OCR::/Vol_112/WLURG39_RTP_20090119/WLURG39_RTP_20090119_001.2.txt Arc ,.. / .755" 9,;-.s;;; Ly! cg? V’! ll? H0. ll C’2_ Crossing cultures Journalism Professor Indira Somani unveils documentary on her life as an Indian i 0 ARTS & LIFE / pages WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY THE R1No—TUM PHI. MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 2009 BY THE STUDENTS AND FOR THEVSTUDENTS SINCE 1897 VOLUME CXII, NUMBER 11 Presidential Inauguration % " 70 W&L students and stafl will travel to D. C. to attend the 64th inauguration By Anne Vesoulis STAFF WRITER While the nation watches the 64th Presidential Inauguration on network television this Tuesday, 70 Washington and Lee students, facultyvand staff will join a crowd of millions in Washington D.C. to see Barack Obama become the 44th President of the United States. Due to Obama’s popularity as a transition pres- ident in uncertain times and his distinction as the first African-American in that office, crowds are expected to be the biggest in history- between 1.5 and 4 million. , Dean of Students Dawn Watkins, who will attend the inauguration, said it is the first time a group of W&L students has expressed interest in going to the presidential inauguration en masse. Since Obama was elected president last No- vember. Junior Chris Rucker has been working closely with Associate Dean of Students Tamara “I want to get as close to the ac- tion as possible. I know the city fairly well, so I ’m pretty confident I ’ll be able to maneuver my way at least to the mall. ” Prof. Toni Locy, Journalism Department Futrell to coordinate a trip to the inauguration. “I am so excited to be travelling with the Wash- ington and Lee community to witness this historic _ event,” Rucker said. With 240,000 ticket-holders and at least 1 mil- lion people without tickets watching from the Na- tional Mall, getting to the 64th Inauguration will not be easy. The two charter busses will leave campus at midnight on Tuesday. While the trip to Washing- ton, D.C. normally takes three and half hours, organizers expect the group to arrive around 7:00 a.m due to the high volume of traffic. All of the bridges to the Capitol from Virginia will be closed to all through-traffic except charter busses. They will travel to the greater Washington D.C. area and the group will take the metro to the National Mall to witness the swearing-in ceremo- . ny at approximately 11:30 a.m. excited to make the trip. See “Inauguration” on page 2 Journalism Prof. Toni Locy, who worked in the Washington area as a reporter for USA Today, is By John Henderson NEWS EDITOR nancial magazines where to go for a best buy. SmartMoney’s Holy Cross. At a time when good value is worth more than a brand name, fi- SmartMoney and Kiplinger have come out with college rankings that show parents In» the Dec. 16 issue of Smart- Money magazine, Washington & Lee ranked as the best _value among all private liberal arts universities. In Kiplinger’s rankings of liberal arts schools, W&L came in fifth. rankings were derived from the median yearly income after three and 15 years di- vided by the out-of-state degree cost, resulting in a “return on tuition in- vestment.” W&L was found to have a 145 percent payback—~the runners up were the University of Richmond, Lafeyette College and College of the But both SmartMoney and Kip- linger’s rankings favored public universities over private ones, due to the typically lower cost of at- tending a public university. In their overall ranking of public and private schools, SmartMoney placed Texas A&M at number one, University of Payscalecom, which recently pub- lished a survey on alumni salaries. The accompanying article by Neil Parmar claims Texas A&M on aver- age delivers two and a half times the payback of Harvard. SmartMoney’s rankings have percent, respectively. Texas at number two and Georgia Tech at number three, with paybacks of 315 percent, 306 percent and 263 Kiplinger placed the University of North Caro- lina at Chapel Hill at number one. SmartMoney’s data came from “If we were guided by [dollar returns], we might not have a classics department or..a theater de- partment, and that would mean we aren ’t giving our students a very good education. ” Prof. Art Goldsmith, Economics Department drawn criticism for overlooking ‘ graduate degrees as a source of in- come, not accounting for grants and scholarships, and not including the quality of an education and the re- sulting effect on society. Parmar retorts, “Show me the money.” New rankings name W&L a good value His point being, with a weakened economy many parents will be look- ing for the best deal for their son or daughter’s education. Regardless of a university’s prestige, alumni network or teacher-to-student ratio, does it deliver a high payback? Economics Prof. Art Goldsmith disagrees with the money-first men- tality: “We’re not interested in strict- ly dollar returns If we were guid- ed by something like that, we might not have a classics department or we might not have a theater department, and that would mean we aren’t giv- ing our students a very good educa- tion.” “I think that’s a particularly poor measure of what a university imparts on its students,” he said. Moreover, comparing W&L, which has a business school that is likely to generate higher-salaried See “Value” on page 2 W&L gets revised curriculum . Curriculum changes mean fewer overall credits and only one Spring Term course By Allison Chopin MANAGING EDITOR New curricular