OCR::/Vol_113/WLURG39_RTP_20091005/WLURG39_RTP_20091005_001.2.txt Arch 3’I'%-755 R55’; v. HE; 910 a ‘f (L. ’}___ .,_(_ Making safety safer Columnist Cod Beauchamp demands_c_lianges to Traveller an more student responsibility. OPINIONS / page 5 WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY ' THE RING-TUM PHI. MONDAY, OCTOBER 5,2009 BY THE STUDENTS AND FOR THE STUDENTS SINCE 1897 VOLUME CXIII, , Is America ‘Overtreated?’ Author Shannon Brownlee demands less spending on unnecessary healthcare By Diandra Spicak NEWS EDITOR Forty-seven million people in the United States lack healthcare insurance, and the number is growing. One in six people under the age of 65 does not have access to healthcare, and last year 20,000 Americans died prematurely due to this absence of healthcare , according to Shannon Brownlee. Former Senior Research Fellow and Bernard L. Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation, Brownlee spoke at Stackhouse Theater last Tuesday as the first speaker in the Johnson Lecture series. A mix of humor, hard-hitting statistics and anecdotes, Brownlee’s speech delineated the plight of many an uninsured American in today’s society while pushing the overall message of overtreatment in the healthcare industry. ‘We fail to provide the needed care, and provide healthcare that they do not need instead... It 3 sort of the Goldilocks principle. ” SHANNON BROWNLEE, speaker “This is the terrible paradox of our healthcare sys- tem. We fail to provide the needed care: and provide healthcare that they do not need instead,” she said. ‘ “It’s sort of the Goldilocks principle: we know that too little care is bad for you, we know that too much is bad for you. What you really want is just the right amount.” Brownlee proposed a few solutions to combat what she refers to as “healthcare zombies,” or the problems that face the healthcare industry and prevent the industry from providing qualitative and quantita- tive care to as many people as possible. She proposed going after the regions in the country notorious for spending the most but reaping the worst outcomes, measuring the outcomes of the healthcare provided by hospitals and more. “We need to pay for care in a very different way,” Brownlee said. “We’re getting what we pay for, but we’re paying for them to do more, not to give better care. I [also] think we need to have a very different way patients decide whether they want elective procedures and surgeries. We need a more democratized relation- ship between physicians and patients.” Brownlee also stressed the idea that good health care comes from the bottom up, placing emphasis on primary care instead of specialists. “We need to beef up primary care and not succumb to the call for more specialists,” she said. “Every de- cent health care system in the world starts with robust primary care, and every good health care system starts with a good primary care official.” I In the face of a country which seems reluctant to pass health care reform, Brownlee still manages to find the bright side of things—even while spouting against overtreatment. Her convictions rang true throughout the speech as she ticked off the horrors of overtreatment and undertreatrnent, but the author of “Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer” (2007) still looks towards the future of healthcare. “I have a prediction. We’re going to pass some sort of healthcare, and it’s going to help more people,” she said. “If it doesn’t have some sort of public option, the health insurance industry is going to get some kind of huge boost. None of it is going to be easy. It’s not going to be easy to transform a 2.4 trillion [dollar] industry. It’s going to require changing patients’ minds. And sometimes less really is more.” Brownlee was only the first of several public policy experts to discuss issues pertaining to U.S. national interests at W&L this year as part of the Johnson Program’s “State of the Union” lecture series. An accident this weekend injures a student and prompts community to remember safety By Alllson Chopln MANAGING EDITOR An accident involving a Traveller Express bus and a female student near a party on Furrs Mill Road early Sat- urday morning left the student injured and hospitalized. The university is awaiting the report from the Virginia state police before details can be confirmed. Ac- cording to Dawn Watkins, Dean of Students, the community is currently concerned with the student’s health above all else. As of Saturday afternoon, the stu- dent was still hospitalized at Roanoke Memorial Hospital and doing fine, Watkins said. According to senior Brian Devine, who witnessed the accident, 15 or 20 students were waiting outside of County Seat, a house near the corner of Furrs Mill and US-l l. A Traveller bus turned on to Furrs Mill heading toward the Pole Houses, where there isia designated Traveller stop on the Red Line. There is not a stop at County Seat, but the crowd of students “surged forward” in an attempt to stop the bus and a get a ride, Devine said. “Since everyone was pushing, trying to be at the front of the line, it was perhaps inevitable that someone would fall,” he said. A female student fell underneath the rear tires of the bus, according to ' Devine, and the crowd yelled at the driver to back up and free her. Devine and others ran to her side as they waited for paramedics to arrive. Watkins stressed that it is important to give support to the student’s family, and members of her office have been in close contact with the family. The university has cooperated with the police investigation and will con- She said details from the police report and the university’s investiga- tion will guide any changes that may be made to the Traveller program. Some witnesses and others have suggested that this incident cannot be blamed on Traveller, but that the fault lies with the irresponsible mentality of crowds at student parties. “The true fault is that 20 or so W&L students were so selfishly eager “We are not immune to tragedy... I hope that this accident, though unfortunate, will act as a wake—up call for our student body. ” KATIE BOILES, Traveller chair duct its own internal review, according to the university’s press release. Some have expressed concern about the future of Traveller, but Watkins said that the safe ride program will not be stopping service. “Traveller is there for a very impor- tant reason,” she said. It exists for the safety of students and is “continually under review.” Q to get on Traveller that they effectively pushed one of their own underneath a bus,” said Devine. “If people living in the country keep ignoring the basic safety of their guests, this incident will not be the last,” he said. Senior Katie Boiles, chair of Trav- eller, said students should assume per- sonal responsibility in being conscious of safety at parties. They should be aware that the buses will only stop at designated stops, for example, and they should pay attention to the Traveller moni- tors who can help direct crowds and answer questions, she said. “We are not immune to tragedy,” said Boiles. “I hope that this accident, though unfortunate, will act as a wake- up call for our student body.” She added that students should remember that Traveller is a privilege, and this privilege requires respect for Traveller drivers. “We pride ourselves on honor and integrity, but how honorable is it to bang on the windows and door of a bus while screaming at a driver to let you on?” she asked. This is the first accident result- ing in an injury since the inception of the Traveller program about five years ago. Hearing board havoc Committee charged with reviewing SFHB, student leaders question process By Alllson Chopln MANAGING EDITOR Washington and Lee is looking at the way it currently handles cases of assault, discrimination and harass- ment. This term President Ken Ruscio appointed a committee to study the Student-Faculty Hearing Board (SFHB) and suggest revisions to the board’s judicial process. While many students are glad to see the SFHB come under review, some—even members of the Execu- tive Committee—are questioning the efficacy of the committee. The SFHB is responsible for hear- ing cases regarding discrimination, hazing and sexual misconduct or harassment. There are typically eight students and eight faculty members on the board, in addition to a faculty I chair and a student vice-chair. The faculty chair is selected by the university provost, while the vice- chair is appointed by the EC. According to a news release from the review committee, members of the W&L community have recently “expressed concern regarding the general structure of” the SFHB. At a student body meeting called this past spring, several students claimed that they did not know what the SFHB was, how cases were handled or how to go about reporting a case. Some expressed concerns about confidentiality of the accuser and ac- cused in cases of sexual assault, while others suggested that more transpar- ency is necessary to maintain W&L’s tradition of student self-govemance. The review committee, appointed ,, by Ruscio, is made up of Dean Rod Smolla, senior Alex Eichenbaum; third-year law student Patrick Rowe, Trustee Jessine Monaghan, Trustee Robert Grey, Provost June Aprille, Dean Dawn Watkins, Professor Mi- chael Anderson and Professor Robin Wilson. The committee is seeking input from the community as it completes its study. It has already held one open forum, and the members also plan to meet with interested groups or indi- viduals who would like to contribute their views. Interested community members may