Volume 80 No. 29April 26, 2012 www.FlorAla.net Student newspaper of the University of North Alabama

TOP 10 TOP 10 STORIESSTORIES

OF 2011-2012OF 2011-2012

UNA YEAR IN REVIEW

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1. Tornado outbreak across AlabamaHundreds of people were affected by the deadly tornadoes that ravaged parts of north Alabama April 27, 2011.

2. Trustees vote yes to Division I 3. Campus mourns student deaths 4. Bowden leaves, Wallace returns 5. Police see more campus robberies

6. New construction on rise 7. Chinese partnership at UNA 8. QEP & SACS reaccreditation 9. Lions travel to Texas 10. New freshman parking rules

The UNA board of trustees voted in a 6-3 decision June 13 in favor of the transition to Division I athletics, despite opposition from students and faculty.

UNA students Daniel Smith, Chad Silcox and Haley Mauldin passed away during the past year. Many paid tribute to the students with different events.

Former coach Terry Bowden left the Lions for Akron during the holidays. Bob-by Wallace returned in January, sparking excitement in many UNA football fans.

Offi cials saw an uptick in the num-ber of armed robberies on campus. In the past year, three armed robberies have taken place at UNA.

The new George S. Lind-sey theater was built, and of-fi cials are now looking to start construction on the science building and academic com-mons later this year.

An international agreement was signed by President Bill Cale to form a partnership with Shenqi Ethnic Medicine College. UNA will offer a new master’s program in integrative health.

UNA received a perfect out-come for its SACS review this semester. Only 2 percent of uni-versities receive such reviews. Offi cials have also worked to cre-ate a quality QEP at the university.

The Lions football team trav-eled to Dallas last fall to play against Abilene Christian in the Lone Star Football Fesival. Lions fans and players were excited to get the op-portunity to visit and play in Texas.

To help relieve parking issues, UNA Police required all freshmen students who live off campus to use the Lion Express transportation sys-tem to and from designated stops in Florence instead of parking at UNA.

photos by KAYLA SLOAN, MALISA MCCLURE, AND BARRY MINOR I Student Media Photographers

Page 2A Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-AlaNewsSGA helps fundveterans center

The Student Government Association Senate unanimously voted April 12 to ap-prove funding for a veterans support center on campus.

The resolution, written by Senator Jon McGee, will provide $25,000 to fund the center and those working there.

The veterans support center has been a concern since the fall semester, said Jesse Leslie, founding president of the Military and Veterans Alliance.

“The veteran’s center is what we rec-ognized as being the biggest need on cam-pus,” Leslie said. “We’ve been talking about it since last semester, but the real plans started on March 2, when Jon Mc-Gee brought the unused funds to our atten-tion.”

Veterans or individuals with ties to someone in the military will be able to go to the center to receive assistance with benefi ts, academic support or connect with

other veterans. “It will be a central location for the vet-

erans to receive comprehensive assistance during their time here,” McGee said.

Issues with receiving benefi ts on time have sparked the need for this center, but it is also largely an emotional issue, said William Nash, chairman of the ad hoc committee for veterans affairs.

“It’s much more of an emotional issue than people realize,” Nash said. “We want people to realize it’s not just monetary.”

McGee, who served in the army for four years, can relate to the emotional side of the need.

“I’m a nontraditional student, so it was a little awkward at fi rst,” McGee said. “It was tough feeling socially disconnected, and it can be very tough for others. That’s why there’s a need for this. We don’t want to lose those students just because they feel disconnected.”

The Military and Veterans Alliance is technically the largest Registered Student Organization on campus, encompassing approximately 400 students, Nash said. He said the number is expected to rise with the transition to Division I and a support cen-ter will be an asset to the university.

Stephanole Reed, a sophomore and member of the ROTC and National Guard, said he thinks that having someone to work full time with the veterans will be benefi cial.

“I think it’s a beautiful thing,” Reed said. “Earlier this semester, it was diffi cult to fi nd someone that knew exactly what they were doing. It was a diffi cult process.”

Kelsey Prater, a senior who receives veteran’s benefi ts because her step father is a disabled veteran, said having somewhere to go will be easier than dealing with the hotline and website.

“From a non-ROTC standpoint, a cen-tral hub will be great,” Prater said. “Right now, processing takes such a long time,

ʻONE OF THE LUCKY ONESʼ

photo by DARRICK DAWKINS I Staff Photographer

UNA student Bobby Schiavi walks around the debris that was formerly his neighborhood near Harvest last year.

Students, officials look back on April 27 tornadoes one year later

he year 2011 was an extremely diffi -cult one for Collier Library Technical Assistant Emily Patterson, whose life was turned upside down during the

course of four devastating months.She lost everything in Phil Campbell

April 27 to a tornado that wreaked havoc on the home she shared with her family. Patterson also suffered the deaths of her husband, grandmother, mother-in-law and grandfather, which all occurred within weeks of each other.

Picking up the pieces after such an un-settling year has been challenging for Pat-terson, who said she would have never sur-vived in the aftermath of the storms without the help of her UNA family.

“(Last year) reinforced my view on

life,” she said. “Things can be very mate-rial and can be replaced, but without faith, I wouldn’t have made it. This (experience) strengthened my faith.”

Patterson, who worked with her family

last year to sift through debris and salvage their belongings amid the rubble of her for-mer home, is now building a new house in Tennessee to be completed by late summer.

She said the last year has been sur-real, and still fi nds herself asking whether or not the events she experienced actually occurred. She said she looks forward to re-discovering a sense of tranquility in her new home.

“I want to be hopefully sitting on my (new) back porch, just resting and relax-ing,” she said. “I want to take the kids on vacation. There are not a whole lot of huge aspirations there. What I want is very basic. I’m just ready for calm, for peace and not having to deal with everything.”

Bobby Schiavi, a freshman from Spark-man High School, was asleep at home in Harvest the day of the April 27 tornadoes. He realized the severity of the storm after being awoken by the sound of several trees snapping and crashing in his backyard.

T

High-ranking NBC official set to speak at spring commencement

NBC News Channel Washington Bu-reau Chief Jay Hurt will speak May 12 at 10 a.m. to graduating seniors. The 1987 graduate and Florence native, son of former UNA journalism professor Bobbie Hurt, has worked for many famous news organi-zations throughout his career.

Hurt said part of the reason he agreed to speak at this year’s graduation was that he had an overall good undergraduate experi-ence during his time at UNA.

“I was a broadcast major with a jour-nalism minor,” he said. “My degree has absolutely helped me throughout my ca-reer. I tell people all the time that UNA is

a great school. The class size is small, the teacher interaction is very good, professors are helpful.”

Hurt said he recognized the positives of UNA fi rsthand.

“My mother was a journalism professor at UNA,” he said. “She was very attentive to students, and I saw fi rsthand that she re-ally tried to help them in any way possible to get a job. I found that pretty consistent about UNA; professors have a deep interest in students’ education.”

Hurt’s speech will focus on advice to college seniors about how to enter the pro-fessional world, he said.

“I guess I’m going to give a little advice about going out in the corporate world—things that’ll help you along the way as you leave and start your professional life—basi-

cally, some dos and don’ts,” he said. Despite Hurt’s passion for UNA, he was

hesitant at fi rst to accept the offer to speak at graduation, Hurt said.

“My mother was always a really big proponent of UNA, as a professor for 20-some-odd years,” he said. “She never enjoyed speaking in public either, but she did it anyway. I guess I had all her hard work and her passion for UNA in the back of my mind.”

During his time at UNA, Hurt worked within his fi eld, he said.

“I worked full time basically the whole time I was at UNA,” he said. “I started pretty much my sophomore year in college at WOWLTV, which was an

”The veterans center is what we recognized as being the biggest need on campus.”

-Jesse Leslie

”Things can be very material and can be replaced, but without faith, I wouldnʼt have made it. This (experience) strengthened

my faith.” -Emily Patterson

Page 3AThursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala NewsAdministration continues discussion of future of lab school

The academic affairs and student life subcommittee of the UNA board of trustees met April 19 to discuss the future of Kilby Laboratory School on campus.

UNA President Bill Cale pointed out what he said are three feasible options for the committee members to review. The fi rst option includes Kilby merging with Flor-ence City Schools, the second includes seeking fi nancial remedy from the state and the third is to determine if Kilby is central to the mission of the university, Cale said.

“The budget situation for the institu-tion continues to be diffi cult,” Cale said. “We’ve managed the budget situation well, but it doesn’t seem to be improving.”

The university has lost approximate-ly $10 million since 2008, Cale said. He also said the university’s subsidy to the lab school has ranged from $200,000 to $350,000.

Cale said the decision is not about the budget because UNA could fi nd a way to fund the school. It is about whether the school is central to the university’s mission.

“For me, the most important question that we need to look at (is) … what is the relationship between a school like Kilby and the university,” Cale said. “This notion of central to the mission has nothing to do with money.”

Cale said the fact UNA is subsidizing Kilby is not a basis for the discussion; it is whether Kilby benefi ts the university.

Kilby receives the bulk of its funding from Lauderdale County Schools. Prora-tion in the state has been hard on the lab school, he said.

“Even if we returned to normal funding, Kilby’s budget situation may not get bet-ter,” Cale said.

Dr. Janet Womack, superintendent of Florence City Schools, attended the meet-ing and answered questions the board mem-bers had regarding a possible transition of Kilby into the Florence City School system.

Womack’s proposal included the imme-diate removal of the fi fth and sixth grades because Florence City Schools maintains elementary grade levels from kindergarten to the fourth grade.

“We see this as a fi ve-year transition in knowing that it’s not something that hap-pens overnight,” Womack said.

Womack said she wants to partner with UNA to spread lab students throughout the district.

“What I would like to see as we go for-ward is (to) spread the success of Kilby across the system,” she said.

Many parents are not impressed with what was presented before them, said PTO President Carole Maynard.

“Parents feel deceived; they feel frus-trated that the process has not been an open, honest campus-wide discussion,” Maynard said. “Students have not even been includ-ed; the issue hasn’t been completely vetted through shared governance.”

Maynard said many parents feel that the decision has come too soon.

“We have passed the local deadlines for school selections and admission; there-fore, our parents of fi fth and sixth graders and pre-k students have been left without choices because the deadlines have been passed,” Maynard said.

UNA alumna, parent of a Kilby student and former UNA SGA President Michelle Eubanks said she feels the UNA adminis-

tration is picking on children with this deci-sion.

“Why are you picking on Kilby?” she said. “Why are you picking on 145 kinder-garteners through sixth graders?”

Eubanks said she is upset that UNA offi -cials have decided to act and vote upon this issue so soon, even though Cale told the parents at a PTO meeting earlier this year that the school would be open another year.

Eubanks said the offi cials making the de-cisions have not fully educated themselves on the issue at hand.