changes to take effect in the fall may require students to give more thought to their academic plan-‘ ning. After this year, 113 credits will be re- quired for graduation, while those grad- uating this year need 115. A limit will be placed on the number of credits that can be earned from other institutions. Of the 113 required credits, no more than 56 can be earned in a way other than courses offered by Washing- ton and Lee University or through for- mal exchanges such as those that occur with Mary Baldwin, Virginia Military Institute and others. This means that stu- dents must take 57 credits at W&L. Any transfer credits, courses done abroad or credits earned before the first year at W&L will not count in these 57 credits. Of course, students are welcome to earn credits abroad or from other institu- tions in excess of 56 credits and there- “There are some con- cerns, but everyone is adopting it pretty enthusi- astically. ” Scott Dittman, University Registrar fore go beyond 113 credits by gradua- tion. But they must remember that they will still have to achieve 57 credits from W&L courses. According to Scott Dittman, Univer- sity Registrar, the number of credits that could be brought in from elsewhere in the past was 87. Beginning with the first-year class of 2013, entering students may receive no more than_28 credits for work done prior . to W&L. This includes AP and IB credit and college courses taken before enter- ing W&L. The reason for these and other chang- es is part of what Dittman called “aca- demic life renewal.” He and the faculty believe that students should be encour- aged to take full advantage of the aca- demic opportunities at W&L. The Spring Term course load has also been revised. Beginning with the Spring of 2010, all courses in the term will be four credits. Students will only take one course. Only one additional credit will be allowed, or one non-credit class such as a P.E. skills course, as long as these do not interfere with the four-credit class. ' No overloads beyond the five-credit lim- it will be allowed. The obligations of each four-credit course will be demanding. According to Dittman, these courses will involve about nine hours in class each week and several hours of work outside of the classroom. Exceptions will only be made for the six-credit off-campus courses that al- ready exist, such as the Washington and New York Terms and programs abroad. These programs will be allowed to con- tinue for six weeks, and participants will receive six credits. Seniors who plan to graduate in May will not be able to take these courses. See “Curriculum” on page 2 OCR::/Vol_112/WLURG39_RTP_20090119/WLURG39_RTP_20090119_002.2.txt I 1 V I V : U I I v WASHINGTON 8: LEE UNIVERSITY LEXINGTON, VA 24450 JAN 2 -(3 2093 2 0 THE RING-TUM PHI M 0 N DAY, JANUARY 19, 2009 Outages blacken W&L A faulty fuse caused temporary outages in many buildings Bylamie Kim smrr wmmz Unexpected power outages last Monday kept academic buildings dark and cold while facilities made repairs to a transformer. “It was an unplanned outage,”- said Mike Carmagnola, the execu- tive director of facilities and capital planning. Receiving several reports on Monday afternoon that the power went out, the Facilities Management began to look where the problem had started. “We found out that the transform- er that sits behind the Development Building shut down,” said Carrnag- nola. They soon discovered a burnt fuse in the transformer. The fuse turned out to be worn out and short, burning the transformer instead of doing its job of protecting it. Facilities Management had to shut down the entire North Zone to make repairs, including the Admis- sions Office, Colonnade, duPont Hall, Hotchkiss House, Lee Chapel, Leyburn Library, Reeves Center, Sci- ence Center, and Watson Pavilion. With a high voltage line circulat- ing the North Zone, one small glitch can affect the entire area. ' “The light was flickering on and off while I was working on Mon- day,” said sophomore Van Nguyen, except in the Development Build- ing. “Luckily, that was the Develop- ment Building, so classes in other buildings were not affected,” Car- magnola said. “The transformer supplies our “Power outages, both planned and unplanned, are not regular events the unplanned outages are treated as an emergency and receive priority treat- ment. ” Mike carmagnola, Executive Director of Facilities , a work-study student at the Reeves Center. Because the North Zone was shut down at midnight, she could not enter the library to get her textbooks. “I couldn’t study for my classes the next day,” she said. The Facilities Management worked through the night to get the power back on by 4 a.m. on Tuesday, building, so we had no power and no heat,” said Tres Mullis, Director of Development Building. “Our ad- ministrative support staff works on desktop computers, and the software for our databasetis only on those computers.” Having no electricity to run the computers, the administrative sup- port staff had an unexpected two-day break from their work, while the pro- fessional staff worked either at home or on campus during the power out- age. “There really was nothing they could do,” said Mullis. “”We tried to be as productive as we could. We had to find various places on campus.” It was a disappointment for some students, however. ‘‘I was hoping that classes would get cancelled on Tuesday,” said sophomore Kyle Parsons. “Power outages, both planned and unplanned, are not regular events,” said