also submit suggestions online. The committee’s initial focus includes examining the SFHB’s structure, standards and definitions of prohibited conduct, jurisdiction in relationship to other judicial bodies on campus, procedures and sanctions, public image and its guiding values. At the open forum held in Northen Auditorium on Wednesday, students and community members had the chance to share their views in front of the members of the review com- mittee. A few of the students present shared their concern that a majority of W&L students do not know how the SF HB works, and some probably have not even heard of the board. Some pointed out that W&L stu- dents are repeatedly told about the university’s high sexual assault rate, yet the SFHB deals with only a few cases. They wonder why cases are not reported more often. Moreover, as one student pointed out, since the board is infrequently used, it is hard to judge the SFHB’s record of success. Another concern was uncertainty over the SF HB ’s relation to the EC, as well as the Student Judicial Council, which handles student misconduct. The committee will consider these suggestions, write a report and hold another open forum on Oct. 19. Eichenbaum, the only undergradu- ate representative on the commit- tee, said she was pleased with the discussion at Wednesday’s forum, even though the turnout from the community was less than she had anticipated. “Those students who attended the open forum were vocal with their opinions and had some good sugges- tions,” she said. Scott Centorino, Vice President of the EC, questions whether the review committee will be able to properly uphold W&L’s cherished idea of stu- dent self-govemance when only one undergraduate is on the committee. “That seems absolutely befud- dling,” he said. “It seems to be the administration saying [it is] going to fix the SFHB.” ' While Centorino respects the com- mittee for holding an open forum and allowing the community to contribute, he would still like to see more students on the committee. ‘‘I think students should have a more direct voice,” he said. He also pointed out some potential conflicts of interest. Some members on the review committee have been members of the SFHB itself, and while Centorino said he understands that their insightis valuable, he does not believe that they should be active members of the committee. For example, Rowe has been on the SF HB, and Aprille, as provost, has the responsibility of appointing the faculty chair of the board. Centorino questions whether these individuals can fairly review a judicial body that has been under their own authority. Centorino and other EC members suggested that the EC is not united on what action should be taken in response to the review committee’s process. Eric Hoffman, EC president, could not be reached for comment before press time. NUMBER 4 OCR::/Vol_113/WLURG39_RTP_20091005/WLURG39_RTP_20091005_002.2.txt ‘.*.“‘ I1 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY QLI V II ll\l(‘Tnl\l Q E iuunn-nm-ru nruiulv or L UlVllVEl'lOl T M 0 N DAY, OCTOBER 5, 2009 2 - THE RING-TUM PHI [F l\l!2TnM \lll Iunnn ‘”""V"i '11 L‘1"f\lU Hillel House makes headway New building will feature environmentally friendly design and new opportunities for Jewish activities on campus By Chelsea Stevenson 5 TA r r w a IT E R At the end of this month a 7,000 square foot construction project promoting economic and community growth, will be well underway here on campus. The comer of Washington and Jef- ferson Streets will soon become the home of W&L’s first Hillel house, which will be up and ready for community use by September 2010. Plans and designs for the house began about two years ago, after sufficient fimdraising. Proj- ect Manager Carole Bailey and Hillel Director Joan Robins have been working extensively with architects Glave and Holmes As- sociates Architecture and Design, as well as construction managers Kjellstrom and Lee. Glave and Holmes, who are also responsible for the Colon- nade restoration project, have made the design and construction of the Hillel house unique. The house was designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification. Created by and in association with the U.S Green Building Council, LEED is an interna- tional environmentally concerned certification system. In order to obtain LEED Certification, a building must be designed and constructed with the goal of improving performance in the community. This must be ac- complished by promoting water efficiency, indoor environmental quality increases, and carbon monoxide reduction. The Hillel house definitely is in competition with the renovations of Newcomb hall to be the first W&L building to achieve LEED. The exterior design of the Hillel house will feature a gar- den with 21 trees and a variety of vegetation. The plants were chosen for their ability to to utilize storm water and remain alive through dry spells. These native plants include Rudbeckia mix, Loose Strife, Little Leaf Boxwoods, Northern Seaoat, and Iris. The LEED certification pro- cess continues on the interior with water—efficient fixtures, which will treat and conserve storm wa- ter to help improve Lexington’s water system. Aside from the environmental ‘ benefits, the outer appearance of the house will also change from - the former Howard House, which was home to Human Resources and the Office of Special Pro- grams, both of which have been relocated. Bailey described the side of the house adjacent to the R. E. Lee Episcopal Church as looking “buffer.” The narrow church alley that once existed will be turned into a sidewalk, to benefit the church traffic as well. Internally, the house will also contain many non-environmental assets. The interior of the house will include a lounge and a cafe. The cafe, which will be open for breakfast and dinner on the meal plan, will feature multiple kosher options, including a large bagel component. Alex Dasilva, the director of campus dining at W&L has been playing a large role in this process. ’ A large multipurpose room for Hillel ceremonies and services will also be on the first floor. This multipurpose room will feature a Torah that was rescued from the Holocaust, which will be widely appreciated during W&L’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Week. The upstairs of the house will be home to offices, conference rooms, restrooms and a study area. Joan Robins, the director of W&L Hillel, has predicted many significant benefits that the design and presence of the house will bring to the W&L community. Founded in‘ the l960’s and re- vived in 1989, Hillel is entirely student-run and brings many activities to campus, which ap- peal to a broad range of Jewish students. These activities include sig- nificant programs and trips. For example, Hillel will sponsor the ten-day Birthright Israel trip in December and June, and a trip to Uruguay in February. Over 165 different people donated a combined 4 ‘million dollars to the project. A quarter of this fimdraising was donated by eight Zeta Beta Tau brothers of the class of 1959, in honor of their 50”‘ reunion here at W&L. Zeta Beta Tau, which no longer has a chapter here, is the first na- tional Jewish fraternity. The W&L Board of Trustees and numerous local community members made significant contributions to the fundraising as well, especially Rector Don Childress ’70 and Mark Eaker ’69. According to Robins, this illustrates a large community-based inclusiveness that she hopes will be incorpo- rated into the end product, the completion of the house. CKP collaborates with Walmart Walmart donates unneeded food and supplies to W&L is Campus Kitchen as part of new partnership By Valaree Tang STAFF WRITER The Campus Kitchen Project at Washington and Lee (CKP) has been receiving food donations from the local Walmart since the beginning of September. The W&L kitchen began working with Walmart through its partnership with Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, and the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. It is the first kitchen to partner with Walmart. CKP is currently receiving 700 to 1,500 pounds of food a week, nearly six times what it received last year. “CKP was bursting at the seams with its visionary outreach, and this partnership allows us to serve more people more food,” said Caitlin Edgar, who is a member of the CKP leadership team. Most of the food that is received from Walmart is dairy, baked goods and dry grocery products. Most of the food that is received is gently damaged foods ,including dented cans and cartons of eggs in which one egg may be cracked. “Walmart has high standards on what can be sold, so there is an abundance of perfectly good food that they cannot sell because of damaged packaging. The number of eggs that they were throwing out was unbelievable,” said volunteer Austin Branstetter, who participated in the first Walmart food pick-up. “From now on, CKP will supply more than enough food to fill the fridges and many hungry mouths.” CKP received mainly already- cooked food from some fraternity houses, W&L Dining Services and local businesses. The CKP has added two more cooking positions due to the amount of raw food that it receives from Walmart. Three more pick-up positions have also been added to transport the food from Walmart to CKP three times a week. The extra food donated by Walmart has allowed CKP to feed more people more often. “lt’s given the leadership team and the interns a new level of energy and excitement. Now we can finally move forward with the plans we had in the past,” said CKP coordinator Jenny Sproul. One of the