OCR::/Vol_115/WLURG39_RTP_20111003/WLURG39_RTP_20111003_001.2.txt V'I:",ww _’ 3"." rvfi‘c‘:~..'.~*'V ‘,3. ;J.¢+‘ >~{_u, ,.... r There's a Crossword! 1 ARTS & LIFE / page 5 One for the books » Football shuts out Guilford Quakers, 63 — O, in the biggest winsince 1922. SPORTS/page8 WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY THE RING-TUM PHI. U‘ MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011 to school By Happy Carlock STAF F WRITE R About 800 guests travelled from all over the country to reunite with old classmates and cheer on the Generals. For the past three years, Young Alumni Weekend has brought former students back to Washington and Lee for the Homecoming football game and five ten—year reunions. Executive Director of Alumni Affairs Beau Dudley helped developed the first Young Alumni Week- end in 2009. - “This is an event that we created just three years ago when we realized that we were not doing right by our youngest alumni,” Dudley said. “We asked a num- ber of young alumni to help us design it so it would appeal to that generation of students.” Originally, all alumni were invited to Homecoming weekend, but quality and attendance fell over the past 15 years. The Alumni Association reorganized the weekend in order to bring more alumni back and improve connections with re- cent graduates. “What we discovered is that we were pairing our oldest alumni ~ people who had attended their 50th reunion — with our most recent five graduating classes,” Dudley said. “lt’s hard to construct a weekend that will make both of those groups happy, so we simply converted Homecoming weekend into Young Alumni Weekend.” The Alumni Association now holds three reunion weekends: Five Star Fes- tival in September, Alumni Weekend in early May, and Young Alumni Weekend in October. Assistant Director of Alumni Af- fairs Jen Utterback, the mastermind be- hind the organization of Young Alumni Weekend, began.scheduling the week- end a year ago. “Once last year’s Young Alumni Weekend ended, a day or two later I booked all the hotels, but my conference calls and main focus on it was over the summer,” Utterback said. “The regis- tration goes out in July, so pretty much from July 1, it’s game on.” The weekend began Friday for re- turning alumni with registration and a campus tour at noon, followed by class receptions at 6:30 p.m. “All young alumni are welcome back, but we honor the fifth and tenth re- unions with class receptions,” Utterback said. “At the class receptions they take their class photos and present their class gifts. President Ken Ruscio accepts the checks and gives briefremarks, thanking the class for raising the money.” On Saturday, alumni attended a tail- gate on the law school lawn before the Homecoming football game, but the main event of the weekend took place Saturday night. “The final event, which is the biggest, is the wine tasting and barbecue on the front lawn on Saturday night from 6:30 to 9 p.m.,” Utterbacksaid. “We have a live band, and six Virginia vineyards that bring their wine and set up booths so people can go around and have a taste. We also have Virginia beer coming this year, and W&L catering does their great I’! IHE SIUDEHTS AID FOR IHE SIUIIEIIS SIJIEE II-‘Ii? VOLUMECXV. Alums come h Young Alumni Weekend brings 800 guests back barbecue.” About 550 alumni and their guests at- tended‘ the wine tasting, along with the Class of 2012. Recent graduates such as Christine Balistreri ’ll, enjoyed re- connecting with old friends. Balistreri is now an admissions counselor in the W&L Office of Admissions. “I’m most looking forward to ev- eryone coming back and attending the harvest dinner on Wednesday night (in the Marketplace) with my housemates,” Balistreri said. “Six of the seven Lodell The Washington and Lee Mock . Convention is getting ready to kick off the new school year with the State ' Delegation Fair on Oct. 5 in Stemmons ' Plaza. Students interested in participat- ing in the Convention must attend this , fair in order to join a state delegation. The fair will act as both a recruit- ment event ‘for state chairs and an op- portunity for students to talk to state chairs, before deciding which delega- ~ tion to join. A “This is the last opportunity to get involved with the Convention, so we would really love to see a great tum- out,” said Mock Con Public Relations" Chair Kelli Jarrell. On each state or territory delega- tion, students will have the opportunity to design the state float for the Mock Convention parade, help with political ' research, help with public relations for the state and coordinate special events ' for the delegation. Several subcommittees will also be recruiting students at the State Delega- tion Fair. Jarell said students must be aware that outside of the Steering Commit- tee and the Executive Committee, “no . -student —' even current subcommittee members — will be able to attend the convention unless he or she_ is a mem- ber of a state delegation,” . There are currently five Execu- tive Committee members, 28 Steering Committee members and over 50 state so forth.” NUMBER 4 «.