Cannagnola. “When we have a planned power outage, it usually relates to some upgrade of the facilities that we’re working on. The unplanned outages are treated as an emergency, and receive priority treatment, just like the recent event for the north zone electric.” Emeritus Prof. Odell McGuire dies at 81 McGuire remembered as an energetic geology professor and talented local musican COURTESY OF W&L WEB SITE By John Henderson N EWS EDITO R Odell McGuire, a former pro- fessor of geology at Washington and Lee, died at age 81 on Decem- Rehab Center. McGuire, a native of Knoxville, Tenn., came to W&L in 1962 after serving in the Navy during World War II and as an infantry officer in the Korean War where he earned a Purple Heart. Over the next 32 years as a W&L professor he developed a reputation as a man of many inter- ests and talents. According to Ed Spencer, a fellow geology profes- ber 8 at Heritage Hall Health and sor, McGuire taught himself Greek . in order to revise translations of early Greek writings, was envi- ronrnentally active, and learned to play clawhammer banjo. A McGuire became a fixture of the local bluegrass scene and in- spired a generation of young mu- sicians to follow in his footsteps, including Randall Ray, a local mu- sician who graduated from W&L in 1985 and went on to become a guitar maker. , McGuire’s scientific interests included paleontology, geologic mapping, environmental impacts and land-use planning, geology of the Appalachians, hydrology, evo- lutionary theory, geomorphology, geohydrology and stratigraphy. “Many students will remember him as a hard taskmaster, one who brought a rare breadth of knowl- edge to the classroom and ‘ one who lived life fully,” Spencer was quoted to say in a university news release. “It is very sad to see one of the most distinctive characters of this community pass from our midst.” McGuire and his former wife, Mata Battye McGuire, have three children, Melanie, Forrest and Jes- se. Jesse McGuire is a cook at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Inauguration A “New Birth of Freedom ” continued from page 1 “I want to get as close to the action as possible ble,” Locy said. “I know the city fairly well, so I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to maneuver my way at least to the mall. Travelling with a group of students will be an adventure in itself, although I’m sure that we will be sleeping most of the way there.” ‘ The ceremony’s theme, “A New Birth of Free- dom,” commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, another Illinois sena- tor who became president. The inauguration also falls on the day after Martin Luther King Jr. day, the only federal holiday to recognize an African- American. The inauguration will include musical selec- tions by artists including singer Aretha Franklin, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman. California Sen. Diane Feinstein, Dr. Rick Warren and the Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery are scheduled to speak. Prior to his inaugural address, President-Elect Barack Obama will take the oath of office using Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural bible provided by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. Following the inauguration ceremony, the group will make its way toward the White House to witness the inaugural parade that traditionally begins around 2:30 p.m. The parade will include marching bands from high schools and universi- ties across the United States. Cadets from the Vir- ginia Military Institute will march in the parade. Junior Morgan Harris said Obama’s inaugura- tion is significant because of his ability to inspire. “Obama is truly the first president who un- derstands and embraces our generation,” Harris said. “I’m not an Obama fanatic but it’s cool to see someone who can inspire so many people.” Those interested attendinlgpthe inauguration should email Christopher Rucker at Ruckerc@ wlu.edu. A $35.00 fee in the form of cash or a check is due to Dean F utrell in order to secure a _ reservation. Curriculum Changes mean fewer credits Odell Mcguire, professor for 32 years, died in December. Value continued from page 1 students, with Davidson which does not is like “comparing apples and oranges,” Goldsmith said. Financial Aid Director John De- Courcy said the SmartMoney rank- ings are an “oversimplification” of retum-on-investment question. Some students pay a fraction of the total tuition due to financial aid while others pay full price, he said. Still, DeCourcy stands behind the reputation of W&L as good value. “We have traditionally been a best buy,” he said. According to DeCourcy, W&L began raising tuition ten years ago to help pay for the expansion of certain academic programs and projects around school, such as the construction of Elrod Commons. The out-of-state degree cost in 1993 was $45,350, almost half that of the degree cost in 2005, according to SmartMoney. Decourcy said. “If you want to be in the top ten, you know you’ve got to have the programs, and you’ve got - to have the campus, and the whole nine yards,” DeCourcy said. “Basi- cally we were selling a Mercedes for a Chevy price.” While W&L is in a higher price range similar to the northern liberal arts schools, W&L’s financial aid packages have also become more generous and competitive, Decourcy said. In the past five years, financial aid funding has increased such that a student’s entire .need based on his or her parents’ income is fulfilled with grant