plans include creating new programs with -new agencies. CKP is currently working on outreach with the Glasgow community using a backpack program. Students who qualify for one to two free meals per day at school will be eligible for a backpack filled with basic pantry items to take home for the weekend. “This will ensure that the children have enough food to eat over the weekend,” said Edgar. About sixty volunteers donate their time to CKP per week, according the Sproul, and nearly 400 volunteer throughout the school year. With the increase of food available, CKP needs more help than ever. It currently has a 14-person leadership team, including two work-study students. “I’m learning how to make it more of a student-oriented program,” said Sproul. CKP is currently partnering with Habitat for Humanity, the Magnolia Center (Rockbridge Area Community Services Board), the Manor at Natural Bridge, Project Horizon, Waddell Head Start, R.E. Lee Apartments, Lexington City Office on Youth, Lexington Presbyterian Church, Natural Bridge Elementary School, Rockbridge Area Hospice and Rockbridge Area Occupational Center. The partnership with Rockbridge Area Occupational Center involves building relationships with the clients. “There is an unbelievable amount of need in that community, and because of our new resources we can reach out to help. We are becoming more involved in the community in more ways than just meal deliveries,” said volunteer Shiri Yadlin. The W&L kitchen is also partnering with the Rockbridge Area Free Clinic. The partnership focuses on a diabetes education class promoting a healthy lifestyle. PizzaReddi, Lexington’s newest pizza parlor, is also contributing to the CKP cause. In order to keep their products fresh, PizzaReddi removes pizzas that have been sitting on the warmer for over a certain length of time. The pizzas that are taken off of the warmers are frozen and donated to CKP, which later heats them up to provide partners with a hot meal. WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY CAREERSERVICES Friday, October 9 12:15 pm in Career Services (Commons 3"‘ floor) The Value of a Liberal Arts Degree Spotlight on Public Health in the Federal Government W&L alumnus, Virginia Behr ’97, will discuss her career in public health with the federal government. She is currently working with the Food and Drug Administration, where she merges public policy, law and medicine/science, all while serving the public. Please join us for lunch - first come, first served! Spotlight on Icience: and Languages Friday, October 9 5:00 pm in the Science Center (A-I14 8: (3-14) There will be two panels, one focusing on the sciences and one on languages and international work experience. Come listen to W&L alurrmi talk about how their majors in the sciences and languages have affected their career planning and decision-making. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to hear from and interact with alurrmi representing a wide variety of careers, including consultants, Peace Corps volunteers, a foreign service officer, an attorney and individuals working in non-profits and for the federal government. There will be an informal reception immediately following the panel discussions in the Great Hall of the Science Center. healthcare, 0 OCR::/Vol_113/WLURG39_RTP_20091005/WLURG39_RTP_20091005_003.2.txt MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2009 THE RING-TUM PHI ' 3 opinions While you’re out... be smarter about Traveller In light of the recent Traveller accident, Cody Beauchamp wonders how to make sober rides safer By Cody Beauchamp COLUMNIST So, can we talk about the fact that a Washington and Lee stu- dent got run over by a bus this weekend? In the interest of full disclo- sure, I should note that I was not actually at the scene of the acci- dent Friday night. What follows is what I was told by at least a dozen different people who were at the scene. The various stories each confirm the following basic facts, so I assume what follows is fairly accurate. It was a typical big party night at the Poles. A Traveller bus was nearing the County Seat stop when it was swarmed by dozens of drunk students all wanting to board. As the bus tried to halt- ingly make its way through the crowd, a student near the front of the crowd was pushed forward and crushed under the bus. This student, whose identity I won’t be revealing out of respect for their privacy, had to be taken the hospital by ambulance, and I’ve since heard rumors that his or her injuries consist of every- thing from a simple broken leg right up to shattered legs, hips and vertebrae. Besides wishing the student the quickest and best recovery possible, I want to address two other points. The first is that something like this was bound to happen eventually. The second is that we all have a responsibility to ensure that something like this never happens again. On the first point, I would ask anyone who has ever been to a country party to think about the experience. Specifically, think about the role that Traveller plays at these country parties. Looking back over all these party nights, I remember scores of times this exact same thing al- most happened. One friend described it to me as something out of zombie movie; the crowd all wants to go somewhere to the next party, the Quad, somewhere, and when they see a Traveller bus coming their way, they lose all their com- mon sense and swarm the bus. Future Phi Beta Kappas will lose their damn minds and stand in the middle of the road, all be- cause they’re determined to get on Traveller, traffic laws of the Commonwealth be damned. Which brings me to my sec- ond point: at the risk of sounding patronizing, this is a problem. Um. . .duh. ' W&L is full of very smart people. The fundamental prob- lem is not that we’re stupid enough to think we should ac- tually swarm a moving tvvo-ton bus. The fundamental problem is that when we need Traveller, we’re hammered. I’m not going to say the so- lution is that we should all drink care of beforehand. My first year at W&L, I was asked to do a number of articles for the Phi on how overcrowd- ing on the Traveller system was causing trouble. Apparently, that problem has neither gone away nor been fixed in the intervening years. We need more Traveller buses By God, we ’re drunk, we ’re in the country and we will get to where we want to go! less, or that we should all behave ourselves when Traveller rolls up. I’m not na'1've enough to think that either thing will happen, re- gardless of how many tibias are shattered or how many preachy, “Remember the Honor System!” editorials are published. By God, we’re drunk, we’re in the coun- try, and we will get to where we want to go! Instead, I propose that the solution lies before the parties — these are logistical concerns that can be anticipated and taken Law and undergrad divide Law student laments the disappointing status By Jordan Rothman co LU M NIST I have always wanted to at- tend Washington and Lee. Ever since I applied to colleges as a senior in high school, I knew that W&L was the right place for me. The small community, the sense of history, and many other attri- butes all increased my desire to attend the institution. I ended up not applying to W&L for my undergraduate studies, because my parents strongly urged me to attend enough to complete a Master’s degree during my senior year of college. This fluidity extended from the academic arena to so- cial and extra-curricular life on campus. Grad students were invited to every campus event, competed on athletic and academic teams, went to parties with undergrads and otherwise participated in the varying parts of the Brandeis ex- perience. that law students and undergrads are just different. Somehow gra- dating from college makes one a totally different person, incapa- ble of fully breaking the divide. I, for one, do not believe that there is much appreciable dif- ference between law students and undergrads, certainly noth- ing that would merit a perpetu- ation of the divide. For instance, I may have a B.A. and an M.A. But I am still only 22 years old, We are all one community here at W&L, and I think that we all should do more toward bridging the law school/undergrad divide. Brandeis. Nevertheless, I knew that if I worked hard enough, got the right grades, and studied diligently for the LSAT, perhaps someday I could enroll at W&L Law. Once admitted this May, I hoped that I could perhaps ex- perience some of what it might have been like to be an undergrad here. Though of course tethered to my legal studies, I hoped to gain the full W&L experience It seems, however, that there is a law school-undergrad divide here at our university. Not only are these communities separated by a road and a separate campus, but they also seem divided by so much more than geographic bar- riers. To a large extent, this division makes sense, as law students and undergrads take classes in sepa- rate buildings, have divergent goals and are disconnected for a number of other reasons. Yet, we are all one community here at W&L, and I think that we all should do more toward bridging the law school-undergrad divide. I had sort of a unique expe- rience as an undergrad. The line between undergraduate and grad- uate studies at Brandeis is very thin, and I was even fortunate *‘ticle:reirn;co,r‘r * tau jhtiai W353 in thesept. her in the,.‘.Dai1 cha rity’.’ nained? I I remember having grad stu- dents in my classes, as my RAs and as members of a number of clubs and activities. All told, I expected to have similar expe- riences here, but this belief was somewhat mistaken. Law students are not mem- bers of many undergrad clubs, and I even had to jump through hoops to write for this paper. Furthermore, many undergrad events are not directly advertised to law students, and I must typi- cally get event information see- ond-hand. Also, there are not many ways to socialize with members of the undergraduate commu- nity, and though I live in Woods Creek with undergrads, I hardly ever meet them. I assure you, I don’t desire to meet undergrads in order to put the moves on them or for any other reasons of that nature. I just want to interact with the people with whom I will be sharing this campus for the next three years. All told, though we have one executive committee and are such a small university, the law school-undergrad divide per- sists. Many people might fortify this divide because they believe and fail to see how being four months out of undergrad should merit me hearing some sort of special status. All told, undergrads are really nice to me (and presumably to other law students as well), and I am not saying that I am receiving a cold shoulder from the under- graduate community for being a law student. What I am trying to say, is that people should try harder to inte- grate the two communities. Law students like to party as much as you do, and we definitely like any event that has free food. In addition, because our uni- versity is so small and there isn’t much else going on in Lex- ington, we might as well get to know each other. , I know there have been sto- ries of how law students have only attempted to breach the di- vide to hit on the undergrads. I also know that some may think that we had our time as under- grads, and should stick to the law school community. Nevertheless, I hope that people proactively take steps to bring our university together and bridge the law school-undergrad divide. and better defined stops. People should have a lamppost, or a “Form a Line Here” sign, or a tumstile, or something that pre- vents them from thinking that the best way to land a seat is to gate- crash a moving van. For that matter, we should have people at these stops who are both capable of working crowd control and willing to do it. Perhaps the gentlemen throw- ing these parties would be will- ing to volunteer a few people to keep this kind of problem from happening in the future? Before I go on, I Want to make it clear I’m not faulting any fra- ternity for what happened to the injured student. I know that Sigma Chi had hired drivers for the party they threw that caused the country crowds. When I went out to pick up stranded friends after the ac- cident, I even saw a lot of Sig- ma Chi upperclassmen helping find rides for the people who had been stranded at the Pole Houses. I commend them for that; they did not at all seem negligent to me. Nonetheless, this incident has made it perfectly clear that what we’re already doing is not enough. So, as painful and as much of a hassle as it is, maybe we need to do more. Maybe we should start build- ing crowd control barriers so that drunk girls in stilettos can’t get within falling range of a moving bus (anyone else see a problem with this?). Maybe we should start expect- ing the IFC to require its member organizations to do more to sup- port Traveller than what it cur- rently does (which, as far as I can tell, is basically the equivalent of a thumbs-up). Maybe we should start asking party hosts to provide people to work Traveller crowd control. After all, these parties are rec- ognized as important enough to have a mass transit system run directly to them. Maybe requir- ing that a few sober brothers work Traveller is actually a fair price for having what is basically school sponsorship of private parties. Again, I don’t want to give the impression that I’m out to condemn any organization or even our cultural bacchanalia. It’s just that, quite obviously, we need to do something to keep this kind of thing from happening again. I’m told that if the injured student had been a few inches farther under the bus, his or her spine would have been shattered. I’m told that if he or she had fallen head-first instead of feet- first, he or she would have been killed. W&L hasn’t had a student killed because of drunk driving in a‘ very long time. It will be a sad, sad irony if one dies because our safe-ride systems continue to be so overwhelmed. _ The Homecoming‘ Concert presented the Wednesday Octoer. 7th An Evening with Pavilion $10 for students, $20 for community Visit: wandi..musictoday.com/wa shingtonandleeuniversity/ calendar. aspx to purchase tickets nowl OCR::/Vol_113/WLURG39_RTP_20091005/WLURG39_RTP_20091005_004.2.txt MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2009 THE RING—TUM PHI -4 pinions ° Catharine MacKinnon and the future of gender Aleisha Butler analzyes gender as a stereotype based on social constructs rather than biology By Alelsha Butler c 0 L u M N IS T Catharine MacKinnon, a re- nowned feminist legal scholar and law professor, spoke on is- sues surrounding sexual abuse, pornography and gender in Lee Chapel on Thursday. She first addressed the fact that gender as we understand it is in fact social- ly constructed, not biological. Many people use the terms “sex” and “gender” interchange- ably, when in reality they are two different categories. Sex is biologically deter- mined: you are born with either a penis or a vagina, and even that boundary is sometimes blurred. Gender, however, is a much more complicated affair. Across time and space, the definitions of masculinity and femininity have fluctuated wildly, but what MacKinnon pointed out was that, regardless of time or place or sexual standards, a socially-_ constructed, gendered inequality has always existed. In some cultures, there are more than two genders. This is hard for us in the Judeo-Chris- tian, Western world to under- stand, but here’s an example: men and women who enjoy and prefer same-sex (not same-gen- der) relations are ostracized be- cause they are not acting as men and women “should.” Likewise, in some cultures, there are men who dress as women and are considered wom”— an-like, and in others there are women who dress as men and are considered man-like, but they have full rights and are accepted for the gender they choose. We insist on combining biol- ogy with gender, and still try to squeeze people into one of the only two available categories that our culture provides us with — “male” and “female. “ MacKinnon discussed how, in our society, the female half of the population is subordinate to the male. That subordination is maintained through a culture- wide set of institutions that serve to socialize males and females into accepting, and enjoying, their respective dominant and subordinate positions. Her personal theory is that pornography is responsible for this structure by promoting and reinforcing a gendered sexuality in which the woman is the pas- sive, submissive receiver. This is easily transferred into real-life violence and rape. Pornography is problematic, she says, because it teaches our society that women tolerate rape. What consumers of porn do not see is that many of the women in the industry have been badgered, overall numbers of rape vic- tims, they’re currently about 90 percent women and 10 percent men. She acknowledged that this drastic difference may be due in part to underreported rape of males, but that underreporting, she pointed out, is due to the fact that rape is a humiliating act. In our society, to be feminine is to be weak and dependant; the power of rape is that it feminizes the person on the receiving end. Rape demonstrates that the inequality in our society is not biological, but gendered. In our gender dichotomy, where men are expected to be strong, domi- nant and aggressive, rape is the ultimate humiliation. Men are therefore socialized into liking paign of crimes against women has never been seen as the delib- erate, genocidal efforts to control and contain that they are. After this summer’s attack on an exercise class full of women in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, columnist Bob Herbert wrote in The New York Times, “We have become so accustomed to living in a society saturated with misog- yny that the barbaric treatment ' of women and girls has come to be more or less expected... We would become much saner, much healthier, as a society if we could bring ourselves to acknowledge that misogyny is a serious and pervasive problem.” Rape and sexual assault are hate crimes, and need to be treat- ed as so. Professor MacKinnon is talk was incredibly thought—provoking and unashamedly blunt, characteristics that I think we need to see l’I’l0I"€ around our campus. coerced and abused into partici- pating in these forms of media. We see a woman “consent- ing” to a film of her being raped, and therefore think she consent- ed to it. However, if you look up “consent” in the dictionary, you will find that it means the same thing as “yield,” “comply” and “submit.” Compliance doesn’t seem like a sexy term, but in porn it seems to be. At the end of MacKinnon’s talk, a VMI cadet in the audience asked her how she could say that there was inequality when men get raped by women, too. Her response "was incredibly enlightening. She agreed that yes, men are raped by women, but that when you look at the ........................................................... .. WASHINGTON AND LEE Umvgpsjfy THE RING-T UM MANAGING EDITOR NEWS EDITOR OPINIONS EDITOR ARTS 8: LIFE EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR COPY EDITORS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS DESIGN EDITOR DESIGNER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER BUSINESS MANAGER DISTRIBUTION STAFF MISSION STATEMENT: It is the mission of THE RING—TUM PHI to accurately, truthfully, and thoroughly report news affecting the Washington and Lee community for students, faculty, parents and alumni. Our goal is to look deeper into news affecting campus life and hold leaders accountable. Through our reporting, we aspire to spark discussions that lead to discovering information that prompts change. THE RING—TUM PHI IS PUBLISHED MONDAYS DURING THE UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOL YEAR. THE RING—TUM PHI IS A MEMBER OF THE MEDIA BOARD, BUT IS OTHERWISE INDEPENDENT. 