George Mason University’s Student Newspaper

February 13, 2012Volume 88 Issue 14 www.broadsideonline.com

Cradle of LifeWomen’s lacrosse team wins

season opener against Saint

Francis, 19-9.

SPORTS • Page 9

Valentine’s Day MoviesCheck out our guide to movies to watch

with your significant other.

STYLE • Page 6

Smoking Policy ReduxMason officials look to improve

enforcement of existing smoking rules.

NEWS • Page 3

Each Match Goes to Decision in Saturday Night Slugfest

Jimmy Lange Boxing Hits Patriot Center Lawsuit Leads to Policy Change

in Student Government

Secret Ballots No Longer Permissible

A lawsuit filed by a formermember of the George MasonUniversity Student Senate over thelegality of the use of secret ballotsin voting for senate appointmentswas shot down by a Fairfax Countyjudge Jan. 30 due to an error inwhom the lawsuit was filedagainst.

The lawsuit was filed byMichael Jordan, whose appoint-ment to the senate was rejectedOct. 18, 2011, in a secret ballot voteby the Government and AcademicAffairs Committee in the first stepof the interview process. The law-suit named as the defendantMatthew Short, the individual,rather than Matthew Short, thechair of the G&A Committee,Short said. To be valid, the lawsuitshould have been filed againstShort in his capacity as committeechairman.

In the lawsuit, a “petition andaffidavit for good cause/for in-junction of mandamus - freedomof information act,” according to acourt document, Jordan asked fora writ of mandamus that wouldrequire Short to “declare all ballotvotes since October 18th, 2011 nulland void and require the commit-tee to re-do the interviews in afairer process. I [Jordan] am alsoasking to recover reasonablecosts,” according to the document.

A writ — or formal writtenorder issued by a body — of man-damus calls for the court to forcesomeone to act in a certain man-ner.

A request to Fairfax CountyGeneral District Court by Broad-side for the transcript of the hear-ing was not fulfilled, as thedocument was not ready by the

time of this article’s printing.The court ruled on Jan. 30 in

favor of the defendant, Short, ac-cording to online Fairfax CountyGeneral District Court records.

The issue at the heart of thelawsuit — the legality of using se-cret ballots within a group that islikely a public body — first cameup during the Oct. 18 meeting ofthe G&A Committee.

The meeting opened withShort introducing the “ballot vot-ing procedure,” at which point,Senator Donald Garrett said,“Point of information, it is illegalin Virginia to have secret ballotvoting,” according to the minutesof the Oct. 18 meeting.

“Voting is going to be closedballot, that is how it is going tobe,” replied Student GovernmentAdvisor and assistant directorMelissa Masone, according to theminutes.

“I want to again make it clearthat this is illegal,” Garrett said,according to the minutes.

“This is how it is going to bedone, end of discussion,” Shortsaid, according to the minutes.

Three members of the com-mittee voted aye, three nay andthree abstained when it came timeto vote on Jordan, according to theminutes.

Following the Oct. 18 meet-ing, there were several conversa-tions within Student Governmentabout the correct course of action.

“Post that meeting, there wassignificant amount of due dili-gence paid to researching and try-ing to find out the right [votingprocedure to use],” said Directorof Student Involvement LaurenLong.

Gregory ConnollyEditor-in-Chief

See GOVERNMENT, Page 2

Each fight — including one that had to be stopped due to a cut — went to a decision Saturday at the Patriot Center. Jimmy Lange Boxing visited

George Mason University with 14 boxers in tow. Lange, left, from Great Falls, topped Ruben “Modern Day Warrior” Galvan, right, in the main

event, pictured above. See other photos of the event on page 11.

Photo by: Stephen Kline

George Mason University sophomoreBridget Healy passed away unexpectedly atthe age of 24 on Thursday while at home withher parents. Healy was active in the MasonLIFE program, which offers a university ex-perience to students with developmental andintellectual disabilities.

Friends describe Healy as loving, caringand special. “My favorite memory of Bridgetwas being able to see her smile everyday,” saidTommy Miossi, Mason LIFE student andbuddy director of Best Buddies Club atMason, which pairs disabled students in one-to-one friendships with other university stu-dents.

In her free time, Healy enjoyed watch-ing movies, spending time with her friendsand attending Mason events. “Bridget was agreat and wonderful person and a very greatfriend of mine. I loved her so much,” saidCaitlin Donovan, historian of Best Buddiesand Mason LIFE alumna. “She had such agreat personality. She will be greatly missedby all of the Mason LIFE staff and students.”

Healy was a member of the Best BuddiesClub. Each month, the club holds meetingsso that all of the friendship pairs can get to-gether for activities.

“Best Buddies is planning to plant a treeon campus in her honor near the AquiaBuilding. This is where the Mason LIFE pro-gram is, so it seems the most appropriate

place,” said Alexa Rivas, senior psychologyand pre-law major and president of the BestBuddies Club. “We are also going to be put-ting together a Best Buddies memory book tosend to her family. Everyone in our chapterwill be contributing, so it will be really spe-cial.”

Healy grew up in Towson, Md., whereher parents still live. Her brother, Tim Healy,is a student at Virginia Tech. “Bridget will be

greatly missed. She was a great role model foreverybody and she loved her friends,” Miossisaid.

Viewings for Healy will be held at RuckFuneral Home in Towson, Md., from 2 to 4p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.The funeral mass will be on Wednesday at 11a.m. at Church of the Nativity in Towson,Md. The internment will be at Dulaney Val-ley Memorial Gardens in Timonium, Md.

Colleen WilsonAsst. Sports Editor

Mason Student Passes Away at 24Sophomore Bridget Healy Active in Mason LIFE, Best Buddies Club

Photo Courtesy of Facebook

Sophomore Bridget Healy, far right, passed away Thursday while at home with her parents.

Healy, 24, was involved in Mason LIFE and Best Buddies.

Faculty Senate Upset Over

Presidential Search

Wanted to Be Bigger Part of Process

The George Mason UniversityFaculty Senate convened Wednes-day in a special meeting to addresscomplaints and issues attendantto the recent presidential searchprocess. Also raised for discussionwere the multiple inquiries intothe nature of the upcomingprovost search committee, and ifit would also be anonymous.

The meeting was called at therequest of numerous senators whobelieved that the Board of Visitorsoverstepped its bounds by allow-ing the presidential candidates toremain anonymous throughoutthe entirety of the search process.

Section 1.2.5 of the Board ofVisitor-approved faculty hand-book states, “The search and se-lection process must includeopportunities for the General Fac-ulty to meet with candidates whoare finalists for the presidency.”The anonymous nature of themost recent presidential searchgoes against the aforementionedrule outlined in the handbook, be-cause members of the general fac-ulty were not aware of theidentities of the candidates anddid not get a chance to meet thembefore the election of Ángel Cabr-era.

Many senators have voiceddisapproval, and at the meetingone member even suggested a mo-tion to ask the Board of Visitorsfor an apology, though the motiondid not receive a second and failedto pass.

“Market realities cause can-didates to choose what searchesthey will be in based [in] part [on]if the process being used is publicor confidential,” Linda Monson, a

member of the presidential taskforce, said. “Since the mid-‘90scandidates who were sitting pres-idents who were looking at otherpresidential opportunities havehad troublesome impacts onthemselves and their universities.”

Monson went on to say thatsome of those sitting presidentshave lost their jobs and fundingdue to the fact that they werelooking at other positions, there-fore explaining the need for confi-dentiality.

Peter Pober and JuneTangney, two other members ofthe presidential task force, spokealongside Monson, and assuredthe Faculty Senate that they werewell represented in the searchprocess, and their voices wereheard.

However, many senators werenot satisfied with that answer.

“It’s not about whether ourcolleagues [in the task force] didtheir best. It’s not about if you didwhatever you could to representour interests and it’s not about theasserted confidentiality that lastsuntil death [of the members of thetask force],” said Susan Trencher,one of the faculty senate memberswho called the special meeting.“What it is about is the violationof the faculty handbook — that’sthe subject. The concern [is] aboutviolation of the faculty handbook,which is a contractual agreement,and where it leaves us, the facultyof the university, in the future.”

Questions were raised aboutthe legality of the faculty hand-book as a legal document to whichthe Board of Visitors would bebound and several conflictingopinions were raised.

See SENATE, Page 4

Justin LalputanNews Editor

Coming Soon: Late Night Student Center‘The Ridge’ to Fill In Morning Hours, Ensuring Study Space Available 24 Hours A Day

In an attempt to offer an al-ternative for students who need aplace to study after the JohnsonCenter closes its doors at 2 a.m., anew study space — open from 11a.m. to 7 a.m. daily — will likelyopen in the next month.

The new lounge, to be lo-cated between the Sandbridgeand Blueridge buildings, will becalled The Ridge and will doubleas a student lounge and a multi-purpose space for residents of thesurrounding neighborhoods. “It

will fill in the space where CornerPocket used to be before it was re-located to The Hub [StudentUnion Building II],” said KhoreyBaker, assistant director of Resi-dential Education for the Officeof Housing and Residence Life.

The project is a pilot pro-gram to see how students re-spond to having a space they cango to at all hours of the night,Baker said.

The money for the projectcame from a $25,000 grant fromthe Auxiliary Enterprise Manage-ment Committee, said ToddRose, the associate dean of Uni-

versity Life. “The grants are one-time fi-

nancial support for initiatives(primarily new initiatives) thathave a direct impact on studentlife,” Rose said in an e-mail. “Thegrants have to be applied for andare reviewed by a committee,therefore the grant process is acompetitive process.”

“The hours we’re operatingare a pilot based around thatgrant,” Baker said. “Once we seethe student use of the space, we’lldecide what hours are most ap-propriate.”

The pilot program will last at

least through this semester togive officials in Housing and Res-idence Life some idea of the ac-tual demand for such a space oncampus, Baker said.

The goal is to have The Ridgeready to open by Feb. 27, said Stu-dent Government President AllyBowers, who was involved withplanning the new space. Whilethat date is not set in stone, mostof the pieces have fallen in place,and the opening will not be longafter the deadline, if at all.

Gregory ConnollyEditor-in-Chief

See RIDGE, Page 2

2 | Broadside

Monday, February 13, 2012

News

Bowers said that though thespace is not a 24-hour facility —something many students haveexpressed a desire for — it does fillin the period when the JC isclosed, providing a place for stu-dents to congregate and studyaround the clock.

This is not the first time anall-hours study lounge primarilyaimed at off-campus students hasbeen available to Mason students.For the past few years, George’sRestaurant in the Johnson Centerhas been converted into an off-campus study lounge during finalsweek, said Scott Blevins, associatedirector of the new Off-CampusStudent Programs and Services.

“The lounge was receivedphenomenally,” Blevins said ofGeorge’s. “We had 1,000 uniquevisitors in Fall 2010, 1,500 last se-mester. We had over 3,000 swipesto enter the lounge.”

Blevins said a study space like

The Ridge is the number one de-mand from off-campus students.

“I approve [of the newspace],” said sophomore systemsengineering major Amy Fitz-patrick. “Sometimes studentshave to work part time, so the onlytime they have to do homework isat night. The only place that isopen 24 hours is Starbucks so theyhave to study at home or they haveto wait until the morning to have aquiet place to study.”

“I’d definitely use the space,”said sophomore communicationmajor Christian Tevis. “I’d likecomputers. A lot of places withpublic access to computers aren’topen late, and that would be reallyhelpful for people who like to pro-crastinate.”

Though there is not a plan tohave computers installed in TheRidge, Baker said it will have thesame Wi-Fi connectivity that isavailable across campus.