money, DeCourcy said. Financial aid is paid for by W&L’s endowment, and despite its 15 per- cent decline this year, DeCourcy says financial aid will continue to be competitive. “We’re right there- not a problem,” he said. Kiplinger took a more thorough approach, combining affordability and academic quality with quality accounting for two-thirds of the total. The categories include admissions rate, student-to-faculty ratio, gradu- ation rate, aid from grants, non-need based aid and average debt. In a list of 50 liberal arts colleges, W&L came in fifth behind Panoma, Swarthmore, Williams and David- son. In the top 100, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill came in first overall. Most of Kiplinger’s data came from Peterson’s, a com- pany specializing in test preparation and college planning. Senior Associate Editor Jane Clark writes, “As our rankings dem- onstrate, higher prices overall don’t necessarily mean you’ll pay more for your student’s education. Financial- aid awards can knock thousands of dollars off the price tag, especially if your family qualifies for need-based aid.” This year, W&L is absent from Princeton Review’s best value rankings, according the W&L blog “What’s News.” The blog states W&L declined to participate in Princeton Review’s data collection due to concerns over their method- ology. continued from page 1 But Dittman anticipates that some of the Spring Term programs abroad will be reduced to four weeks and four credits. Students wishing to study abroad for a longer period should be encouraged to take a full semester, year or summer abroad. Faculty will only teach one class during Spring Term. Spring Term courses may not be taken as Pass/Fail. The Spring Term course load may make it dif- ficult for some students to complete their majors or required classes on time. Students who will be juniors and seniors next year should start planning now so they will be able to fit in their courses. “Advising will be important,” Dittman said. “Rising seniors need to be a little more intention- al.” He explained that advisers, faculty and depart- ments will have to make sure that students can ful- fill requirements in the fall and winter semesters rather than putting them off for the Spring Term. “Most of the classes that are required [for ma- jors and Foundation and Distribution Require- ments] will be moved to other terms,” he said. A lot of departments are also revising the num- Top I0 Skill: Employers Seek ber of credits required for majors. The faculty voted on these changes this year. “There are some concerns,” Dittman said. “But getzéa ie Ewmammf PEDAL CAR I}'l'Nl3lR. & Tm Toy Carri: ()..dm. {ram 0“ 1. Cnmplete mm,“ everyone is adopting it pretty enthusiastically.” 1 ' C°mm'*”“°at'°“ ‘k'"‘ -t?r.lm’n tesforone ofour/ILL Y(}('f('..'AN.I5A 2"1:u,§zia:s1 2. Strong work ethic 3. Teamwork skills 4. Initiative 5. Interpersonal skills 6. Problem~solving skills 7. Analytical skills 8. Flexibility and adaptability 9. Computer skills 10. Technical skills Friday Night Seafood Buffet with Crab Legs 5;1«m~1{.‘3pm Eiaturday Night Prime Rib Dinner 5pm-‘lopm Sunday Baked Chicken, Pork Loin. & Pot Roast 1 1am~§pm Friday & Saturday Late Night Breakfast 8ar tOpm~2am Breakfast Bar 7’ Days a Week 6am-3 Tarn {Daily Hot Country Bar ‘I tam~‘lC)pm ' Daily Soup, Salad, & Fruit Bar 1 ‘tam-10pm Write for the I ~ Phi! Writers needed for all Order Breakfast 2-4 Hours a. day, '7 days a weeki llama Comtetf M’eatIs & Soutlxern Hoispitrriiigu’ Visit Career Services Iroeated at Sections before Thanksgiving Break PI to talk about job search strategies. L _ 1 1 Your parents will be proud of you! Hi? &; i~(.v-1-. i::.:«;n. I93. Belt: Norm Lee I-iwy.. Lcxmgton. VA S44)»~463~3-478 zfzreat food & 0 great collection of Antique Pedal Cars & Tin Toys! VVASI'IINGTON AND LEE LINIVERSITY CAREERSERVICES OCR::/Vol_112/WLURG39_RTP_20090119/WLURG39_RTP_20090119_003.2.txt MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 20rO9 THE RING-TUM PHI ° 3 r opinions . editorial More than money Rankings are great but don ’t tell the whole story of W&L is value Cheers to Washington and Lee for topping SmartMoney’s list of the best value for private liberal arts universities. According to the magazine, the average “payback” for W&L students is 145 percent when mean salaries are compared to tuition paid. But perhaps the university deserves even more praise than these financial magazines claim. ' First, the rankings do not consider the abundance of scholarships and financial aid. With the new Johnson Scholarship program and the previous George Washington Honor Scholarships, up to 10 per- cent of each incoming class can attend W&L on a full ride. Financial aidnumbers tell a similar story, especially with the em- phasis on funds from grants rather than loans. We don’t have calculations that show the actual “payback,” but it seems that if aid is factored in, salaries are even higher when com- pared to the money actually spent to attend W&L. Moreover, to put it simply, money isn’t everything. Do most stu- Money isn ’t everything. Do most students re- ally only consider their future salaries when considering the “value” of an education? dents really only consider their future salaries when considering the “value” of an education at W&L? How can such a ranking even begin to show what makes a school worth our time and money? If that’s what the university believed in, we probably wouldn’t be a liberal arts institution. We cherish the classes that we take