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ALLISON CHOPIN DIANDRA SPICAK STOCKTON BULLITT STEPHANIE HARDIMAN BROOKE SUTHERLAND SAM GILLERAN KATHERINE ROBERTS CODY BEAUCHAMP ALEISHA BUTLER ADAM CANCRYN NEVILLE FOGARTY FINDLEY MERRITT STEPHEN PECK JORDAN ROTHMAN CHELSEA STEVENSON LEE TACKETT VALAREE TANG KATIE HATFIELD ALINA MARCINIAK STEELE BURROW ROB GEORGE STROCK MOORE MATT GOSSETT SHAMIRA IBRAHIM TRANG NGUYEN VALAREE TANG ROBERT UHLMAN ALL INQUIRIES the dominant position they are told to be in, while women, who can be physically controlled by the men in their lives, learn to expect, appreciate and work with . their dependency. Catharine MacKinnon’s work has largely centered on represent- ing abused women in the sex- for-sale industry. She has writ- ten legislation demanding that sexual assault, rape and abuse of women in pornography be con- sidered civil rights crimes. Any other crimes targeted against specific groups of peo- ple, be they African-American, Hispanic, Jewish, etc., are con- sidered hate crimes. MacKinnon points out that the world-wide, centuries-long cam- The issue of pornography is where my opinion differs slight- ly from MacKinnon’s. A W&L student asked Professor MacK- innon if she thought that any- thing should be done about the messages being sent in today’s popular music. While she agreed the misogyny in popular music is a problem,.she believes that pornography is the larger issue. However, I see it the other way around. Young teenagers, fourteen and fifteen-year-olds, are not likely to be exposed to porn; they are likely to turn on the radio and hit up the Top Ten list on iTunes. In the formative stages of their development, just begin- ning to sort out what it means to be a man or a woman, adoles- cents are under a constant bar- rage from the music, movie and fashion industries. MacKinnon believes that pornography leads to a de- tached, numbed sexuality. While I believe porn exacerbates those problems, I think they form long before young people come in contact with pornography. ‘ Instant messenger, texting, and sites like MySpace and Facebook enable people to have entire conversations with one an- other without ever having to see someone’s face or hear his or her voice. It has become easier to see people, especially anonymous sex actors on a screen, as objects for your enjoyment. The problem is that that oh- jectification just transfers over into real life. In a place like col- lege, where alcohol obliterates self-control and inhibitions, the two make for scary male-fernale interactions. Professor MacKinnon thinks that pornography is inherently detrimental for women, and that to eliminate gender hierarchy we need to eliminate porn. Howev- er, barring a global nuclear holo- caust, the media is probably here to stay and we should utilize it to make changes. Rather than try to eliminate such a huge industry, why not utilize it for good? Why not make porn about people who love each other and use their sexuality to connect and build trust? I recently read an article in which the author called out rap- per Jay-Z for not working to change the gender relationships within his own community. A prolific musician and influential cultural icon, someone like Jay- Z, who seems to be very hap- pily married, could do a lot for his community and the culture at large by making ideas like commitment and mutual respect “cool.” Finally, if W&L is so truly committed to changing our sexual assault climate, why was Professor MacKinnon’s talk not mandatory? ‘ The university cannot keep tabs on all students, but they could at least have required that the first-years, who are just be- ginning to sort out the positives and negatives of college, be in attendance. Professor MacKinnon’s talk was incredibly thought-provok- ing and unashamedly blunt, char- acteristics that I think we need to see more around our campus. She did not try to soften the impact of her words. She did not mind that some people would be defensive or offended after her talk; the truth usually causes such reactions. I did not blindly agree with every word that came out of her mouth, but so much of what she said would have been so benefi- cial for our campus to hear. In attendance last night there was a scattering of professors, some upper‘-class W&L students, and some VMI cadets. The peo- ple who were in attendance were not the people who really needed to hear what she had to say. In this pivotal, turbulent moment in history, MacKinnon urges us to choose the future we want for ourselves and our children. I think that if the W&L administration want to have any kind of influence on how their students treat each other, they need to bring more people like MacKinnon to campus, and they need to ensure that words like hers are heard. Pornography is not so evil In response to Aleisha Butler, Stockton Bullitt examines pornography By Stockton Bullltt OPINIONS EDITOR Being a college newspaper editor has its perks. Besides the fame, money and women, it al- lows me to rant and rave about every little detail with which I disagree. Basically, I can do what an English teacher does to your essays, except that you might ac- tually read what I’m scribbling down next to your “A-.” Since I was in charge of edit- ing the piece, I had the opportuni- ty to read Aleisha Butler’s article on gender before you did. I would give you a quick re- cap of what she said, but the ar- ticle is literally right above mine, so all you really need to do is look a little farther up on the page to see what I’m talking about. Although Ms. Butler wrote a wonderful article and had clear- ly formed and well thought-out opinions on the subject of gender, she has one little problem when it comes to her discussion of the role of pornography in gender bias: she’s wrong. The good news is that I can’t really blame Ms. Butler for being wrong. She has two major factors stacking up against her with re- spect to her outlook on pomeg- raphy. First of all, she is grossly misinformed, mostly by Catha- rine MacKinnon. Second, she has not had nearly enough firsthand experience with pornography to accurately judge its effect. V Now, I think it is quite obvious that Ms. Butler cannot be blamed for either of these problems; nev- ertheless, she is still quite wrong. Ms. Butler’s initial problem is much more Ms. MacKinnon’s problem than Ms. Butler’s. Ms. MacKinnon says that pornogra- phy is bad because “because it teaches our society that women tolerate rape.” Women do not ever “tolerate” rape. I have yet to hear of one wom- an who has been fine with being raped. Furthermore, no woman ever consents to being raped. Why? Because if she consented, it wouldn’t be rape. Pornography cannot be con- sidered an inherently misogy- nistic entity, much less an inher- ently evil entity. Men do not view women differently because of what they see in porn, especially when it comes to rape. I do not have evidence of an educational scholar saying this, mostly be- cause I am way too lazy to look anything up, but, trust me, it doesn’t. I have never met any guy whose‘ view of women has been altered thanks to what he has seen late at night online. Saying that watching porn leads to rape, as Ms. MacKinnon did, is simply ludicrous. For the most part, pornography features only consensual sex between partners. And while there are ap- parently pornographic videos that feature heinous things like rape and child abuse, that in no way correlates to the entire industry. Not only are those videos illegal, but they also have nothing to do with the industry itself. Blaming the porn industry for these videos is like blaming Uni- versal and Empire Records for a song that someone independently recorded and posted on his own MySpace page. ‘ Ms. Butler alludes to some of the pitfalls of Ms. MacKennon’s arguments in her article, but she could still go further with her dis- agreement with Ms. MacKinnon. There are much bigger issues that contribute to problem of mi- sogyny than pornography. The real problem with sexism lies not in the major forever finite indus- tries of today, like pornography, music and the Internet, but rather in the minute, easily fixable de- tails that we encounter on a daily basis. These small details are even evident here on campus, yet they always seem to go completely unnoticed. For example, in the first-year dorms, the boys get the first two floors, while the girls get the top floors. There are reasons for this, even though the reasons remain somewhat sketchy. Still, right on move-in day, the girls are still subtly forced to carry their lug- gage those extra few flights of stairs. If there is an assumption that watching a five-minute video fea- turing consensual intercourse is going to make a guy misogynis- tic, then having all the guys live on the bottom two floors in the first-year dorms, when they are apparently most impressionable, has to have at least some effect. An unrelated