~..wr PHOTO COURTESY OF GENERALSSPORTSCOM ladies will be back.” Balistreri said she decided to work in the admissions office after graduating as a way to give back to the University and help shape its future. She said she believes that Young Alumni Weekend benefits the community as a whole. “It highlights the special bond that every graduate has to W&L,” she said. “How many schools have as good of a young alumni attendance as us?” Mock Con: Choose your state State Delegation Fair this Wednesday gives students the chance to choose their state for the 2012 Convention v By Neil Haggerty « STAFF warren chairs involved in Mock Con this year.‘ it According to Communications Kali McFarland, Mock Convention has had “98 percent’ participation in the past, and we want to beat that thi‘ year.” , , 1 ‘V , “The PR team’s goal is to see 100 percent paxticipation from the studen body, as well as high levels of pa:- ticipation from Lexington community members,” said Jarrell. “One of the.*_.{_' best things about Mock Convention,” in my opinion, is that it is oneof the, unique things about W&L thatvreally "f; unites the whole student body and _ . compasses every aspect of student life * O here.” i :i There ‘is. one ‘state chair- position a still available for .interested students, At 11:59 p.m. tonight, Mockrconveng tion will be accepting applications, to . the Iowarstate chair position that canbev *9 submitted via email to Political Chane ‘ man Zach Wilkes ’l2. , A ‘_ To keep track of what is goinggon with the convention, students ‘should “like” the Mock Convention pageion . Facebook and follow @mockcon2l)l2 ‘ on Twitter. Other events ‘coming. up later in the fall include a silent auetio during Parent’s Weekend and the Pt dential Gala in November. i_ A ' Said Jarrell-: “There isliterally job for everyone to do...political afi, cionado, the party planner, the igraphic designer, the organizer, and so on i OCR::/Vol_115/WLURG39_RTP_20111003/WLURG39_RTP_20111003_002.2.txt umvsnsrnruauny wasnmcrou & us: uurvsnsny LEXINGTON, VA 24450 2 - THE RING-TUM PHI- MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011 °°T 04 2011 n Task force to review resi President Ruscio is charge leads to review of all aspects of residential life at Washington and Lee By Drew Carlos 5 TA F F w R IT E R President Ken Ruscio has decided to take action towards improving residen- tial life at Washington and Lee. A resi- dential life task force will be reviewing all elements of residential life this fall. Dean of Students Sidney Evans said this type of review is “something that universities do periodically because you want your residence halls to have the amenities and the programming that stu- dents expect.” Evans said the task force is to “look at residence life all across the board: facili- ties, programming, first-year, and upper- class.” The task force’s first objective, as stated by their plan found on the W&L website is to “clarify and refine the plan for first year residential life students.” Next, as stated in the plan, the task force will “analyze the current living patterns of sophomores, juniors, and seniors, including data on where they live.” Greek housing also falls into this cat- egory. Evans said that it is an “important part of the community,” but that “we don’t have any preconceived notions as to how it is going to fit in. We want to make sure we are providing opportuni- ties and options for all of our students, Greek and non-Greek." After reviewing everything and col- lecting all of the data, the task force will then submit their recommendations to the president to be reviewed by the Board of Trustees. While all ofthese tasks are important to the future aspects ofimproving social and residential life, the options for im- provement must always be reasonable financially. Whenever one decides to go about renovation it is going to cost money, and there are limits to what can dential life be done. Although it’s still early in the pro- cess, Dean Evans said a preliminary re- port will be ready for consideration by the end of the academic year. Said Evans: “We are trying to look at first-year housing first...you want to make sure the housing is safe. You want to make sure that the housing supports our programming efforts. You want to have housing that students like.” Fighting for cancelled classes Law student is petition calls for a day 0]?’ of school in observance of Marti By Kelsy McCraw C o P Y E D ITO R A petition is circulating among law students for Washington and Lee ‘Uni- versity to even more formally recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The petition, crafted by David I Knoespel ‘ 14L, requests that W&L can- cel classes every third Monday of Janu- , ary to “honor the principles that Dr. King championed.” ' “Ceasing classes on MLK Day would give us a formal occasion to think about what MLK’s policies mean to us as a community, (and as) individuals,” Knoespel wrote on the petition. “While some would surely use the day for other purposes, others could use it for discus- sion, self-refiection, or mere apprecia- tion of how far we have come and how far we still need to go.” Knoespel said he created the petition on change.org, an online petition plat- form, after law school orientation, dur- ing which he and his fellow I-L students learned they would not get the national holiday off. Knoespel started the petition as a means to instigate discussion about the issue. ' “It’s a very personal issue to a lot of people, not just important to the students of color, and I think that Martin Luther King is the type of person we really should celebrate here at Washington and Lee,” he said in an interview. “He was a public servant who stood for honor and died forjustice.” Since its creation about three weeks ago, the petition has garnered over 124 signatures. Knoespel says that even more law students and faculty have expressed their support for it, though they declined to put their name on an official petition. One signee, identified as Koral Fus- selman ‘IZL, wrote on the petition’s webpage, “Not only is it offensive that we don’t honor or celebrate this man and his accomplishments, it is APPALLING that we celebrate Robert E. Lee’s birth- Dove ‘real woman’to talk Famous billboard subjects coming to Washington and Lee to talk about body image By Leigh Dannhauser STA F F wmre R Stacy Nadeau, a member of the Dove’s Real Women advertisement campaign, is coming to Washington and Lee to speak about the messages that young women receive about body im- age. On her page on the website Cam- pusSpeak, Nadeau said the number of women who like the way they look is very low. . “A Harvard study revealed that only 2-percent of American women felt com- fortable calling themselves beautiful,” Nadeau said. In 2005, Dove began using their ad- vertisements in an effort to change those kind of-statistics. They use “real women with real curves” to change people’s views on beauty. ‘ Dove’s mission is “to make more day [three days before]. The contrast could not be more striking. I am morti- fied yearly when I explain to friends and family throughout the country how W&L conducts itself at this time of year...” Knoespel, who is from Charlotte, N.C. and received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, agreed that not cally targeting the law school, citing that W&L, Liberty University, and the Uni- versity of Richmond are the only law schools between D.C. and Texas that do not cancel classes on the holiday. Associate Dean of Students Tamara Futrell organizes the undergraduate cel- ebration of MLK, Jr. Day. She said the law school tried an adjusted class sched- Ceasing classes on MLK Day would give us afor- mal occasion to think about what MLK 3 policies mean to us as a community, (and as) individuals DAVID KNOESPEL, ’l4L ceasing classes on MLK, Jr. Day might portray the University in an unintention- ally negative way. “My friends and family (outside of W&L) are shocked when they hear we don’t get classes off. Their jaws drop,” he said. “The school certainly isn’t tum- ing a blind eye to the issue, but I think it might be hurting itself in its efforts to attract diverse teachers and students.” Currently, W&L celebrates MLK, Jr. Day with a keynote address on the night of the holiday, a community ser- vice project, and a birthday party in El- rod Commons for the children of Rock- bridge County. Last year, the former UN ambassa- dor and personal friend of King, Andrew Young was the keynote speaker. The University maintains a normal class schedule on the holiday. Of Forbe’s 2011 Top 50 American Colleges, of which W&L is ranked 25th, only six other schools do not suspend or cancel classes for MLK, Jr. Day. Many of the Top 50 schools do not start their spring semesters until after the holiday. Knoespel started the petition specifi- women feel beautiful every day by wid- ening the stereotypical theme of beauty and by inspiring women to take great care ofthemselves”. Nadeau’s speech, titled “Embracing Real Beauty,” will be about Nadeau’s experiences in the campaign rather than about eating disorders. Teri Cugliari, associate director of student activities and greek life, is ex- cited for Nadeau’s appearance. “[It is going to be] really good to bring a normal looking person who’s never had an eating disorder and talk about her experience” says Cugliari. ule to accommodate MLK, Jr. Day pro- grams, but that low attendance prompted the law faculty to reinstate a full day of classes. Her main concern is