outside of our majors and endless chances to study abroad and do research, for example. And we can’t forget Spring Term—~a rarity and some- thing that is continually being improved upon. We also love the small class sizes and the relationships we form with our professors—things you might not find at Texas A&M and Georgia Tech, which were at the top of the list that covered all col- leges. And then there’s the even less tangible: the honor system and the endless traditions at our institution, among many otherswe could name. ' We may not be able to quantify these distinct attributes in terms of a dollar amount, like we can do with tuitions and salaries, but these are what prospective students consider when choosing W&L and what current students and graduates likely reflect back upon. These are the reasons we choose to pay thousands of dollars to attend W&L or why we worked extra hard to earn a scholarship or seek financial aid. These are the things that make W&L a “best value.” WASHINGTON AND LEEUNIVERSITY - RING-TUM PHI. ALLISON CHOPIN JOHN HENDERSON CODY BEAUCHAMP CELESTE CRUZ- CARANDANG WILL DORRANCE MICHAEL MORELLA MANAGING EDITOR NEWS EDITOR OPINIONS EDITOR ARTS & LIFE EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR COPY EDITOR GRACE ANDREWS ABEL DELGADO NEVILLE FOGARTY BECKY GUYNN JAMIE KIM NATHAN NAUGHTON KATHERINE ROBERTS RUSS WEEMS ANNE VESOULIS CAITLIN EDGAR CONTRIBUTING WRITERS LARA JORDAN STROCK MOORE CHARLES PERSONS ROB GEORGE DESIGN EDITOR BUSINESS MANAGERS DISTRIBUTION MNGR. 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 /S PUBLISHED MONDAYS DURING THE UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOL YEAR. THE R/NG~TUM PHI IS A MEMBER OF THE MEDIA BOARD, BUT IS OTHERWISE INDEPENDENT. QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS ABOUT THE PHI SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE EDITORS AT PHI@WLU.EDU OR TO THE MEDIA BOARD AT MED/ABOARD@WLU.EDU. THE MEDIA BOARD IS AN INDEPENDENT, STUDENT-RUN EDITORIAL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE WORKING WITH ALL MEDIA OUTLETS ON THE WASHINGTON & LEE CAMPUS. ALL INQUIRIES WILL REMAIN CONFIDENTIAL. THE RING-TUM PHI WELCOMES ALL LETTERS. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO EDIT SUBMISSIONS FOR CONTENT AND LENGTH. LETTERS AND ADVERTISING DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OPINION OF THE RING-TUM PHI STAFF. THIS NEWSPAPER OBSERVES CURRENT COURT DEFINITIONS OF LIBEL AND OBSCENITY. THE RING-TUM PHI UNIVERSITY COMMONS ROOM. 341 WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA 24450 TELEPHONE: (540) 458-4060 FAX: (540)458-4059 EMAIL: PHI@WLU.EDU SUBSCRIPTION RATE $45 Airing dirty laundry Grace has problems with our poor laundry etiquette By Grace Andrews C0 LU M NIST Today’s topic is one of my fa- vorites: laundry room etiquette. I must place a DISCLAIMER here. What I am about to say may apply to you, but that is not to of- fend anyone, solely to enlighten. I am now a senior, and live in the International House, but I’ve overheard friends who live in the dorms as well as fellow RAs complain about a few instances of sketchy laundering. Around two years ago, I was ’in the laundry room located in Gilliam when I was not only a victim, but also a witness to bad laundry room etiquette. To begin, my roommate at the time and I had loaded our laun- dry in an almost vacant laundry room. There were a handful of open washing machines and since it was almost 11 pm, we weren’t too worried about hav- ing any laundering problems. Boy, were we wrong! Af- ter getting too involved in an episode of “Veronica Mars,” my roomie and I returned to the laundry room about twenty min- utes after our clothes had finished washing. When we entered the laun- dry room, we were shocked (by shocked, I mean a little upset in our spirits) to find that our clothes were located outside of the safety and warmth of a Washington and Lee washing machine. My clothes had somehow mysteriously grown legs and found their way to the counter- top located across from the ma- chines. My roommate’s clothes were on top of the machine I had used and the one next to it. Not only were the clothes located on top of the machine, but the ma- chine was being used by some- one else. I couldn’t help BUT laugh during that moment. I could not believe it. There, on top of the counter were my brightly polka- dotted undergarments for ALL THE WORLD to see. To make matters worse, there were two young men in there who had the pleasure of watching me try to conceal my intimates. To make the situation even more unbearable, the young man who had hijacked our washers suddenly walked into the laun- dry room. I could not believe my eyes. The washer-watcher walked in whistling and shuf- fling his little machine-stealing feet while I gave him my fire- starting glare (which he did not notice). The thought of this total stranger taking my unmention- ables out of the washer made me a little uncomfortable. What he did next truly disturbed me. The dryer door-opener pro- ceeded to open dryers that were currently in use, for reasons that I’m not sure of, and closed the doors without restarting them. Then, he removed clothes from a recently finished-dryer to use it himself. When I say recently finished, I mean that he waited next to the dryer until it beeped, despite the , laundry room informing students that detergent theft is an honor code violation too. It is one that I was a victim of so many times while living on campus, so much so that