts to the state’s universities. Page 3. By RYAN BLACK THE RED & BLACK When Georgia football fans think back to the school’s national championship season in 1980, a few names roll off the tongue immediately. Vince Dooley. Herschel Walker. Erk Russell. Lindsay Scott. Notably absent from that list, however, are any Bulldog defensive players. But Georgia did have them back in 1980 — with one of them even being named an All- American that season. That man is Scott Woerner, who was an All-America selec- tion as a defensive back for that legendary Bulldog team and made the championship- clinching interception in the 1980 Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame to seal Georgia’s 17-10 victory. Woerner still ranks among the University’s all-time leaders in many statistical categories, including interceptions (13, fourth all-time), interception return yards (303, second all- time) and longest interception return in a game (98 yards against Clemson in 1980). Along with being a standout performer on defense, he also made a significant difference in special teams returning punts and kickoffs. In fact, Woerner still holds the single-season record for the Bulldogs in punt return yardage, tallying up 488 yards in 1980. Woerner now resides in Rabun County and is a physical education teacher at South Rabun Elementary School. This is his 22nd year teaching physi- cal education after stints in professional football in both the NFL and USFL. Even though his playing days are now behind him, how often does Woerner get asked about the national champion- ship season? “I don’t know,” he said. “Depends on what I’m doing and where I’m going. But it’s often enough that it’s nice to live in the state of Georgia, that’s for sure.” Woerner also makes sure to wear the ring he and the rest of the team received after See CHAMPS, Page 9 Former All-American reflects on national title MONEY MATTERS Crime notebook. Page 2 Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2009 2010 Academic giving 41.95 55.3 60.4 73.4 68.4 69.3 Athletic giving 30.1 22.5 36.5 34.9 42.4 32.7 Total giving 72.05 77.8 96.9 108.3 110.8 102 $ in millions | Source: The University of Georgia | The Red & Black was unable to obtain statistics for 2007 and 2008. CHARLES-RYAN BARBER | The Red & Black Since purchasing a horse in India in the late 1800s was out of the question for many, bike polo got its start. In 1908, the game was actually featured in a demonstration match at the London Olympics. iPads to be added to libraries By KATIE WEISE THE RED & BLACK The University’s libraries are about to get a little cooler. Following in the footsteps of schools such as North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., the University’s libraries have ordered iPads — the tablet com- puter designed by Apple. The tablets are to be rented out to students, most likely fol- lowing the same rules as the lap- top loan service already provided by the University’s libraries. After owning one himself, University Librarian and Associate Provost William Potter had the idea to use some of the libraries’ private funding to order 10 iPads that will be distributed to the Main, Science and MLC libraries. Each tablet costs $500. “I am pleased the libraries will be able to offer this service, espe- cially in an electronic library like the Miller Learning Center,” said Caroline Barratt, director of the MLC library commons. “We are very invested in exploring next technologies and are interested in discovering how e-books might be used with this new device.” Potter said this could be an experiment to see how students would use the device, showing the libraries how to move forward in the future. Though some universities such as Cornell, Princeton and George Washington have banned the iPad on the basis that it is incompati- ble with their security systems, other universities, such as Abilene Christian, are trying them out in the classroom setting. “This could be a step to get- ting them in the classroom,” said Summer Nelson, a senior English major from Cumming. “UGA has a lot of tech-based classes that could really use them.” Though an iPad is not efficient See IPAD, Page 2 DOGS OFF THE LEASH RIDING
GOT DOCS?Check out our website to see which Georgia
coach submitted a strong rebuttal to
Spurrier.
Where’s Mikey?
Adams will be at a 10 a.m. president’s conference meeting in an administration building room called the PBR. The Bud
Light room was already taken...
By POLINA MARINOVATHE RED & BLACK
For the fifth consecutive year, the University’s pri-vate gifts and commit-ments have topped $100 million.
In spite of the dismal economic state, the University has raised more than double the amount of the $48.3 million in private gifts and commitments it brought in 10 years ago.
“We were pleased to have this level of support in a year when clearly the economy has been on a decline, and yet our alumni and friends continue to step up,” said Tom Landrum, senior vice presi-dent for external affairs.
A record number of 59,650 donors made gifts to the University this year, which is an 11 percent increase from fiscal year 2009. The University tried a
new and more focused approach to raise funds this year — contacting past donors regularly to express appreciation for their con-tinuation of support.
“In times of economic decline, you understand that not everyone is able to make the kind of gift that they have been in previous years,” Landrum said. “So you stay in touch with them and you thank them for their past support with
the idea that when times are better they will want to again make the kind of gifts they’ve made in the past. So we did that, and I think
that’s helped us a great deal.”
This year, the University’s academic giv-ing increased, while contri-
butions from the Athletic Association declined.
“I think that the
See GIVE, Page 3
Record number of donors give support
By CHRIS MILLERTHE RED & BLACK
About two years ago, a few members of Athens’ extensive cycling scene decid-ed to come together over the one thing they all had in common: the love of rid-ing bikes.
“There’s all these factions of cycling groups: the road racers, the mountain bikers, the guys that commute, the hip-sters, all these random groups,” said K Sakai, an original member of and unoffi-
cial coordinator of bike polo in Athens. “We thought we should get a game that everyone can play and have fun.”
The idea behind the sport is relatively simple, though highly variable depend-ing on the town.
Athens rules go like this: two teams of three men each all have their own croquet-like mallet.
From there, it’s basically like hockey or soccer, with either team trying to
See POLO, Page 7
MEGHAN PITTMAN | The Red & Black
Activists with the Georgia Students for Public Higher Education encourage student participation in an upcoming rally against budget cuts to the state’s universities. Page 3.
By RYAN BLACKTHE RED & BLACK
When Georgia football fans think back to the school’s national championship season in 1980, a few names roll off the tongue immediately.
Vince Dooley. Herschel Walker. Erk Russell. Lindsay Scott.
Notably absent from that list, however, are any Bulldog defensive players.
But Georgia did have them back in 1980 — with one of them even being named an All-American that season.
That man is Scott Woerner, who was an All-America selec-tion as a defensive back for that legendary Bulldog team and made the championship-
clinching interception in the 1980 Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame to seal Georgia’s 17-10 victory.
Woerner still ranks among the University’s all-time leaders in many statistical categories, including interceptions (13, fourth all-time), interception return yards (303, second all-time) and longest interception return in a game (98 yards against Clemson in 1980).
Along with being a standout performer on defense, he also made a significant difference in special teams returning punts and kickoffs. In fact, Woerner still holds the single-season record for the Bulldogs in punt return yardage, tallying up 488 yards in 1980.
Woerner now resides in
Rabun County and is a physical education teacher at South Rabun Elementary School. This is his 22nd year teaching physi-cal education after stints in professional football in both the NFL and USFL.
Even though his playing days are now behind him, how often does Woerner get asked about the national champion-ship season?
“I don’t know,” he said. “Depends on what I’m doing and where I’m going. But it’s often enough that it’s nice to live in the state of Georgia, that’s for sure.”
Woerner also makes sure to wear the ring he and the rest of the team received after
See CHAMPS, Page 9
Former All-American reflects on national titleMONEY MATTERS
Crime notebook. Page 2
Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2009 2010
Academic giving 41.95 55.3 60.4 73.4 68.4 69.3
Athletic giving 30.1 22.5 36.5 34.9 42.4 32.7
Total giving 72.05 77.8 96.9 108.3 110.8 102$ in millions | Source: The University of Georgia | The Red & Black was unable to obtain statistics for 2007 and 2008.