“Until (Cale) has educated himself, spo-ken to more children, spent more time in the facility, spent more time speaking to the faculty and the parents, he should not make a decision,” Eubanks said.

photo by CHRISTINA COVINGTON I Student Photographer

Fourth grade teacher Mary Summy works with students in her classroom at Kilby Laboratory School on UNA’s campus. Recently, the lab school has been the topic of discussion because of what some administrators call a growing subsidy that UNA is forced to provide to the school.

Page 4A Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-AlaNews

UNA student Julia Henderson, a com-munity adviser, said it was a shock to wit-ness students rummaging through garbage cans near the residence halls in search of food because they didn’t have the money or resources to buy their own.

Henderson said she has even given other residents food of her own when they have been in need. For Henderson and other community advisers, the issue of stealing food from roommates has also been a topic of concern.

To combat hunger on campus and give back to those in need, Henderson is initiat-ing a Feeding the Pride food pantry to help those who desire food assistance and to pro-vide service opportunities for students.

“This pantry will not just be for college students living on campus,” she said. “It will also be for the single parents and non-traditional students with families. Food is usually the last thing on a person’s priority list when they’re taking care of paying for tuition, books, gas and other bills.”

The issue Henderson and other offi cials are facing now in establishing the food pantry is fi nding a location that is easily accessible to students. Henderson is work-ing with the university to fi nd a spot that is centrally located but private enough for students to feel comfortable visiting.

Henderson is also looking for additional shelving, a computer for tracking data and client check-in, volunteers to run the food

pantry and a student manager.Henderson said she plans to use the

summer to fi nd a food pantry location, com-plete the supply stock and get things orga-nized before fall, which is when she hopes the food pantry will be available to UNA students.

“I think this is amazing and shows what a compassionate heart (Henderson) has,” said Jennifer Brown, assistant direc-tor of student engagement for leadership and volunteerism. “She took the initiative to research this, contact other schools, and I think this is a great resource for the stu-dents. I’m proud of her for not only coming up with (the idea), but also having the lead-ership to do it.”

Students who use the food pantry in the future will be able to receive a variety of

food items by fi lling out a form that will be available to them. Henderson plans for the pantry to be open to any enrolled student for approximately two to three hours each day of the week.

The food pantry is currently being stocked through Collier Library’s canned food drive for book and library fi ne amnes-ty. The pantry will rely solely on donations in order to function on campus.

“The (food pantry) encompasses ev-erything that the University of North Ala-bama’s mission is about,” Henderson said. “It will provide an opportunity for students to grow not only in the outreach and service aspects, but in professional, civic, social, cultural and economic development needs for our campus as well.”

Student works to end hunger on campus• Food pantry in making

for university community

photo by BARRY MINOR I Staff Photographer

UNA student Julia Henderson is working to bring a food pantry to campus to serve students who may have trouble getting food and other resources on their own.

OFFICIALS: UNA NOT IMMUNE TO SUICIDE, DEPRESSION

UNA has had confi rmed suicide at-tempts in the past year on campus, said UNA police Chief Bob Pastula. However, he said UNA does not have a high rate of suicide attempts compared to other univer-sities.

“We don’t have a lot, but one would be too many,” said Pastula.

Once the police receive the call that a suicide attempt has occurred on campus, the police send the student to the hospital by ambulance, Pastula said.

They then notify Vice President of Stu-dent Affairs David Shields. Shields then notifi es the parents of the student. UNA’s Care Team will also be contacted. Their job is to help the student as much as they can, Pastula said.

The Care Team will refer the student to counseling service on campus and will also refer them to off campus therapists, Pastula said.

“A lot of students come to college with a lot of stress, and it pushes them over the

edge,” Pastula said. “We do all that we can to help them at the university.”

Lynne Martin, LPC, MLAP, associate director for University Health Services, ex-plains several ways students may fi nd relief from the impacts of depression.

“In general, college students can often lessen the impact of illnesses like MDD (major depressive disorder), and especial-ly the situational episodes of sadness, by practicing a lifestyle of healthy self-care,” Martin said. “We regularly teach (healthy living) skills and help students develop a personalized self-care plan through the counseling relationship.”

Martin, however, cannot guarantee that those suffering from clinical depression can be helped by changes in lifestyle alone.

“Usually, clinical depression is treated by a combination of anti-depressant medi-cation, personal counseling, and following a healthy self-care plan or lifestyle,” Mar-tine said. “Certainly not all major depres-sive episodes can be prevented, and we must be very careful that we do not over-simplify treatment.”

Some UNA students take advantage of the counseling that the University Health Services provides.

“The UNA clinic has helped me a lot,” said Vivian Lesende, biology major at UNA. “I had been depressed a lot of my life without knowing it before the clinic at UNA suggested I try anti-depressants. It helped my attitude immensely.”

Pastula said if someone becomes less interactive, more sheltered, depressed, de-velops a change in diet and habits and is suffering from a drop in grades, he or she could be at risk for attempting suicide.

UNA Police256-765-HELPHealth Center256-765-4328Students face new ideas, opinions in college

Coming from his Huntsville High School to UNA wasn’t a long journey for sophomore criminal justice major Tim Le-Van, but the political landscape between high school and college changed as if he had traveled across the world.

Facing the traditionally liberal college atmosphere at a largely regional school in a conservative state can be a challenge for some students.

“It surprised me coming from a high school where mostly everyone was conser-vative and having more liberal ideas pushed on me here,” LeVan said.

Soon after arriving at UNA, LeVan joined the UNA College Republicans to as-sociate himself with like-minded students.

Another college republican, Nathaniel White, a former UNA student now attend-ing the University of Alabama-Birming-ham, said part of the reason he joined the group was in reaction to teachers pushing their political agendas in the classroom.

“When I came into college I was sur-prised in how liberal the campus was and had even landed in some classrooms with

professors in the far left,” he said. “The pro-fessors had respect for the opinions of every student, but, man, did they try and put up a good argument for what they believed in.

“Fortunately, I never had a teacher dis-like my conservatism enough to drop my grades.”

Any teacher actively persuading stu-dents’ political beliefs is overstepping his or

her bounds, said David Black, adviser to the UNA College Republicans and instructor of economics and fi nance.

“College should be a transformative ex-perience, but it is not the job of the teacher to break down students’ beliefs and refi ll them with what they think,” he said. “It’s important for students to think on their own.”

But for UNA junior art major Aaron Kil-patrick, the more socially liberal college at-mosphere helped him to fi nd himself. Com-ing from a conservative family, Kilpatrick had to hide the fact that he is gay from his family.

When he got to college, however, he was able to come out, he said.

“The fi rst year I came to college, I was kind of fi nding my own,” he said. “I really found myself more in the second semester of my second year. I met people to hang out with who I could really identify with and open up to and not be judged.

“Being in such an open atmosphere helped me to accept myself.”

Black said the true defi nition of lib-eral is the ability to critically examine new ideas—it doesn’t just mean democrat. Lib-erals and conservatives can be guilty of be-ing dismissive of other beliefs, he said.

“Students really come from all sorts of backgrounds and all sorts of experiences,” he said. “Hopefully, college is a time to grow, learn and mature in thoughts. The pursuit of knowledge should cause you to think, to question so you can rightly divide that which is true and that which is frivo-lous.”

Kilpatrick said there is room for many belief systems on college campuses.

“Even if you’re not gay—whatever you may be—in the college atmosphere it is easier to feel accepted,” he said. “You can feel like you belong.”

Regardless of political beliefs, college is a place for free expression and open in-quiry, LeVan said.

“When I came here, it really opened my eyes to new viewpoints,” he said. “I didn’t have that where I came from. I respect other people’s views, and I want them to respect mine too.”

”College should be a transfor-mative experience, but it is not the job of the teacher to break

down studentsʼ beliefs and refill them with what they think.”

-David Black

FOR YOUR INFORMATION...

• Liberal atmosphere challenges some, helps other students

Eubanks said she feels embarrassed to be a UNA graduate because of the way the administrators are acting.

“As far as I am concerned, I feel like my diploma is being devalued with decisions like that,” she said. “As an alumni, I have no voice. As a parent of a Kilby child, I have no voice. As a com-munity member, I have no voice. That’s not right.”

Maynard said UNA employees being able to take advantage of Kilby School is a benefit for faculty and staff members.

According to UNA’s website, the human resources department advertises to potential faculty and staff members that their children will have first prefer-ence in admission to Kilby School.

“We value exceptional education and to find out that the university had a labo-ratory school spoke volumes to us about the mission of the university, (because) it was invested in providing exceptional educational experiences,” Maynard said.

Not only do education students get to utilize Kilby, but professors get to con-duct research and teach their classes on the elementary campus, Maynard said.

Board of Trustees Member Libby Jordan, who chairs the subcommittee

charged with looking into the Kilby issue, said the board will discuss it at their retreat in May and possibly during the regular June meeting.

Board of Trustees President Pro Tem Steve Pierce said the school, if the administration chooses to keep it, needs to be funded better in order for it to per-form as a fully-functional lab school.

According to documents provided by Cale, in order to get the lab school up to par, it would cost the university approxi-mately $462,489. The amount provided

would be slightly more than $200,000 more than UNA currently provides.

The university’s overall operating budget is just over $80 million, said Vice President Dr. Steven Smith. This year’s current subsidy to Kilby School is approximately $218,000.

Maynard and other Kilby parents are organizing Facebook and letter writ-ing campaigns to get the word out. For more information on the “Kilby Strong” campaign, visit www.kilbystrong.com or visit the Kilby School Facebook page.

Page 5ANewsThursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala

and there’s only one lady that deals with all of it. And trying to navigate the website and hotline is terrible and time consuming.”

Although the funds are secured, an official place for the support center has not yet been established, McGee said.

NBC affiliate, doing weekends in the local news department.

“I worked on the technical side of things for several years, running news tapes, rolling in commercial tapes. Senior year, I moved from the production department to the editorial side of news as a correspondent. I left there as the news director a year after graduation.”

To reach similar levels of success to Hurt’s, Hurt said he wants to offer the graduating class one particular piece of advice.

“Be nice to people,” he said. “Absolutely, be nice to everyone you work with. Don’t burn bridges; don’t take friendships with profession-als for granted. Always bring your best.”

Donations on rise, officials say

Private monetary contributions are crucial for UNA to continue to be able to support various operations, programs, and scholarships, officials said. Statistics from literature from the UNA advance-ment office show that students have to pay a higher percentage of their cost to attend UNA than in years past.

Statistics from literature on the 1830 fund show that 10 years ago students had to pay only 47.62 percent of the cost to attend UNA. Students now have to pay 63.37 percent.

Dr. Alan Medders, vice president of advancement, said the fiscal year lasts from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Last year at this time, private contributions were approxi-mately $1.9 million, and this year they are approximately $1.1 million.