I went through a bottle of detergent and Shout per month, even though I only did about 5 loads a month. The irony of the situation was that on my way home, I acciden- tally took an unnamed bottle of Shout that I thought was mine. However, when I realized it wasn’t mine, I screamed loudly (I thought I had committed an accidental honor code violation) and ran back to the laundry room to return it. As much as I wanted to judge the washer-watching bounce- Honestly though, who is going to pick up their underpants 0/?" of a linty ground after several days? T hats right, not me...I bet the clothes aren ’t clean anymore. fact that there were two empty ones. This young man then went around to boxes of Snuggle and other various dryer sheet brands snifling and “borrowing” sheets. When I say sniffing, I mean sniff- ing. This bounce-sniffer smelled the sheets so hard I thought they might lose their freshness. Now, I’m not sure if this laun- dry room renegade ever returned any of these sheets or not, but I thought it was a bit hold to be so picky. I think the saying goes, “beg- gars can’t be choosers.” After undetectably observing this clear and disturbing viola- tion of laundry room etiquette, I quickly set my cell phone alarm for approximately an hour. I was stricken with a fear of coming in and finding my clothes placed upon some unclean surface. As I walked home, I won- dered if ‘ole Sir Sniffs-a-lot had “borrowed” some detergent too, and how picky he had been. You see, common sense would tell you that if you do decide to “borrow” detergent from some- one, you should find a really full bottle to use. However it seems to me that people don’t think this thoroughly. That’s probably why there is now a sign in Gilliam’s sniffer, I realized that I was just as guilty as him of violating good laundry room etiquette. My first year, my roommate and I “accidentally” took so many socks that we could have socked a barefoot Centipede. It’s not that we did it on purpose; it’s just that when you take your items out of the washer or dryer, you never notice what could have been left there by someone else. I remember one time our first- year when I asked my roommate to get my things out of the dryer for me. She returned with about three new t-shirts and some more socks (surprise, surprise). The problem in that situation was that I didn’t fold my clothes for several days and it was right before a break. Thus, when I no- ticed strange un-Grace like items in my basket, it was already too late. Even though I took the stuff back, folded and clean, and placed them on a clean surface, no one ever retrieved the items and they became property of the laundry room. I think that is why there are so many clothing items on the floor — people don’t know what’s theirs and what’s not. Out of fear of committing an honor code vi- olation, they just leave the stuff on the ground or counter and walk away. Honestly though, who ’s going to pick up theirrunderpants off of a linty ground after several days? That’s right, not me. Short of the mortifying idea of having to do that in front of people I don’t know, I bet the clothes aren’t as clean anymore. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t take a washer or dryer that they need or “borrow” deter- gent and dryer sheets when they are running low, but there should be some sort of discretion that is applied. For instance, I myself have never removed someone else’s clothes from either the dryer or the washer. I always sit and wait, or wash my clothes at another time. In my public laundering opin- ion, 1 think that you should give everyone thirty-minutes to come and get their stuff. You never know if the owner of the items you want to remove is doing something important, such as a take-home test or watching “Ve- ronica Mars.” Although, I must say that I hate when people just leave their clothes in washers or dryers for hours and never pick them up. I know that I have friends who have put their stuff in the dryer at some god-forsaken hour (dur- ing the night that is) and return the next day to pick them up. I don’t advise doing that, as you may have some strange bacterial creature growing on your favor- ite t-shirt and trying to befriend the lint on your towel. However, if you are in a hurry and cannot wait, please be kind enough to place the clothes on a clean surface and conceal any items that may be deemed em- barrassing for others to see. Also, don’t go around taking only the rain-shower fresh dryer sheets and leaving the tropical- mist ones in the discarded scents pile. The tropical-mist sheets have feelings too. As the season of pledgeship begins, I would like the pledges to take heed to this article. Main- tain good laundry behavior as you do enough of your frats laun- dry to be a dry cleaner. Please remember to “borrow” responsi- bly and “replace” when you can; most importantly, remember that friends don’t let friends become washer-watchers, dryer door- openers, and bounce-sniffers. MLK’s dream is not here quite yet Applauding Obama because he is black forgets that King valued character By Abel Delgado COLU M NIST The significance is impos- sible to ignore. Eighty years after the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., the nation Dr. King lived and died to create will inaugurate Barack Obama as its president._ We are a different America than we were back when Dr. King was born, and that is reason enough to celebrate. When I visited the D.C. area a few weeks ago, it looked like the Obama