CHARLES-RYAN BARBER | The Red & Black
Since purchasing a horse in India in the late 1800s was out of the question for many, bike polo got its start. In 1908, the game was actually featured in a demonstration match at the London Olympics.
iPads to be added to libraries
By KATIE WEISETHE RED & BLACK
The University’s libraries are about to get a little cooler.
Following in the footsteps of schools such as North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., the University’s libraries have ordered iPads — the tablet com-puter designed by Apple.
The tablets are to be rented out to students, most likely fol-lowing the same rules as the lap-top loan service already provided by the University’s libraries.
After owning one himself, University Librarian and Associate Provost William Potter had the idea to use some of the libraries’ private funding to order 10 iPads that will be distributed to the Main, Science and MLC libraries. Each tablet costs $500.
“I am pleased the libraries will be able to offer this service, espe-cially in an electronic library like the Miller Learning Center,” said Caroline Barratt, director of the MLC library commons. “We are very invested in exploring next technologies and are interested in discovering how e-books might be used with this new device.”
Potter said this could be an experiment to see how students would use the device, showing the libraries how to move forward in the future.
Though some universities such as Cornell, Princeton and George Washington have banned the iPad on the basis that it is incompati-ble with their security systems, other universities, such as Abilene Christian, are trying them out in the classroom setting.
“This could be a step to get-ting them in the classroom,” said Summer Nelson, a senior English major from Cumming. “UGA has a lot of tech-based classes that could really use them.”
Though an iPad is not efficient
See IPAD, Page 2
DOGS OFF THE LEASH
RIDING
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Previous puzzle’s solution
2 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | The Red & Black NEWS
By SARA CALDWELLTHE RED AND BLACK
You thought you were done sharpening your No. 2 pencil when you got that final SAT score. But if you want to go to graduate school, you might have to break out your standardized testing skills again.
But is it worth it to pay the extra money and get professional help on these entrance require-ments?
Christine Burgoyne, learning services public service associate with the University’s Center for Continuing Education, said grad-uate school entrance tests are getting harder.
“The scores are more competi-tive,” Burgoyne said. “Just a cou-ple of points can make a large competitive difference when you’re trying to get admitted into the program that you want to get into.”
To help students prepare for these tests — be it the Graduate Record Examination, the Law School Admission Test or the Graduate Management Admission Test — the University offers cours-es which focus specifically on teaching students what to expect
on their upcoming exams. For 10 nights of LSAT or GMAT
preparation in a classroom set-ting, the enrollment price is $899.
It costs $699 for eight nights of preparation classes for the GRE, Burgoyne said.
The University offers these prep courses on campus at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, and they are also offered at the University’s Gwinnett campus.
However, the center’s prepara-tion classes are not as popular as the one-on-one tutorial sessions the University offers.
“A lot of students want tutors because they can focus on exactly what they need and not have to go through what a group wants, with a traditional curriculum on something,” Burgoyne said. “If they need to focus on a particular type of question, or if they want to ask a lot of questions and get them answered, they can.”
Burgoyne said another perk to the tutor sessions is that students can fit them into their schedules.
“We have three tutors that we’re using right now. They’re busy all the time,” she said.
In order to tutor a student in test preparation, Burgoyne said a
tutor has to score in the ninetieth percentile of the test they want to teach.
They also have to have teach-ing experience, or they have to demonstrate they have the ability to teach, she said.
The largest number of students approaching Learning Services are coming from the Terry College of Business, and Burgoyne said these students are choosing to study on their home ground.
“There’s a comfort factor. Studying at UGA is studying at home,” she said. “You’re studying with UGA people. They probably know people who’ve studied with our tutors here. I think that reas-sures them that we know what we’re doing.”
First-year graduate student Brian Sanders from Yatesville is studying for his master’s in sec-ondary education with a history focus at Valdosta State University.
Sanders, after completing his undergraduate degree at the University, said he thought he should continue his degree while he was in school mode.
“I thought it would be harder to get back into the routine of school once you get out and have
a job,” Sanders said. “It’s difficult to have a full-time job and go back to school. While I have limit-ed responsibilities I might as well do it.”
Sanders took the GRE in the fall of 2009 through the University Testing Service, and he prepared for his exam with online materi-als.
“I spent maybe two days look-ing at resources — just looking at practice problems, practice tests,” Sanders said. “I didn’t really stress over it at all. I made well over what I needed to get into any pro-gram that I applied for.”
Sanders said the preparation material helped him on the exam. For him, the largest benefit for looking through the material was that it helped him prepare for how the questions would be framed, and Sanders recommends that future graduate school appli-cants utilize whatever preparation resources are available.
“If you’re trying to get into law school or a general competitive program and you need to stand out better than the person next to you, a greater preparation and better score would help you stand out against the other candidates,” Sanders said.
Preparation classes help some on post-graduate exams
Congratulations, University students. Crime notebook contains nothing but good news today.
Police reports from University Police and Athens-Clarke County Police showed little activ-ity affiliated with the University Monday night.
University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said he was unsure why Monday night saw a drop in University-related crimes.
“I guess we were lucky and the community was lucky,” he said. “Some nights are busier than other nights, but we’re always happy if it’s a slow night. That means nobody’s having a prob-lem, and nobody’s finding themselves in trouble.”
Law enforcement offi-cials periodically experi-ence a lull in crime, Williamson said, but offi-cials usually can’t predict
how crime in Athens will fluctuate.
“There’s no way for us to be able to even look at those things,” he said. “If there were set patterns for us to use, we could go out and predict when things were happening to stop them from occur-ring.”
Williamson also said weather can sometimes be used to predict when crime will be less promi-nent.
“Sometimes I can look at weather and say weather’s an indicator,” he said. “If it’s cold, cloudy, raining or there’s lightning. But last night was a beautiful night, so I guess we were just fortu-nate.”
—Compiled by Tiffany Stevens
CRIME NOTEBOOKONLINE
No Police Documents!
By POLINA MARINOVATHE RED & BLACK
After an analysis of the residency status of incom-ing freshmen, the University has found no undocumented students in that pool. But after review-ing the citizenship of returning students — including all undergradu-ate, graduate and profes-sional students — the University found two stu-dents without proper doc-umentation returning for fall of 2010.
Neither student has received any state or fed-eral benefits, and they have been paying out-of-state tuition.
“There are processes in place in the Office of Admissions, so these stu-dents in the returning pool would’ve been coded as either full documentation or pending documenta-tion,” said Laura Jolly, vice president for instruction. “So when we ran our report, we had two stu-dents who still had docu-ments pending.”
The University was one of nine University System of Georgia institutions that had not reported the resi-dency status of returning students to the Regents.
In August, the Special Residency Verification Committee of the Board of Regents asked those insti-tutions to verify the citi-zenship of returning stu-dents and submit a final report by Sept. 8.
However, Jolly con-firmed that though there was a prior directive from the Regents to file the report by Sept. 8, the University received a request from the Regents with a deadline of Sept. 14. The University submitted the report last Friday.
“They evidently changed their deadline,” Jolly said. “We’re just responding to their request.”
After all of the institu-tions have submitted the final numbers of undocu-mented students in the incoming and returning student pools, the Special Residency Verification Committee will meet on Sept. 21 to discuss what the group will recommend to the Regents.
John Millsaps, spokes-man for the Board of Regents, said he does not know about any future plans or actions the Regents might take.
As for the University, Jolly said the request of verification from the Regents has led the University to become more confident about its admis-sions process.
“We feel good about the system that we have in place,” Jolly said. “What we’ve learned is that we’ve got a process of review that allows us to identify stu-dents and properly code them. It appears to be working in terms of identi-fying students to see whether they’re either fully documented or that they’re pending documentation. In other words, we didn’t misclassify anyone.”