These numbers do not include num-bers from the spring phonathon, which is still in progress. The majority of contributions do not come from the fall and spring phonathons, though, Medders

said.“There are still five months to go

in our fiscal year, and in our world a lot can change in a day,” Medders said. “Another thing that has happened, too—and this is kind of in preparation for facilities, scholarships, and athletics—we are getting people to start multi-year pledges. This year, we have pledges that

will go up to $1.3 million.” Medders said that last year at this

time, there was $34,000 in pledges. The increase of pledge amount this year is a great payoff, he said, because that means the amount of funds raised next year is already on the rise.

“What we have been doing over the

past few years is getting people to get into a giving culture,” Medders said. “This year, it is really starting to pay off. That means we have started a culture of giving rather than people just responding to an annual appeal.”

Melody Stewart, athletics annual fund/major gifts officer, said she and the rest of advancement have tried to pro-mote alumni giving of all sizes. She said she wants alumni to know that if more people give a gift—even a relatively small amount—it can make a big impact.

“We have really worked on com-municating—especially to our younger alumni—that their $50 commitment makes just as much of an impact in increasing the alumni giving percentage as larger gifts,” she said.

Increasing the alumni giving percent-age helps with the obtaining of grants and other larger funds, Steward said.

Given the spring phonathon numbers and other factors not included in the $1.1 million amount, Medders and Stewart said they predict the monetary amount of contributions will exceed the $1.4 mil-lion amount of last year.

”What we have been doing over the past few years is get-ting people to get into a giving

culture.” -Alan Medders

One of the heavy branches from the trees struck his family’s house, causing damage to the roof. Schiavi said he was fortunate his home was mostly spared from the tornado in Harvest, but his friends and neighbors weren’t so fortunate.

“I feel like one of the lucky ones,” he said. “I feel supportive. There was nothing they could do about what happened. It’s just how it worked out for them. I feel bad.”

Since the storms, Schiavi has a new outlook on his life and personal safety. He said he and his loved ones are now more prepared for severe weather than ever before.

The last year, in which so many have had to rebuild their homes and lives after the tornadoes, has taught Schiavi to take tornado sirens seri-ously, he said.

“The (tornadoes) made me more concerned for others, so now I encourage everybody to learn where the storm shelters are in their area, and to know who can help you in situations like that,” he said.

In August of 2011, UNA secured a $15,000 grant through the Disaster Relief Fund for Postsecondary Education Students. The funding was dispersed to approximately 20 UNA students who were affected by the April 27 tornado out-break across north Alabama last year.

Donors also contributed to a separate fund after the April 27 tornadoes, which has now been established as an emergency fund for future use.

Current Kilby Subsidy: approx. $218,000

Kilby PTO/Outside Money:$148,542

State Money: $868,556

*source: documents from April 21 subcommittee meeting

BY THE NUMBERS...

Page 6A Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-AlaNews

The LaGrange residence hall this year was a healthy living option on campus. Ac-cording to offi cials, though, LaGrange next year will be an all-female residence hall.

Kevin Jacques, director of Residence Life, said healthy living, meaning that residents signed a contract stating that they would be substance free, had never been done in an entire residence hall at UNA.

“We thought that we would be able to move it to an entire building, and we thought it would be successful,” he said. “It has not been so much so as we thought.”

The healthy living option had previ-ously just been offered on two fl oors of LaGrange. The move to the whole building going substance free this year was really a test run, Jacques said.

“The idea behind it is that the people that live there choose to live there because they want to live in an environment where they don’t have to come into contact with alcohol, tobacco or other drugs,” Jacques said.

LaGrange served as the overfl ow resi-dence hall this year as well, Jacques said. He said this forced students into the healthy living option who may not have chosen to be there otherwise.

Also, Jacques said, this made enforc-ing the rules of the contract more diffi cult. With LaGrange serving as the overfl ow res-idence hall, there was nowhere on campus to relocate the students who did break the contract.

Next year, Jacques said LaGrange will be all female primarily because there are more females attending UNA who need the housing option. The healthy living option has the potential to return because there is a demand, he said.

As far as options for students living on campus besides strictly traditional housing, Jacques suggested the Freshman Opportu-nities and Connections for UNA Students (FOCUS) program that will be offered on the fi rst four fl oors of Rivers Hall. This is along the same lines as the First Year Resi-dent Educator (FYRE) Fellows program this year, which is fi rst come fi rst serve.

The loss of the healthy living option can be negative, though, said Amber Lamm. Lamm is a freshman majoring in exercise

science. She lived in LaGrange and found the experience to be positive for her.

Lamm wanted to live in an atmosphere that coincided with her personal choice to remain substance free. Of course, some people are going to break the rules, she said. Overall, though, LaGrange offered the positive environment she expected.

“I found all my best friends in La-Grange, and it is really nice knowing that their values are the same as mine,” Lamm said. “I would have loved to say that La-Grange is a place that is substance free, but

now I can’t say that.”Julia Henderson, senior art education

major and LaGrange community adviser for the past three years, said she feels the healthy living option is more feasible in a smaller setting.

“Right now, there isn’t really enough space—as far as residence halls go—to house such a community and make it as successful as it is capable of,” Henderson said. “But I do think it would be great to look into in the future.”

Henderson said she would love to see the healthy living option remain available to students. Perhaps offering healthy living in a residence hall around the size of La-Fayette Hall would be better, she said.

Officials: healthy living dorms not working out as planned

photo by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

LaGrange Hall residents Sara Chaffi n and Ashley Ravenscraft relax in hammocks outside the healthy living residence hall on campus.

”We thought that we would be able to move it to an entire build-ing, and we thought it would be

sucessful.” -Kevin Jacques

• Residence Life to move healthy living options out of LaGrange Hall

Page 7AThursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala Feature

With the recent release of “Bully,” a documentary by Lee Hirsch following young adults as they face lives fi lled with ver-bal assault, harassment, beatings and isolation, people should be aware that bullying can happen anywhere at any time, said Dr. May Takeuchi, a UNA sociology professor.

Bullies are typically formed when people have no options to resolve problems in their own lives or lack the proper lead-ership to help them with their problems and fi nd human targets to relieve the stress built up from the lack of resolution, Takeuchi said.

Takeuchi said there are three parts of a formula that make up the social structure of bullying: the bully, the scapegoat and the audience.

The bully’s target is labeled as his or her scapegoat. Takeu-chi said this scapegoat, normally, is picked based on two factors: being different and being physi-cally weak.

“This person tends to char-acterize what is considered to be negative in society, and the bul-ly expects less retaliation from

this person,” Takeuchi said. She said that, to a bully, the

scapegoat becomes a symbol for all the negative things that a bully may experience in his or her life. After a person becomes labeled as a scapegoat by a bully, other bullies will also target that person to torment, pick on, ha-rass and embarrass.

“By destroying the person they are destroying their prob-lems,” Takeuchi said.

The audience is made up of people who surround situations of bullying who either intervene to help solve the bullying prob-lem, indirectly or directly tease the target or remain voiceless after witnessing acts of bully-ing, Takeuchi said. The audience plays an important role in the structure of bullying because it has the power to change the situ-ation.

UNA, however, does not ap-pear to have a problem with bul-lying on campus.

“Personally, I have not ob-served anything, but the risk ex-

ists everywhere, and UNA is no exception,” Takeuchi said.

“I’ve never experienced bul-lying and have never witnessed

bullying while on campus,” said Megan Thompson, sociology major at UNA. “It seems every-one is friendly, or at least they

don’t go out of their way to be mean like in high school.”

UNA police should be alerted if acts of violence are witnessed

or experienced on campus.

photo illustration by CHRISTINA COVINGTON I Student Photographer

UNA offi cials said the university doesn’t appear to have any issues with bullying on campus. If stu-dents do see bullying taking place at UNA, police urge them to call 256-765-4357 for help.

UNA officials discuss issue of bullying

WANT MORE INFORMATION 24/7?Check out our website at www.florala.net.

Page 8A Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala

Presented by the SGA University Program Council

Page 1B1B Contact Life Editor Andy Thigpen at 256.765.5233Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-AlaLL I F EI F E

Pollution

Cars blaze down Savannah Highway. In the woods, the air is quiet, and Wallace Spring bubbles content and clear down a hill on a warm day in April.

Charles Rose follows a familiar path alongside the brook as it separates private property from the Florence landfi ll. After a short walk, the water takes on a differ-ent look: a fl uorescent orange hue begins to emerge in paint-like patches on the bed of the spring.

“It’s kind of unpredictable,” Rose said. “More rainfall can cause it to look better or cause it to look worse.”

The farther Rose walks downstream, the brighter and thicker the orange paint gets. It culminates in a small waterfall—the water running through an old tire and down a dark orange stalagmite.

After a few miles, Wallace Spring joins with Cypress Creek.

Rose, president of the Shoals Environ-mental Alliance (SEA), has been heavily involved with local environmental con-cerns for several decades. He teamed up with David Cope in 2009, and their data played a role in drawing attention from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), which issued the landfi ll a contamination violation, Cope and Rose said.

Ultimately, their involvement im-pacted the City Council’s vote to close the landfi ll in March, said Dick Jordan, City Councilman of District 2.

“(Cope) and I have been working to-gether,” Jordan, councilman for the district

containing the landfi ll, said. “He goes out to the site on a regular basis. He’s been a good teacher, and it’s been a good learning experience.”

Cope is an assistant math professor who has been watching areas around the old and new Florence landfi lls. The old one, located in West Florence past Handy Homes, closed in 1987, which is when the new one opened, Cope said.

The old Florence landfi ll has been leaking leachate since its closing in 1987 and will continue to do so for another 50 to 75 years, by Cope’s calculations.

“I’m just referencing it to what I know fi rst hand,” Cope said. “That old landfi ll in Florence that closed in 1987, it closed 25 years ago. It’s still discharging high con-centrations of leachate. And it’s not just my visual observations; I’ve got the measure-ments to prove it.

“Leachate will fl ow from a landfi ll anywhere from 50 to 100 years,” Cope said. “What that demonstrates, and some-thing everybody ought to know, is that landfi lls are forever.”

Leachate is any liquid that originates from or passes through buried garbage, Cope said.

Now, in the wake of the landfi ll’s closure, Manager of the Florence Solid Waste, Street and Recycle Department David Koonce said all garbage except for construction and demolition waste will be transferred to a regional landfi ll in Walnut, Miss.

“This is the way most communities dispose with waste,” he said. “This is a na-tional trend. Most cities and counties have gotten out of their own garbage business.”

In an attempt to fi x the leachate con-

tamination of local springs, workers are planning on drilling a hole into the land-fi ll to pump out some of the ground water thought to be buried there, Koonce said.

The procedure is expected to happen in the next two to four weeks, Koonce said.

Until then, Cope believes active partic-ipation and education are key to improving the landfi ll situation overall.

“Apathy is the worst enemy to the po-litical process in this country,” Cope said. “I think we all agree that helping educate the public on this is something that would be a worthwhile goal—letting people know: don’t be afraid to stand up.”