Bowers said that for yearsthere had been discussion of astudy space to compensate for the

hours the JC is closed, but a suit-able location could not be locateduntil Corner Pocket moved to TheHub. The Bistro, located on thefirst floor of the JC, was consid-ered as a space, but it was ruledout since there would have beenno way to keep people out of therest of the JC at night. Fenwick Li-brary was also ruled out due toconcerns about how to staff thebuilding at night.

“We looked into The Hub,Student Union Building I, andthen The Ridge came up,” Bowerssaid. “We like the central locationit offers.”

“Once it [the Johnson Center]closes, there is no place to go,”Bowers said. “A few academicbuildings are open 24 hours, butit’s not the same. The comfortlevel of Robinson B is a lot differ-ent than the [Johnson Center].”

The space will featurecouches, armchairs and loveseatsin the front — an area designed asa quiet study space. The back ofthe space will have long, rectan-

gular tables for studying andmeetings. “We’re really trying toset a comfy atmosphere conduciveto social gatherings as well asstudy,” Baker said.

Bowers said local resident ad-visers and directors will likely usepart of the space to conduct groupactivities with their residents.With television installations inthe place, advisers and directorscan hold a floor-wide movie night.While the televisions will prima-rily serve as data screens, they canalso be used to play movies andwatch TV.

Baker said the maximum oc-cupancy is likely to be in theneighborhood of 60 to 100 people,though a final number will not beknown until the new furniture isinstalled and inspectors can ex-amine the final layout.

Baker said there will be an in-formation desk open for the full20 hours that the space is openeach day, with a strong possibilitythat vending machines will be in-stalled soon.

Monday, Feb. 13

When the House Burns Down: Deborah LashJohnson Center, Gallery 12310 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Security Clearances WorkshopStudent Union Building I, Room 340012 - 1 p.m.

President’s Day ReceptionJohnson Center, Dewberry Hall3:30 - 5 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 14

Global Affairs Year of Africa: Tony Roshan SamaraMason Hall, Room D3 A and B3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Men’s Basketball: Mason vs VCUPatriot Center9 p.m.

Chi Omega Benefiting Make-A-WishJohnson Center, Kiosk C

3 - 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 15

Guess for GasJohnson Center Atrium1 - 2:30 p.m.

Graduate Career and Internship FairArlington Campus, Founders Hall, Room 1262 - 5 p.m.

Thursday, Feb.16

FFF: Friends, Food, and FilmStudent Union Building I, Room 14002 - 4 p.m.

Career Services Workshop: Resume ClinicJohnson Center, Room 11611 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.

Contemporary Exhibition Series: Deborah Willis andHank Willis Thomas

Center for the Arts, Fine Art Gallery1:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 17

Theater of the First Amendmentde Laski Performing Arts Building, TheaterSpace, Room 1052 p.m.

Complexions Contemporary BalletCenter for the Arts, Concert Hall8 p.m.

POLICE FILES

Police Files are taken verbatim from www.gmu.edu/police. Broadside does not make any changes to public records.

For more events and activities, check out:today.gmu.edu

Feb

. 6

EventCalendar

Medical Assist

RAC

Aided party refused Medical Attention. (48/Surber)

Feb

. 7 Hit and Run

Lot A

Hit and Run. Vehicle 1 struck Vehicle 2 and fled thescene. Estimated damage $200.00.(38/Rourke)

Hit and Run

Lot A

Vehicle 1 struck Vehicle 2 and fled the scene. Esti-mated damage $200.00.(38/Rourke)

Feb

. 8

Forgery

SUB I

Documents reported to be forgery. This case is underinvestigation. (36/Gannon)

Forgery

SUB I

Documents reported to be forgery. This case is underinvestigation. (36/Gannon)

Student Government Modifies Code to Make Appointment Process More Open

The issue was taken to uni-versity counsel for advice in thedays after the meeting.

“In the days following [theOct. 18 meeting], I worked withuniversity counsel and universitylawyers to make sure. ‘Hey, ex-plain this [laws concerning publicbodies] to me so I can under-stand,’” Masone said. “That’s whenwe moved forward. Before wechange the process, I wanted tomake sure that it [Garrett’s pointof information] was true.”

Following Garrett’s point ofinformation at the Oct. 18 meet-ing, the committee continued touse ballots, though they were notsecret — voters were required towrite their names on the ballots,which are available for anyone tosee, Short said.

Long said university counselinstructed Student Governmentto make sure everything was pub-lic. “If you put your name on theballot, that means you are owningyour vote. If all the votes areplaced online, then the trans-parency is there and it’s public in-formation,” Long said.

The ballots with names writ-ten on them served as a buffer be-tween the anonymous ballots andthe current open roll call system,Long said.

Long said there was an effortbetween the Oct. 18 meeting andthe Dec. 1 passing of a bill toamend the code to insist on openroll call votes to make sure voteswere done in a legal manner.

“My staff and the students

were trying their best to figure outthe best way to make changes sothat they could be doing it theright way because nobody had anyidea that they weren’t doing it theright way. They had a genuine de-sire to do it the right way,” Longsaid.

On Dec. 1, Jordan filed thelawsuit with the hope of changingthe Student Government policiesthat allowed for secret ballots tobe used, Jordan said.

“The ultimate motivation infiling this lawsuit is that the rulesof Student Government would bechanged,” Jordan said.

On the same day, the StudentSenate passed the Dec. 1 bill sub-mitted by Short to modify votingprocedures. The bill alters severalsections of the code to insist thatroll call voting be used, accordingto the bill.

“I went through the code and[found] any place where we haddone paper ballots before or[where] paper ballots could beused and just made it very clearthat it had to be a hand vote,”Short said. “I called it roll call vote.Now, in committee we just have allthose in favor say aye, and theirnames are written down.”

Though the lawsuit was de-cided in favor of the defendant,leaving Jordan in a position wherehe could re-file, he has elected notto since the code of Student Gov-ernment has been revised to pro-hibit secret votes from happeningagain, Jordan said.

The decision to use secretballots in the first place was madeto protect members of StudentGovernment from being put in a

position where they would have toopenly vote against their peers.

“Members of the [G&A]Committee came to me and wereworried they could face retribu-tion [because of their vote],” Shortsaid. “If we were friends and youwere coming through, I wouldn’twant to ruin our friendship if Ithought ‘yeah, you’re a friend, butI don’t think you’ll be great in thisorganization. I don’t think it’s theright fit for you.’ You could be hurtby that, and I don’t want to hurtyou, so I would feel guilty and Iwould vote a certain way eventhough I don’t think that’s the bestway. So [with] secret ballots, themost democratic form of voting,you vote how you feel.”

Short said the Oct. 18 meet-ing was the first meeting of the se-mester to deal with appointments.

“We only used secret ballotsfor appointments because thatwas a lot more personal than abill,” Short said. “If it’s someone onthe outside, they’re also our con-stituent and they’re sitting in frontof us, so we want to keep that re-spect.”

When Garrett raised hispoint of information at the Oct. 18meeting, Student GovernmentPresident Ally Bowers said shebegan researching Virginia lawthat ties to open meetings andthen shared the information shefound with Masone after the Com-mittee meeting.

“I was surprised that I wasn’tgiven fair consideration to myclaims and that they decided to goon with it — and that they didn’tcare what they are doing could beillegal,” Garrett said.

Past opinions by both theVirginia Office of the AttorneyGeneral and the Virginia Freedomof Information Advisory Councilconsidered Student Governmentsto be public bodies. As such, therecould have been a chance that thesecret ballot vote in the StudentSenate could have been ruled ille-gal by a court, though the ques-tion is still up in the air followingthe lawsuit.

While Virginia’s Freedom ofInformation Act doesn’t specifythat Student Government organi-zations constitute public bodies, a1984 opinion from the Virginia Of-fice of the Attorney General saidOld Dominion University’s Stu-dent Senate is a public body sincethey are tasked with allocatingstudent tuition, much likeMason’s Student Senate.

The issue arose again in 2007when Broadside asked for an opin-ion from the Virginia Freedom ofInformation Advisory Council asto whether or not Mason’s StudentGovernment should be considereda public body.

According to the May 7, 2007,opinion on the matter, “followingprior opinions of the AttorneyGeneral and this office, the Stu-dent Government [of Mason] isconsidered a public body subjectto FOIA because it is an organiza-tion ... in the Commonwealth sup-ported wholly or principally bypublic funds.”

While this isn’t legally bind-ing, it would have influence if itwere to be brought up in a court-room.

Phishing MasonliveITU Makes Effort To Protect Students Against Online Threats

On Feb. 3, many studentsmay have noticed a phishing at-tempt in their email. Despite thefact that this attempt got through,George Mason University’s ITUendeavors daily to protect stu-dents from online threats.

The email claimed to befrom a bank and solicited stu-dents’ banking information.Within a few hours, Mason’s ITUsent out an email advising stu-dents that the email was not le-gitimate and was, in fact, aphishing attempt.

This phishing attempt madeit past Forefront Online Protec-tion for Exchange, which is theMicrosoft anti-virus and anti-spam protection service currentlyused for @masonlive.gmu.eduemail accounts.

“Phishing attempts areharder to detect than viruses,”said Tracy Holt, manager of theEnterprise Messaging team in theTechnology Systems Division ofthe ITU, in an email. “Phishingmessages are typically text-based

and may or may not contain links.People sending phish can vary thetext and links in the message,making it difficult for the soft-ware to know that the message isa phish.”

According to Holt, the spe-cific phishing attempt that madeit through on Feb. 3 was able to sodo because it did not meetenough characteristics for FOPEto accurately identify it as aphishing attempt.

Holt also stated in an emailthat although the phishing at-tempt was sent to many studentsat Mason, the email was sent inmultiple small batches, and everybatch was altered slightly to dif-ferentiate it from the rest. ITUbelieves that the emails were sentfrom a compromised Masonemail account.

“Phishers try to get a validaccount and password on the sys-tem to which they are sending, asmessages coming from a localuser are treated with a higherlevel of trust than messages com-ing from the outside,” said Holt inan email.

In addition to email, stu-dents also face threats when

browsing the Internet, but RandyAnderson, director of networkengineering and technology, saysthat Mason’s networks are pro-tected by several security meas-ures.

“We require users to log inwith a valid Mason user accountor guest ID in order to access thewireless networks,” said Ander-son in an email. “Although all ofour networks (wired and wire-less) are physically connected, wehave strict firewall rules that limithow they communicate with eachother.”

Anderson also stated in anemail that his department moni-tors network traffic levels. If theysee a jump in traffic, they investi-gate the cause. If it is found to bemalicious, they shut it down.

Another level of protectionis the free Symantec EndpointProtection that students are ableto access on the UAC checkerscreen.

In an email, Curtis McNay,director of IT Security, said thatMason recommends that stu-dents use Endpoint because it isrecognized as a well-rated indus-try standard. He also said that the

ITU regularly sees many systemsin the public and residentialspaces that are infected, bottedand participating in hacker com-mand and control networks.

“I run Symantec Endpoint onmy MS Windows workstations.While it’s not perfect, malwareprotection in today’s environ-ment is a necessary element of PCprotection,” said McNay in anemail.

According to Anderson,Mason email accounts receiveroughly 3 million messages a day,and up to 90 percent of those canbe spam. To combat new threats,Mason is developing a more se-cure Internet experience for stu-dents.

“We are currently developinga more secure wireless network,which we plan to start offeringover the summer,” Anderson saidin an email. “This will enhancesecurity by encrypting your wire-less traffic and should also im-prove usability by reducing theneed to keep logging in all thetime.”

More information will beavailable about the new networktowards the end of this semester.