critique of Ms. Butler’s assertions is her exami- nation of the word “consent.” She says, “Compliance docsn’t seem like a sexy term, but in porn it seems to be.” Now, I have seen a fair share of pornographic videos in my life (only for academic purposes of course), and I have yet to see “comply” or “consent” used by the pizza boy or the nurse to try and seduce his or her partner. Also, I guess if the word is used in porn, it probably is not used in a sexy way, and most of the time, the uses of the words “comply” and “consent” is ex- tremely important. Those words are used to make sure that the women appearing in these videos are treated with as much respect as possible. How can‘ they be bad things? I also took up Ms. Butler’s advice and looked up the word “consent” in a dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary. She wrote that after looking up con- sent, I would find a definition strikingly similar toithe words yield, comply and submit. Unfortunately, only one of those three words played an inte- gral role in the definition of con- sent in the Oxford English Dic- tionary. I have used comply and consent as synonyms in this arti- cle, so I was not surprised when it showed up in consent’s definition, but the other two words and their connotations were stunningly absent from Oxford’s definition of the word. I guess we can just blame that one on the British. Because of pornography’s reputation as a sleazy and dirty trade, it is easy to assume that it is inherently evil and leads innocent boys into doing terrible things. In fact, blaming bad actions on abstract influences is always easy to do. Why blame a murder on someon’s parents when you can blame Metallica, Eminem, and Grand Theft Auto? And for that matter, why blame the rapist, when you can always blame Jenna Jameson, Ron Jeremy and all of their mali- cious minions? <9. OCR::/Vol_113/WLURG39_RTP_20091005/WLURG39_RTP_20091005_005.2.txt M 0 N DAY, OCTOBER 5, 2009 THE RING-TUM PHI - 5 arts&life By Findley Merritt STAFF WRITER I want to break out into spon- taneous song and dance across the 4 Colonnade. ‘ Not only that, but I want it to be a campus-wide affair, complete with jazz hands, shimmies and at- titude. That’s the feeling you walk away with after watching “Fame.” The remake of the 1980 film follows students at the New York City High School for the Perform- ing Arts. Each student excels in music, acting or dance, and they’re all unified in their pursuit for fame and . recognition. The plot focuses on six students ~ as they navigate their individual paths to professional careers. There are standard themes such as love, heartbreak, and external pressure, but “Fame” also explores the anxiety associated with compe- tition and growing up. The film’s strength lies simply in its entertainment value: dance sequences, singing and catchy . soundtrack. . One moment the students are engulfing their lunches, and sud- denly, WHAM, they’re pirouetting and leaping across cafeteria tables. It’s all about high energy. The camera angles do a good job of capturing all of this. ‘ In scenes where a central char- acter is onstage, the point of view and surveying pan shots help create the sense of performance adrena- . line. COURTESY OF SAMARA FRANCISCO ‘Fame’ film provides light-hearted fun Movie is strong in energetic dance and song, but gives no deep message But the film fails to deliver any- thing beyond glittering musical numbers. The characters are not suffi- ciently developed to stand on their own, and their story lines are weak because of the focus on six story- lines with separate problems. Less is more, and there’s sim- ply too much going on in too little time. At times, the film lost its au- thenticity. It tried to capture the gritty parts of the audition pro- cess, but I can safely say, coming from a similar performing arts high school, that half of those students -would be turned away at the door for wearing street clothes. Despite the blunders, “Fame” is not without impressive perfor-' mances. Former “Will and Grace” star Megan Mullally plays an acting instructor in the film and brings a sense of realism and compassion to the role. Newcomer Naturi Naughton S showcased her musical talent, belt- ing out most of the songs on the soundtrack. So the real question is, should you spend $8 on a movie ticket? If you’re a fan of musicals and light-hearted entertainment, then yes. Looking for something deeper? I hear “Public Enemies” is playing in Stackhouse. .. i Stepping out in the community I 9 Student volunteers contribute time to a variety of community service projects with Nabors Service League Students and community members gathered for the annual fall service day with Nabors Service League on Saturday. ABOVE: Samara Francisco, chair of Nabors, poses with Doris and ’ Eddie Nabors, whose son died during his first year at W&L in 1999. Crossword of the Week £3-coming Game by Neville L. Fogarty For the solution to this puzzle, visit phicrosswords.tumblr.com. ACROSS 1 Exchanges 6 You buy it when you die 10 Device with a shuttle 14 Setting for Survivor's tenth season 15 Greeting at sea 16 Hesitant affirmative 17 __ oftitself 18 When regrettable texts are sent 20 Sinews 22 Japanese chess 23 "The Grapes of Wrath" characters‘ 25 Sets up to watch later 28 One of Aaron's 755 29 Hunch 32 Certain specialist: abbr. 33 Guitarists pedal (sp. var.) 35 Top—notch celebs 36 Chairman with a card game 37 Carte start 38 Classic cross-stitch phrase 40 "Ich bin __m Berliner" 41 Driveway surface 42 "Havanaise" composer Camille Saint—___ 43 Bus ride need 44 E. M. Forster's "Howard's ___~" 45 Acronym since the 90s 46 Strike a chord 48 Shmuley Boteach, notably 50 "There's __ before the storm" 52 Largest dolphins 55 Paying close attention 59 Cleans the windows 62 Famous Ferguson 63 Thing to name on a game show 64 Broccoli __ 65 Gallic goodbye 66 Reputed Scottish pirate 67 Priests‘ vestments 68 Beer—m.akin g need i 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 if} ll 12 1 M4 DOWN . 1 Fast~moving card game 2 See 61-Down 3 Bentook his job in 2006 4 First woman, in one tradition ~ 5 Game with 81 squares 6 Like some teeth 7 Morten Harket’s band 8 Largest Antarctic ice shelf 9 "'A duck's quack doesn‘t echo," for example 10 Noted video game plumber 11 First line of a well—known folk song 12 Cry at fireworks 13 See 59-Down 19 Out I 21 Trent Reznor's band, briefly 24 The last letter of ‘cocoa’ 26 Sign on set 27 14 pounds 28 Film with Don Ameche, Sally Field, and Michael J. Fox 30 Nero's day 31 33 34 35 38 39 58 59 60 61 Body shop fig. Do a garden chore de la Garza of "Law & Order" Caught in __ of lies Bro William. Daniels (TV's Mr. Feeny and KITT) was once its pres. NSA's HQ "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that" speaker "Amen!" Make babies lL‘s reading assignments Indian tourist city Heidi K1u1n's singer husband "Tosca" tune Sally Field role Norma and TV actress Charlotte Close NASDAQ, e.g. Liam Neeson role __-Gon Jinn See 2-Down OCR::/Vol_113/WLURG39_RTP_20091005/WLURG39_RTP_20091005_006.2.txt THE RING-TUM PHI MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2009 STEELE BURROW / Staff Photographer Field hockey defeats Limestone 4-1 and senior captain Sallie Armstrong earns her place in W&L sports history By Stephen Peck STAFF w R ITER Senior captain forward Sallie Arrn- strong stepped up when her team need- ed her the most. The Generals had the opportunity to get to .500 with a win against a young Limestone team. Arm- strong set the tone early, leading the Generals to a decisive 4-1 win last Fri- day night, and made some history of her own in the process. after two blowout wins over Randolph Macon College and Sweet Briar, Arrn- strong made sure they did not. When asked if the team prepared any differently against a first-year program, Armstrong said, “No, not at all. Our mentality is to just go out and play just like we are playing Lynchburg.” With this attitude, the Generals “Getting that goal was simply icing on the cake. I just want to keep winning games,” said the ever-humble Ann- strong. And Armstrong made sure her team took the victory. , The first period ended with the Saints hanging tough and the score still only 1- 0, but W&L came flying out of half-time The Generals had all week to prepare for the Saints of Limestone. Their last game was the Saturday before, when they had throttled Sweet Briar by a com- manding score of 5-2. However, Limestone offered a unique challenge coming into the game. They are a first-year program boasting a mere 17 players on the roster, 15 of whom are freshmen. As one could imagine, the Saints have had their growing pains, struggling to a 1-8 start to the season. While it could be very easy to over- look a squad like Limestone, especially jumped out to a quick lead just 10 min- utes into the contest. And none other than Armstrong herself scored the first goal. With that goal, Armstrong scored her 43rd career goal, fourth for this season, and passed Jane Beal ’05 to stand alone at the top of W&L’s list of field hockey goals scored. Number 19 in the blue and white was mobbed by her teammates and received a rousing ovation as her accomplish- ment was made known over the stadium speakers. and Armstrong again set the tone. She scored just four minutes into the half off a beautiful play by senior forward Steph Mansey. Mansey pushed the ball all the way down the left wing, ducking and dodg- ing Limestone players the whole way, and feeding the ball into the front of the net where sophomore forward Christina Benedetti provided the assist for the Armstrong goal. Just five minutes