celebration had already started. I couldn’t even buy a metro ticket without seeing the Presi- dent-elect’s picture on it. As a Republican, this should have bothered me. It should have been a reminder of a failed election ef- fort, but I was surprisingly not all that bothered. Seeing Obama’s face every where is the clearest reminder that he’s not like the 43 men who preceded him. Seeing white Americans buy t-shirts with a photo of the future first family, the first black family to be the first family, was an excellent ex- ample of America’s ‘evolving at- titudes on race. I wondered if the street-ven- dors that sold the t-shirts, many of them speaking with foreign accents, were thinking that one day their children could grow up to be on those t-shirts. A t-shirt with the faces of Dr. King and President-Elect Obama even stated that “The dream came true.” It sure looked that way, but has it really? For minority Republicans like me, the pride is bitter-sweet at best. My guy lost. My ideas lost. Why should I be proud? Well, the fact that a “non-An- glo,” “multi-cultural” “minor- ity,” or whatever you want to call it, was elected to lead a diverse country with so little history of diversity in the ruling the class is ~ significant. The fact that my eight-year- old cousin’s declaration that he will one day be president is not just cute but is now within the realm of possibility, that is rea- son enough to be proud. It’s safe to say Dr. King and Abraham Lincoln would be proud, even if they were Repub- licans. I remember watching Tara Wall, a black conservative and CNN commentator, on Election Night once it was obvious his- tory had been made. She ‘was her trying to balance her pride in her heritage with her political disagreements with the winning candidate. Although we don’t share a heritage we do share the feeling of bitter-sweetrress she expressed. Whether you are a devout Obama supporter or part of the loyal opposition, January 20th should still be acknowledged as a tremendous day in our nation’s history. But let’s not get ahead of our- selves. The dream is nowhere near realized. If Dr. King wanted us to be judged not be the color of our skin but by the content of our character, and I, as well as many other Americans, am proud of Obama’s inauguration simply because of the color of his skin, then the dream can’t be complet- ed. I am not saying it is wrong to be proud of Obama for being the first black man elected presi- dent, but the fact that this is still something to be proud of means we still have work to do before we fulfill Dr. King’s dream. The day black men, or Jewish women, or Hindus, or Hispanics get elected to high office and we don’t even think to mention it was a great achievement simply because of the way they looked or the god they worshiped, is the day we can say the dream came true. It is not the day we ignore race, it is the day race doesn’t de- fine us and we don’t use race to define others. Racism will not end on Janu- ary 20th. America’s original sin of slavery will not be cleared from our memory either. On that day we should celebrate that we are one step closer to realizing Dr. King’s dream, but we have a ways to go. OCR::/Vol_112/WLURG39_RTP_20090119/WLURG39_RTP_20090119_004.2.txt THE RING-TUM PHI ' 4 MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 2009 arts&life Story time in Payne Hall Prospective professor reads a short selection from a story to an eager W&L audience‘ By Katherlne Roberts sun: warren As part of her campus visit during her applica- tion for a position in Ethnic American Literatures and Fiction, Dr. Ivelisse Rodriguez read part of a story to students and faculty Friday afternoon. The campus visit, during which Rodriguez also taught a sample class, is the final phase in the application process, according to English Depart- ment Head Professor Lesley Wheeler. Rodriguez is one of three finalists asked to visit campus fol- lowing interviews in December, from an original pool of about 100 applicants. Rodriguez read the first 14 pages of a 44-page story, The Different Story. It is told from the point of View of a Latin-American girl who is challenging her mother’s cynical View on love. In the story, the high school-aged narrator and her friends grew up hearing their mothers’ warnings not to trust men: “Marry, but don’t believe” in true “Rodriguez 3 story is in keeping with a recent trend of a dry, simple, tongue-in- cheek style of American literature: Andrea Null: iunlor love. The idealistic daughters, who want to believe ‘ in love, discover the causes of their mother’s cyni- cism: husbands who have left and fiiends who have been ill-treated by men. They resolve to believe that, despite their mothers’ anti-love stories, love can exist. They consider themselves revolutionar- ies, writing and performing their own poetry to their mothers’ protests. Rodriguez said that, later in the story, the nar- rator will confront her own father and ask him him why he left her mother. His response: “People make too much of love.” Rodriguez said that, while her personal views have shifted over the years she’s been working on this story, she currently agrees the most with the father. Love is a starting point for everything that comes afterward. “Rodriguez’s story is in keeping with a recent trend of a dry, simple, tongue-in-cheek style of American literature,” said junior Andrea Null, who attended the reading. Null, who is considering the new Creative Writing minor, said she wanted to be familiar