GOVERNMENT, From Front

See RIDGE, From Front

The Ridge Modeled on Success of Finals Study Lounge

Justin LalputanNews Editor

3The number, in millions, of

messages that Mason

receives in a day.

Monday, February 13, 2012 | 3BroadsideNews

Pober was asked by a member ofthe Faculty Senate if the Candi-dates were aware of the hand-book, and if so, what theirreaction was like. Pober said,“They were made aware and theydid understand. They chose tosustain confidentiality through-out the duration of the process.So they understood that the fac-ulty exhibited concern, that wewanted it to be open, but all six

candidates insisted on confiden-tiality until the end.”Stanley Zoltek, a member of theFaculty Senate, then asked if thecandidates were aware that theywere breaking one of the rules inthe faculty handbook. Pober replied that he didn’t be-lieve that the candidates wereaware of the specific requirementstated in section 1.2.5., but theywere aware that the facultywanted an open meeting.

Pober also stated that the Boardof Visitors has not spoken muchabout the provost task force, andthe committee will most likelybegin being formed in July.At the end of the meeting,Trencher inspired her fellow sen-ators in their search for a solutionand said, “In a place where, forGod’s sake, everywhere we look,innovation is tradition, we oughtto be able to come up with some-thing.”

Smoking Ban Update25-Foot rule to be more strictly enforced

George Mason University of-ficials are seeking to enhance en-forcement of the university-widesmoking ban within 25 feet ofcampus buildings.

This policy is now being en-forced more strictly because of ageneral societal attitude againstsmoking.

“Smoking is deemed to beunhealthy and a safety hazard,”said Dan Walsch, Mason’s presssecretary.

Students acknowledge thepolicy and its fairness.

“It is a little inconvenient, butI understand why the rules are inplace,” said government and inter-national politics major MehryarKhan, 24. “I know smoking harmsme [and] also harms other peo-ple.”

Khan claims that the en-hanced enforcement of the smok-ing ban has not affected him sofar.

Students also note the diffi-culty of smoking at least 25 feetaway from buildings.

Non-smokers appreciate thepolicy’s improved enforcement.

“It is nice to walk out of abuilding and not get a face full ofsmoke,” said biology major CaitlinTaylor, 21. “The friends I have whodo smoke are conscientious aboutit and respectful to others.”

Increasing policy enforce-ment is currently a work inprogress.

“We are in the process of re-viewing requests from StudentGovernment to put additional no-smoking signage around the John-

son Center,” said Todd Rose, asso-ciate dean of University Life. “Dueto changes in personnel, we needto revisit this issue.”

It is difficult to know for surewhether added enforcement willhave significant financial costs.

“Money for signs is a mar-ginal cost,” Rose said.

Ideally, the Mason commu-nity as a whole will enforce thepolicy.

“We hope everyone will takeresponsibility for enforcing it,”Rose said. “People don’t necessar-ily do that well.”

“In this sense, motivatingpeople to comply with the policycan be a challenge. While seem-ingly easy, enforcing the smokingpolicy is difficult,” Rose said.

The degree of enforcementcan also depend upon whether in-dividuals complain to authorities.

“Smokers are usually … butenforcement depends on howmuch resistance escalates,”Walsch said. “There has neverbeen an issue where enforcementhas been taken to an extreme.”

Although Walsch acknowl-edges that the increased enforce-ment has discouraged smokingwithin 25 feet of campus build-ings, statistics cannot be cited.

Other state-affiliated univer-sities in Virginia have similarsmoking bans.

“As a public institutionfunded in part by public money,Mason is part of Virginia’s policyon smoking,” Walsch said.

Mason’s smoking policy wasenacted in June 2004 to ensurecompliance with the Virginia In-door Clean Air Act.

! Festival Theme !

In Love at War: Onscreen Relationships in WWII Films

Feb. 13 – 15 @ 7 PM!J C CINEMA !

Monday 2/13: !

Hope and Glory

Feb. 13 – 15 @ 7 PM! ! !

Come find Love (and War) at the

Tuesday 2/14:!

Casablanca Wednesday 2/15:!

2 episodes of

Band of Brothers

Sponsored by University Life, the Department of History & Art History, and Army ROTC

! !!! ! !!! !! ! !! !!! ! !!! !

! !! ! !! ! !! ! !! ! !! ! !! !

Photos by Dakota Cunningham

Photos by Stephen Kline

Though the official smoking ban is within 25 feet of buildings, this sign,

shown above, limits smoking within 20 feet of the Johnson Center, one

of the more popular spots on campus.

Faculty Senate Meets Over Handbook ViolationSee SENATE, From Front

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Look ForCourtside

SeatsFeb. 18 at a newsstandnear you!

Mason Man MarchMembers of the Mason community took to the

streets Saturday in a recreation of the 1995 Million

Man March. The ‘95 march was designed to shed

light on economic and social issues facing the

African-American community.

Nathan DorfmanStaff Writer

Broadside4 |

On Feb. 1, Housing and Resi-dence Life staff began inspectionsof student living spaces on GeorgeMason University’s Fairfax cam-pus.

“Every residential studentspace, whether it be in a tradi-tional-style building, suite-stylebuilding or apartment-style build-ing is being inspected,” saidZachary Pope, the assistant direc-tor of Residential Safety andEmergency Preparedness and Re-sponse.

The goal of the inspections isto make sure students are adher-ing to fire safety standards andalso to assist with general mainte-nance issues. Inspection teamsconsist of a member of Housingand Residence Life staff and amember of the Fire Safety Pro-gram.

“Housing and Residence Life

staff [members] are looking for vi-olations of the Resident StudentHandbook … and to obtain main-tenance requests, while Fire Safety

inspectors are looking for viola-tions of the Virginia StatewideFire Prevention Code,” Pope said.As a state university, Mason’s com-

pliance is essential. Inspectionsare relatively quick and simple.The inspections begin as early as 9a.m. and finish by 5 p.m. A team

of two enters a residential spaceand looks around to see if thereare any issues present. If a viola-tion is identified, they leave anote for the residents with re-quests to rectify the violations

In addition, they will alsomake a digital record of the re-port to pass along to Housingand Residence Life so they canfollow up within two weeks, andthe maintenance staff can ad-dress the issues discovered, Popesaid.

If there are no violations,inspectors leave a note statingthat residents have passed.

As long as students are incompliance with the Resident

Student Handbook, the inspec-tions should not cause much of animpact on regular residential ac-tivities.

Gail Sutton’s job began on Jan. 1 at the new director of Student Cen-ters. Although she has held similar positions at other universities,this is her first time working at George Mason University or living inVirginia.

1. Where did you go to college?

My bachelor’s degree is from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. My bachelor’s degree is in com-puter information systems, but I was very active as a student on campus. That made me take a rightturn from computer work and to have a master’s in counseling and higher education from CentralConnecticut State.

2. Where did you work before you came to Mason?Most recently I was at Iowa State University as the associate director of the Memorial Union, whichis their student union on campus.

3. How does one get into the business of managing Student Centers?It comes to that active student leadership role … So just getting connected to the campus environ-ment gets you interested in working at a college campus. People dream of being a ballerina or afireman — I don’t think they dream of being an education administrator! It’s really just being im-mersed in that environment and enjoying the pace of working with students on a daily basis.

4. What is your impression of the Mason community in the five weeks you’ve

been here?Very welcoming.

5. If you suddenly received a million dollars, would you quit your job?You know, I don’t think that I would. I love what I do ... I don’t think I would get the same feelingdoing anything else.

6. What do you enjoy most about your job?

Working with students. Absolutely, that is the high point: feeling like I have an impact on their ex-perience beyond the classroom. Because I firmly believe that learning takes place in all kinds ofplaces … particularly on a college campus. I think there is a lot to be said for book learning, but wealso bear influence on students in terms of letting them find out what professions feel right, to testthe waters.

7. Can you talk about an obstacle that you’ve overcome?Being a female administrator. In this profession, there aren’t a lot of women. I go to meetings withsome [of] these construction guys, but I’m not afraid to ask questions when I’m not sure aboutsomething. It’s all about coordinating the program’s side with the facilities. Sometimes that means,sort of, going out on a limb.

8. What is the most recent book you’ve read for pleasure?“Jitterbug Perfume” by Tom Robbins. I’m a book-a-holic.

9. What accomplishment are you most proud of so far in your life?Moving from a small school to a big-school atmosphere. The programs are similar, but on a largerscale. Wartburg was a very small school — only 2,500 students — and I’m proud of making thetransition to working in a big state college.The most important part of my job is building community. I help students get involved outside theclassroom. What does it mean to build community? It means having a sense of partnership. A lotof times people say, what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours. People need a sense of sharedcommunity.

Broadside Sits DownWith the New

Director of Students Centers.

Campus Faces

Photo by Stephen KlineHannah SmithAsst. News Editor

Student Conduct WeekFebruary 13, 2012 - February 17, 2012

Events and Activities Include: Conduct Conversation Hearts

Student Rights and ResponsibilitiesMock CAB HearingInterest Meeting

Questions? Contact the Community Adjudication Board at cabinfo@gmu.edu

Student Room InspectionsHousing and Residence Staff Looking for Handbook Violations

“Every residential stu-dent space, whether itbe in a traditional-stylebuilding, suite-stylebuilding or apartment-stle building is being in-spected.”

-Zachary Pope, Assistant Di-rector of Residential Safetyand Emergency Prepared-ness and Response

Now online at Dominos.com

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Sunday - Thursday until 1 a.m. NEW LATE HOURS

Friday - Saturday until 2 a.m.

Lauren LeeBroadside Correspondent

@MasonBroadside

StyleMonday, February 13, 2012

|5BroadsideStyle

11The number of Whitney Hous-

ton singles that reached No. 1

Valentine’s Day means some-thing different for everyone. Somepeople associate it with flowers,chocolate and romance, whileothers call it a Hallmark holiday orlook at it as “Single AwarenessDay.”

People have had different ex-periences, good and bad, that mayinfluence their view of the holiday.George Mason University studentsoffer a variety of opinions.

“A guy in one of my classeshad done some research on Face-book to find out what car I droveso he could place a single rose onthe windshield, secret admirer-style,” said senior communicationmajor Lindsey Grathwol, “butthen I ran into him in the parkinggarage so he ended up giving it tome right there.”

As Grathwol’s experience in-dicates, f lowers are the classicValentine’s Day gift. According toMarie Claire magazine’s website,every flower represents a differenttype of emotion, with red rosesbeing a symbol of true love. Ofcourse, for college guys, any floweris likely a symbol of love and af-fection — or at least infatuation.

Grathwol’s one flower mayhave been a small gift, but it saidvolumes in terms of symbolism.

Mason students have had manydifferent experiences with gifts.

“An ex-girlfriend of minebought me a rare poster of my fa-vorite band,” said junior NickFrantz. “I was completely blownaway because it was not the usualValentine’s Day gift you’d expect. Istill have it hanging up in myroom.”

Like many holidays involving

gift-giving, the possibility of put-ting more into a gift than the otherperson is not uncommon. Whenit’s on Valentine’s Day, though,feelings are amplified.

“Freshman year, I was friendswith this guy who I really likedand we decided to be each other’sValentine,” said junior communi-cation major Gabriella Gayl, “So I

bought him like 50 buck’s worthof chocolate, and he gave me awilted balloon and free candy thatthey were handing out in the JC. Iwas so mad.”

When it comes to the holidayof love, it’s often much easier forthe guy to pick out gifts for his sig-nificant other than the other wayaround.

“I got a flower and somechocolates for Valentine’s Day. Itwas kind of a cookie-cutter re-sponse that doesn’t translate wellto guys,” said junior civil and in-frastructure engineering majorAleks Schuler. “This is a holidayfor women, so guys receivingthings isn’t as important aswomen receiving gifts.”