that stu- dents would not use a day off from class- es for MLK, Jr. Day appropriately. “Before we can move to more dras- tic measures, students need to show that they appreciate the programming that is already available to them,” she said. Futrell said current undergraduate programming has low student atten- dance, and that faculty and members of the Lexington community constitute the vast majority of the participants. “Unless it can be a productive day, the students will not benefit from a day off from classes,” she said. In an email, Interim Provost Roger Strong explained that not. cancelling classes on MLK, Jr. Day equals how the University handles other national holi- days. “We do not cancel classes for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. But we do not can- cel classes for other national holidays,” he said. “We do orientation and academ- ic advising on Labor Day. We have class on President’s Day unless it falls during our regularly sche_duled [Washington] break. There are other national holidays on which we hold classes: Columbus Day and Veterans Day immediately come to mind.” MLK, Jr. Day, which falls on January 16 in 2012, became an official national holiday when Ronald Reagan signed it into law in 1983, after King’s assassina- tion in I968. The state of Virginia first incorpo- rated it with Lee-Jackson Day to create Lee-Jackson-King Day because of the proximity ofthe three figures’ birthdays, January I9, 21, and 15, respectively. However, in 2000, the state legisla- ture separated the two days because of the incongruent messages between Lee- Jackson Day and MLK, Jr. Day~the celebration of two prominent Confeder- ate generals, Robert E. Lee and Stone- wall Jackson, and the celebration of a prominent national figure in the Civil Rights Movement ofthe ’60s who advo- cated for equal legal and social rights for all human beings. Lee-Jackson Day falls on the second Friday ofJanuary, just three days before MLK, Jr. Day. The holiday will be cel- ebrated on January 13 in 2012. Virginia is the only state to recognize Lee-Jackson Day as a state holiday. In the past, the University has imple- mented an adjusted class schedule for the celebration of Founder’s Day every January I9. The revised schedule ac- commodates a mid-day convocation to induct new members to Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society founded at W&L in 1914. The convocation also spotlights a distin- guished speaker on some aspect of the University’s history. -» Strong says that, while Lee was th subject of last year’s speech, the topics vary from year to year. He says that this Is your club or organization hold a meetmzq? , g_DijnaiI.wIu. kennedye1 edu to_get a f. Ring-Tum Phi E-malirlig rie p The n Luther King, Jr. Day year’s speaker will be the author of a new biography of George Washington, the University’s other namesake. The Stonewall Brigade Camp of the city of Lexington, a fraternal organiza- tion of male descendants of Confederate soldiers, organizes the events honoring _Lee-Jackson Day, including a memo- rial service in honor Lee and Jackson, who spent much of their post-war efforts shaping W&L and Virginia Military In- stitute, in Lee Chapel. The celebrations of Lee-Jackson Day are not affiliated with the University. W&L allows for the use of Lee Chapel for non-University functions when the use does not compromise the site’s func- tion as a University venue and public museum, does not endanger the facilities or exhibits and is consistent with good community relations. Still, Knoespel explained that Lee- Jackson Day is an important part of the history of Washington and Lee, and that the two men stood for more than just the Confederacy. “I don‘t think the two days are so diametrically opposed as all three men stood for integrity and honor,” he said. “I just think they should be celebrated on the same scale.” The faculty votes every year on the academic calendar. If classes were dis- missed for MLK, Jr. Day, they would have to be made up somewhere else on the calendar, though Knoespel has spo- ken with a few school administrators to propose an adjusted law school class schedule on the day, or making up the day by starting classes a day early or dropping one exam day. “I’m not intent on losing valuable class time,” he said. “But the symbolic value of the day is so much greater in comparison.” PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE ii‘ OCR::/Vol_115/WLURG39_RTP_20111003/WLURG39_RTP_20111003_003.2.txt to MONDAY, OCTOBER 3,2011 3 - THE RING‘-TUM PHI ~ opinions In defense of resident advisers Resident Advisor Stephanie Krasnov asks students to stop blaming their RAs and take responsibility for themselves People of- ten ask me why I wanted to be a Resident Advisor. My sarcastic retort is simple: the D-Hall frozen yogurt. But the true reason is because my freshman year I r‘ was