Koonce agrees, but asserts that the problem is bigger than the landfi ll.

“This belongs to us all,” he said. “We all play a role. You can’t just look at one thing. You’ve got to look at the whole pic-ture. The landfi ll is an issue, but there are so many other issues we all play a part in.

“It’s very far-reaching, and it has a lot of impacts way about Florence.”

Though Herman Graham, city council-man for District 3, was the only councilman to vote against the closing of the landfi ll, he believes in the far-reaching effects that so-cial involvement can facilitate—especially

(Above, above right) A waterfall causes a stalagtite of iron and manganese depos-its to drip down tree roots at the Wallace Spring location. The deposits are caused by leachate escaping from the landfi ll. (Right middle) Cypress knees emerge from similar deposits at Lewis Spring less than a mile away. (Right bottom) Leachate from the old Florence landfi ll fl ows into Cypress Creek. Leachate from this source has been escaping since its closing in 1987, sources said.

photos by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

Offi cials discuss landfi ll status, push for UNA student, community activism

ThePoliticsofof

UNA Web Communications Manager Jeremy Britten and his wife Christi have made a recent change in their family of fi ve. The Brittens were concerned with the large amounts of fast food they were consuming, which caused them change to a vegan lifestyle.

“The premise is that we are just an average family trying this,” Christi said.

Jeremy and Christi said they were disgusted by the amount of fast food that their busy sched-ule had them eating.

“We have recently started a blog chronicling our attempt to live healthier lives,” Jeremy said. “We don’t really call what we’re doing a diet. It is more of a complete lifestyle change, and we just do the best that we can.”

The blog is entitled wearethebrittens.com and was created by the Britten family in order to give back to the community by helping others live healthier lives. The blog includes recipes and ad-vice on healthy alternatives to healthy fast food options.

The Brittens understand there are challenges in always fi nding healthy options as a family on the go, such as the diffi culty of eating healthily during travel and during the sickness they have recently experienced.

As the Brittens do not consider what they are doing to be a diet, there is no cheating. They said it is important to be fl exible when there is a need.

“It is important that people allow themselves to splurge,” Jeremy said. “We got a bit discour-aged after the trip and the virus, but we’re sur-rounded by great friends who have a similar de-

Page 2B Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-AlaLife

I sat on the wall with Lurleen Burns Wallace’s name between my legs and looked up at the sky. My God,

how will I cover these events, I thought? What is it even about? Competitions between sorori-ties for points and perhaps pride, though I couldn’t be sure.

Infi ltrate. Immerse. Observe. Report. Sure, I thought, seems simple enough.

Two long-boarders went by and I wondered what they would be doing for the next three days. Will it involve fraternity hijinks and paired debauchery

with sorority women? Likely not.I crossed Pine Street and wandered

down the row looking for the Delta Chi house. Eventually, I found a few guys on the porch stripping wires and wheel-ing out of large speakers. These young men looked alright, so I approached and introduced myself. Pay me no mind, I told them, I’m just here with the school paper to see what’s going on.

One of the guys gave me a brief tour of the house. Inside were broth-ers fumbling about, cleaning random things, shifting clutter from door-ways—typical frat house stuff—except for those low-hanging power lines in the backyard. Impending doom for the Friday night Foam Party; expect big fi reworks, I thought.

My tour guide proceeded to ex-plain that 150 to 300 people could fi t in the backyard where the big shindig would occur. Hell, man, I’ve seen 200

people crammed into a Boston base-ment half the size of this yard. You’re gonna need more foam.

I left because I had showed up early. None of the sororities had shown up yet to paint the porch which I was informed was now a tradition. I returned at sundown and found a good mix of men and women spilling from the porch into the front yard.

The brothers had the speakers cranked up and the ladies were seated, deep in concentration on their respec-tive paintings. Gallon buckets of paint, handfuls of paintbrushes, art boxes and painter’s tape surrounded the diligent women. I looked around and saw no al-cohol. It is only Wednesday, I thought, but that is usually no excuse for college kids. Perhaps they’re just dipping their toes in the pool. No sense abusing the privilege so soon again.

Legendsendsphotos by MALISA MCCLURE I Chief Photographer

FehingLoatLoatarar

(Top left) A dancer performs at the Foam Party April 20. The Foam Party concluded Delta Chi’s Legends Week. (Top right) Sorority sisters participate in a game of earth ball.

Writer goes ʻgonzoʼ with Delta Chi

FLOR-ALA SPECIALFLOR-ALA SPECIAL

photo by MALISA MCCLURE I Chief Photographer

Jeremy and Christi Britten play Chutes and Lad-ders with their children, Avery, Emerson and Han-nah. Instead of a TV room, the Brittens opted for a playroom.

Meet‘TheBrittens’

&&

Page 3BThursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala Life

START CHALLENGING YOURSELF.

START RAISING THE BAR.

START MAKING A DIFFERENCE.

START EARNING RESPECT.

START TAKING ON CHALLENGES.S.

START PUSHING YOURSELF.

START BUILDING CONFIDENCE.

START DEVELOPING SKILLS.

ASK ABOUT OUR SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AND SIMULTANEOUS MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM!Visit our office at Wesleyan Hall Annex Room 142. Contact Major Leslie Nelson at

(256) 765-4458 or lnelson@una.edu or visit our web site at www.una.edu/rotc

©2008. Paid for by the United States Army. All rights reserved.

There’s strong. Then there’s Army Strong. Make Army ROTC part of your University of North Alabama experience and be eligible for a full-tuition scholarship, fees for books and a monthly stipend. When you’re finished, you’ll earn the rank of Second Lieutenant. Register for an ROTC elective today.

START STRONG.SM

As UNA students and faculty prepare to part ways for summer break, many are also perfecting their summer plans. Wheth-er travelling internationally or staying near home, all seem to be anticipating the sum-mer ahead.

Senior Evan King will be balancing work with play this summer.

“I’ll be doing an internship, and I’ll also be drinking a lot of PBR and playing with my Boston terrier puppy,” he said.

Freshman Ben Procious will be devot-

ing his summer to basic training in Okla-homa for the United States Army.

“I’m excited about it, but it’s going to be extremely hot there,” he said.

Others, such as junior Lauren Daley, will be travelling internationally. Daley wants to become fl uent in Spanish and will be studying abroad in Spain. She antici-pates the trip to be a once-in-a-lifetime op-portunity, she said.

“When else in my life am I going to be able to do this?” she said. “I want the full cultural experience, and I know it’s going to be really, really fun.”

Sophomore Mack Cornwell is also looking forward to a summer of travelling.

His destinations include Peru, Cancun, the Olympics in London and China.

“I’m looking forward to hot-tubbing to work on a nice, golden tan and also having a cultural experience that will leave me fur-ther enriched with the spices of the world,” he said.

Senior Max Beech is looking forward to spending his summer at Summer Beach Project, a ministry of Campus Outreach, a Christian organization on campus.

“I’ll be living at the beach, doing dis-cipleship training and working full-time,” he said. “I’m looking forward to growing in my faith and hanging out with friends.”

Dr. Larry Bates and Dr. Richard Hudi-

burg hope to hike at least 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail.

“I think most professors fi nd wild things to do during the summers,” Bates said. “I just like to see places I’ve never seen before. Honestly, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at a picnic table in Alaskan Wilderness tastes better than any steak any-where.”

Dr. Matt Schoenbachler is hoping to have a productive summer. He will be writ-ing an online textbook for WWNorton Pub-lisher, teaching classes at UNA and attend-ing a conference in Baltimore.

Vice President for Student Affairs Da-vid Shields will be travelling for his chil-dren’s graduations, catching up on reading, running in several races late in the summer, catching up on yard work and spending time with his family.

SGA President Will Riley will have a busy summer working full time while also fi nding time to lead SOAR counseling, at-tend an SGA retreat in Pennsylvania and take a vacation to the beach.

Above all else, most students will agree that a break from classes is what they are anticipating the most, Riley said.

“I’m most looking forward to not hav-ing schoolwork,” he said.

photo courtesy of Morguefile

While some students will be relaxing on the beach, in the mountains or in other locales, others use summer as a time to work and catch up on all the things they missed during the school year.

Students, faculty solidify summer plansStudents, faculty solidify summer plans

‘Rest for the weary?’‘Rest for the weary?’

”Honestly, a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich at a picnic

table in Alaskan Wilderness tastes better than any steak

anywhere.” -Larry Bates

Page 4B Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-AlaLife

Friendship. Character. Justice. Educa-tion.

“Wagon Wheel” came on and a sing-along ensued. I’m not sure if they are being sarcastic or not. I hear conversation about the music selection. Put a good song on, she said. But this is one of my favorite bands, he responded.

She probably wants more “Wagon Wheel,” so good for you, brother.

The music choice for a front porch gathering might be what separates Delta Chi the most from other NPC fraterni-ties at UNA. Velvet Underground made an appearance on the stereo, briefl y, and then promptly changed. Oh well, this ain’t Animal House after all.

Before I left for the night, I was given tidbits of information—background information to help me get a grasp on what these guys are about.

The host of the once popular Nickel-odeon game show, “Legends of the Hidden Temple,” is a Delta Chi; apparently, the origin of the idea for this week’s festivities. The “X” in the brother’s front yard was found on the porch of the Kappa Sig house earlier this year, though no reason why has been determined. Also, the UNA custodian who once lived in the now Delta Chi house once fell down the home’s stairs, resulting in a gruesome injury. This may or may not have been a direct result of alcohol.

I arrived at Flowers Hall on Thursday to cover the Mermaid Challenge. NPR was reporting that a Black Hawk was downed

The 10th annual Global Culture Night, sponsored by the Student Multicultural Ad-visory Committee (SMAC), was celebrated at Norton Auditorium April 21.

There are about 400 students at UNA who represent a country outside of the United States, said SMAC adviser Allison Ray.

This year, the Global Culture Night event had a theme from SMAC called Aim to Change.

“We are seeking to advocate, integrate and motivate students toward racial and in-ternational awareness through multicultur-al and education programming,” Ray said in her opening speech, describing what the theme meant.

Some agree that this theme is appropri-ate for students at UNA.

“It’s defi nitely one worth pursuing,” said Loic Dimithe, a UNA student from Cameroon. “Many students do not know what goes on outside their neighborhood, so this helps give students a new perspec-tive of the world.”

This year, the program was hosted by Dimithe and Rachel Bond.

“It was fun to see everything that went into it, and to be a part of it was really cool,” Bond said.

Before the performance began, Dim-ithe and Bond gave the fl oor to UNA Presi-dent Bill Cale to talk about what it meant for the school to share and invest in each other’s cultures.

“We bring students here because the world has grown smaller through technol-ogy, and these students will inherit the fu-ture,” Cale said.

The night began with an African wel-come rhythm called, “Dansa” and others performed by the POZA Troupe and CORE Drummers. Bond said it was a “welcome dance for celebratory events.”