Sometimes the best gifts arethe ones that make a person blushwhen they receive them.

“A girl in high school got me areally big brown bear, and Inamed him ‘Eduardo,’” said juniorchemistry major Hakkam Zagh-mout. “I put him on my bed, andhe’s still there now. I didn’t likethat I had to carry him around therest of the day, though. Everyonemade fun of me.”

While people may put an em-phasis on material items, gift-giv-ing is not so much about the giftas it is about the thought put intothe gift.

Like many holidaysinvolving gift-giving,the possibility of putting more into agift than the otherperson is not uncommon. When it’son Valentine’s Day,though, feelings areamplified.

Your Face, Your VoiceMason Cable Network Brings All-New Original Programming to Your Dorm Room

Mason Cable Networklaunched its all-new line-up onFriday. Delivering student-mademedia 24 hours a day, MCN is thenewest place to see what’s hap-pening on campus.

“Our motto is ‘your face, yourvoice,’” said Ashlee Duncan, a jun-ior film and video studies majorand executive producer for MCN.

Duncan and fellow executiveproducer JohnRoss Hawkins, alsoa junior film and video studiesmajor, recently shed light on whatto expect from the student-runnetwork, which has two differentcategories — MCN Daytime andMCN Prime, over the comingweeks and months.

MCN Daytime airs from 2a.m. to 6 p.m daily. Programmingconsists of anything that ha beenfilmed on Mason in the past.“‘Season Pass’ is a really good showthat follows the hockey team andairs during MCN Daytime,”Hawkins said.

MCN Prime features all new,

original content, including showssuch as “The Session,” “Novem-ber” and “Rough Cut.”

“It’s more of a renegade cook-ing show,” Hawkins said about“Rough Cut.” “Part of the storylineis that the guys break into people’shouses and cook there. In the firstepisode, the people actually comeback while they’re cooking.”

If cooking isn’t your thing,“November” is an episodic mys-tery about a girl who wakes up andmysteriously loses almost a monthof her life.

“The Session” kicked off thelaunch.

“It’s a show that’s partneredwith the music productions cluband highlights campus artists,”Duncan said. “They’re actuallyfilming Battle of the Bands.They’re really getting involvedwith the music scene on campus.”

While MCN already has aplethora of material for its net-work, they are constantly comingup with new and inventive ideas.Many students will recall thetoaster ban that came to pass lastyear. This event has inspired thecreation of a brand new show.

“‘The Toaster’ is currentlybeing written, and we’re lookingto get people involved in it be-cause it’s going to be a very cam-pus-driven show,” Duncan said.“We decided that we’re going tohave a satire news show featuringcampus news, kind of like ‘TheOnion’ or ‘The Daily Show.’”

On top of all of the originalcontent being produced, MCNalso films student events on cam-pus, including the recent Rock theRunway. It will air on Feb. 14 at 11p.m.

“We look at student events oncampus and decide if we want tofilm them,” Duncan said. “The im-portant thing for MCN is show-casing students. We want to see asmany different pieces as possiblefrom the student body.”

MCN makes it easy to getyour face seen and your voiceheard via the all-new MCN ShoutOuts.

“Once a month for two dayswe do the Shout Outs,” Hawkinssaid. “We just set up a camera onthe quad and people can come upand give shout outs to whomeverthey want.”

“Shout Outs” are filmed onthe first Thursday and Friday ofthe month.

Student organizations want-ing to submit original material cando so, but should keep in mindthat all submissions will gothrough a review process.

“Our process for makingshows is a little bit different,”Hawkins said. “Classes, for exam-ple, just bring us stuff. But ifsomeone pitches a show, they haveto give us a treatment, and mostlyeverything gets green lit. I thinkthere’ve only been two projectswhere we’ve said, ‘That can’t go onthe network.’”

“The most graphic thing wehave up there is a chicken gettingits head cut off,” Duncan said.

MCN airs in the dorms onchannel 231. For commuter stu-dents looking to check out every-thing the network has to offer,MCN will be live-streamed.

“Our newest content will air,and then within three weeks it’llbe online,” Hawkins said.

To stay in the know, be sure tocheck out MCN on Facebook andTwitter at MCN231.

Girls, we’ve all been there ...Minding our own business whenall of a sudden, out of the blue, acreepy guy comes up out ofnowhere and begins to hit onyou. I have compiled some“creeper repellent” tips that Iwould like to share with you sothat you can become creeper-free.

1. Have a fake phonenumber memorized or give oneyou can remember in case heasks twice. Once, I was at a cluband had been chatting with a guyfor a while when he asked for mynumber. I felt like I had to give itto him because he had been niceand we had been hanging out fora while, so I did what any creepermagnet would and gave him arandom set of seven digits. It be-came messy, however, when heasked me to repeat the number. I

didn’t know any of the numbers Ihad given him, so I panicked andgave him another set. He told mehe must be hearing me wrongbecause he couldn’t get the num-bers into his phone. Then heasked me one last time. I gavehim a friend’s number that Icould remember, so I would beable to repeat it. Poor Alex.

2. Create two profiles onFacebook: one for friends andone for people you don’t knowwell. Add your real friends toboth pages so that you guys canlook at the creeper posts togetherand make fun of them on yourreal page.

3. Make a separate list onyour Facebook chat called“creepers” and leave that sectionoffline at all times. This is easierthan ignoring the person ortelling them that you’re not freeto talk every time.

4. Don’t put your rela-tionship status on Facebook ifyou’re single. That’s only askingfor creepers to come at you.

5. Don’t be friendly toboys. They’ll take it the wrongway and think you’re in love withthem.

6. If you sit by yourself,expect to be creeped on. Have aphone or laptop out if you don’t

want to be approached. Betteryet, travel with friends; it’s moreintimidating and lessens thechance of someone coming up toyou.

7. 703-912-1725: the rejec-tion hot line — memorize it.This is only to be used if you havea real reason to be mean, though.

8. If a creeper approachesyou, pretend to speak anotherlanguage and that you don’t un-derstand English. This is a verygood way to get them to leaveyou alone and is a believable ex-cuse at George Mason University,with its diverse population.

9. This tip is for thwartingthe creepy guy who follows youaround after class: Go to thewomen’s bathroom. He can’t fol-low you in there and will proba-bly end up leaving.

10. Pretend someone textedyou. If you have an iPhone, checkout the Fake-A-Text app! Say it’syour boyfriend, and start lookingaround for him while talkingabout how he is a star footballplayer.

It may take a while for you toget used to being so direct withcreepers, but you will eventuallymaster this critical skill. Withthese tips, you won’t need 10 daysto get rid of a guy.

Tips with Krista:How to Avoid Creepers

Krista GermanisBroadside Correspondent

More Heart, Less BusinessStudents Share Their Stories and Thoughts on the Hallmark Holiday

Krista Germanis

Columnist

Jeffrey GiorgiStyle Editor

MCN’s Current Lineup:

7 p.m. — Sound

8 p.m. — Ep. 1 The Session

9 p.m. — Ep. 1 November

10 p.m. — Ep.1 Cafe GMU

11 p.m. — Rock The Runway

Midnight — Ep.1 Rough Cut

1 a.m. — Conflicted

Photo Courtesy of MCN

Billy HallSophomoreBiology —I found out onESPN right beforethe Vanderbilt andKentucky game.

Man on the Street: How Did You Find Out Whitney Houston Died?

Nikki HenryFreshmanNursing —My sister calledme just as I saw iton TV.

Desiree BurkatFreshmanUndeclared—I read about itthrough my sister’stweet.

Victor AdenijiFreshmanBio Engineering—I was at the gymand saw it on theTV.

Rissaliz RiveraSophomoreChemistry—I was in my dormby my sink gettingready for work whenmy roommate cameout asking me if Ihad heard.

Nick DoileSophomoreComp Engineering—I read acelebrity’s tweet.

Photos by: Jeffrey Giorgi

Check us out on the web — broadsideonline.com

Broadside6 |

Cuddle Up with Your Better Half to These Endearing Flicks

Top Valentines Day Films

Personally, if this movie hit an iceberg andcapsized, I’d be completely OK with that. But Iunderstand how it’s able to resonate with so manypeople. So much so that it’s going to be re-re-leased — in 3-D, no less — on April 6. Guys, justmake sure you don’t point out how obviously self-ish Rose is at the end. Jack clearly wanted to die sothat she could go on to live a whole life that shedoesn’t care about.

Photos Courtesy of IMDB

During the late '80s and early '90s, JohnHughes was a household name. For many peo-ple, he still is. Hughes knew a way to reach youngpeople not many others could. While “TheBreakfast Club” may be the film he’s best re-membered for, “Pretty in Pink” is a wonderfullook at falling in love and dealing with the vari-ous stigmas that come from opposing ends of so-cial classes.

This is the one that everyone’s mom intro-duced him or her to. This one is all about fallingfor the bad boy — the bad boy here being a leo-tard-wearing Patrick Swayze. This movie deservesto be seen for a multitude of reasons, not the leastof which being to hear ol’ Swayze sing his heartout. Remember: “Nobody puts baby in the corner.”

If you tried to argue that the best ro-mantic films — the ones that tug at ourheartstrings the most — are as filled withtragedy as they are love, I think you’d havea pretty good case on your hands. Death isso prominent that by the end, it’s not amatter of wondering if someone will die,but a matter of wondering who. Leave it toNicholas Sparks to take that cliché andturn it on its head.

Believe it or not, Adam Sandler used tobe a comedic genius. Then he made “Jackand Jill.” “The Wedding Singer” is a hilariouslook at the '80s that uses the backdrop to tellone of the cutest love stories ever on film.Need more proof? “I’ll miss you, kiss you,give you my coat when you are cold. Needyou, feed you, I’ll even let you hold the re-mote control.”

I recommend thisfilm to any couple thathas dealt with struggleand made it through tothe other side. The plotfollows a man after hisrelationship with hislover has come to anend and she mysteri-ously has no memory ofknowing him. As far asJim Carrey’s seriousperformances go, thisranks as one of the best.

Michael Bay on alist that isn’t about ex-plosions? Strangerthings have happened.Before you get to themushy stuff, pop in thisblockbuster that’s as fullof love as it is destruc-tion. Whether you’resuper-invested in LivTyler and Ben Affleck’son-screen romance is ir-relevant. The real lovestory in this one belongsto Bruce Willis and Af-fleck.

It’s hard toconvey the act offalling in love onfilm. On average,you’re given a 90-minute film filledwith contrivedplot holes, or theultimate copout:instantly falling inlove. Followingthe two leads overthe course of sev-eral years not onlygives an excellentsense of growth inthe characters butmakes the resolu-tion that muchmore believable.

It’s a “tale as oldas time.” Disney re-cently re-releasedthis masterpiece intheaters and it stilltook no. 1 at the boxoffice for two consec-utive weeks. If thatisn’t a testament tothe staying power ofthis love story, then Idon’t know what is.Geek out with yoursignificant other andsing along to everysong because oddsare you know all thewords anyway.

What list ofromantic filmswould be completewithout a film fromMeg Ryan? Skip“Sleepless in Seat-tle,” “How HarryMet Sally” and“You’ve Got Mail.”Instead stick withthis film that ex-amines what itmeans to behuman. Is the pos-sibility of living asingle lifetimefilled with loveworth sacrificingeternity? Bring tis-sues to this one.

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I’m putting this on here as awarning. You may see this titleand think, “Wow! Jude Law, Na-talie Portman, Julia Roberts andClive Owen in the same film? Signme up.” While it’s totally worthchecking out, avoid it at all costson anniversaries and Valentine’sDay. Trust me.