one of the B Stephanie Krasnov best Years Of COLUMNIST my. life and I attribute that partly to my RA. Yes, I may have also had some awe- some hall mates and been on the first co-ed hall in the school’s history, but my first year as a W&L student would not have been quite as enjoyable if it weren’t for my. RA. It is my goal to offer the freshmen on my hall thatsame experi- ence. So when I hear that people are equat- ing the RA staff to the “Lex-Po,” and that we are being harassed at parties, I take it personally. Our job here at W&L is not to bust you guys or have you talk to the Deans. Believe me, we have better things to do with our time. Contrary to popular belief, we are actually normal students here, and surprise, surprise,.we go out to parties too! I’m sorry that if we walk by your door at I a.m. and see a case of Natty and SKYY Vodka on your dresser, we are going to write you up. Just like in the real world, there are rules that must be followed and the handbook does a pretty goodjob of outlining them. I’m also sorry if you are blaring Mi- chael Buble from your room in GL and we kindly ask you to turn it down be- cause people can hear it all the way in Davis; some students here actually need to sleep for their tests. The RA reputation on campus is formed in the same way that party gos- sip is spread: you only hear the worst or mostshocking stories from the night before. I have never heard anyone in the omelet line on Sunday whispering about how their RA helped walk them in their room because they know it was dumb for them to buy liquor in the first place. It still baffles me that freshmen will go out of their way to obtain alcohol when they could more easily walk to the nearest frat house and have all the drinks they want. = I was blessed this year with a surpris- ingly tame hall, whose loudest moments I have never heard anyone in the omelet line on Sunday whispering about how their RA helped walk them home from Old House home from Old House, or how they are I so thankful that their RA took them to the health center when they were puk- ing their brains out in the toilet. You also never hear them gossiping about how much they are sorry for having alcohol are when they are trying to kill the cock- roaches they find in the rooms. I have not had to write any of my residents up or even tell them to quiet down (knock on wood), and I personally look at them as my friends, rather than 18 and 19-year- old kids I am supposed to keep out of trouble. From what I have seen, they are always smiling; except for when they return from calc class, but that’s under- standable. At some point in time, we were all first years just like you are now, and so we understand how much fun running through the dorms at 3 a.m. is, and yes, we like to order Domino’s after a party too. But just be mindful of the few rules we have, because the night you decide to stay in and study, you will appreciate it when we ask your hall mates to quiet down. So next time you hear someone com- plaining about how they got a strike/inci- dent, don’t jump in and continue to bash the RAs. Maybe ask them exactly why they got in trouble; their response will probably explain it all. Dealing with a date-snatcher How do you react when you find your date dancing with your best friend? Zuroski and Rooney ofler their expertise So it’s that magical time of year again, the time when W&L students break out some cock- tail dresses, navy blazers, and bowties and pretend they are classy real people in the outside world— it’s homecoming. After you have spent an hour at the “cocktail party” watching dates awkwardly interact, you start to hear the band wamiing up for their Motown numbers. Obviously, it’s time to make your way down to the tent to prepare for a long night of thinking u is ' ‘ By Bella Zuroski and Bridget Rooney CO LU M N ISTS Straight but not you are an amazing swing-dancer. Af- ter the band plays “September,” a rogue swing-dancer crashes into you and you lose the contents of your classy red solo cup from the “cocktail party,” possibly on the girl next to you. Beware of this, people get aggressive when spilled on — she might even comment that if you spill on her again, “she will kick you in the face” (shout out to the girl who said that this weekend). You start to make your way to the mountain of Natty Light boxes in the back of the tent (this is obviously not a cocktail party anymore, people) so that you can have more liquid to spill on those around you. After you have wres- tled your way back to where your friends are camped out on the dance floor (in front of the band, obviously), you finally find your date...dancing with your best friend. This is where this week’s video, “Jackie and Debra,” by John Roberts, comes into play. IIBITOW We have all heard it said be- fore. “Stop be- ing such a fag”, “Spanish class is so gay”, “Don’t stay in