Performances featured a diverse med-ley of ancient and modern songs and danc-es from the Chinese Student Organization,

the dynamic song selections by the UNA Ascending voices and even a French poem recited by Sebastian Rassinoux. The last of the performances was an upbeat Indian dance performed by Shikah Shah and Bha-gyashri Patel.

“(People from our country) appreciate seeing us represent them by our traditional dance as much as (American people do for their country),” Patel said.

Next, some of the UNA international students took the stage in refl ecting some of their traditional clothing and styles. Countries included China, India, Saudi Arabia and African nations. Afterward, stu-dents and faculty assembled at the GUC to experience an international array of foods from South Asia and Saudi Arabia. The DJ began playing songs that brought everyone together for a celebration through dance.

“It’s cool to see the people do this,” said Darrell Coble, president of Japanese University Meal Project. “They’re wearing different clothing, playing different music, and yet they are all (dancing to it) together.”

Ray said she was pleased with the turn-out.

“I’m proud of our international stu-dents and the fact that it had a great turn-out,” she said. “I encourage people from the Shoals area to really take our goal seri-ously.”

Even for those who performed, they gave their appreciation to those who of-fered support by watching them.

“It was amazing,” Shah said. “We ap-preciate (students) taking time to come and see our performance.”

Global Culture Night is an event where students either foreign or domestic can be active in each other’s cultures and beliefs and in the midst of it fi nd that they have something in common, said Dr. Chunsheng Zhang, vice provost of international affairs.

“By doing this, we continue the tra-dition of sharing each other’s culture,” he said. “Even though people may think that because we speak a different language or have a different skin color then we are different; we are actually very much the same.”

Dillon Hodges had his fi rst kiss in ninth grade. The girl was a friend he taught to play the mandolin. She didn’t learn very much.

The relationship didn’t last long—she claimed he wasn’t the best kisser. But by the looks of Dillon’s sultry new music video, “Bullet for a Broken Heart,” he doesn’t ap-pear to have that problem anymore.

He hasn’t always been the smooth per-former he is now, though.

“I’m really glad YouTube didn’t exist back then,” Hodges said, speaking of the era in which he only wrote songs for girl-friends. “That stuff is staying far away from the Internet.”

Dillon’s singing and songwriting ca-reer started when he joined the school choir in ninth grade. When he wasn’t melting 15-year-old girls’ hearts with his rendition of “Why Georgia?” and other John Mayer tunes, he was writing his own love songs.

“It was pretty shallow, honestly,” he said of his early work. “I just wanted peo-ple to notice me; I wasn’t good at anything else.”

However untrue the latter part might be, it’s hard to say that Dillon was made to do anything else besides play guitar.

He won his fi rst competition at age 11 only months after picking up a guitar for the fi rst time. From there, he went on to win competitions such as the Junior National Championship in Smithville, Tenn., and ROMP, the Teenage National Champion-ship in Owensburg, Ky.

At age 16, Dillon took home fi rst place at the Winfi eld National Guitar Champion-

ship over guitarists who had been playing for decades.

“I got lucky,” he said.It must be that same “luck” that made

his recent Kickstarter campaign for his new album a huge success.

Dillon and his team set a goal of $10,000 in 30 days—they exceeded this sum by over $1,000 on the Internet alone.

“We wanted to make it tough and im-mediate,” Hodges said of their fundraising goal. “It encouraged people to donate right then.”

With Kickstarter and other outside do-nations, Dillon raised close to $15,000 for the record he will begin recording here in Florence this June.

Though the single “Bullet for a Broken Heart” and Dillon’s cover of the Gorillaz’ “Feel Good Inc.” were available on Kick-starter as a prize for donation, the full-length album will be out in October or November of this year.

The new album is assuredly nothing like what he used to write.

“I was writing from personal experi-ence then, which I defi nitely don’t do any-more,” he said of his songwriting. “I’m not Taylor Swift.

“It’s more like storytelling.”This is apparent—or hopefully so—in

his single, “Bullet for a Broken Heart,” in which he sings from the viewpoint of a mur-derous man running from the law.

Dillon Hodges has never killed anyone.“I’m not really a bad-to-the-bone kind

of guy; I just like to pretend I am,” he said. “I like to tell stories in my songs. I’m going to keep watching people and writing about them.”

Dillon HodgesDillon Hodgesphoto by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

Dillon Hodges is a local musician who just lanched his $10,000 Kickstarter campaign for his new album. The album is expected to be released in October or November and will contain his new hit single “Bullet for a Broken Heart” as well as his cover of the Gorillaz’ “Feel Good Inc.”

‘Going

photos by MALISA MCCLURE I Chief Photographer

The 10th annual Global Culture night features many performances, foods, music and clothing from all over the world. (Above left) LaQuanda Simpson of the POZA Troupe performs a native African dance. (Above right) Two members of the Chinese Student Organization perform traditional and modern Chinese songs.

Global Culture Night features multicultural art, entertainment, food to promote diversity

UpUpcloseclosewithwith

Global’

Page 5BThursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala Life

Check out what’s coming up this weekend in the Shoals.

Friday, April 27

Saturday, April 28

Thursday, April 26

Workin’ for the

Weekend

Jacob Steinful and the Truth On the Rocks 9:30 p.m.

Theophilus, Cheap Thrill DeVille, and SCM Electrix Wesley Foundation 9 p.m. - 2 a.m.

Jacob Lovell Swampers Bar & Grille 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Barry Billings Swampers Bar & Grille 8 p.m. - 11 p.m.

The Kojacks Swampers Bar & Grille 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Angela Hacker and James Leblanc Swampers Bar & Grille 9 p.m. - 12 p.m.

28 Between Swampers Bar & Grille 9 p.m. - midnight

Gabe Allen and Friends On the Rocks 9:30 p.m.

Second Creek On the Rocks 9:30 p.m.

involvement from students.“I welcome their input,” he said. “The

way they look at things differently is what we need. Sometimes their ideas go the fur-thest. They are our future. One day when I’m gone, this will be their town.”

Rose echoes Graham in his concern about the divide between the young and older generations.

“There are many local groups that are involved with the environment, and they do not get much participation from students and young adults,” he said. “All of those groups tend to attract older adults. They’re all look-ing for new members.”

One student staying active is sopho-more professional chemistry and mathemat-ics double major Alex Edwards.

Edwards has been working on a research project attempting to determine heavy met-als in land and water around various springs that surround the landfi ll. He said the sourc-es of pollution are not always right in the open.

“To be honest with you, if you’re just a kayaker down Cypress Creek, you can’t really—you hear news about how environ-mentalists are saying that the landfi ll is pol-

luting the creek—but you can’t really see any evidence of it if you’re just kayaking down Cypress Creek,” Edwards said.

Some of the evidence is too small to see with the naked eye. In one project, Ed-wards isolated water samples from one of the springs which, when evaporated, caused metals to emerge from the water. This was caused by an oversaturation of the “un-known metals,” Edwards said.

“It’s like pouring sugar in a glass of wa-ter and it not dissolving because there is so much sugar,” he said.

Cope said the student perspective with projects like this is vital to facilitating mass education.

“Students like Alex who have taken an active interest in this have been instrumen-tal in creating public awareness,” Cope said. “And to the extent that the public becomes aware, then the politicians become aware.”

Cope cites the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam protests of the ‘60s as epit-omes of activism.

“Do college students have a common theme they’re standing up for these days?” Cope asked. “There are issues which are a lot bigger than any of us and which, in time, we realize, ‘Gosh, I wish I would’ve stood up for that.’ And this environmental thing, I think, is going to be really important.”

sire to eat as healthily as we can.” The support of others with similar goals

helps the Brittens to remain on track. Jeremy also said the healthy options he has been try-ing taste just as good as the food he ate be-fore. This helps him to not crave fast food as much as he thought he would.

Another advantage of their new lifestyle

is the fact that the family feels better, Christi said. Since her family began eating healthier, Christi noticed a change in the energy levels of herself, her husband and her children.

“Before we made this lifestyle change, no one in our family had much energy to do anything,” Christi said. “We had become pretty lazy. Now that we’ve changed that and cut out the unhealthy eating habits, we have so much more energy. It is a great feel-ing.”

in Afghanistan. Four dead. Still, the games must go on.

The Mermaid Challenge consisted of sororities involved in a relay race to retrieve objects fl oating and on the bottom of the pool. But where were the other two sororities? Five p.m. was an early start, but ZTA and Alpha Delta Pi showed up. Rumbles of some strange rule against bi-kinis over at Phi Mu made their way down the line. No public bathing in 2012, the year of our lord? A stroll across campus in the spring would lead one to believe otherwise, I thought. Perhaps it’s true; this is Florence, Ala., after all.

Next, we moved to the intramural fi elds for something called earthball. This is a sport of chaos—rugby, tug-of-war and elementary PE combined into one brutal competition between ladies. Ladies yes, but with a twinkle of fear and determination in their eyes as they slammed the 6-foot-tall, multicolored ball into one another in a fe-verish attempt to push it across a goal line. They fought for points but also to preserve dignity.

Nike could have used these activities as an opportunity for an ad. The ladies sported every style and color available. A dance party at nearby Rivers Hall provided the soundtrack. Thumping bass lines seemed to accompany the thump of faces as the earthball was muscled back and forth. Late in the competition there were hands on hips and substitutes shuffl ed in and out. Not sure if that was making much of a differ-ence. With the score knotted at two it didn’t look like anyone had much left in the tank. Eventually, ZTA took the game 4-2.

Thursday ended with a brutish spec-tacle of dodge ball. Still, only two sorori-ties involved, but the boys of Delta Chi didn’t seem to mind. They joined in to even up the teams and enjoy themselves. The

Zetas picked up intensity and showed the day’s fi rst true desire to win at one of these things. But what would they win? What is the goal here? I think Alpha Delta Pi ended up winning the dodge ball portion, but I can’t be certain. It had been a long day for everyone, and the structure and rules were waning. I heard one young lady say she hates dodge ball. At least you were a good sport.

I parked my car down the street from the house Friday evening and turned off the engine. The photographer and I could hear DJ Lil’ Skittle over the constant hum of an industrial foam machine.

Time for the grand fi nale—time for a party. Time for slurred speech and debauch-ery—time to tame chaos.

I arrived to fi nd that the night’s festivi-ties would be a dry party, as they say on the Row. These cats were just a different breed. Different strokes for different folks. Some folks don’t need to get drunk to have a good time, and I couldn’t accuse them of not having any fun. There was a 10-foot wall of foam fi lling half the backyard and enough people for a group rendition of the Dougie. These guys might be known as the weird frat or the nerd house on the Row, but there were two girls for every guy and smiles on most faces I saw. Those not smiling were just focused on getting the foam out of their hair. No one got arrested, no one got in a fi ght. No one puked in the driveway and no one fell off the deck. It may have been more interesting if some of that had happened, but it was different. Just like Delta Chi.