Regents receive residency updates
CORRECTIONSThe Red & Black is
committed to journalistic excellence and providing the most accurate news possible. Contact us if you see an error, and we will do our best to correct it.
Gays and African-Americans have more in common than you might think.
Or maybe they don’t.That burning conun-
drum was at the center of the LGBT Resource Center’s open discussion, “Is Gay the New Black?”
Attendees wrestled with the idea of how much the black and gay civil rights movements have in common .
Dawn Bennett-Alexander, an associate professor within the Terry College of Business, over-saw the talk, having seen the issue of civil rights from both sides of the question.
“You really don’t know what it was like,” she said to an overflowing audi-ence, many of whom had to take seats on the floor in the Miller Learning Center.
Bennett -Alexander witnessed Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the ten-der age of 12.
She went on to partici-pate in the 1973 march for gay rights in Washington.
Despite her own wealth of experience, Bennett-Alexander quickly pulled back to open up the floor to the various attendees.
“I think a lot of people in the black community feel the people in the gay community want to jump on the bandwagon,” said LGBT Resource Center Executive Director of External Affairs Tochuku Ikedionwu.
Faye Fleming, a psy-chology and sociology double major from Athens, shared her own social experiment of homophobia when she
posed as one half of a les-bian couple.
Fleming and the other participant in the experi-ment presented them-selves as heterosexual, but she carried on with her female friend in much the same as she acted with her husband.
“The point we were trying to make is that straight-looking lesbians are more accepted than butch-looking lesbians,” she said.
Many other students came forward with stories of their own, debating issues such as the defini-tion of oppression and the ease of hiding one type of minority over another.
Bennett -Alexander encouraged the gathered students to continue defy-ing labels, a topic that will be broached in the LGBT Resource Center’s upcoming talk on hetero-flexibility, scheduled for Tuesday of next week.
Most participants came to the conclusion that oppression comes in many forms, and it can’t be rationed out or down-played.
“I carry my own envi-ronment with me,” said Bennett-Alexander, who explained her own meth-od of owning her identity instead of running from it. “For me, it’s all about love.”
From Page 1
for typing term papers, mostly because of its touch screen, the tablet can be used for activities such as surfing the web and read-ing.
The new iPads will be pre-loaded with applica-tions and books.
“I’m curious to how stu-dents will use them,” Potter said. “I see them carrying around huge textbooks when they could just be loaded on an iPad. It even has color.”
iPads weigh about 1.5 pounds, making them easi-er to carry around than traditional books.
The laptop loan pro-gram the iPad will most likely be a part of doesn’t have much demand right now — even though the laptops are paid for by the student technology fee.
Potter said many stu-dents aren’t aware they can check out laptops, and hopefully the iPad will be different.
Potter said the iPads will be at the University by the end of September and available for rental soon after.
Laptops can be rented at the MLC with a valid student ID for three-hour periods at a time.
IPAD: Fees pay for program
AJ REYNOLDS | The Red & Black
Dawn Bennett-Alexander of the Terry College discusses similarities and differences between the gay rights and civil rights movements.
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NEWS The Red & Black | Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | 3
By KELSEY BYRDTHE RED & BLACK
Mikaya Thurmond’s crowning achievement of her pageant career is her most recent title.
Thurmond, a broadcast news and Spanish double major, has been named International Miss 2010.
The International Junior Miss Scholarship Program is designed to encourage positive achieve-ment by building self-awareness in young women, according to the IJM website.
Thurmond competed in July for the International Miss title after winning a qualifying pag-eant in Macon. Before that, she had only competed in two pag-eants, taking the title in each one.
“I did my first pageant ever when I was 15 years old, so by no means was I old enough to be competing with the big girls,” Thurmond said.
Thurmond was crowned Miss Georgia Junior Teen and returned a few years later to achieve the title of Miss Georgia.
“After Miss Georgia, you go to Miss International,” Thurmond said. “And I’m Miss International.”
She beat out 109 other contes-tants from around the world.
Thurmond has not always been a pageant girl, and was sur-prised she has done so well in her three competitions.
“No, I’m not the one who has been growing up in pageantry — this is more like the rookie of the year award,” Thurmond said.
Thurmond’s parents have been the biggest supporters in her pageant career, but only once she was old enough to handle the pressures.
The responsibilities of International Miss include pro-moting her platform, traveling all over the world serving the com-munity and representing the IJM name.
Though Thurmond doesn’t yet know exactly where she’ll be traveling — pageant officials make the travel choices — she knows trips to Europe and Africa are in her future.
“I’m booked to go on ‘Good Morning America,’ to fly up to New York already,” Thurmond said. “I’m really excited because even before the pageant I was passionate about traveling and so since I love traveling, I’m real-ly excited about that aspect of
the pageant.”The prize package included a
cash scholarship, clothes, jewelry, a personal public relations agent and hair and makeup technicians for the entirety of her reign. Thurmond has received half of her scholarship — the amount of which she could not disclose — and will receive the other half after she’s completed her reign.
She said having a personal posse of stylists is exciting, but they only come out for events.
“It’s almost like a Cinderella story that happened,” Thurmond said. “It just literally changes your life in the magic of an instant. It was absolutely amaz-ing.”
Besides being International Miss, Thurmond is involved in several organizations on campus. She can been seen at the visitor’s center working as a tour guide, out at the intramural fields for flag football or tutoring Spanish with her service learning class.
Thurmond is also an ambassador for the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and attends Bible study several times a week.
After everything’s said and done, Thurmond plans on get-ting her master’s degree in jour-nalism and becoming a news-caster for a major news network.
“So I’m very, very busy on campus and now I’m throwing in the aspect of traveling the world on the weekends, so it’s difficult to balance,” Thurmond said. “ I don’t think I’ve spent a single weekend in Athens since school has started, because the travel has been so intense since the crowning. Right after, they just whisked you away and changed your life.”
What are your pageant plat-forms?
I have two platforms, the pag-eant platform and my own per-sonal platform. The pageant
platform is really focused on the Pajama Program. And basically what I’m suppose to do through-out my reign is collect pajamas and books, and we donate it to an organization that helps chil-dren waiting to be adopted.
What is your personal platform?My personal program: I want
to promote Internet safety and Internet awareness for social net-working sites like Twitter and Facebook, so I’ll go and speak at middle schools and elementary schools and tell them the dan-gers of the things you put online and that kind of deal. So that’s really been my focus.
What was the hardest question in the interviews?
If I could pick only one thing to do, what would be the activity I would choose. My response was ‘I’m a tour guide at the UGA visi-tor’s center,’ and I told them about how important it is for me
to be able to do that because we give [thousands of] tours a year and so to be able to touch that many people and help students coming into college. I’m really passionate and care about all my activities at UGA so it was really hard to pick one.
Which trip are you most excited to go on?
I’ve established a lot of friends up north in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, so when I do go up there, not only am I excit-ed about being on “Good Morning America,” but I’m really excited about getting to see my friends up there. We are all affiliated with the same community service and charities, so we are going to get a chance to work together when I fly up.
What are your goals after you pass on your crown?
My main focus is graduating. A lot of the times you see pag-eant girls, they may choose to be a part-time student, but I’m all about graduating on time so I’m still a full-time student. Next year I’ll be in school, I won’t be com-peting, probably, any time soon because it is just absolutely out of this world to be Miss International. When I finish this up I’m going to be focusing on graduating and going to grad school for journalism.
What’s the best advice you can give others?
My biggest advice is complete-ly be yourself. I think the biggest mistake that someone can make is to think that in pageantry they’re looking for someone or a certain type of stereotype, and I don’t know if you know what I look like, but I’m five feet [tall]! And so being genuine will always trump any experience or any-thing like that, and so that would be my biggest advice.
What’s the one thing you want people to know about you?