with the work of candidates who could be her professors in the future. The students and faculty members in the audience seemed to enjoy the reading, laughing at the girls’ frustration with their more traditional mothers. Rodriguez also incorporated jokes and refer- ences to Latino-American culture, and being part of a smaller group within the greater society. At one point, the mothers, fiercely proud of their heritage, accuse the daughters of acting “the A word”— American. Rodriguez said that her own mother, like the mothers in the story, views every man as suspect and prefers to follow the “old ways.” However, while her characters are always Latino, Rodriguez said she tries to appeal to a broader audience. For example, the story she read also has feminist and working-class aspects. The revolutionary daughters draw from a community of women who were treated poorly by men, regardless of race or time. And “men get shafted too,” she added, to laughter from the audience. — Rodriguez earned a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Illinois in 2006 and has taught at several schools, most recently at the Coast Guard Academy. She wrote a collection of short stories for her dissertation, which is currently under review for publication. Myers’ final bow Music professor is hasty resignation raises a few eyebrows By Celeste Cruz-Carandang ARTS&LlFE EDITOR The Washington and Lee campus always seems to be filled with intrigue. From the latest post on Juicy Campus to the incriminating pictures from tear night, W&L is buzzing with gossip. Until now, most of the rumors were about the students. Fortunately for some, the spotlight is now shining on the faculty; the music department in par- ticular. Dr. Jerry Myers, act- ing director of choral ac- tivities, resigned from his position, at the beginning of January. ' ' Although his students were told that Myers had been offered a better posi- tion in St. Louis, some of them. were still not satis- fied. Sam Gilleran, a mem- ber of the Chamber singers and a former member of ' the University chorus com- mented that, “When Myers told us (chamber singers) thathe was leaving. . .the first thought that came to my mind was that he must have been told that he wasn’t getting Doc Spice’s old job...and I definitely assumed, and others also would imagine, that he would be named the Direc- tor [of choral activities] at some future point.” Christian Roden, another member of the Chamber Singers, said, “He wasn’t going to get tenured here but he was going to get tenured in St. Louis. We lost an excellent choral director. It’s too bad that he had to make a deci- sion that was best for him and that didn’t keep him at Washington and Lee.” Both Gilleran and Roden admit that they heard these things from He had been with the chorus since his graduation in 2000. He was also quite close with Myers. Harvey and Myers collaborated on a number of W&L cho- ral and theatrical perfor- mances. This spring’s tour to South Africa was another one of these collaborative projects. The tour was can- celled soon after the de- “We lost an excellent choral director Its too bad that he had to make a decision that was best for him and that didn ’t keep him at Wash- 1 ington and Lee. ’ Christian Roden, member of Chamber Singers various sources of ques- tionable reliability. Other students felt uncomfortable with the situation and refused to comment. Adding to the mystery surrounding Myers’ depar- ture is Josh Harvey’s resig- nation as the accompanist of the University Chorus and as a faculty member of the music department. Harvey also refused to comment. Harvey informed students of his resignation prior to the start of winter term and weeks before My- ers’ actual departure from the University. partment learned taht My- ers had accepted another position and was leaving in January. Dr. Spice, head of the Music department, re- vealed that there were also problems with enrollment for the tour. “There are 51 students registered in the Univer- sity Chorus. Only about 16 signed up for the tour and among those 16 were two or three males. I felt that the group could not adequately represent W&L” SpiceDespite the small scandal surround- ing Myers’ resignation, the situation may have simply been dramatized by rumor. . Spice feels that the students’ discontent may be based on rumor and not fact. J . “They don’t~fully" understand the situation.‘ Many students think that [Myers] already had the job...we were required to do a national search, and Jerry, of course was one of outstanding finalists for it.” Myers was then of— » fered a j ob in St. Louis. The position began in January. According to Spice, “There - were several reasons why this position was attractive to Jerry. “First, .1" it is a very good job at. a large institution. Most importantly, it is in St.’ Louis. . .he finds himself 45 minutes from his parents?’ home.” g Spice admits that the university has lost a great professor. “The chorus made great strides under Dr. Myers’ leadership.” The University Cho- rus is now under the direc- tion of Dr. Robert Allen. Allen taught at Mary Bald- A win for over 30 years and‘ has over 40 years of con- ducting experience. “We were lucky to get him,” said Dr. Spice. “It was quite last minute.” Happy Birthday by Neville L. Fogarty Head over to ringtumphicrossword.blogspot.eom to check your solution to this week’s puzzle! Across E 1 3 4 5 6 7:‘ 8 9 10 I l E2 13 l Mystic 6 Saudi. ea. 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