tonight ' you homo.” _ Normal, right? Not re- _ ally. at It sounds ri- diculous when By All reenberg CO LU M N I ST written down on paper, yet many consider this perfectly acceptable dia- logue. Can young adults not realize the absurdity of their language choices, let alone the offense it can bring? We often don’t think about our word choices, calling things “retarded” or “stupid” on a regular basis, because who are we hurting? But the fact of the matter is, those words are hurtful, and are often interchanged, along with other negative terms, for the word “gay.” For the record, “Gay” does not mean stupid. It does not mean dumb, lame, ugly, boring, annoying or frustrating. Just like “straight” does not mean smart, pretty, cool or important. Gay means gay, and that’s just fine. It is odd how a word which origi- nated with such positive connotations: lighthearted, carefree and brilliant, has been turned into a word that is used to" attribute negative characteristics to a person or a thing. Calling someone a “faggot”, which pains me to even write in this article, is wrong. It is the equivalent to calling a black person the n-word, a Hispanic a “spick” or a Jew a “kike” among many other disgusting phrases for every eth- nicity, religion and culture. Most people would never even think to use the last three words, yet the term “faggot” has entered into mainstream English, unacceptably accepted as part of our language. I am straight, so since I am not a member of the LGBT community, I do not really know what it is like for those who are members on this campus. I do , Ali Greenberg advises students to choose their words carefully not know what they go through, or what their experiences were growing up, so I cannot speak for them. But as an outsider, I wouldn’t call W&L as a whole an extremely welcom- ing community for LGBT students, al- though I will give credit where credit is due and say that I expected a lot worse from such a conservative and southern school. Again though, I have no person- al experience to go off’of. Whatl do know is that in the last few years, suicides by LGBT youth have been in the headlines nationwide. LGBT youth are twice as likely as straight youth to be victims of bullying at school and four times more likely than straight youth to attempt suicide. Yet, in a time when we are making more strides than ever in the accep- tance of the LGBT community (repeal of DADT, Gay marriage legalization in many states, LADY GAGA), it is sad to know that the LGBT youth are continu- ously subjected to teasing and bullying in American schools. The “It Gets Better” project was founded a few years ago as a means to show all gay youth that while coming to terms with who they are might be hard, and coming out harder, it will get bet- ter. Actors, athletes and musicians have come together in support of the project to record videos proclaiming the ‘‘It gets better” message. ' Now many activists are asking for a /‘ formal anti-bullying law, something that would make it a criminal offense. While I wouldn’t say bullying is an issue on campus, it would be difficult to say that prejudices don’t come into play at times. While we do not have anyone taking first-years lunch money in D-Hall, some fraternities and sororities may discrimi- nate against openly gay students by not giving them bids or taking the chance to get to know them as individuals. I find issue with the use of the term “gay” as a definition of a person. While it is obviously part of who they are, it is an identifier and not necessarily a defin- ing characteristic, and especially not the defining characteristic. A lawyer who happens to be gay is not suddenly a “gay _ son regardless of whether it started at Jackie and Debra are besties who are having a little trouble in paradise. Debra demonstrates some interesting techniques for hashing out this misun- derstanding over what really happened on the ski trip with Robbie Blackner (she only had halfa sip ofa wine cooler peo- plel). This video offers its viewers some options as to how to handle this home- coming drama. I. Passive aggressively ignore. When going with this option, you have to be the friend who cares less. If you make it look like you are having a better time than your date-snatching friend, then you obviously win. Later in the night when she calls you and asks you to meet her at the Traveller stop, you can ignore her calls. “Oh look, it’s my ex-best friend calling for the eighteen hun- dredth time. I am not talking to you, but I will text you and let you know that I am lawyer,” they are just a lawyer. There needs to be respect for every individual regardless of their skin col- or, sexual orientation, level of educa- tion, religion or country of origin, just to name a few. Gay is not a lifestyle choice. It just is. It just exists and is part of the per- birth or developed later on in