If there’s anything I want to promote, it’s being genuine, and being involved in your communi-ty and helping out. I never wanna be one of those pageant girls that seems untouchable, so my biggest thing is that if anyone who looks at me feels comfort-able enough to stop me on the street and talk to me. I’m just very balanced, I’m all over the place — you can catch me any-where, doing anything.
World travel scheduled as student’s pageant reign begins
By KATIE WEISETHE RED & BLACK
In March, students protested on the steps of the Capitol in Atlanta. And now, they’re bringing their protests to campus.
Monday and Tuesday, members of the Georgia Students for Public Higher Education could be seen during class breaks throughout the day on the bridge connecting Tate and the Miller Learning Center holding a white cloth banner with “Defend your education” written in red and black paint.
The group will also hold a rally to protest budget cuts Oct. 7 at noon on North Campus.
The group — com-prised of about 20 mem-bers — also handed out fliers below the bridge, calling students who are “sick and tired of tuition hikes and … continuing threats to education” to join the rally and celebrate the potential for accessi-ble education nationwide.
Activist Maggie Kilgo, a senior history major, said the basic idea is to resist where the budget cuts from legislation are made, but to do so in a appreciative manner.
“We want people to cel-ebrate the education we do have to show the administration we appre-ciate it,” she said. “But access to education is important. It shouldn’t be
something that only peo-ple who can afford do.”
Though it is a political issue, Elizabeth Barnard, a second-year graduate student in nonprofit orga-nizations and women’s studies, said it shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
“Everyone that is a stakeholder in the University should be involved, to raise our voic-es and make sure we’re represented,” she said.
Michael Harman, a first-year graduate stu-dent in mass media stud-ies, said the issue is important to everyone attending college or even just thinking about it. With the increasing rates of tuition, people who can’t afford the University won’t be able to enroll. Harman said education should available for every-one.
“Social justice activi-ties in general are impor-tant,” Barnard said. “It’s important for everyone across the board to have what they need to be happy and healthy, and education is certainly part of that. “
Harman, who has been in the group for two weeks, has several friends who haven’t been able to go to college for financial reasons.
“I think everyone has a relative or acquaintance that would like to attend college, but can’t,” he said.
Activists fight for affordable educationFrom Page 1
Athletic Association giving has fluctuated just like every other category because of the economy,” Landrum said.
David Jones, senior director of advancement research and prospect management, emphasized that alumni are not the only ones who can give to the University. Instead, students can be actively involved through the Student Alumni Association or the senior class gift.
The senior class gift at the University is called the “Senior Signature Program,” which asks seniors to donate $50 in order to have their name on a plaque located at Tate Plaza. The program is only avail-able to graduating seniors, but undergradu-ates can join the Student Alumni Association for a minimum donation of $20.
“I think the visibility of those plaques on Tate Plaza is a lasting testament of student philanthropy,” Jones said. “Certainly, the opportunities now for engagement with alumni and the University through the Student Alumni Association gives the pro-gram increased visibility.”
When asked what per-centage of student dona-tions make up the University’s total amount of private donations, Jones said though it is not a large piece of the total revenue, students still matter.
“The average student gift is usually going to be less than $50, and our aver-
age annual contribution is in the neighborhood of $250,” Jones said. “If you look at it from that per-spective, then — dollar-wise — it would not consti-tute the largest piece of annual revenue toward operational support. However, if you look at the total number of contribu-tors, it is a significant piece of the total piece of sup-port that’s so important for the advancement of the whole University.”
Jones said, despite the economy, he has seen a strong donor response.
“People in diffi-cult financial times aren’t necessarily less charitable, but they may become more choosy about how many charities they are support-ing,” Jones said. “But we are cer-
tainly encouraged that our alumni remain very loyal to the University, and still see higher education as one of their priorities they’re will-ing to support.”
Despite such positive numbers in private dona-tions, Landrum said the University cannot solely rely on private funds.
“It would take an awful lot of giving to offset the budget cuts,” Landrum said. “Never before has pri-vate funding been so important because the budget cuts make us par-ticularly vulnerable in try-ing to provide for our stu-dents and faculty. As won-derful as that support is, private support alone can-not replace what has been lost in a budget reduction of state money.”
GIVE: Students can helpBudget buzz heard throughout campus
LANDRUM
Courtesy Mikaya Thurmond
University student and international pageant winner Mikaya Thurmond balances life in college and the duties of her title. She said her crowning moment has changed her life.
4 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | The Red & Black
The Red & Black | Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | 5
6 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | The Red & Black
You and I were on an anti-cli-mactic roller coaster ride last week.
The ride took plenty of turns, sure, but it never made that stom-ach-dropping final dip we were all waiting for.
To be honest, I’m kind of upset I got on the ride to begin with.
The media — online news, news-papers and TV anchors — were the roller coaster’s conductors.
First, we saw a mosque being built near ground zero, and lots of people on the ride screamed.
Then we saw a pastor of 50 or fewer people claim he would burn the Muslim holy book, the Quran, on Sept. 11.
When the top commander in Afghanistan said the pastor’s plans would jeopardize American troops, we on the ride screamed again.
The plan to build a moderate Muslim community center near where radical Muslims killed almost 3,000 people is a news story.
But I don’t think it would have taken over the front page like it did if Sept. 11 hadn’t been around the corner.
I think the media made a partic-ularly bad move when, as two of my professors noted, they started cov-ering the Quran-burning story way before they burned the Quran.
Radical Muslims responded with deadly protests and “Death to America” chants.
And the funny thing is, that pas-tor didn’t end up burning the
Quran. Or is it funny?If your roommate said he was
going to have a Bible bonfire this weekend, would you want The Red & Black to write about it? Would you want death threats at your doorstep?
Our role as media consumers is to call out irresponsible journalism by writing opinion columns and let-ters to the editor. We must show our disapproval by changing the channel.
I cover religion for The Red & Black. I write about religion seep-ing into and defining students’ lives. My favorite stories aren’t the sensational, “Let’s talk about hate” stories.
My favorites are about why a diabetic Muslim would buy food for a homeless man to make amends to his God for his inability to fast during Ramadan.
I’ve spoken to a gay Christian about a counselor who refuses to see clients whose behavior she deems sinful — including homosex-uals.
These stories prove religion isn’t some abstract thing. It moves peo-ple to their core.
More than half of Americans
said religion was very important to them, according to a 2007 survey by the Pew Forum.
When the media only give space to the radical-message religion sto-ries, they’re ignoring the people like you and me whose spirits — not just emotions — respond to stories about faith.
I didn’t see Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year with a posi-tive message — getting the same play as the flaky Floridian last week.
I understand that people get touchy about religion, and contro-versy sells.
To be honest, I was on that roll-er coaster ride last week. When I first heard those stories, my emo-tions flew along the tracks — anger, sympathy, worry, disbelief. But we don’t have to take that ride.
That ride only stirs up radical feelings within ourselves. We can focus on news with a higher pur-pose.
After last week, we skidded to an anti-climactic halt when the pastor changed his mind. But peo-ple responded to the empty story with something like an emotional sugar high, injuring and killing oth-ers.
Thank God — really, thank God — that ride is over.
— Paige Varner is a senior from Albany majoring in magazines
and a news writer for The Red and Black
PAIGE VARNER
Marriage can wait until after graduationI’m always hearing
about a new couple getting married.
Whether it’s through a Facebook notification, or a friend-of-a-friend or — heaven forbid — someone I’m actually close to, there is something about college that makes people want to get hitched.
Try as I might, I just can’t understand their reasoning.
It seems like one of the worst possible ideas a col-lege student could have.
Now, please don’t label me as some sort of angry anti-marriage hermit and stop reading my articles altogether.