later, Armstrong tallied her third goal of the night and Benedetti dished out her third assist off of a penalty corner. TOP LEFT: Flrst-year forward Katharlne Price chases down the ball BOTTOM LEFT: Junlor midfielder Kate Donnelly moves toward the goal TOP RIGHT: Senlor captain forward Sallie Armstrong cuts off a Limestone defender Down 3-0 and failing to have any sort of extended ball possession, first- year Sara Parker provided a little spark for Limestone with an unassisted goal. But the Generals quickly extin- guished any faint hope the Saints had, as junior midfielder Kate Donnelly buried a goal off of a feed from junior midfield- er Emmy Mathews. Once the final horn sounded, the cel- ebration began. Not only was the great- est W&L field hockey goal scorer of all time in the house, but the Generals pushed their record to an even 4-4. Making the record of most goals scored “feels pretty good, said Armstrong. “Jane Beal told me my freshman year that I would be the one to break the record. I kind of brushed that off, but I am just really more concerned about winning the ODAC. When Jane set the record, her team won the conference, so hopefully history repeats itselfl” The Generals fell to Mary Washing- ton, 3-2, on Sunday. Their next match-up is at Eastern Mennonite on Wednesday. Prqfiles I in Leadership: Kenneth Hopkins What energizes you about taking on leader- ship responsibilities? The impact that I make on individuals. Knowing that people are willing to come to me for advice and ask questions or even just hang out to get to know me as a person. What has been one of your most rewarding aspects of leadership at Any words of advice for them? than one way of accomplishing it. Executive Committee Represen- tative; Fancy Dress Co- Chairrnan; Resident Assistant; Intramural Sports Head Supervi- sor; Dance Company President; K.L.A.Z.I.C.S President W&L? The respect that I have gotten from my peers and from faculty members makes everything I do a rewarding experi- ence. I just hope that everyone who comes after me strives to do better than the person before them. Never be afraid to take on a tasks because there is always more Tuesdavs With Leadership: Goal Setting & Evaluation 12:15 and 6:30 PM, Room 216 Elrod Commons Discover and explore an effective process for both individuals and organizations to establish short and/ or long term goals and ways of evaluating their ac- complishment, leading to success. OCR::/Vol_113/WLURG39_RTP_20091005/WLURG39_RTP_20091005_007.2.txt 2 in MONDAY, OCTOBER 5,2009 THE RING-TUM PHI ° 7 sports To bowl or not to bowl? Columnist Lee Tackett considers the chances of a non-BCS team makingits way to the BCS championship game By LeeTackett COLUMNIST With a third of the NCAA football season finished, it is apparent that the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) sys- tem will once again come under intense scrutiny. With no clear-cut top team, there is a good possibility that the BCS conferences will not produce an unde- feated team at season’s end. And so we have to ask the timeless question: is this the year that a team from outside the BCS gets an opportunity at a champion- ship? Boise State, Texas Christian and Houston have stirred up controversy over their legitimacy as top 15 teams. Boise State is the elder statesman of the “mid major” group, with two unde- feated regular seasons in the past three years and a win over Oklahoma in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl. Last year, Boise State was outshined by another non-BCS team in Utah and was relegated to a secondary bowl, where they lost to TCU. Boise State made a strong statement at the begin- ning of the season with an impressive home opener over No. 16 Oregon. Unfortunately, Boise State has be- come a victim of its own success and has struggled to come up with quality non—conference opponents due to its no- .toriety and talent level. Coming into this week, Boise State climbed all the way up the polls to No.5, the highest regular season ranking ever for a non-BCS team. No one can discount Boise State’s win over Oregon as a program milestone, but with a weak conference schedule left to play, it becomes diflicult to justify the Broncos as a top five team. Does one win make Boise State bet- ter than a one—loss team like Virginia Tech or USC? Probably not, but it is conceivable that Boise State will contin- ue to climb up the rankings, as at least two SEC teams ahead of it are likely to lose a game this season. TCU plays in the Mountain West, the most competitive non-BCS confer- ence, but has never been able to stake a true claim toward a BCS bowl. In 2008, TCU was talked about as a possible “BCS Buster,” but fell to Oklahoma and Utah. Thus far, TCU has yet to play a ranked team, but has two road wins over the ACC against UVA and Clemson. TCU will likely get one chance to play a ranked team when it travels to Provo in October to play BYU, who knocked off then—No.2-ranked Oklahoma earlier this year. If TCU is able to run the table, it would have a significantly stronger résumé than Boise State. All of its mar- quee victories will have come on the road, and its conference schedule is far more diflicult than that of Boise State. Houston is the true newcomer to this group. The Cougars have finally reached their final stages of rebuilding and head coach Kevin Sumlin has been able to make Houston relevant again among the Texas high school football scene. In ad- dition to an exciting offense, the Cou- gars have a legitimate Heisman trophy candidate in junior quarterback Case Keenum. Houston hasn’t been shy in its scheduling for 2009. The Cougars have notched a road victory against then No.5 Oklahoma State and a tough home win against Texas Tech, but fell to UTEP 58- 41 this Saturday. Unlike TCU or Boise State, Houston still has a non—confer- ence game against a major conference team left on its schedule. Houston will go on the road to face Mississippi State next Saturday. By virtue of the BCS rules, it is near- ly impossible for three non-BCS con- ference teams to qualify for BCS bowl bids. The rule states that if one non-BCS team finishes in the top 12 of the BCS rankings, it must be put in a bowl. The rule says nothing about the possibility of three teams not from the power con- ferences going undefeated. Houston has a difficult conference schedule to look forward to in the coming weeks, which may put it far out of national title con- tention at season’s end. But with its current exposure, BCS voters will see plenty of Houston. TCU may have a better case to play in a BCS bowl, as it has taken down better teams in more adverse environments. But Boi- se State’s soft remaining schedule and high pre-season billing may earn the team a bid to a BCS bowl. W&L athletics and academics recognized W&L earns Top 25 ranking in National Collegiate Scouting Association is 2009 Power Rankings By Brooke Sutherland SPORTS EDITOR An impressive touchdown by a Washington and Lee running back or a killer hat trick by a freshman soccer star may not earn airtime on ESPN. But W&L athletes are earning another type of recognition. The Generals may play hard, but they also work hard. W&L has been named to the Top 25 of the National Collegiate Scouting Association’s 2009 Collegiate Power Rankings. The study highlights the best schools in the country in terms of both athletic and academic standards. The study takes into account the academic rankings issued by U.S. News &World Report and the school’s student-athlete graduation rate. The study also averages in the results of the United States Sports Academy Director’s Cup, which evaluates the strength of collegiate athletic programs. Every NCAA and NAIA athletic pro- gram in the nation is evaluated. W&L was ranked 21st in the nation, right be- hind Northwestern University. Collegiate athletic recruiting isn’t all about big-name sports schools battling it out for the nation’s premier athletes. There are many collegiate athletes who never see their name on rivals. com, but go on to be extremely successful in col- lege athletics. The purpose of the rank- ings is to provide an additional means to help prospective athletes make their col- lege decisions. The NCSA has become the college recruiting source of choice for over 35,000 college coaches and 10,000 college athletes. “The Power Rankings are an objec- tive tool to empower student athletes to find the right fit in a college or university not only for its athletics but academics as well,” said Chris Krause, CEO and Founder of NCSA. “Our hope is to educate these student athletes and their parents on the importance of evaluating schools that will provide the education for an enriched, successful career after college in addition to athletic success.” Williams College was named No. 1 in the rankings, followed by Amherst College at No. 2, and Middlebury Col- lege at No. 3. Other schools included in the Top 25 are Duke at No. 11, Harvard University at No. 13, and Yale Univer- sity at No. 16. _ W&L women’s tennis racks up titles The Generals take first-place trophies in W&L Fall Festival and I TA Atlantic South Regional By Brooke Sutherland SPORTS EDITOR The Washington and Lee women’s tennis team was out for aces the past two weekends as the Generals competed in the W&L Fall Festival and the ITA Atlantic South Regional at Mary Wash- ington. In the Fall Festival, the host team claimed first place in both doubles flights and two out of the four singles flights. A total of six Generals advanced to the championships of the four singles brackets, with W&L’s two victories coming from all W&L match-ups. Ju- nior