In the end, the sororities placed like this:

ZTAADPPhi MuAlpha GamI’m not sure who really won, or what

they won. I’m not sure if any of that mat-ters.

Student Media Open House Student Media Building 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Fly By Radio Sandbar

With the end of my tenure drawing near, I couldn’t help but think of what all I have been through during this crazy year of being sports editor for The Flor-Ala.

I think the rest of The Flor-Ala staff would probably agree with me that this was one of the most stressful years we have ever had. Time management was probably the most diffi cult thing to deal with, especially since I had three jobs.

Despite all the hardships that occurred, I couldn’t be more thankful to Student Media for

giving me the opportunity to hold this position. This year has taught me so much I probably would have never gotten.

Having this position has taught me how to deal with pressure situations ranging from cov-ering big stories to dealing with high-ranking offi cials on campus. In terms of my career, it was something I needed to improve on if I wanted to be successful.

I also wanted to say how thankful I am to have worked with an extremely talented staff: Josh Skaggs, Andy Thigpen and Alex Lindley. I think each of them should have no problem making a lot of money once they are out in the job market. Normally, I wouldn’t think too highly of my bosses, but working under my Executive Editor Lucy Berry has been a real honor.

She is a very talented writer, and I have

learned so much by watching and taking as much advice as I could from her. If it weren’t for her and the rest of the staff, I probably would not have made it through the year. I’m really going to miss coming in on Mondays and having our karaoke moments as we work on our pages.

I would also like to thank the writers I had for my section who helped me cover many games and issues that occurred during the year. Without them, it would have made it very dif-fi cult to do my job as best as I possibly could.

As for the new staff coming in for next year, I hope nothing but the very best, and I know they will help make the paper even better than we did this year. The new group is extremely talented, and I know they will get the job done.

Again, I am very thankful to all of those who helped make this year’s paper possible. It has been an amazing run being the sports editor for The Flor-Ala, and my goal coming in was to leave it at a better place than it was before. I hope I achieved it.

Page 6B Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-AlaViewpointsStudent newspaper of

the University of North Alabama

LUCY BERRYEXECUTIVE EDITOR

JOSH SKAGGSNEWS/MANAGING EDITOR

ANDY THIGPENLIFE EDITOR

TOMMY BOLTONSPORTS EDITOR ALEX LINDLEY

COPY/OPINIONS EDITOR JORDAN BRADLEY

ONLINE EDITORCAMERON KELLY-JOHNSON

BUSINESS MANAGERSAVANNAH COMER

GRAPHIC ARTISTJULIANN LOSEY

CIRCULATION MANAGERMALISA McCLURE

CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHERKAYLA SLOANBARRY MINOR

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERSREBECCA WALKER

ADVISER

EDITORIAL BOARD: LUCY BERRY

ALEX LINDLEY

The Flor-Ala welcomes and encourages Letters to the Editor.• The deadline for submitting letters is 10 a.m. Monday, the week of publication.• Letters must not exceed 400 words. • Letters must be accompa-nied by the writer’s name, mailing address, phone number and email.• The Flor-Ala prefers to publish your letters exactly as written, but reserves the right to reject slanderous or libelous material.• The publication of any let-ter is left to the discretion of the Editorial Board.• Priority is given to letters critical of The Flor-Ala, or written in direct response to an editorial, a column, or a news story.• When the editors deem it necessary for ease of understanding or to clarify facts, an Editor’s Note may accompany a letter.• Address correspondence to The Flor-Ala. UNA Box 5300, Florence, AL 35632.Email: florala@una.edu. Letters may also be submit-ted through our website at florala.net.• Phone: 256-765-4364

Letters Policy

Copyright © 2012The Flor-AlaAll rights reserved.First copy free.Additional copies $1 each.

Political Cartoon

Thanks to all who made this yearʼs paper possible

As I wrap up my fi nal week with The Flor-Ala after three long, crazy, stressful but memorable years, I can’t help but smile at the staff I’m leaving behind and the organization others and I have created.

When I was in high school, I felt very much like an outcast and only knew that I wanted to turn my love for writing into some kind of career. I had very little direction, few friends and didn’t have a place where I felt I belonged. However, college turned all of that around for me.

The Flor-Ala, in many ways, helped to put me on the right path and became my home away from home. As a result of working for this publication, I feel I’ve become a stronger, wiser, more informed, educated, prepared and confi dent person who is ready to face the “real world” with self-assurance.

My last year with The Flor-Ala has been a challenging, but rewarding, one. I’ve experi-enced diffi cult things and had to make some pretty tough decisions that didn’t always leave me feeling like the most popular person in the room.

I’ve grown a thick skin and can face ad-versity with confi dence as a result of working

in this position. I can approach situations that make me uncomfortable if it means that I’m helping to change things for the better.

The job was defi nitely harder than I thought it would be when I was fi rst hired, but as I approach graduation, I know that the experiences I gained during the course of my time with The Flor-Ala were worth every sleepless night, angry phone call, headache, etc.

I’m walking away from my newspaper and university with my head held high. I was hired on for this position because I had a vi-sion to instill journalistic integrity and quality in The Flor-Ala, and I’m confi dent my staff achieved this during the last year.

We reported the news with enthusiasm, fairness, and only one group in mind: UNA students, our readers. We worked hard to improve on our fl aws so we could become a better media outlet that provided quality information, photos and online content each week.

I couldn’t have gotten anywhere, though, without my terrifi c staff. It breaks my heart that soon I won’t be sharing an offi ce with the people who I now consider my dearest friends. They are talented individuals with so much potential, and I’m just honored I had the chance to work side by side with them.

My adviser, Rebecca, has been a pillar of support for me during the last two years. I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor or friend. I always knew I could lean on her and

seek advice—and I’ll probably continue to do so years after graduation.

I wish the best of luck to my successor, Josh Skaggs, who will take on the role of ex-ecutive editor after my tenure is up. Josh, you have a challenging road ahead of you, but I believe your love for this fi eld will guide you along, and I’m absolutely certain that you and your staff will bring the paper to new heights.

The experiences I gained from The Flor-Ala as a writer, news/managing editor, and eventually executive editor were so invaluable I could never begin to possibly list all of the things I have learned.

All I know is that what I took from The Flor-Ala in terms of my journalism educa-tion taught me more than I ever would have learned in the classroom. The relationships I have fostered and experiences I have gained have helped me grow professionally and personally.

Thank you to everyone who has shown me kindness, offered a helping hand, provided me with advice, given me a second chance and been there with me along my journey. I’m excited about whatever new adventure awaits me in life.

Most of all, thank you to our readers. Without you, we’re nothing. Thank you for giving us a reason to wake up every day to do these jobs so that we can serve you by providing useful, timely information through journalistic storytelling.

For that, I am incredibly grateful.

Three crazy, memorable years

Come see us!Visit The Flor-Ala and

Diorama staffs April 27 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for our open house at

643 N. Wood Ave. Weʼd love to meet you!

256-765-4364florala@una.edu

Page 7BThursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala Viewpoints

This is it, the last issue. The end, fi nal countdown, curtain call, all those good clichés. For two years, I’ve written for The Flor-Ala, and, this last year, I worked as the online editor, and to be honest, I really don’t want to stop.

But the time has come, and I know the new staff of The Flor-Ala is ready to go and improve the paper even more than this year, so I have to say goodbye.

The only problem is, I don’t want to say those seven letters. Once I do, it’s offi cially over.

So instead, let me tell you a story.Recently, I had the honor to meet mem-

bers from universities in Serbia who were visiting UNA. Most of them were students and faculty from journalism departments interested in how universities in America run their student papers.

After spending a few days visiting the fast-paced, daily paper at University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Serbian students came to our weekly paper. Of course, there’s no way Florence could compare to the capital of Wisconsin. Except Neven Obradovic, a faculty advisor from Serbia, said compared to Madison, he would rather come back to Florence and Alabama.

Why would they choose Florence over Madison? Well, besides the famous south-ern charm, Obradovic and some of the students told me there was a difference in UNA’s small college town. People actually listened to them.

In Wisconsin, some of the female Serbian students were telling their hostess about the civil wars in Serbia, especially the Kosovo War that shook their childhood.

As they told the hostess about mortar fi re and the country tearing itself apart, the hostess listened silently and responded by saying “That’s pretty cool.”

Let me repeat that. A civil war is “pretty cool.”

And that’s not all. One of the Serbians was talking to someone else in Wiscon-sin about waking up to sirens and other changes that came with the wars in Serbia. “That’s great” was all they got in response.

Now, I know how busy everyone is nowadays. We have dozens of gadgets constantly screaming for our attention, and university students are especially busy with events and parties. That doesn’t mean we can forget how to communicate.

I’m proud of my university. I’m proud of Florence. We have problems like any-where else with ignorance and being too full of ourselves, but after seeing how these strangers from Serbia became lifelong friends to everyone they met, I see UNA still cares.

I’m glad our UNA community still listens, but I fear we can focus on ourselves too much and everything could become “pretty cool.”

Anyway, goodbye UNA. Thanks for reading. It’s been fun, but don’t forget. If The Flor-Ala stops telling you what you need to know, don’t feel afraid to stand up and chew the paper out. Please do that.

Journalists are only as good as their audiences, and if we don’t have you to con-verse with, we’re just writing for the wind.

Thanks for listening, UNA

Th is letter is in response to the article printed on March 22, 2012 entitled “Greek GPAs fall below standard, new guidelines set in place for fall semester.” As the As-sistant Director of Student Engagement for Greek Aff airs, I feel that this article misrepresented Greek Life at UNA. In ad-dition to misrepresenting Greek Life, we were misled on the intent of the article. I was approached by a writer of the Flor-Ala stating that they were writing a story on GPAs of student organizations from vari-ous areas on campus to fi nd similarities on the requirements and policies for main-taining a certain GPA. However, when the story was printed, the main focus was on Greek Life and the chapters that have the

lowest GPAs. Th is negative portrayal of Greek Life did not sit well with any Greek student and many Non-Greek students. When asked how he felt aft er reading the article Randy Th omason, Alpha Tau Omega President and 2011 Head SOAR Counselor, replied “My fi rst thought was a misrepresentation of Greek Life is taking place. I do acknowledge that some orga-nizations have room for improvement; however, I feel that Greek Life makes signifi cant contributions to this university and the surrounding community. Th e article only posed the details that would cause the reader to come to a negative conclusion.” When asked the same ques-tion Ralph Akalonu, member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and SGA President, replied, “It has to be said that the Greek system holds majority of the leadership positions on campus: current and incom-ing SGA President, 2011 and 2012 Head

SOAR Counselor, UPC Vice President, 2011 LaGrange Society Commander and Co-Captain, and 2011-2012 Miss UNA winners to name a few. I felt that the article was focused on the negatives without highlighting any of the positives.” Academics are fi rst priority for Greek Life. Like any other student organizations, our chapters recognize and face challenges of balancing school work with extracur-ricular activities. Greek students strive to become better students and leaders for our community. Th ey dedicate time and energy for causes that help to change lives. For example, they consistently comprise majority of the teams for Step Show and Step Sing in which all proceeds are donated to United Way. With all these diff erent areas aff ected positively by Greek students, imagine if Greek Life did not exist on campus. Would this campus be better or worse?