City ofAngels A Lot Like

Love Beauty andthe Beast

ArmaggedonEternalSunshine

of theSpotless

Mind

Free Tickets for Mason Students!

Center for the ArtsFAIRFAX

Hylton Performing Arts Center PRINCE WILLIAM

7 0 3 - 9 9 3 - 8 8 8 8 o r c f a . g m u . e d u / s t u d e n t s 7 0 3 - 9 9 3 - 7 7 5 9 o r h y l t o n c e n t e r. o r g / s t u d e n t s

Visual Voices SeriesTHE VISUAL MADE VERBAL Joel Snyder, speakerFeb. 16 at 7:30 p.m.Free HT

Theater of the First AmendmentCAN’T SCARE ME, THE STORY OF MOTHER JONESFeb. 17 & 19 at 2 p.m. & Feb. 17 & 18 at 8 p.m.$30/adu. $15/stu. TSLimited Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 7

COMPLEXIONS CONTEMPORARY BALLETFeb. 17 at 8 p.m.$21 $34 $42 CH ppd

Limited Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 7

THE “ALL NEW” ORIGINAL TRIBUTE TO THE BLUES BROTHERSFeb. 18 at 8 p.m.$24 $40 $48 CH ppd

Limited Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 7

SOWETO GOSPEL CHOIRFeb. 19 at 4 p.m.$22 $36 $44 CH ppd ff

Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 7

METROPOLITAN JAZZ ORCHESTRAFeb. 25 at 8 p.m.$20 $32 $40 CH ppd ff

Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 14

The Vision Series BEFORE TONI MORRISON AND ALICE WALKER: THE FORGOTTEN FICTION OF ANN PETRYKeith Clark, speakerFeb. 27 at 7 p.m.Free CH

Faculty Artist Series ANNA & FRIENDSFeb. 27 at 8 p.m.Free HT

Mason Players Studio Series THIS IS OUR YOUTH Mar. 1-3 at 8 p.m.; March 3-4 at 2 p.m.$12 adu., $8 stu./sen TSLimited Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 21

Walnut Street Theatre PROOFMar. 2 at 8 p.m.$20 $32 $40 CH ppd

Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 21

BALLET FOLKLÓRICO DE ANTIOQUIA, COLOMBIAMar. 3 at 8 p.m.$23 $38 $46 CH ppd ff

Limited Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 21

NORDWEST DEUTSCHE PHILHARMONICEugene Tzigane, conductor; Amit Peled, celloMar. 4 at 4 p.m.$25 $42 $50 CH ppd

Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 21

MASON JAZZ COMBOSMar. 6 at 8 p.m.Free DL

MFA Thesis Exhibition BROOK MARCY, SUZANNE DE SAIXMar. 6-23Free FG

MASON WIND SYMPHONY AND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAMar. 7 at 8 p.m.$15 adu., $10 stu./sen. CHLimited Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 28

CEDAR LAKE CONTEMPORARY BALLETMar. 10 at 8 p.m.$21 $34 $42 CH ppd

Limited Free Student Tickets Available Feb. 28

ppd =Pre-performance Discussion f f =Family Friendly BB=Black Box CH=Concert Hall DL=de Laski Rm. 3001 GTIII=Grand Tier III HC=Hylton Center HT=Harris Theater TS=TheaterSpace

HeadPhones On: SafetySuitSophomore Album Sets Alt Rockers Up For Stardom

SafetySuit returns to us withtheir rocker-based, lyrically softsophomore album “These Times.”The band originally stems fromTulsa, Okla., where the bandgained a local following and wasthen known as Crew. After winninglocal band contests, the band’s pop-ularity grew and they relocated toNashville, Tenn., where they thensigned with Universal Records, andas a result, had to change theirname to SafetySuit.

The band’s notable songs in-clude “Someone Like You” and

“Stay” from their first major labeldebut album, “Life Left to Go,” backin 2008, when the album met witha positive reception from critics,and even reached no. 5 on Bill-board’s Top Heatseekers Chart.Their song “Stay” reached no. 1 onVH1’s Top 20 Countdown and isprobably the band’s most success-ful song to date. Since hitting themainstream music scene in 2008,SafetySuit has toured with bandssuch as Seether, 3 Doors Down,Hoobastank and Parachute, toname a few.

The alternative rock bandstays true to their violin-infusedchoruses and spooked lyrics insongs such as “Staring At It” and“Believe.” Fans of Daughtry, TheFray and other piano-rock bandswill enjoy SafetySuit. “TheseTimes,” which received a 4.5-starfan review on iTunes, has that fa-miliar feel where you can probably

relate every song to your life andtherefore feel that the album isspeaking directly to your meaning-ful little soul.

Well, it’s not. But you shouldstill listen to the album because it’spretty damn catchy, as I found my-self singing the chorus to the song“Let Go” over and over againthroughout the day. I sang the songto the point where my friends toldme to shut the [expletive] up.“Stranger” is another distinctivetrack on the album that sounds likeit should be played in the back-ground of one of our favorite '90steenage movies as a potential rela-tionship-anthem song.

The songs on this album en-compass a wide variety of moods,from the occasional upbeat song totheir signature rocker-ballads,which is good because you won’tsound too emo if you blast it in yourdorm. The title track, “These

Times,” is a guitar-laced loner songthat can be related to many thingsbut basically talks about gettingthrough rough times. This songdefinitely grew on me after a coupleof listens. But my favorite song byfar is “Never Stop,” where the lyricscleverly create a boy that every girlwishes she had. Listen to it andyou’ll know what I mean. Thealbum, which is now available oniTunes, debuted at no. 7 on the Bill-board 200, and no.1 on the iTunesTop Albums Chart.

SafetySuit has come a long wayfrom its birth-town of Tulsa, Okla.and will be joining Daughtry ontheir “Break the Spell” Tour inMarch so listen up and look out forthem. They are set to perform onApril 18 at the Landmark Theater inRichmond, Va.

Like SafetySuit on Facebookand follow them on Twitter @Safe-tySuit!

Amanda Lee

Reviewer

Photo Courtesy of Universal Records

Final Rating: Three and a half out of five stars

Jeffrey GiorgiStyle Editor

BroadsideStyle

OpinionMonday, February 13, 2012

|7

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Thumbs up to BracketBuster on Saturday.Thumbs up to all the great guys doing nice things for their girlfriends so thatthey can get laid.

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Thumbs down to Whitney Houston dying at age 48.Thumbs down to guys doing nice things for their girlfriends and not gettinglaid.

The power of efficacy is al-most always understated. Peoplelook at our government as an ab-solute. They see Democrat, Re-publican, three branches,federalism, and George Washing-ton. When people think aboutAmerican politics, they almost al-ways see it as a set of memorizedfacts and certainties and as para-digms that are used to explainwhat’s doable and what isn’t.However, the reality of the situa-tion is that this is a democracy,and though we have one vote, wealso have various freedoms suchas speech, press and assembly.You can guarantee that you’ve gotat least five friends who are open-minded enough to change theirminds about something. And ifyou’ve never changed your mind,pinch yourself — you might bedead.

The Arab uprisings, to a de-gree, aren’t so different in naturefrom the tea party or Occupy WallStreet. While the tea party andOWS movement are two very dif-ferent movements in form, theyaren’t so different in ideology.

Both are anti-corporatism, andboth want to see accountability intheir government.

Uprisings come from sup-pression. Although in Americawe haven’t experienced the brutalsuppression of authoritarianism,thuggish regimes and repressiveinstitutions, we have experiencedthe political powers of money,and we have seen a growing feel-ing that there is a disconnect be-tween the people and theirgovernment. We’ve seen how“super” political action commit-tees can influence campaigns andhow the richest of the rich havethe money to lobby for their owninterests. We’ve seen how presi-dents have the power to signvastly unpopular legislation intolaw. All of these things are prob-lematic and exemplify reasons forrebellious movements, which re-sult from anger that has long beenculminating toward institutionsboth in the United Sates and inthe Middle East.

Having seen such organiza-tion among groups of people withcommon beliefs, I think now is anexciting time to study the rela-tionship between domestic andinternational politics.

I remember when I went tothe District with some friendsduring my first week of school .We visited the Restoring Honorrally. I didn’t think it was particu-larly honorable, but it did seem tobe pretty accurate in wanting to

“restore” America back to pre-in-dustrial principles. Soon after,there was the One Nation rallywhich was pretty one-sided, sinceit had what seemed like half ofthe more-liberal part of the na-tion. Then there was the Rally toRestore Sanity, which had hun-dreds of thousands of people. Itseems like from that point on, westarted seeing an increase in thelegitimacy of small factions ofpeople in America who sharedsimilar beliefs. It’s almost as ifthose few rallies marked a distinctbeginning of what was to comenationwide.

Today, I look at the tea partyand OWS as “good things” thathave come from organizedprotest. Putting my liberal opin-ions aside, there are obviouslypeople from both sides withwhom I’ve disagreed. It seems likean unprecedented number ofpeople are really pissed off abouthow our government is being runin general. From the right side ofthe aisle, yes, states do have rightsthat are often infringed upon.From the left, they’re right — cor-porations are not people, and ifthey were, a vast number of thebanks and other financial institu-tions should be in prison.

The tea party and OWS havebeen beneficial in that now, whenbanks say, “I will charge you thisfee for having a debit card,” peo-ple respond with “No, you won’t.”And they won’t; that fee disap-

pears in a newfound rage inAmerican politics. No more feesfor using Verizon’s online bill payis a result of this newfound or-ganized efficacy, as is this recentdomino effect of states legalizingsame-sex marriage: People infavor say, “Oh, we can’t do it fed-erally? OK, then we’ll see thatevery state does it individually.”

I think that the new standardfor communicating opinions hasbecome more aggressive than ithas been in the past, and I thinkthat can be attributed to our gen-eration. Three-fifths of the totalhistorical output of human civi-lization has been producedwithin the last 30 years. We’vegrown up with unprecedented ac-cess to information and havegrown to demand answers toquestions in an instant.

You can probably cite many

examples of our generation say-ing, “It may have been that way foryou, but this is how it will be forus.” Societal problems are beingcombated by straightforwardpeople — whether we’re talkingabout protesters physically tear-ing down city barriers and intrud-ing on property or something assimple as “Glee” producers decid-ing to air a gay kiss on networkTV. Politics is becoming more di-rect, and there is power in num-bers. Thankfully it’s starting tosurpass the power of wealth. Youmay have one vote, but your voiceis a lot bigger than that.

WILL ROSE

Columnist

Power of Efficacy is Understated

Let’s talk about Valen-tine’s Day. This is a difficultsubject to write about, consid-ering I don’t want to be put onhit lists by either bitter, singlegirls or lovebirds who holdFebruary 14th near and dear totheir hearts. I am almost en-tirely indifferent to Valentine’sDay, however I’m going to goahead and put it out there:This holiday is a sham.

Now, hold your horses,everyone. To the pathetic girlsclutching cartons of Ben &Jerry’s who are feeling vali-dated right now, don’t getahead of yourselves. You’restill dismal human beings, andI am absolutely not condoningyour sad practices. And to thecouples who are deeply in loveand feeling aghast that Iwould bash their favorite hol-iday, you should know thatyou, too, have misinterpretedmy intent. I’m not here to passjudgment on Valentine’s Dayor the traditions people holdfor it.

Just kidding — that’s ex-actly what I’m here to do. Butfirst, let’s delve into the historyof this holiday. In the very be-ginning it was an AncientRoman festival called Luper-calia, beginning on Feb. 13 andending two days later, whichcelebrated fertility. For the pa-gans who observed this holi-day, apparently the best way to

celebrate was to sacrifice agoat, skin the animal and usestrips of the goat’s skin to slapyoung women, thus bestowingthem with the gift of fertility.Sounds fun, right?