At least give my rea-soning a chance.
College is perhaps the most transitional period of a person’s life.
You move to a new town, away from home and the friends you used to know.
You start studying and learning in a completely different way.
You memorize bus routes, learn the lay of the dining halls and grow closer with new friends in your dorm.
As you progress through college, you lose touch with some people and meet other people.
You move off campus and learn how to cook
your own food. You keep up with your rent and prepare yourself for get-ting a job.
You get ready to enter this horrible “real life” thing we’ve all heard so much about.
Now tell me, during this period of your life in which everything — including yourself — is changing so rapidly, why would you want to per-manently attach yourself to another person in a life-long commitment?
If there is one thing that a successful mar-riage needs, it’s stability — both emotional and financial.
Stability is in short supply during our college years.
While we’re struggling to maintain our GPA, make all of our payments without being up to our eyeballs in debt and wor-rying about graduate school, we are in no posi-tion — mentally or mone-tarily — to devote the time and effort required in a marriage.
And as every guy or girl who has ever
dreamed of getting mar-ried knows, marriage should not be something that you skimp on.
A friend of mine recently attended a wed-ding where, in order to save on money, the recep-tion served nothing but M&Ms and fruit punch.
The attendees were not sure whether they were at a wedding or a third grade Christmas party.
Suppose that these two people do stand the test of time.
They are forever doomed to look back on their wedding day and think: “Man, I almost wish we just hadn’t invit-ed anyone to that.”
And this is in an ideal situation where the two kids who got married at 20 actually stay married for the long haul.
Most of the people I’ve known who have gotten married in college had no way of knowing how long they would stay together.
After all, they only dated for around 6 or 7 months before deciding to attach themselves per-manently.
In the first 6 months of dating, most people are in a lovey-dovey period of infatuation.
This tells you absolute-ly nothing about what it
would be like to marry a person.
There’s no way of knowing how you’ll react when the love becomes less vibrant and new.
It’s like eating nothing but Kraft macaroni and cheese for a week and then telling yourself: “Mac & cheese is so good, I’m not going to eat any-thing else for the rest of my life.”
It doesn’t make sense, and eventually you’re going to get tired of the cheese.
Trust me.When it comes right
down to it, there’s no rea-son to rush into marriage during this hectic time in our lives.
If you truly love your significant other, then what’s the harm in just dating for awhile?
If it’s meant to be, then you’ll wait around for one another.
When you’re stable and able to have that dream wedding, it will be worth it.
You’ll know for sure that your relationship will work over a meaningful span of time.
You’ll be more than willing to make it last.
— Jacob Andrews is a senior from Marietta majoring in English
JACOB ANDREWS
Since the days of PONG, there has been a rift between
video games and exercise.Exercise focuses on a
healthy well-being. Video games focus on gratuitous violence.
Exercise takes place in gyms. Video games are played from the couch.
Exercise requires physi-cal exertion. Video games require two thumbs.
No matter how much running Super Mario does, it never translates into burned calories for the gamer.
Video games don’t make us lazy, but they take advantage of our slothful nature and give us an excuse to stay inside and avoid the mirror — like an overweight vam-pire.
Recent expansions of gaming technology has begun to bridge the gap between sedentary and active lifestyles.
These are not your grandfather’s video games. Then again your grandfa-ther still thinks monopoly is a video game.
The Nintendo Wii broke new ground by introduc-ing the public to a motion sensing game controller and a bizarre word ending in two ‘i’s.
Instead of relying on random sequences of but-ton pressing, players move naturally in sequence to the images on the screen.
Following this example, Sony will begin selling the PlayStation Move later this month. Microsoft releases the Kinect for Xbox 360 in November.
Similar to the Wii, both the Move and the Kinect use sophisticated cameras to detect user movement. Essentially, the user becomes the controller.
Video games are no lon-ger a passive activity, but instead an active and socially interactive pas-time.
These are not only sig-nificant steps for the video game world, but also that of the fitness world. The
two aren’t so different as they once were — even if one still has an unhealthy reliance on AA Batteries.
Instead of wasting time killing zombies, people have the opportunity to attack their waistline. Instead of cutting of heads, they can cut pounds.
Gone are the days of the plastic Duck Hunt gun. Replacing it is the Wii Fit balance board. A Wii Fit treadmill cannot be far behind.
Along with potential, there are also limitations.
The games seem incredibly realistic, even lifelike — until you acci-dentally kick your televi-sion.
Jogging in place inside an air conditioned living room hardly compares with running a marathon.
Video games cannot realistically hope to repro-duce physical fitness, but provides people with a reasonable alternative and a healthy form of enter-tainment.
As Tony the Tiger once said, “They’re great.”
Tony also reminded us that Frosted Flakes was part of a balanced break-fast.
Video games alone do not constitute a healthy exercise regimen.
The fact that video games are now part of fit-ness, however, is encour-aging.
Instead of contributing to youthful obesity and negligence, video games have reversed their role and have become part of the solution to these prob-lems.
Just to be clear — Donkey Kong doesn’t count as your P.E. credit.
— Robert Carnes is a senior from Dunwoody
majoring in newspapers
ROBERT CARNES
Christians want to show love
I am responding to Charles Hicks’ article on Christians and discussions of controversial issues.
His point is valid — Christians should certainly be involved in scientific and social discussions, giv-ing their stance. Being secluded or completely oblivious to these topics is not the answer.
For those who are not aware, though, I want to clarify some assumptions made about members of campus religious organiza-tions.
As a Christian myself first, and as a member of Baptist Collegiate Ministries, I am persuaded that many among these groups know the needs on our campus.
We want to show the love of Jesus Christ to our fellow students.
Through various events on campus, as well as in our everyday walk, I say with confidence that many of my fellow members and I feel the desire to spread salvation to our next door neighbors just as much as someone in another coun-try.
It is also firm in my heart and mind that God, whom we worship, com-mands us to share the Gospel. “...[A]nd you will
be my witnesses in Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).
He is caring and com-passionate, and loves each person on this campus the same.
I commend Hicks, even so, for bringing this idea to light.
It is true that people are shy when it comes to debating over pressing questions in our society.
Thank you for stepping up and making a bold statement.
You are following the example of the apostle Paul. “...I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1st Corinthians 9:22).
ALLEN KENTSophomore, PittsForeign language
education
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LETTERS POLICY
VARIETY The Red & Black | Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | 7
What if you could have your funeral while you were still alive?
Based on true events, “Get Low” details the end of the life of Felix Bush, played by Robert Duvall.
Bush has been a self-exiled hermit for 40 years at this point in his life, and after news of the death of one of his friends, decides to throw himself a living funeral.
The film starts with one narrative that the viewer dedicates himself to, and while this narra-tive still comes to a direct conclusion, the true pur-pose of the film is not made apparent until after the hour mark.
For a film that only lasts 1 hour and 47 min-utes, this is a late break for somewhat vital infor-mation.
It doesn’t seem forced, however, and more of a natural unfolding of the way the events would actually turn out.
The way the story unfolds is also truly unique.
Films have a way of simplifying things for the audience nowadays by showing them everything.
Most can agree that a sign of poor quality in film is too much exposi-tion from the dialogue. As film is a visual medium, this should be readily apparent, but this idea hasn’t been taken as directly to heart when it involves images.
Often too much is shown and the viewer is not allowed to use his imagination, which is often where the best parts of the story come from.
Because “Get Low” is deeply rooted in Bush’s past, one would expect many flashbacks to occur throughout the film, and therefore its lack of them becomes glaringly obvi-ous.
So many tense moments and stories where one believes that something will be explained simply skim over to the next scene.
In this way “Get Low” separates itself from other movies, in a good way.