life. No one wakes up one day and says, “Hello Tuesday, it’s 85 and sunny, sounds like a great day to be attracted to the same sex!” Just like straight people don’t make active decisions every week to still be straight. There should no longer be any de- bate over whether being gay is right or wrong. America needs to just let it be. Let us all be with whomever we want to be with as long as it is two consen- sual adult humans. And to quickly touch on the topic of gay marriage, they should have every right to get married and subsequently di- vorced as any other American. Remem- ber when interracial marriage was ille- gal, before I967? That is how we will look back on the gay marriage debate in 20 years. Complete and utter absurdity and unconstitutional discrimination. My message is this; think about what you say, the words you use, and how you treat others. Sexual orientation does not define a person’s character, and when you use the word “gay” with a negative connotation in regards to your homework, you may unintentionally be offending those who are gay, or have gay family or friends. There are more of us around than you think. not talking to you.” 2. Being overly-aggressive. This is the opposite of our first strategy. In this situation, you act like your fight is go- ing to spark World War III and if it’s not resolved before the band plays Cee Lo Green’s classic “F *** You,” then the world as we know it will end. When us- ing this technique, Debra teaches us that the best approach is to simply scream your friend’s name over and over, getting louder each time until they are forced to acknowledge the fact that you are hov- ering behind her and your date. At this point, you grab her hand and pull her into the nearest bathroom, where you overan- alyze everything that has happened dur- ing the night and what it means for your friendship. By the end, things will have gotten much worse or you will both be crying and telling each other how much you love each other as someone is vom- iting in the stall next to you (remember, this is a classy weekend). 3. One strategy that Debra fails to mention, but is definitely a viable option for W&L students, is to get over it and find someone else with whom to “swing dance” (aka flail your limbs drunkenly). This is Red Square, people — you are required to have a good time. So find another one of your friend’s dates (pref- erably your date-snatching bestie’s) and start the cycle over again. *Note to the readers. Jackie and Debra are an example of frenemies. Real friends don’t steal each other ’s dates... at least not without asking. And they definitely don ’t get in fights over this kind of stuff in the middle of a band party where you are supposed to be dancing. However, if by chance this situation does arise, take some advice from Debra in the area of conflict resolution. She knows whats up. Autumnal Reflections Wantto get involved ‘> GLDTQ Resources on campus ‘ New GLISTQ Resource Center locatecl in the Hill House, lag the Gaines Parking Lot. GLIST Contact bareno Equalitg Initiative, l§@maH. wlu.e<:lu‘ to be aclcled to the mailing list. GLBTQ Peer Counselors and Support GrouP,more information on the Counseling Center website. OCR::/Vol_115/WLURG39_RTP_20111003/WLURG39_RTP_20111003_004.2.txt 4 - THE RING-TUM PHI- opinions First—Year Homecoming Impressions MON DAY, OCTOBER 3, 2007 fit. V ..| ‘Ad’ Opinions editor Campbell Burr asks first-year-students for a short and sweet description of their weekends Freshman year homecoming week- end is one of my best memories. I surfed from cocktail party to cocktail party, admiring the wide assortment of drink optionsand bar snacks. The band par- ties were a dream come true for a girl who was raised off of disco music and taught to swing dance with the same se- riousness she was taught to read. I was pleasantly surprised to find that strong dancing abilities seem to be an admis- sion requirement for male students. The only rough point of my fresh- man homecoming weekend was when my left heel became stuck in the strap of my right shoe and I fell straight onto my stomach in the middle of a fraternity seconds, I lay in a puddle of beer, trying to disentangle my shoes. When I finally succeeded and got up, I saw alot of con- cemed faces. Minus a little embarrass- ment, a huge bruise on my knee, and a some! Take a look at what this year’s fresh- men are saying about their experiences! cocktail party. For what seemed like 30 week-long limp, the weekend was awe- Brandon Taylor Dinwiddie, VA Lindsay Reese Wilmington, DE u:IoO.Ihf¢€.O':Words to describe the weekend W e n d i B e t t i n ‘Three words to describe the weekend rOVO'FUV"r awesome, t°°*5h°’t O g Classy, Busy, Memorable .- I .. Rome,GA V V 4:: I _ 1 _ I I p -395‘ '.“°'"°'7‘t Best moment =_P",‘y”’.9»’O"o the 90”’? ‘'”d. the I‘u’f“-”P“’0.’ Three words to describe-the weekend _ 5