When Christianity tookhold, a Pope made efforts toturn the festival into a more“Christian” tradition andchanged it rather drastically. Itbecame a memorial for one St.Valentine, who was a fabledmartyr of love. As the storygoes, St. Valentine continuedto secretly marry young loverseven after marriage was out-lawed by Emperor Claudius.When Claudius learned of St.Valentine’s defiance, Valentinewas chucked in prison to awaitpunishment and was eventu-ally put to death.

So let’s recap. Basically,Valentine’s Day originated as apagan holiday, during whichwomen were whipped withgoat skin. Through its evolu-tion, it has grown to includethe celebration of an executedpriest, obscene amounts ofchocolate, multiple forestsbeing clear-cut for the cre-ation of millions of cheesyHallmark cards and the deathsof thousands of roses.

Honestly, the whole thingis an elaborate façade in whichcard companies make millionsof dollars and happy couplesare able to effectively make therest of the population feel badabout their lonely lives. Thewhole thing only succeeds inmaking February, which is al-ready the absolute worst andmost miserable month of theyear, even more wretched.Nonetheless, Happy Valen-tine’s Day, everyone!

Valentine’s Day:The Day of

Love or a Sham

The Evolution of Valentine’s Dayfrom Ancient Rome to Hallmark

Increasing Legitimacy Among Small Factions of People with Similar Beliefs

Recently, themass media hasbrought the idea ofgender identity tomy attention.

The matter ofgender roles is avery sensitive sub-ject in America.Gender roles are animportant mediator

of human experiences and of the way individ-uals interact with each other and their physicalenvironments. Many people question the va-lidity of gender binaries in youth as comparedto in adulthood. I find them to be questionablein general.

As soon as the umbilical cord is cut andthe sex of the baby is determined, social ex-pectations are activated. Suddenly, there is anagenda for a whole array of developmental ex-periences that will influence that personthroughout his or her life.

Over the past year, the Ad Council and theDepartment of Health and Human Services’Administration for Children and Families, inconjunction with the National Responsible Fa-therhood Clearinghouse, has been running adsfor the Take Time to Be a Dad Today campaign,which ostensibly aims to provide advice onbeing a good parent. Many of the ads center ona father catering to his young daughter by play-ing dress up with her, letting the girl paint hisnails or engaging in other feminine activities.

Similarly, in April 2011, the popular cloth-ing label J. Crew published an ad adorned witha little boy getting his nails painted fluorescentpink.

Remarkably, these two sets of ads depict-ing such similar acts generated widely differ-ent commentary from viewers.

Not only did the Take Time to Be a DadToday ad campaign not meet with any negativefeedback on the Internet or TV talk shows,President Barack Obama’s participation in thecampaign suggests that the White House ap-proves of it. Any man is capable of being a fa-ther; however it takes something special to bea dad. Therefore, taking the time to earn thattitle is very important in our society. In fact, itis so important that full-grown men are en-couraged to play dress up, to attend imaginarytea parties and to braid their little girls’ hair.What’s so ironic is that these actions, whenperformed by a grown man, are anything butunordinary. Instead they are considered to beendearing and a reminder of just how dedi-cated those men are to being the best fathersthat they can be.

Shockingly, commentary regarding the lit-tle boy delving into his inner diva and enjoy-ing the iridescence of his nails was anythingbut favorable. Rather, many conservative re-porters voiced opinions that the painting of hisnails would later add to confusion in his future.

“This is a dramatic example of the waythat our culture is being encouraged to aban-don all trappings of gender identity,” said KeithAblow, Fox News psychiatrist.

Erin Brown of the Media Research Centerwent so far as to claim that the ad blatantly cel-ebrated transgendered youth. Well, Mrs.Brown, if that is the case, then why have I notseen your thought-provoking comments per-taining to ads that show men engaging in fe-male activities?

The answer is simple: You merely have toopen your eyes in society and you will uncoverthe truth for yourself. In the 21st century, it iscompletely acceptable for adults to complywith opposite gender practices, consideringthey may be parents, aunts, uncles or what

have you. Little girls are even encouraged to be-come acquainted with sports, a love of natureand other primarily male interests. However, itwill not be tolerated for little boys to engage infemale activities in a favorable hierarchy oftheir interests, for that may lead them to be-come transgendered or gay. God forbid.

The morals of our society seem more cor-rupt on a daily basis. We are supposed to be thenation of equality and individuality, yet we areheld to a gender binary that clearly separatesmales and females. Some people act as thoughthese boundaries are only in place during ouryouth so as to ensure that we adopt the genderidentity that corresponds with our biologicalsex. But truth be told, our society seems to havenever grown out of relying on the boundariesthat separate our population.

The gender binary gets stronger everytime the media airs gender stereotypes. Sure,some of them may be funny, but all they do ispoint out the assumed differences betweengenders, thus creating an impenetrable barrierwithin society.

It is essential that we break away from thisugly trend of picking and choosing who is al-lowed to identify themselves with certain ac-tivities, clothing and objects. Surely we sharedifferent anatomies, but that should not ne-cessitate that we lead entirely different lives.

Diversity and variation are fundamentalattributes of our nature. They are concepts thatallow us to become adaptable and successful.Therefore, it’s important that all people havethe opportunity to fill whatever gender rolethey see fit. That choice has the potential tochange peoples lives for the better, thus en-

suring their ability to pursue happiness as theysee fit.

Gender Binary Norms Set the Stage for Disapproval

Similar Advertisements Gain Opposite End of the Spectrum Feedback

Rebecca Norris

OpinionEditor

Clara Everett

Columnist

CALLING ALL WRITERS!

Broadside is looking for intrepidyoung reporters to step up and getinvolved. Visit our office in Student

Union Building II, known as theHub, for more information. Newsand Sports reporters only, please!

Broadside8 |

The Obama administrationis taking heat this week as a newprovision from the AffordableCare Act of 2010 kicks in, requir-ing all employers to provide freebirth control and contraceptivesto employees. Businesses willnow be forced to provide allFood and Drug Administration-approved birth control devicesincluding condoms, cervicalcaps, the pill, implants and themorning after pill. The RomanCatholic Church has led the up-roar claiming the act as an as-sault on religious liberty becauseit will force Catholic employeesand employers to violate theirreligious beliefs. One Catholicleader insisted that Christianswould go to jail unless the law ischanged.

Administration officialsclaim the rule contains exemp-tions for churches, synagoguesand other religious institutions.Although this is true, the ex-emptions are extremely narrowand organizations will be forcedto pass a stringent test. The em-ployer must be a non-profit or-ganization, have a religiouspurpose or set of values, employpeople who share its religiousvalues and only serve those whoshare its religious values. Placessuch as Catholic television chan-nels, Catholic schools that ac-cept children on merit instead ofreligion and even church hospi-

tals that serve everyone in thecommunity will be forced toproviding free birth control.With the costs of health caretoday, you can imagine the fi-nancial strain this will create notjust for organizations trying toserve the community, but formillions of small local busi-nesses that simply cannot affordan increase in costs.

So what is so wrong aboutproviding free birth control?Shouldn’t wealthy employers beforced to pay for their employ-ees’ birth control and condoms?The problem is that the hiddeneconomic costs not only to theemployee but to the employer,insurance companies and evenfuture employees. These prod-ucts are not cheap. The lawmandates that employers offerthese services without charginga co-pay or deductible. Either abusiness’s health insurance costswill skyrocket or the employerwill be forced to cut more essen-tial health insurance coverage. Ifan employer cannot afford theseadditional insurance costs, theywill have no choice but to gobankrupt or to raise their prices,which will in turn cause con-sumers even more financialstrain. Businesses will have topay employees less, hire feweremployees, fire unnecessary em-ployees or simply hire no one atall. This imminent distortion inthe marketplace will only con-tinue to hurt those socioeco-nomic sectors already sufferingfrom disproportionately highunemployment rates, such asminorities, teenagers and youngadults entering the workforce.

If this sounds depressing oraffects you in a negative way, donot be disheartened. An increasein government regulation will

surely be coupled with an in-crease of government bureau-cracy and, therefore, an increasein hiring government employ-ees. Many will be needed to spyon religious institutions claim-ing an exemption, as well asthose needed to enforce the law.Who hasn’t dreamt of becominga spy?

There is obviously a prob-lem with access to contracep-tives and birth control for thosewho demand it. The solution isnot to force every employer inthe nation to offer them for free,but rather to allow the free mar-ket to function without interfer-ence. A simple fix would be toprovide full tax incentives up tothe penny for all health insur-ance costs from employees.Businesses don’t want to seetheir employees without healthinsurance, but if a small busi-ness had to choose betweengoing bankrupt while offeringfree birth control and offering asmaller health insurance plan,I’d think they would take the lat-ter option.

If our compassionate legis-lators really have somethingagainst tax incentives for busi-nesses that offer health insur-ance, then they could always doaway with FDA-imposed limitson health care competition.These limits often cost compa-nies hundreds of millions of dol-lars to develop, produce andpush their products throughyears of drug pipeline bureau-cracy. With no FDA, companieswould be directly accountable tothe people to provide safe prod-ucts. Consumers would find notonly better, more innovativeproducts, but also decreasedcosts.

Paul Panasiuk

Columnist

Catholic Church Views Provision as an Assault to Religious Liberty

Birth Control Mandate For

Employers in New Health

Care Law

As those of youwho live on campusprobably alreadyknow, the housingselection process isdrastically changingthis semester. Fromthis point forward,seniority is no longerthe determining fac-tor for where youstand in the selec-

tion line-up. Instead, your ability to strategicallygroup yourselves will determine your chances at op-timal housing.

In a statement on the housing website, GeorgeMason University claims that the changes in housingselection, namely the shift of priority based solely onseniority to priority based on grouping, will lead to“improving the ability for friends to live together, in-creasing the variety of rooms available during selec-tion, and ensuring that students earlier in theiracademic career do not have to deal with the stressesof being on the housing waiting list.”

Is this policy shift really what is best, though?As far as Mason’s purported goal to make it eas-

ier for friends to live together, I’m totally on boardwith that mission! But was it really that difficult forfriends to live together before the implementation ofthis new policy? In my experience, the answer is no.

In my years here, I don’t think I’ve heard a singletale of a group of those who previously held priorityin the housing selection process — that is to say, up-perclassmen — not being able to get a suite together.What I have heard about are groups of underclass-men who don’t get their way. So what I’m seeing hereis that the new housing policy is not fixing a prob-lem, but rather shifting a problem that previouslyplagued younger students onto the shoulders of theupperclassmen. This truth reared its ugly head as Iread through the new policy and discovered that ifmore groups of underclassmen than upperclassmenare vying for the same number of suites, priority willgo to the underclassmen. Of course there will bemore groups of underclassmen! There are more ofthem than there are of us, and I’m sure they’ll bechamping at the bit to lay claim to housing that waspreviously out of their league.

If we step back and look at the effect of this newpolicy, the groups of upperclassmen who lose out tothe groups of underclassmen will be forced to breakinto different-sized groups or enter the individual ap-plicant pool. If an upperclassman does fall into theindividual pool, the housing policy states that he willmost likely end up in a double-bedroom housing sit-uation, sharing a bedroom with another unlucky andembittered soul. For upperclassmen who most likelyare accustomed to enjoying such features as privatebedrooms, semi-private bathrooms and kitchens intheir former accommodations, this is cruel and un-

usual punishment.This also begs the question: What’s the point of

fostering community and reducing stress for youngerstudents when they will just have to look forward tobroken-up groups and increased stress in futurehousing selections? Mason is removing incentives toremain on campus and thereby forcing upperclass-men to off-campus apartments. Upperclassmen havegiven more to the university than underclassmen andshould be the first to reap the fruits of the institu-tion, not be sent to the home like poor grandma.