There are technically two flashbacks. They are
not of the narrative vari-ety but more to reference one another within the film and build tension. I think the film could have done without these and been just as good, but they do add to the movie.
The lack non-diegetic sequences causes the movie to flow in realtime, or at least unfolds in a way that presents it as such.
Most films make you aware that you are watch-ing a movie when they skip between sequences in a way that could never occur in actuality.
The straightforward-ness of “Get Low” pulls one in by making one con-stantly wait for the next scene or step toward the film’s ultimate goal — which it seems is the revealing of Felix Bush’s secret.
Duvall does a great job as Bush, and though it is not Oscar season yet, I would be surprised if he didn’t get a nod for this role. He is what makes this film believable — that and the muted tones of the surroundings.
“Get Low” has a great color palette of oranges, browns and muted greens that are reminiscent of “Road To Perdition,” but of course with a decidedly country feel. The entire film is well-shot and should be commended as such.
The film seems to end a bit after it should, though I can see the film-maker’s intentions in the closure it gives.
Ending it one scene prior would have left the audience thinking though, and as I’ve said before, that’s always a good thing.
“Get Low” might be a bit slow-paced for kids — I asked myself why the parents in front of me brought theirs — as well as emotionally over their heads.
It is, however, a deeply enriching story, though simple in nature, and per-formed well.
If you don’t mind wait-ing — for the film to prog-ress and for it to come to your town — then I would suggest a viewing.
— Auryn Baruch
From Page 1
score on the other’s roughly 5-foot-wide goal.
“It’s a sport that’s really weird,” Sakai said. “People can ride a bike fast, people can hit a ball, like peo-ple can play baseball or golf or soc-cer, any type of ball, but to combine the two is really difficult.”
Believe it or not, this is actually a sport with a long history. Although there are competing stories, the U.S. Bicycle Polo Association website contends the game was originally played in India in the late 1800s in place of regular polo, which necessi-tates the funds to buy a horse.
British soldiers brought it home with them, and then in 1908 the game was actually featured in a demonstration match at the London Olympics. The sport has even earned enough popularity to garner a New York Times article in 2007.
Despite the recent trend and long history, Sakai and other local players have found they still had to learn skills and design their own version of the game.
“There’s no textbook way of play-ing the game, so it’s always a learn-ing experience for everyone, so that’s
kind of a fun part about the game,” Sakai said.
In the spirit of the original Indian game, Sakai and company didn’t want to have to spend too much money to get their equipment.
The mallets they originally used were essentially golf clubs with mal-let heads stuck on them.
But with the help of other bike polo enthusiasts, they’ve learned a few tricks, and now the players have a customized mallet complete with holes drilled into the pipe-segment head to account for weight.
“The whole thing is really simple looking, but it took us 10 genera-tions to come up with this,” Sakai said. “We’ve realized our mistakes and kind of grown from that.”
Justin Miskin, who started com-ing out to the weekly Thursday night games over a year ago, felt drawn to the sport because of its ability to be altered by the players.
“It’s cool that it’s a sport that we’re the innovators of,” Miskin said. “It’s something that’s still changing so much because we’re making it up as we’re going along.”
Another of the original bike polo innovators, Stephen LaVoie, who is working toward a Ph.D. from the
University in microbiology, started playing for social reasons, but also to relieve stress and stretch out his competitive side.
“It gets adrenaline out during the week, whenever I’m stuck in the lab all week and just want to go out and get sweaty and run into people and score goals,” LaVoie said.
LaVoie has participated in region-al tournaments, which occur with other nearby bike polo towns such as Atlanta and Savannah.
Brett Magner, who races for local cycle shop The Hub, enjoys the sport socially but also said the skills the game requires help in races.
“It helps if you’re doing a course with tight turns, like Athens Twilight [Criterium], you can kind of be more aware on your bike, be able to balance and throw elbows and kind of lean on people.”
Although many of these players cited several other reasons for loving the game, hanging out and enjoying their bikes was by far the most pop-ular.
“Pretty much, if you have two wheels, or if you’re interested in any-thing with bikes, it’s a good central location for people to meet up,” Sakai said.
POLO: Students relieve stress with mallets
GSPHEMatt Boyntron, alumnus,
Cumming
What is GSPHE?“Georgia Students for Public Higher Education (GSPHE) is an organiza-tion that started with students at Georgia State to vocalize concerns about rising fee costs before last year’s budget cuts, and then when the budget cuts were announced GSPHE was one of the few groups that had a long-term vision for why cuts to education happen and the direction our educational system is going if Georgia students and voters don’t organize themselves to affect political change.”
Important Goals“The group’s major goals revolve around keeping budget cuts and edu-cation funding in the public eye and to influence students to take action in defense of their education.”
Major Accomplishments“The reduction from $300 million to $150 million in budget cuts last year was largely due to public pressure on legislators to protect education. GSPHE was the student wing of that pressure and was successful in rais-ing the public consciousness.”
Important DatesThe next major date for GSPHE is October 7, the national day of action to defend education. We will be hav-ing a public gathering to celebrate public education, but at schools across the country more aggressive actions are being taken.
“International Justice Mission is a national organization that helps free sex-trafficking slaves. Our chapter raises awareness and we do fundrais-ers in order to raise money to send it to our national organization so they can go break the slaves out of differ-ent countries.”
Important Goals“Some of our goals are to get the word out, tell people what we do. And we’d like to free more slaves this year.”
Major Accomplishments“We do a Zumba which is where you can come out and dance. Last year we ended up freeing three slaves. It cost about $500 to free the slaves.”
Important DatesMeetings every other Tuesday, MLC
Contact http://www.ugaijm.com/
F.O.O.T.S.T.E.P.S AT UGA
Daniel Kreisler, senior, physics and statistics, Lilburn,
representative
What is F.O.O.T.S.T.E.P.S at UGA?According to its website, “Footsteps is an organization at the University of Georgia dedicated to raising aware-ness and promoting the eight U.N. Millennium development goals to stu-dents of all backgrounds across the nation and to stimulate future activism through creative projects, dialogue,
and action.”
Important Goals“We’re partnering with a charity called African Stride. They are building 10 schools in Mali for 2010 and we’re taking one of those schools, which means this semester we’re going to raise $15,000 to get a primary school in Mali. Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world in terms of eco-nomic stability and of course educa-tion is the first step in climbing that ladder of economic sustainability. We also have a lot of events coming up this semester. We have multiple con-certs, DJ events, a 5K, a basketball tournament and more.”
Contacthttp://ugafootsteps.org/
INVISIBLE CHILDREN
Matt Beeson, senior, biological science, Fayetteville, treasurer
What is Invisible Children? “We raise awareness and funds to help rehabilitate northern Uganda. There’s been a civil war going on there for 20 years, and a lot of child soldiers have been abused and a lot of people have been displaced from their homes.”
Important Goals“Raise awareness and funds to help rehabilitate northern Uganda.”
Major Accomplishments“Last year we had a really big event where we had speakers come from Uganda who have lived through the crisis.”
What is Environmental Action?“We work on a lot of environmental issues on campus. Over the last year we focused a lot of alternative energy — clean energy on campus, trying to get rid of the coal plant on South Campus.”
Important Goals“In the next week we are going to be presenting an energy policy to President Adams with lots of sugges-tions of how to get rid of the coal plant and also how to boost energy efficiency on campus. We do volun-teering work, too.”
Major Accomplishments“This proposal has been the combina-tion of more than a year of work and research for President Adams to hopefully adopt some of the sugges-tions in the proposal. Last year we did a week of events for Earth Day. We had an Earth Week.”