Letter to the Editor:

Warning: you can make maple syrup with the sap that follows.

Th is is my fi nal paper for the year, and I’m confl icted.

When I got this posi-tion about a year ago, I had no clue what I was doing. I had written a handful of stories for Th e Flor-Ala, none of them any good. Not only that, but I had only a small interest in journalism. I hated the inverted pyramid formula, and AP wasn’t my style (pardon the jargon and pun—and rhyme).

So when I was asked at Hank Klibanoff ’s Monday night lecture what it is that drives journalists—what is it in journalists that keeps them going, always fi nding the story, not stopping at the police tape and always staying hot on the trail of a solid lead, I didn’t know what

to say.But here’s my answer: it’s about telling

a story. Humans have this incredible, innate

urge to tell stories. From cave walls to newsprint, we’ve had an evolutionary desire to share experiences with one another.

To me, journalism is an off shoot of that desire. Th e desire to tell is there; the speaker only needs to fi nd the appropri-ate mode.

Th ere’s a quotation attributed to several people that goes, “Journalism is the fi rst rough draft of history.” Klibanoff echoed it Monday by saying journalists “sit on the front row of history.”

I’ve experienced these quotations in my job this year. Th is year, our staff broke D-I news to the public, watched Terry Bowden leave—and followed him with a notepad—experienced four stu-dent deaths and covered our area’s own tornado crisis.

I have been on ghost hunts, discussed poetry with Ishmael Reed and got Mati-syahu to beatbox in an interview. I may

even get J. Cole next week.Not to mention all of the amazing

people I’ve met who have helped me along the way.

So, I’m confl icted.I want to say—as I’ve alluded to in

the offi ce many times in the past few weeks—that I’m happy to be leaving. Th at I’ll fi nally be able to sleep Monday nights (and Sunday nights… Tuesday nights…). And that I fi nally won’t have to worry about misquoting a source or one of the other scandalous things a journalist can do.

But none of that’s true. I’m going to miss the stories and

the bloody red, 4 a.m. eyes. I’ll miss the introductions and shaking of hands and the patience needed in a diffi cult inter-view. I’ll miss the 8 a.m. phone calls. I’ll miss our no-windowed offi ce ... eh, only a little.

What I’ll say instead is: for those who fancy themselves wriers, try journalism on for size and see how it fi ts. At the very least you can get the campus mad at you before you leave.

Try journalism on for sizeAre you a cartoonist? Send us your stuff at fl orala.net to be considered for publication!

Visit florala.net all summer long for the latest information on UNA news.

Page 8B Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-AlaImages

photo by BARRY MINOR I Staff Photographer

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Well, it’s been a crazy year.From three student deaths, to mul-

tiple tornadoes, to hundreds (seem-ingly thousands!) of photo assign-ments—this year has been nothing if not eventful. Thankfully, through it all, my amazing photography staff has been there.

Readers, we really owe these guys a big thank you.

To Kayla, my successor as chief—I cannot wait to see what you do in this position. In some ways, I think you will be a better leader than I was able to be for you, and I know you and your staff will kick butt!

To Barry—I am sad to see you leave the paid staff, but I hope you will be able to volunteer with us next year. Remember you are extremely talented, and even though we didn’t always meet eye to eye, well, Roll Tide!

To Darrick—though you are no longer on staff with us, your work is very much appreciated. You are cer-tainly missed here, and I hope you are one day able to work with us again.

And, P.S., sorry I was insensitive the last time we spoke.

To the incoming staff, Michael and Christina—I’ve been really im-pressed with your work as volunteers, and I can’t wait to see your work next year. You guys are in for a wild ride, so buckle up and hold on!

To the volunteers, Phillip and Car-rie—Thank you so much for the work that you do. Volunteer work is invalu-able to the Offi ce of Student Media, and it really takes a load off our backs to have you guys. I hope Kayla can count on seeing you guys in her meet-ings next year!

To the editorial and ad staffs—well, fi rstly, I am excited to be join-ing you all as next year’s sports edi-tor! You all have done a great job this year, and I can’t wait to carry on your work. Lucy, you are a brilliant gal with a bright future, and I’m excited to watch your career progress.

To everyone at The Flor-Ala, pat yourselves on the back—we deserve it. To 2012-2013!

TOP 10 PHOTOS OF THE YEARTOP 10 PHOTOS OF THE YEARCommentary by Malisa McClure - Chief Photographer file photo by DARRICK DAWKINS

photo by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

photo by MALISA MCCLURE I Chief Photographer

file photo by DARRICK DAWKINSphoto by MALISA MCCLURE I Chief Photographer

photo by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

photo by BARRY MINOR I Staff Photographer

photo by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

Baseball team Baseball team plays rival UAH plays rival UAH with GSC title with GSC title on the lineon the line

Page 7BPage 7B

Eye on Eye on PrizePrize <<<<

PagePage 1C1C Contact Sports Editor Tommy Bolton at 256.765.4364SPORTSSPORTS Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala

Check out how UNA Check out how UNA sports did this year and sports did this year and also The Flor-Ala Sports also The Flor-Ala Sports

Top 10Top 10

>> >> Page 9B Page 9B

Above KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

Below TOMMY BOLTON I Student Photographer

Getting the experience of owning your own sports team can be done during every sports season for any diehard sports fan just by getting on the Internet.

Fantasy sport players make their own sports teams with real athletes, and a sea-son is made through various types of rules to help make the competition that much more intense. Fantasy sports are a growing

trend among thousands of fans across the world, and the competition that occurs with friends makes it that much more exciting and appealing, said UNA basketball player Wes Long.

“As competitive as I am, I want to win,” Long said. “Obviously there is no award except for bragging rights, but it’s also kind of fun to manage your own team. It’s a change of pace for me as well because, as a player, the result of the game is on me, but in fantasy sports, all I can do is play my best players and sit back and watch.”

With the popularity of the fantasy growing, fans are growing into the love of professional sports more than just college sports.

“I already watch a lot of games,” Long said. “It does make me watch more guys or teams that I wouldn’t normally watch on T.V.”

At fi rst, the rules of learning how to play can be very tough at times, but the more you play the game, it fl ows as if you were playing it in real life. Fantasy sports is simply the way it sounds: there is noth-

ing physical about playing the game except for the hours you spend monitoring your team.”

Long said that is one of the many rea-sons why people play fantasy sports and also a way of spending time with friends.

“I would say it is really fun and easy to play,” Long said. “You get to have a good time with friends, it’s easy and anybody can play. I think that’s a good thing you don’t have to be athletic. I enjoy playing it with my friends back home who I don’t get to see and talk to that much.”

UNA heads into its fi nal week of the season sitting at the top of the GSC stand-ings and having the ability to control where they will be seeded in the conference tour-nament.

The 2012 GSC baseball tournament will take place May 4 to 8 in Rome, Ga. Games will be played at State Mutual Stadium, the home of the minor league Rome Braves.

The Lions have a conference record of 14-7 going into their fi nal week, which will end at the University of Alabama-Hunts-ville, currently third in the conference at 13-8.

Coach Mike Keehn stressed the impor-tance of the fi nal week of the season for the Lions.

“Our fi rst visit to the campus of UAH

will be a good test for us,” he said. “Those games will have a tournament feel, with their fans on top of us and a chance for us to lock up a top seed in the conference tour-nament.”

Second baseman Michael Schmidt likes the direction the team is heading as the reg-ular season comes to an end.

“This past weekend’s sweep against New Orleans will give us some good mo-mentum as we try and fi nish this season out strong,” Schmidt said. “We’ve been swinging the bats well here at the end of the season, and that is a good sign as we get ready for a big series against UAH and the conference tournament.”

Offensively, UNA sits in the middle of the conference being fi fth in team batting average (.294), and fi fth in slugging per-centage (.409). However, it is second in conference in runs scored (281) and third in total hits (380).

UNA tops the catego-ry for strikeouts with 259, 11 more than West Flori-da’s solid pitching staff.

UNA’s small ball ap-proach offensively also shows up in the confer-ence stats with UNA top-ping the sacrifi ce bunts category with 51 and sec-ond in stolen bases with 88.

The UNA baseball team is scheduled to play at rival UAH April 28 with a double-header starting at 2 p.m.

The Lions will then play a single game April 29 at 1 p.m., closing out the regular season.

The GSC tournament is scheduled to start May 4 with the matchups still to be determined.

Page 2C Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-AlaSportsBaseball looks to build momentum before tourney

photo by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

Junior Andrew Almon helps a player up after colliding with him running to fi rst base.

Fantasy sports grow in popularity with students

When UNA’s baseball players play at home, they know they can count on a de-voted group of students to be right there with them.

They get there early and they stay for the whole game. You can hear them cheer-ing, as well as heckling, and you can see them behind right fi eld in solid numbers. They are not afraid of the cold, the rain or

complaining coaches from opposing teams. They are known as the Deckheads, and they are exactly what college fans should be.

Started in 2011 by students Jeff Ritter, Josh Penney, Nick McGregor, Scott Flem-ing, Qualon Millender and Robby Burdine, the Deckheads have become a staple at all home baseball games for the Lions.

“We saw how other schools had big turnouts and fan sections at baseball games and we really wanted to get that started here at UNA,” Ritter said. “We set up shop out here behind right fi eld, and we’re here to stay.”

The decks were built by the baseball program, and Ritter’s Rally Shack, as it was originally called, quickly sprouted up.

“We talked to coach Keehn and coach Hancock, and they supported what we were doing,” Penney said.

Five fl ags spelling out “LIONS” fl ap in the breeze above the heads of the students on the deck. Large cardboard cutouts of Keehn and Hancock are also displayed on the outfi eld fence.

When the opposing team’s coach makes a trip to the pitching mound, the Deckheads can be heard belting out a call and response chant: “Take him out! Leave him in! Take him out! Leave him in!”

When UNA is on the verge of starting an offensive surge: “Rally, rally, the pitch-er’s name is Sally” rains down on the op-posing team from right fi eld.

If a UNA batter hits a double, he stands on second base and turns to the Deckheads,

bumping both fi sts on his helmet signify-ing “moose,” a tradition started by the

players and carried on by their faithful fans. A seventh-inning stretch tradition start-

ed by the Deckheads gives the loyal fans a moment in the spotlight as they belt out “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond over their own speakers. And just like they do at Fenway Park, the music is cut down just in time for the fans to emphatically vocalize the “bah, bah, bah” of the chorus.