Moving on to Mason’s claim that the new policywill lead to a greater variety of available rooms, onemust ask: for whom? As a senior, I was looking for-ward to the greatest variety possible and my best shotat getting the housing that I wanted in this upcomingselection. Variety was not a concern for me.

Prior to this change, it was a concern for under-classmen. The policy is not looking to offer greatervariety to students in general; it is looking to offergreater variety specifically to underclassmen. Theyhave even made it impossible for me as an upper-classman to retain the space where I have proven tobe a courteous, respectful tenant and proverbial cash-cow for this institution for the past few semesters.They are practically ripping it from my hands andpresenting it to groups of underclassmen on a silverplatter.

Finally, Mason hopes to ensure that underclass-men do not have to worry about getting housing.

Whoa, hold on a second! As a senior who will be los-ing my long-term roommate next semester, I findmyself in the worst possible position for housing se-lection when, just last semester, I would have had itmade in the housing arena. I’m sorry, but if someoneis going to have to worry about getting a place to liveon campus, it should never be a senior. Seniors havedevoted more time and money to this institution andshould be rewarded with housing priority regardlessof whether they are entering the housing pool as partof a group or as an individual.

To me, this whole policy reeks of blatant pan-dering to the underclassmen. Mason is admittingmore students than it can house, and the institutiondoes not want to have to step up and explain to theunderclassmen that they might not have access toon-campus housing. Mason needs to either physi-cally expand faster or break it to incoming studentsthat, due to the institution’s irresponsibility, there isnot enough room for them to live on campus. By fail-ing to do so, they risk ostracizing the donors of theirprecious future alumni funds.

I realize that I may come off to some of you as abitter, disgruntled senior. But let me just state thatseniority has long obliged respect and priority inmost major institutions throughout history — suchas universities. Now, get off my lawn!

New Housing Selection Policies Pander to Underclassmen

Seniority No Longer Ensures the Best Housing on Campus

Kristin Janiero

Columnist

Man on the StreetWhat do you get a guy for Valentines Day?

Brittany Richardson, sophomore, kinesiology

“I would probably say either a CD of their fa-vorite band or tickets to a concert or sportingevent.”

Photos by Rebecca Norris

Stephanie Hickey, sophomore, nursing

“I’m taking my boyfriend to dinner and a

movie…I have to pay for it all!”

Sara Bannach, freshman, global affairs

“Um…that’s a hard one. Probably a gift card to a store,maybe GameStop or a restaurant, or something.”

Matt Smith, sophomore, Economics

“Silence.”

Rosalio Nieto, senior, health, fitness and recreation resources

“I would want a couples spa and massage. Now I just gotta

find a Valentine.”

Scott Eckman, junior, finance

“Ooh. What would I want for Valentine’s Day? I guess Iwould want company…really good company.”

When I was a tinytot, I remember re-ally living the goodlife. Regardless ofall the family andfinancial circum-stances, I stillfound a way to ful-fill myself. I usedto come home afterschool, skip to the

swing set and enjoy those five minutes before theolder kids started kicking me off. Those five simpleminutes of bliss brought me all the calm and happi-ness any little kid could ever desire. Then I would leap around the park until it was timefor the ice cream man. Yes, the infamous ice creamman who graced every child’s neighborhood with

his carnival-like music and his melted ice creamcones. We didn’t care. We loved Mr. Ice Cream ManWe didn’t have watches to calculate his ETA. All weknew was the sun is in this part of the sky so he’scoming. Shortly after, his music would jingle acrossrooftops and reach our hearts. All the kids wouldrun around like a tribe circulating the truck. Onedollar would buy us wonders when we were kids,and some kids would even run tabs with Mr. IceCream Many kids secretly believed that he came inthe summer so that we didn’t miss Santa too much. I would swing around, play, run and laugh hysteri-cally until my sides burned. That taught me onething: I understood the value of this precious com-modity. See, I never used to understand those guysin suits around me saying, “Time is money.” “Howcan time be money?” I used to wonder. Time is themost precious commodity in this world. It doesn’t

care if we use it or not — it still runs wild. We arenever able to hold and cuddle it. It’s like a giantclock that runs away while laughing maniacally. Butthe reality is time is not money. Time is not love.Time is time and the only thing we are able to do inrelation to time is satisfy our craving for life by en-joying every last bit of it. Sadly, all we do now is figure out how to not sleep atwork and school. We have so many pages on ourmental to-do lists that we don’t even know what ournames are. We’ve forgotten how to smile at our peersand professors. We don’t know how to relax and so-cialize. We don’t understand how to drink a cup ofcoffee for the sake of drinking it, feeling the heatwarm our bodies. We don’t care to sit and watch thesun set as we gently close our eyes and feel the lightslowly diminish. We don’t study and read because wedesire to fill our minds with vast quantities of knowl-

edge that are so easily accessible. We don’t sit to gazeinto a friend’s eyes and empathize. We just run fran-tically for about 30 years until one day we realizewe’ve aged and the day has come when we are to fadeaway with time’s memories.We didn’t enjoy the coffee, the sun’s light, the greatwords and the friend’s heart. We chase after time asits maniacal laugh echoes in the wind. Sometimes,we need to slow down and stop. Breathe. Drink ourcoffee slowly. Watch the sun rise. Eat our freshfruits. Laugh from our hearts when a friend tells asilly joke. Read till our eyes hurt, while our mindscrave more. Feel every moment in its present mood.Lastly, we should smile at time because we havebeen afforded the opportunity to be blessed with alife and we shall never go hungry again.

Childish Carefree Mentality Drifts Out as Assignments Pile On

Time Flies Once You Get Accepted to College

Hala Numan

Columnist

Follow us on Twitter @MasonBroadside

|9BroadsideOpinion

Monday, February 13, 2012

Sports

On a frigid, snowy Saturday after-noon, the Mason women’s lacrosse teamopened their season at home with an im-pressive 19–9 victory over the Saint Fran-cis University Red Flash.

The Patriots were led by a balancedoffensive attack that saw three differentplayers score four or more goals.

“We’ve worked a lot with our attack,”said head coach Lauren Hay.

“Coach [Jaclyn] O’Leary has the at-tack, and we’ve really worked in the off-season as far as having a balanced attack,and we really feel like the girls showcasedthat today, so we’re excited about that. It’snot just one person. We have that bal-anced attack, and everyone is going to bea threat for us.”

Mason opened the game with a 3–0lead that began with junior midfielderCaitlin Formato scoring the first of herfive goals, followed by scores from seniorsEmily Ellisen and Mary Schwartz whoeach scored four on the day, withSchwartz also contributing two assists.

SFU’s first goal was quickly answeredby a 4-0 Patriots run that saw Formato, El-lisen and Schwartz each add their secondscores, while sophomore attacker KatieMascolo scored her first of two, off of anassist from junior midfielder Allie Hilder-brandt.

The Red Flash were able to keepthings a bit closer toward the latter part ofthe first half, giving up six goals, but scor-ing three of their own.

The two teams went into halftime

with Mason leading 13–5.SFU came out in the second half fir-

ing on all cylinders, scoring two consecu-tive goals and stopping three consecutivePatriots’ shots.

But the possibility of a comeback forthe Red Flash came to a halt when sopho-more Rachel Obregon found Schwartz forher third score of the game.

Midway through the second half,heavy snow and wind began to pick up,but it didn’t phase the Patriots, who wenton another 4–0 run to bring the score to18–7.

“It’s something that’s going to hap-pen when you’re an outside sport, but westill had to make sure that we maintainpossession, and I thought we did a betterjob with that,” Hay said.

Formato capped off the game for thePatriots with her fifth tally.

Mason proved they had scoringthreats all over the field with nine differ-ent players registering points.

“It was awesome that a whole varietyof people on our attack scored,” Formato.“I never hesitate to pass the ball to any-one. Everyone is equally as powerful onattack, so it’s awesome to have that bal-ance.”

The Patriots’ monstrous offensiveoutput can be largely attributed to theirdominance in the middle of the field.

They controlled 21 of 30 draws andscored on several fast breaks, which issomething they focused on in the off-sea-son.

“We worked on that a lot, and goinginto the future, it’s just being aggressive

on our draw controls and making surethat that first possession is huge for us,”Hay said.

“We worked a lot on getting that im-mediate possession to be able to get it intoour attackers’ hands.”

Mason also played stoutly on de-fense, allowing only 17 shots and causingseven turnovers. Senior defender KierstenJauschnegg led the way with four causedturnovers.

The women look to build on this win

on Saturday at 1 p.m., against Johns Hop-kins at George Mason Stadium, as theycontinue their six-game season openinghome stand.

Interested in pursuing a career in sports writing?

There is no better place to get your start than Broadside.

Stop by the Student Media in SUB II or email

Cody Norman at cnorman2@masonlive.gmu.edu.

Women’s Lacrosse Starts With Fast BreakTeam Opens Up Season With Win Against Saint Francis

Pearson of the YearSenior Forward Playing His Way into Player of the Year Consideration

Fans in Fairfax were shocked when the Preseason Player of the Yearvotes were tallied and their senior forward was not at the top of the list.How could Ryan Pearson play second fiddle to an injured Kent Baze-more to open the season?

Bazemore finished last season scoring 12.3 points per game, butadded 98 assists and 76 steals to his game as a swing man. The CAA isknown as a defensive league — perimeter players can steal the ball in theblink of an eye — but after winning the postseason tournament, theMonarchs fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Meanwhile, Pearson was coming off the best season of his career.With nearly seven rebounds and 14.2 points per game, he anchored thePatriots’ frontcourt. His consistent play propelled Mason to finishing atthe top of the regular season standings and into the NCAA’s Round of32. Not even a coaching change could hold back what this player wouldunleash in his senior year.

“It was difficult. Different coaches have their different styles, coach-ing styles. His style, I want to say, is more free,” Pearson said. “We justdo what we know to do. He tells us what he wants from us and he knowshow he wants it done.”

With fellow upperclassman Andre Cornelius benched for the firstten games of the year, it was up to him to step up his game. So the for-ward who throws up awkward shots accepted the role. Humbly, ofcourse.

“I’m just looking to get better,” Pearson said. “Right now, I’m justtrying to focus on what we have to do as a team to win out the rest of thegames.”

Three of the team’s first four regular-season games went into over-time, and a clearly upset Pearson wanted to take responsibility when histeam lost. The rough non-conference schedule set them up nicely head-ing into winter break.

Since the Patriots’ matchup against Manhattan, the team has won13 of their last 15 and are looking once again to the NCAA Tournament,riding the hot hands of Pearson.

In nine of the team’s last 12 games, Pearson held either the teamrebounding high or the scoring high to improve his record-chasingnumbers to 8.5 rebounds and 17.7 points per game. Those numbersstand at fifth and third in the conference rankings, respectively, he issailing up the ranks of the George Mason record books.

“He’s having a big season. He’s very difficult to guard. I don’t knowwhat coaches say on the scouting report to handle him,” fellow seniorMike Morrison said. “He scores from the outside, mid range. It’s difficultto defend the man. He’s having a very good season.”

Meanwhile, everyone else from the preseason list has fallen off. Theonly claim to fame Bazemore has is his second-place spot on the stealslist. Drexel’s Samme Givens is fifth on the percentage list. Those at thetop of the statistical lists are looking more like one-trick ponies whilePearson is dominating the conference.