Important DatesMeetings every other Wednesday from 5:30–6:45 p.m. in MLC 268
Contacthttp://www.uga.edu/sea/
MANNA PROJECT INTERNATIONALMorgan Ackley, junior, biology
and psychology, Roswell, vice president of public relations
What is Manna Project International?
“We do volunteer work locally and internationally. Locally we go to some homeless shelters and do dinners. We also tutor.”
Important Goals“We’re hoping to raise enough money to build a playground at one of the local schools or do a food garden to kids learn about sustainable food.”
Major Accomplishments“Last year for spring break we went down to Nicaragua and worked with two preschools and fixed them up to make them better for the kids.”
Students for Environmental Action, a student-run organization, works to end the use of coal by focusing on alternative clean energies.
Last Thursday, The Red & Black featured a variety of student activist organizations that are helping to make a difference in the Athens community, as well as giving students the opportunity to meet new people and establish lasting connections.
This week we feature another fine selection of student organizations that might be the perfect match for your humanitarian efforts. Stay tuned to The Red & Black for the next installment.
— Joe Williams is the variety editor for The Red & Black
Get Low
8 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | The Red & Black
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VARIETY & SPORTS The Red & Black | Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | 9
By MELISSA COHENTHE RED & BLACK
If you occasionally see reporters and camera crews gallivanting throughout campus, you are not delusional.
And fear not, they are not (usually) outsiders reporting on our partying habits, or secretly filming for a reality television show.
Rather, these young men and women are our very own UGA NewSource.
NewSource is an all University student-run news telecast.
You can catch it Monday through Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on WNEG, channel 32 (channel 6 on Charter Cable).
Reaching the television sets of more than 90,000 homes, NewSource guar-antees broadcast news majors at the University a genuinely professional experience.
“Everything is real. This is not just playing TV News,” said Steve Smith, professor and executive producer of NewSource. “Their shows and stories are a serious and signifi-cant element of WNEG programming and an important addition to news coverage for the peo-ple of northeast Georgia.”
Broadcast news stu-dents, specifically seniors, pride themselves on the amount of work they do for NewSource every week.
“It is important for our broadcast reels. It puts us ahead of other journalism students when we look for jobs,” said Diana Salvatore, a senior English and broadcast news major from Newnan. “We will already have experiences
that other students won’t.”
“NewSource is their opportunity to produce their own program while learning and maintaining the highest journalistic standards of accuracy and responsibility,” Smith said.
Furthermore, students learn tricks of the trade hands-on through their hands-on work.
“NewSource is unique among other college stu-dent-produced newscasts in one significant way,” Smith said. “The students rotate among all the edito-rial jobs required to pro-duce a newscast. Everybody will anchor. Everybody will produce. Everybody will shoot, report and edit.”
Any student can partic-ipate as show staff.
Show staff are student volunteers of any year or major, and are encouraged to see what broadcast journalism is all about.
Smith said volunteers are needed to help direct, run audio, handle camer-as, help at live shots, assist the floor, and any other technical needs.
Though NewSource has been around for quite some time, this year has several promising new fea-tures.
For the first time, NewSource students will be working alongside pro-fessional WNEG staff who have knowledge in the industry.
“We get to go shadow real reporters — it’s like a
mini internship inside our class,” Salvatore said.
“They will be proposing and covering stories, shad-owing WNEG reporters/anchors and shooting/edit-ing,” Smith said.
In addition to working with WNEG, NewSource will cover not just University news — as it
had solely done in the past — but also the Athens-Clarke County metro area, including neighboring Oconee, Madison, Oglethorpe and Jackson counties.
“I’m excited for the new opportunities to do other kinds of stories, other than just UGA,” Salvatore said.
Studenttelecastgains viewers
From Page 1
capturing the Sugar Bowl and the national title.
“[I wear it] every time I put on a tie,” Woerner said. “It still fits well, and it’s a beautiful ring.”
Although memories occasionally become blurred over the course of thirty years, Woerner has not forgotten a certain collection from his college days.
Three games in partic-ular still register in his mind when he thinks back to that magical 1980 sea-son.
“Tennessee, to begin with,” he said. “That’s what got the whole deal started. Then Clemson, right after Tennessee. And [after Clemson] all of the games are pretty much mushed together until you get to Florida, you know where Buck [Belue] and Lindsay [Scott] got together. Then we beat the crap out of Georgia Tech, and it was on to the Sugar Bowl to play for the national championship.”
Looking back, Woerner said there was never a “lightbulb”-type moment during the 1980 campaign when he and the rest of his teammates knew they were on a team capable of winning the national championship.
The former All-American was adamant that the team took “one game at a time” but the thought of going unde-feated never weighed too heavily on the players’ or coaches’ minds.
Part of what helped Woerner and the rest of the team stay so focused was playing under the watchful eyes of Dooley and Russell.
“Erk Russell is the greatest motivator in the history of college football, no doubt,” Woerner said. “He was just phenomenal. Not having the opportu-nity to play for him would have been a tragedy in my life. Dooley and Russell, they are who I am. Dooley had such great ethics and integrity.”
Along with two Georgia coaching legends in Dooley and Russell,
Woerner also played with arguably the greatest run-ning back in the history of college football — Herschel Walker.
“You know, Herschel, as a freshman, had one of the finest seasons a run-ning back could ever have,” Woerner said. “But the thing is, he did that three years in a row, with a lot of different guys. The offensive line was good all three years, and he was even better. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone since him that is quite as fast as he was from the run-ning back position. I’ve watched a lot of them, and he could flat turn the jets on. Unless you’ve seen him go by you or try to catch him, it’s hard to explain. He’s definitely the best I’ve ever seen.”
South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore showed off his best Walker impression last Saturday against the Georgia defense, running past and through would-be tack-lers.
Like many other Bulldog fans, Woerner was miffed at his former unit’s performance in Columbia, S.C.
“I was shooting off text messages the whole game, and the guys on defense not being able to tackle, that’s a coaching prob-lem, a motivation prob-lem,” he said. “It’s not that the guy [Lattimore] wasn’t a good running back, but we just missed so many tackles, and that shouldn’t happen. You’ve got to put your nose in there. I know what would have happened at prac-tice on Monday if we had played like that: we’d been hammering each other unmercifully.”
But now that Woerner is 30 years removed from “hammering” away at the Herschel Walkers of the world during football practice, the Georgia leg-end is just happy to have had so many experiences to affect young kids’ lives.
“I’ve done it all,” he said. “From kindergarten, to an alternative school, and then back around to kindergarten again. What can I say? I’m just a teacher.”
CHAMPS: Former Dog teaches kindergarten
NEHEMIE LUCIEN | The Red & Black
NewSource offers students the chance to shadow professionals at WNEG and get valuable time both in front of and behind the camera.
A look behind the cameras
10 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | The Red & Black SPORTS
By RACHEL G. BOWERSTHE RED & BLACK
Josh Davis plans to touch the ceiling.
The senior and his fel-low linemen have been catching flak this week after Georgia’s offense posted just 61 yards rush-ing Saturday. Such pro-duction was unexpected out of a unit that was her-alded as one of the best in the country throughout the preseason.
Davis acknowledged Georgia’s seemingly lack-luster rushing attack through the first two games of the season, but said it’s just the beginning of the season and the offensive line will meet the high expectations.
“With the guys we have returning, you expect great things. Only we haven’t done that great of things this year yet, but it’s still young. It’s still early. We got a lot of improving to do,” Davis said. “I guess, thinking about high expectations, we’re starting with a high floor and people have given us a high ceiling to get to and we’re gonna get there.”
Davis said he and the linemen were just as irri-tated by that single statis-tic as the critics who have been hounding the big men. He also said offen-sive line coach Stacy Searels was displeased with the showing.