Catherine Reed defeated first-year Christina Douglas, 6-3, 6-1, to take the title in the Flight B singles bracket. First-year Kerry Cotter also earned a first place title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over junior Crystal Spencer in the Flight D singles bracket. Senior Blair Brzeski fell to Katie Schafer of Mary Washington, 6-0, 6- 1, in the finals of the Flight A singles bracket. Brzeski finished 2-1 overall for the tournament. Lyndsey Johansson also took a second place title for the Generals after falling 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4 to Cassie Bowman of Mary Washington in the fi- nals of the Flight C singles bracket. The team then traveled to Freder- icksburg for the ITA Atlantic South Re- gional. Fighting through rain delays, the Generals walked away with two titles. In the Blue 3 doubles draw, first-years Christina Douglas and Laura Simmons defeated Betty Edwards and Zannah Webster of Meredith, 8-0, in the finals to claim the championship. Douglas and Simmons went undefeated for the tour- nament with wins over DeSales, Wilkes, and Mary Washington. Douglas and Simmons were also the two finalists for the Blue 2 singles bracket. The match was played Tuesday on the W&L courts. Douglas defeated Simmons, 6-3, 6-4, to claim the cham- pionship. A total of eight singles players and two doubles squads competed in the main draw for W&L. In the Champion singles flight, sophomore Jen Snyder defeated Wilkes’s Xiaogiao Zhang, 6-3, 6-0 and Salisbury’s Melissa Follett 6-1, 6-1 to advance. Fellow sophomore Ellen Yeatman easily defeated Shawnte Woodson of Hollins 6-0, 6-0 in the first round. Yeat- man’s second round match-up proved to be more of a battle as she defeated Ran- dolph-Macon’s Lucy Scherrnerhom, 4- 6, 6-4, 6-1. Brzeski advanced after beating Kat Cohen of Washington College, 6-1, 6-0, and Kathym Maples of Meredith, 6-3, 6- 1. Brzeski fell to Wilkes’s Melanie Nolt in the next round. In the Blue 1 singles flight, W&L first-year Sallie Grifl‘in advanced to the main draw with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Dina Zingaro from Swarthmore. In doubles, sophomores Trelsie Sadler and Yeatman defeated Christine Petrilla and Kate Steiner of DeSales, 8- 1, to advance to the main draw of the Champion doubles flight. Junior Vir- ginia Dickinson and sophomore Lauren Lukas also advanced with an 8-0 victory over Kat Cohen and Kristine Depew from Washington College. The team will travel to Hollins next weekend to compete in the ODAC sin- gles championships. OCR::/Vol_113/WLURG39_RTP_20091005/WLURG39_RTP_20091005_008.2.txt MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2009 THE RING-TUM PHI ' 8 sports deck Mon Tues WED Tuuns FRI SAT Sun , vs I Catholic Footba I 1:30 p_m_ at V3 H,“ East°"‘ . Bridgewater Hockgy ennoniter 1 p_m_ 7 p.m. 5! Moms Virginia "5 50%,, Wesleyan R°3“°k° 3 p_m_ 3 p.m. w rlt Eastern V3 omen’s soccer ennoniter '-Yn°hb|l|'E 4 p_,,,_ 11 am. at at A tt Volleyball “'°'°" "°'° Tournament Toulflfimeflt 5 p_m_ 10 am. V Men's xc Women’: X0 Men's Tennis woman’; ODAC ODAC Tennis slngles slngles champs Champs numbers 1-4 New England Patriot's quarterback Tom Brady’s comp|etlon—attempt record on third down plays in the Patriots 27-21 victory over the Balti- more Ravens on Sunday. Raven's quarterback Joe Flacco went 8-11 for third down conversions. 5-9 Auburn University's football record to open the season. Auburn jumped into the AP Top 25 for the first time this season with a 26-22 win over Tennessee on Saturday. ET79 The number of consecutive pass attempts made without an intercep- tion. by North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson. Wi|son’s streak, an NCAA record, ended Saturday when he was picked off twice in NC State's 3-24 loss to Wake Forest on Saturday. 4,2! The number of goals and assists scored byjunior midfielder Drew Koeneman in W&l_’s 15-13 loss to VMI on Friday in the 23rd Annual Lee-Jackson Lacrosse Classic box “lt's not championship behavior. But you shouldn't have this behavior regardless of your record. You should have good behavior if your record is 8-20 or 20-8. In the last two weeks, there have been guys whose behavior wasn't of a championship—type level. That is fair to say.” University of Kansas head basketball coach Bill Self on the recent actions of the KU basketball team that have earned the pre-season- favored Jayhawks a wave of negative publicity. Guard Tyshawn Taylor dislocated his thumb'and is sidelined for a month after a fight between members of the KU basketball and football teams last week. Guard Brady Mornlngstar was suspended by Self for the fall semester after he was arrested early Saturday morning on suspicion of drunk driving. courtesy of espn.com. STEELE BURROW/ Staff Photographer Top: The Generals get ready to face off against VMI in the 23rd Annual Lee-Jackson Classic Middle: First-year cooper Brown holds off VMI defenders as he dives for the ball Bottom: The Generals shake hands with the Keydets following the loss W&L falls in lax classic New player uncertainties hinder the Generals in 15-13 defeat By Brooke Sutherland sPoRrs EDITOR The Washington and Lee men’s la- crosse team broke a record this weekend. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a record they were looking to break. The Generals fell to Vir- ginia Military Institute, 15-13, in the 23rd Annual Lee-Jackson Lacrosse Classic this weekend, marking only the third time in the history of the event that the Generals have lost to the Keydets. “VMI was a very senior-laden, ex- perienced team,” said Head Coach Gene McCabe. “We had a lot of guys in starting roles and key roles for basically the first time. I was impressed with a lot of what we did. I don’t put too much bear- ing on this loss. I think it’s the sign of a very good rivalry. Hopefully we can learn from this and it will make us better in the spring.” Struggling with fall ball nerves and uncertainties, the Generals got out to a slow start. VMI put up two goals, but W&L had no answer, going scoreless in the first quarter. “It was different than in years past,” said senior team captain at- tacker Will Keigler. “We were get- ting used to new players and new line-ups. It just took us a while to gel.” - As the second quarter opened, VMI continued to dominate, scor- ing two more goals in the first three minutes to put the score at 4- 0. But a goal from Keigler with the assist by junior midfielder Drew Koeneman put the Generals on the scoreboard. VMI answered the goal with one of their own, setting the score at 5-1. Now facing a four-goal deficit, the Generals ' picked up the pace and attacked the VMI goal. Junior attack Spence Daw cashed in a goal off an assist from sophomore at- tacker Sam Mott. Keigler and Koeneman then combined for another goal to set the score at 5-3. “We were able to start to get into a rhythm,” Keigler said. “We focused on making the right passes and the right shots. The coaches made some good adjustments and we were able to break down the de- fense and get some good shots.” The Generals continued their scoring streak off a goal by Daw from a Keigler assist. But VMI retaliated two minutes later to secure its lead at 6-4. The game was no longer a story of VMI domination, but the Generals just couldn’t seem to pull ahead. W&L got on the board once more for the half with a goal from Koeneman off an assist from Keigler. But a VMI goal late in the second quarter put the Keydets up 7-5 heading into half-time. W&L came out swinging in the third quarter. Koeneman attacked immediately, putting up an unassisted goal less than a minute into the quarter. But VMI did not back down. The Keydets ran up two more goals to put the score at 8-6. W&L finally tied the score midway through the third quarter after a goal by W&L first-year Cooper Brown followed quickly by another goal from Daw off an assist from Keigler set the score at 8-8. The Generals and the Keydets traded goals back and forth for the rest of the third quarter. Goals from Brown, Keigler and Koeneman kept the score tied at 11-11 heading into the fourth quarter. Scoring slowed in the fourth quar- ter, but VMI was able to take charge and hold off the Generals. W&L put up two more goals, one from senior attacker Max Mancuso off an assist from Keigler and another from Koeneman. But four fourth- quarter goals gave the Keydets a close 15- 13 victory. “it was a hard-fought game,” Keigler said. “Both teams played well. We just came out of it with the short end of the stick.” “I thought VMI played very well,” McCabe added. “They really deserved to win. We just need to learn to execute a little better in certain situations. But I was very pleased with our team’s effort throughout the whole game.” McCabe specifically highlighted the play of Koeneman and Keigler, who led the Generals in scoring and assists. Koen- eman put up four goals and two assists, and Keigler added three goals and four assists. “Koeneman [is a] superstar on the field,” Keigler said. “He definitely has the fastest shot, the hardest shot. He can get a shot off whenever he wants. He’s unstop- pable.” Keigler added, “He was clearly the most dominant player on the field last night.” The Generals have only one week of fall practice left before they close out their fall season with the annual homecoming alumni game Saturday at 5 p.m. on Wilson Field. ‘ Initially, [the loss] is pretty frustrating,” Keigler said. “It’s disappointing. It’s up- setting. But it doesn’t go into our win-loss column. It’s the fall. It’s early. We have a lot of young players. And this game is just a good first step towards spring season.”