After a big win, you might see junior Drew Humphrey make his way from the dugout out to right fi eld to jump onto the fence to celebratory pats and high fi ves

from the Deckheads. This has come to be known as the “Hump Jump.”

“We’re sad that this season is coming to an end,” Ritter said. “We want this to grow and for more students to come out and have a great time while we cheer on our team.”

Penney said the aim of the group is simple.

“It’s all about grilling out, cheering on our team and giving the other team a hard time,” he said. “We just want to have a good time and support one of our best pro-grams here at UNA.”

Page 3C Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-AlaSportsʻDeckheadsʼ become new tradition at games

photos by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

The Deckheads show their support during a UNA baseball game earlier this year.

UNA fans argue a call during a baseball game earlier this year.

1. DIVISION I MOVE, OVC 1. DIVISION I MOVE, OVC REJECTIONREJECTION UNA athletics decided to move to Division I athletics in June 2011. The momentum was halted because the OVC chose not to extend an invitation to the university Nov. 16, 2011

2. BOWDEN OUT, 2. BOWDEN OUT, WALLACE INWALLACE IN After a disappoint-

ing end to the 2011 football season, head coach Terry Bowden opted out of his contract Dec. 22, 2011 to accept the head coaching position with University of Ak-ron. On Jan. 2, 2012, UNA announced former head coach Bobby Wallace as Bowden’s successor.

3. JANORIS JENKINS3. JANORIS JENKINS For-mer Florida Gators All-American Jano-

ris Jenkins decided to leave Florida and signed with UNA June 22, 2011. ESPN’s Mel Kiper said Jenkins is expected to go within the fi rst two rounds of the April 26, 2012, NFL Draft.

4. CHLOE ROBERTS Junior for-ward Chloe Roberts was named the Ron Lenz National Player of the Year, scor-ing 16 goals, with 15 assists. She helped lead the soccer team to its fi rst Gulf South Conference title in school history.

5. UNA REACHES NO. 1 UNA football was ranked No. 1 in the Ameri-can Football Coaches Association poll Oct. 3, 2011, for the fi rst time since Sept. 9, 1996.

Florida and 011. ESPN’s pected to go the April 26,

SS Junior for-med the Ron e Year, scor-. She helped st Gulf South story.

NO. 1NO. 1 UNA n the Ameri-ociation poll e since Sept.

UNA sports hit some highs and lows during the year, with a head coach leaving, becoming fi rst-time champions and trying to keep a winning tradition alive.

With the Division I move on the ho-rizon, the chance of taking advantage of achieving huge goals in Division II hit full stride for all UNA teams.

VolleyballThe volleyball team reached the

NCAA tournament for the 14th time in school history, which is also the most of any Gulf South Conference team. The team fi nished the season at 24-9 and lost to Rollins College 3-1 in the openning round of the NCAA tournament.

SoccerUNA soccer player Chloe Roberts

received the National Player of the Year award as she guided the Lions to a 17-4 record and becoming Gulf South Con-ference Champions.

“Being named player of the year and national player of the year was a great achievement for me,” she said. “One that I was not expecting or even dream-ing of getting. The success we had last season was amazing, especially mak-ing school history for winning the GSC championship for the fi rst time. Every individual played their part in a remark-able season for UNA soccer.”

FootballThe UNA football team (9-3) had

enormous expectations with the sign-ing of future NFL star Janoris Jenkins but failed to live up to the hype. The off-season headlines overshadowed the disappointment with head football coach Terry Bowden departing for Ak-

ron University. After the departure, UNA turned to former head coach Bobby Wal-lace to lead the Lions next season.

Womenʼs BasketballComing off an NCAA tournament ap-

pearance from the women’s basketball team last season, the Lions (15-13) returned three-point bomber Dana Jackson but were

unable to continue the success from the previous year.

Menʼs BasketballThe UNA basketball team lost key play-

ers from the previous year but added Texas Tech transfer Theron Jenkins and returned guard Beaumont Beasley. The duo was a catalyst in the turn around, with a 15-12 re-cord that included two wins against top 25 teams and a victory over national runner-up Montevallo.

BaseballWith the baseball season still underway,

the UNA Lions have achieved a near-per-fect game by junior pitcher Chad Boughner and a fi rst-time No. 1 national ranking. The Lions (34-12) prepare for the GSC tour-nament with the hopes of improving their playoff seeding.

“We have some good wins this year, and our pitching staff has done a good job all year long in giving us a chance to win every game,” said UNA second basemen Michael Schmidt. “When we are playing good defense behind our pitchers, we are a tough team to beat. It wouldn’t hurt to hit the ball and put up with more runs, but overall I am pleased with our performance this year. We just got to get the bats going.”

GolfAnother rising team this year is the golf

team with six team wins. UNA is ranked third nationally, led by Ty Chandler, who is ranked third nationally in D-II and 41st nationally among all college golfers. They are also led by eighth ranked Jake Greer according to golfstat.com, Tyler Ekenberg and Blaise Wilson. The golf won their third GSC championship April 24.

TennisThe UNA tennis teams were a tale of

two teams. The women’s tennis team had an improving year with a record of 12-8, and the men’s team slipped to a 3-14 record.

SoftballThe UNA softball team saw some im-

provement this season with a fast start in the win column at 9-4, but the conference schedule put a hole in their winning season, as they sit at 19-24 going into the confer-ence tournament.

Looking back at the 2011-2012 there were many highs and lows, but each team has shown signs of having successful years to come.

Page 4CThursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala Sports

Year in ReviewYear in ReviewReview of how each UNA sports team fared in 2011-2012Review of how each UNA sports team fared in 2011-2012

photo by CARRIE COOK I Student Photographer

Senior guard Beaumont Beasley drives to the goal during a game this season.

photo by MICHAEL REDDING I Student Photographer

Senior outfi elder Ali Barnett shows her frus-tration during a game earlier this year.

photos by MALISA MCCLURE Chief Photographer

The press box of Cowboys Stadium as the football team plays Abilene Christian eaerlier this year. (Top left) Bobby Wallace. (Top right) Terry Bowden talk to the media during news conferences.

FLOR-ALA Sports FLOR-ALA Sports

1010

photo by CARRIE COOK I Student

Photographer

TopTop

Golf team member Jake Greer hopes to continue success in his senior season with UNA.

After the UNA golf team found itself in the win column in several tournaments in the fall of 2011, Greer said he wants to con-tinue pushing forward and fi nishing strong after each match and as his career at UNA comes to a close.

“We want to keep playing good like we are;we’ve won seven out of eight tourna-ments,” he said. “Individually, also keep playing well. I want to try and grab a couple of individual honors, but more or less it’s a team thing, and we just want to try and win it all. I’d like to be fi rst team all-American, fi rst team all-region and fi rst team all-con-ference. The last couple of years, I’ve been all-academic, and I’d like to continue that. That is one I’m really focused on.”

Greer is graduating in May of 2013 and majoring in sports management. Although

he is a student athlete at UNA, the ‘student’ part is very important to him and his future.

“I always have to be on top of every-thing,” he said. “The teachers here are great and always work with you especially if you’re an athlete; I just do the work that I have to do.

“I want to be a golf coach in college, hopefully somewhere in the South. I’ll go anywhere, but a Division I school would be great, but hopefully start out as an assistant somewhere in Florida, maybe.”

Head golf coach Stuart Clark worked as a professional golfer before taking the head coaching job at UNA. Greer said he is a great leader and that he leads simply by example.

“He shows us by his example; he is not very vocal,” Greer said. “He wants us to do the best we can and also to show the young-er guys the right way to do everything.”

Game-day routines for any athlete might be considered superstitious, crazy, etc. sim-ply because some athletes stick to the same plan on every game day, or in Greer’s case, a golf tournament which could be several

days in a row. “I’m the crazy one on the team; every-

one else is there about 30 minutes before their tee-time—I’m there an hour and a half early,” he said. “I try and get prepared mentally and make sure my body is awake. I eat breakfast—anything we got—Chick-fi l-a, free continental breakfast at the hotel, whatever. I listen to music. I usually turn on my iPod and listen to the “Meet Virginia” radio station on Pandora and crank out to that until it’s time to go.”

Greer encourages other student athletes to stay on top of their studies and do well in the classroom, not just on the fi eld/court/green.

“Stay on top of everything, (and) don’t skip class,” he said. “It seems like the cool thing to do at the time, but like a week later you’re sitting there wondering what you’re doing in class, and that’s not fun. Always have a good relationship with the teach-ers—they’re there to help you and the pro-fessors care about you graduating and look-ing to help you out.”

UNA baseball was ranked No. 1 for the fi rst time in school history by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association March 27, 2012.

6. CHAD BOUGHNER6. CHAD BOUGHNER Junior pitcher Chad Boughner set a school record with his 16-strikeout perfor-mance against Quincy Feb. 26, 2012. Boughner allowed only one run on three hits over the course of eight innings.

7. DANA JACKSON7. DANA JACKSON On Feb. 2, 2012, Dana Jack-son became the new career 3-Pt. FGs leader, making two three-pointers against West Georgia. She fi nished her ca-reer with 190 3-Pt. FGs.

8. LIONS GOLF EARNS RECORD-BREAK-8. LIONS GOLF EARNS RECORD-BREAK-ING WINING WIN UNA golf was the fi rst team in history to fi n-ish under par at the Southeastern Collegiate Tournament March 12 through 13, 2012. The team fi nished with a re-cord 23 under par, 841 three-round total. This was also the fi rst Southeastern Collegiate Tournament win for UNA golf. Ty Chandler, Jake Greer and Blaise Wilson claimed three of the top-four spots in tournament results.

9. LIONS PLAY AT COWBOYS 9. LIONS PLAY AT COWBOYS STADIUMSTADIUM The UNA football team traveled to play

at one of the largest stadiums in sports, Cowboys Stadium. UNA beat Abilene Christian Sept. 17, 2011, with a 23-17 victory.

10. COACH REACHES MILESTONE 10. COACH REACHES MILESTONE Head volleyball coach Stephanie Radecki reached a career mile-stone with her 200th win Sept. 17, 2011, against the Uni-versity of South Carolina-Aiken. Radecki has been with the UNA volleyball team since 2003.

Page 5C Thursday, April 26, 2011 • The Flor-AlaSportsGreer hopes to finish career strong on, off field

photo by MICHAEL REDDING I Student Photographer

Senior golfer Jake Greer prepares to make a shot during practice in prepara-tion for the Gulf South Tournament.

Follow us at @FlorAlaSports on

Twitter for live updates during UNA sporting

events

Page 6C Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala

Page 7CThursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala

Page 8C Thursday, April 26, 2012 • The Flor-Ala

Tweets of the week DISCLAIMER: The tweets below are public tweets found on Twitter by searching hashtags involving UNA, Florence, Shoals and other uni-versity-related topics. Want to see yours on here? Be sure to hashtag

UNA and Shoals in your tweets.