“I think we had like 60-something rushing yards. That bothered [Searels]. That bothered me too. That bothered all of us in that meeting room because we know we’re better than that,” Davis said. “We know we’re bet-ter than that and that’s not acceptable. So that’s probably the biggest thing.”
But in the midst of being disappointed and frustrated with their per-formance, Davis said Searels also posed a chal-lenge to the veteran line-men — roll over and take it or push through the adversity to achieve even-tual success.
“He basically put it on our shoulders,” Davis said. “[Searels said,] ‘What are y’all gonna do? Are y’all gonna sit here and lay in it or are y’all gonna do some-thing about it and fight?’”
Davis said he and the linemen know they have to perform better in order for Georgia’s offense to have any hopes of moving the chains Saturday against Arkansas.
“[Searels] knows that we know that we gotta get it done and this team will go the way we go, so if we go downhill, the team will because the offensive line is such vital part of any team because we’re con-trolling the clock and pro-tecting the quarterback,” Davis said. “[A perfor-
mance like Saturday’s] won’t happen again. That can’t happen again.”
Bulldogs’ physicality in question
Richt forgot to TiVo Saturday’s game, as he does regularly, but the head coach still sat down and watched the game from the vantage point of the rest of the country.
But he wasn’t pleased with a couple “images” he saw.
“There are certain things that you just can’t see in tapes that we get,” Richt said. “There was a picture of one of our play-ers who looked like he turned down the opportu-nity to lay into somebody that it could’ve made the difference on a big play that they had. That’s not Georgia football. The call-er was right. It looked timid to me too.”
Richt said he watches the “TV copy” of games to see what everyone else sees, which he said can open his eyes to certain things, including Georgia’s physicality in the South Carolina game.
“That’s not the charac-teristic of our football team or our defense, that one particular play,” Richt said. “When you say, ‘Were we physical enough?’ We probably were not in that particular game. They played more physical than we did. I think that was definitely the difference in the game ... There were a lot of things that we have to do better. Everything is correctable, and I think our guys will be very anx-ious to play again and do a better job.”
Opening up the playbook for QB Murray
Richt has said he and the offensive staff have tried to ease quarterback Aaron Murray into utiliz-ing the entire playbook, not trying to overwhelm the redshirt freshman.
But with the Arkansas game fast-approaching and with last year’s high-scoring shootout in the back of everyone’s minds, Richt said Murray is ready to fully run the offense and the coaching staff just needs to let him “shoot a little bit more than we have lately.”
“It’s better to kind of take it slow and gradually get to the point where you can handle it,” Richt said. “Is he ready for everything that can come down the pipe? Probably not. And will he make mistakes as we go? There is no doubt that he will. But I think he’ll be able to handle the fact that, ‘Hey I made a mistake. I’m going to be able to shake it off, and let’s go play and do bet-ter.’ I think that’s really kind of where we are at with Aaron.”
Murray said though the coaches say they will open the playbook all the way, he doesn’t see his role changing. He also said he trusts the coaching staff to draw up to lead the offense efficiently.
“I don’t know if the role will be any different. I think they’re gonna game plan to win the game. If that involves run the ball more, if that involves pass-ing the ball more — they’re gonna put us in best situation,” Murray said. “I think it’s encour-aging to me that they see progress in me and that’s my goal is to progress week to week and learn from my mistakes and get better week in and week out and it’s nice to see that they see that prog-ress. But they’re gonna do whatever it takes to win.”
Murray got fresh haircut from teammate
Murray got a haircut. He buzzed off his signa-
ture, spiky hairdo to achieve a more faded look.
And the handiwork was courtesy of teammate Arthur Lynch, Georgia’s in-house barber.
Murray said he didn’t have time to trim his spiky hair, so he enlisted the help of Lynch.
“Oh, if we win this week, I’m having him cut it every week,” Murray joked.
By TYLER ELRODTHE RED & BLACK
Georgia women’s soccer head coach Steve Holeman speculates that freshman midfielder Alexa Newfield’s direct free kick in the preseason Red and Black scrim-mage went in from about 30 yards out.
Newfield describes it as closer to 25 yards. However, both coach and player agree on one thing: it was her first “wow” moment.
“She stepped up, hit it, bent it over the wall and beat Ashley Baker, who’s one of the top goalkeepers in the conference. She hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced it in,” Holeman said. “There were about a hundred people there, maybe 200, who all said simulta-neously said ‘wow.’”
Since then, the Atlanta native has steadily provided No. 21 Georgia soccer with spectacular moments, espe-cially during last month’s Nike Invitational, when she helped the Bulldogs sweep both Utah and Kansas with a one-goal, three-assist effort.
The Southeastern Conference took notice, and sub-sequently named Newfield the conference’s freshman of the week.
“It was really cool because I guess I’d never really thought about winning the award, so it was just like ‘Oh, nice,’” Newfield said. “It just felt good the hard work in practice and games had paid off.”
Heading into the second week of the season, with games against Mercer and Georgia State, the coaching staff found they had another freshman playmaker in Nicole Locandro. The Marietta native spearheaded the Georgia attack with a three-goal, one-assist weekend in the two road contests. Additionally, she helped Georgia cap off a comeback from a 2-0 halftime deficit against Mercer.
“I felt really good against Georgia State when I knocked the first goal in. It just made me really under-stand my goal here at Georgia: get goals in, and get assists,” Locandro said. “I just remember the feeling. It was the first goal of the game, and it definitely picked up the pace of the team and lifted everyone up.”
When Locandro was named SEC Freshman of the Week — giving the Bulldogs back-to-back winners of the award — no one around the program seemed sur-prised, least of all the reigning SEC Freshman of the Year.
“I’ve known them for a long time. I’ve played with them and played against them, so I know that they’re just top-notch,” said sophomore midfielder Laura Eddy. “They are some of the best players I’ve played against, so these honors don’t surprise me at all.”
While Eddy may have been playing against them in high school, things haven’t changed that drastically for Newfield and Locandro, who both played for the same club team during high school at the Gwinnett Soccer Association.
The years of chemistry that has built up between the two first-year players has obviously translated well into the college game.
“I’ve known her really well since my sophomore year
in high school,” Locandro said. “We definitely love play-ing together. We’re big on combinations, and we’ll have assists to each other sometimes where we just look back and forth at each other and it’s like ‘Okay, we used to do that at club.’”
That type of chemistry has helped both Newfield and Locandro become two of the top playmakers on Georgia’s team in two very different ways.
“I had a chance to see [Newfield] play over the sum-mer. You could tell right away she was a special player,” Holeman said. “She’s a complete player — she attacks hard, she’s great one-on-one, she’s deadly on free kicks. She’s the game on a different level; she’s one step ahead of the opponent.
“She just has this confidence about her. When as a defender you’re going up against her, you’re scared,” Eddy added. “It’s like, ‘Is she going to make me look like a fool?’”
But while Newfield is striking fear into opponents with her 5-foot-5 frame, Locandro remains the better of the two at finding the net.
“She’s just a natural goal-scorer,” Holeman said of Locandro. “She’s very good with her back to pressure, she can score close, and she can score from distance. She can hit a ball with her right foot or left foot.”
Regardless of how they make a difference on the field, both players possess the skills and chemistry that make them both the frontrunners to bring home the SEC Freshman of the Year award. Just don’t expect either freshman to take it all too seriously.
“Nicole and I decided that we would rotate every week for the rest of the year,” Newfield said while laughing. “But really, everyone is really supportive and congratulatory so it definitely helps us.”
Linemen ready to improve upon their first SEC showing
FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK
PHOTOS BY JENNA WALKER | The Red & Black
Freshmen Nicole Locandro (top) and Alexa Newfield (bottom) have captured back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Week awards for Georgia.