“Everybody else I think on the list, you know how to defend him. It’s

not too difficult to defend them,” said Morrison when asked what othercontenders lacked. “I think he just has that all-around game where hecan score from anywhere, any type of shot from any angle. There’s nodefinite place to stop him.”

The team will need him to be unstoppable if they want to avoid an-other fall in Richmond. After having quality teams fall short in the past,the team’s seniors long for the championship. It’s their last chance.

“We’ll be relying on him a whole lot. But we’re relying on the wholeteam,” Morrison said. “He can rely on us too, just like we’re relying on

him to put up the numbers he has and carry us on in times where weneed him to.”

According to coach Paul Hewitt there is only one thing that couldmake it a lock.

“Win the rest of the games,” Hewitt said. “The only reason why Ithink he’s Player of the Year is because he’s had us in first place the wholeyear.”

And it is hard to argue with success.

John PowellStaff Writer

James HoStaff Writer

Photos by: Stephen Kline

Senior Ryan Perason walks through the Patriot Platoon after the team’s Homecoming win against Old Dominion University. Pearson, a leader on and

off the court, has helped propel the team to another hopeful NCAA Tournament bid.

Photos by: Stephen Kline

Senior Midfielder Emily Ellisen cradles the ball Saturday in a game against Saint Francis University. The Patriot Women beat STU 19-9

in their season opening game.

10 | Broadside

It was 2009. Taleia Moton, a sopho-more guard, was enjoying a successfulcampaign at Radford. She led her team inscoring, averaging 16.9 points per contestand tied for fifth on the school’s single-season steal mark by taking the ball 88times.

Even with the head coach that re-cruited her, Jeri Porter, leaving to rebuildat George Mason, Moton was en route tohaving one of the most successful careersof any player in the Big South Conference.

She joined a team heavy with upper-classmen and performed well, workingwherever her coach needed her.

“That helped her to settle into whatcollege is all about,” Porter said, “andthat’s not really having to be the one thatscores every night, even though that hasbecome her role for us this year. I thinkshe’s comfortable in several differentroles.”

When Debbie Taneyhill resigned atMason and Porter came to take the job,Moton was left as an established under-classman who didn’t want to start overwith a new coach.

“I was a sophomore. I already had alot going on at Radford,” Moton said. “Ididn’t want to leave at the time. She men-tioned, of course, that she would love for

me to come with her, but she wasn’t reallypushy. She left it up to me.”

She felt a tie to her recruiter. She tookwell to the offensive scheme, took well tothe coach’s personality, and took well tothe school. Both even had home ties toMaryland.

So when the Radford Highlandersbrought in Tajama Ngongba to coach theteam, Moton did not take well.

“I wanted to see what kind of coachthey would bring in to the Radford sys-tem. If we clicked, of course, then I wouldstay,” Moton said. “The new coach theybrought in, we didn’t get along that great.And her system was different from CoachPorter’s. I would just rather finish out mycollege career playing for Coach Porter, tobe honest.”

It was a difficult decision to stay forthe guard, but it was not the first time acoaching change forced the point guardto move.

“I was originally supposed to, alreadycommitted, to go to Mount St. Mary’s, butthe coach from Mount St. Mary’s left,”Moton recalled.

“And her and Coach Porter were re-ally good friends. … Coach Porter and Ibasically just clicked and we met and I fellin love with the university, the team, thecoaching staff and it was a great experi-ence.”

Moreover, she fit in with the rest of

the team. It was easy -- the team wasmade up of underclassmen -- so she wasforced to take on a leadership role.

Coming back to the system andcloser to her family was like coming backhome. The required year of sitting out wastough on Moton.

“Well, I think it was difficult in thatshe wasn’t playing on the floor for the firsttime in quite some time,” Porter said. “Atthat point, it was just giving her an op-portunity to get really comfortable atschool, making sure she stayed on track.

“Then beyond that, it was takingthat year to improve in some areas of hergame that she felt she didn’t have thetime.”

Her already tough play improved andshe formed the backbone of Mason’s of-fensive structure.

She knew the offense before Portersat on the bench at the Patriot Center. Thetransition came with ease, and her num-bers show it.

“Specific to offense, pretty much, shedoesn’t have much structure. She lets youplay your game,” Moton said. “So that fitme to the ‘T.’ I like to run, I like to play de-fense.”

She leads the team with 20.9 pointsper game, putting her in the nationalrankings, and manages to lead the teamwith 55 steals on the year. She knows howto make noise in the home stretch.

After a rise to the top in1996 with an NCAA champi-onship, the George Masontrack & field team entered adownward spiral. In the pastseveral years however, Masonhas turned the programaround, helping it to work itsway back up to its former sta-tus. The team comprises ap-proximately 100 athletes whocompete in different events.

“I think we’re getting backto where we were,” said AndrewGerard, the director of men’sand women’s track & field.

“Back in the mid-'90s,Mason was at the top levels.We’re getting back there.When we line up at meets,we’re starting to get that re-spect back. Mason’s not mess-ing around. On paper, we’reprobably one of the best teamsin the east.”.

For the past two years, themen’s team has taken home theCAA title.

“Our goal is to elevate thewhole program, so we’re ex-pecting to compete at the con-ference level and beyond that,”Gerard said.

“From a GMU standpoint,we’re looking at NCAA, butthere are some kids who cancompete at Olympic level.”

This year, Gerard hopes tosee the men easily take theCAA title and then focus on re-gionals and the NCAA. For thepast two years, the women’steam has taken second at theCAA.

“Having the CAA athome two years ago is whatpushed us over the edge to

win,” Gerard said. “With ushosting the meet at homeagain this year, the goal is tokeep up the men and start thewomen.”

Rivalries for Mason track& field exist at different levels.

For the CAAs, William &Mary and UNC Wilmingtonare the two top competitors forthe men.

The women’s team hasbeen a steady fixture at secondplace for the past two years,with different teams alternat-ing between first and third.Gerard considers their topcompetitors to be JMU,Delaware, William & Mary andGeorgia Tech.

In the NCAA competition,there are 22 event scores thatare added to determine theteam’s final score.

“It’s a little bit artificial totalk about a team score at theNCAA,” Gerard said. “If you ad-vance two kids and win two ti-tles, that’s a great day. They’vedone their best, but you’reprobably not going to win theteam title.”

During the indoor season,the team has meets nearlyevery weekend in locationsscattered across the easternUnited States.

“It’s just a matter of wherewe can find the appropriatelevel of competition,” Gerardsaid. “In the NCAA men’s,there are only a handful ofteams that give us a level ofcompetition we need.”

Return to the TopTrack and Field Team Works for NCAA Title

Colleen WilsonAsst. Sports Editor

Valentine’s InvitationalFeb. 10-11 in Boston, MA

Spire’s InvitationalFeb. 10-11 in Geneva, OH

Men’s:John Jones (200 m) 22.24Cody Raphael (800 m) 1:53.64Everett Hackett (3,000 m) 8:18.68John Holt (5,000 m) 14:45.44

Men’s:Adrian Vaughn (200 m) 21.58Nick Vaughn (200 m) 21.76LaVell Handy (60 m hurdles)8.09 (Long Jump) 7.10 mDavid Verburg (400 m dash)46.39Ja-Vell Bullard (400 m dash)48.00Rachaunn Ruffin (200 m) 21.74Travaughn Baker-Johnson (200m) 22.134x400 relay squad (Nick Vaughn,Ja-Vell Bullard, George Empty,David Verburg) 3:08.40

Women’s:Cierra McGee (400 m dash) 54.82Daianna Barron (400 m dash)55.89Crystalyne Clark (200 m dash)25.01 4x400 relay team (TaylorWheaton, Dominique Graham,Daianna Barron, Cierra McGee)3:41.40

IC4A and ECAC

Qualifying Marks

Local RivalsClub Hockey Team Faces Off with NVCC

John PowellStaff Writer

Following Your HeartTaleia Moton Playing Key Role in Women’s Success

In the last home game of the season, the George Mason club Ice Hockey team will face Northern Virginia

Community College on Friday at 9:40 p.m. at the Prince William Ice Center. Both teams play in the Blue

Ridge Hockey Conference, which represents 24 ice hockey teams in D.C., Virginia, Maryland and North Car-

olina. Though the teams share the Prince William arena for practices and games, NVCC will play host for

the game. A large crowd is expected to cheer on the opposing team. On Saturday, the team will travel to

play the Christopher Newport team for a BRHC exhibition game. The CNU team is currently ranked eighth

in the southeast by the American Collegiate Hockey Association.

Redshirt Senior Taleia Moton goes for a layup against Virginia Commonwealth Univer-

sity. Moton followed Coach Jeri Porter from Radford to Mason in 2009. She has enjoyed

a solid final season with the team.

Photo by: John Powell

Photo Courtesy of Matt Ricciardi

Women’s:There were no qualifying times forthe women’s team.

| 11BroadsideSports Monday, February 13, 2012

Knock OutNorthern Virginia local

athletes Jimmy Lange (topright), Tori “Sho Nuff” Nel-

son (lower left), and Todd“White Lightning” Wilson

fought live at the PatriotCenter on Saturday night.

All three won their fights byunanimous decision.

Broadside12 |

This is your chance to represent the Ravens on Gameday, in the community and at the Calendar shoot in 2012!

Saturday, March 3Tryout Information can be found at: BaltimoreRavens.com/Cheerleaders

*(must be 18 years or older by July 1st)

BE A PART OF THE 2012 TEAMCo-ed stunt and all female dance team

With a win this past Satur-day at North Carolina-Wilming-ton, Mason basketball clincheda top-four seed in the CAATournament, earning an auto-matic advance to the secondround.

The other three seeds willmost likely consist of VCU,Drexel, and Old Dominion. Ofcourse, I’m hoping for Mason tograb the No. 1 seed. But lookingat the difficulty of the schedulesdown the stretch, we are cer-tainly not on the easy end of thespectrum. Half of our gameshere on out are against VCU.

Drexel has the easiestschedule at the end of this sea-son. They are currently sittingon a 13-game winning streak,and their remaining conferencegames include William & Mary,James Madison University andODU. Over the course of thisseason, they only had onematchup with each of VCU,ODU and Mason. It is morethan likely that they are going towin out.

My top-four seeding pre-

diction is Drexel, Mason, VCUand ODU — in that order. If weare the No. 2 seed, we will playthe winner of the No. 7 and No.10 seeds, respectively.

If the season ended rightnow, that would be a game be-tween Northeastern (who wewill already have faced in thesecond-to-last game of the sea-son) and William & Mary. Afterwinning that game, we willmost likely go on the face theNo. 3 seed in the semi-finalmatchup.

The toughest part aboutthe conclusion to our scheduleis that we play in Richmond onFeb. 25 and have to go backdown there less than a weeklater for the tournament. Re-cently, we’ve played very well inthe Siegel Center, but we havenot enjoyed any sort of successin The Richmond Coliseum. Ihave always been against theCAA games being played inRichmond. VCU essentially getsall home games for the entiretournament. All tournamentgames should be played in aneutral arena. Luckily, we travelvery well both as a team and asfans -- just not to the CAA Tour-nament.

We have one, maybe twoways to get into the NCAA Tour-nament this season. The secondconference loss to Delaware re-ally hurt our chances to get anat-large bid.

If we win the CAA Tourna-ment, it’s simple and we’re in. Ifwe don’t win to get an automaticbid, our only other option to getin is by first winning the rest ofour regular season games. Fail-ing to accomplish that, we caneasily kiss an at-large bid good-bye. If we can make it to thechampionship game and lose tothe No. 1 seed, then we still havean at-large shot. It would reallybe helpful for that No. 1 seed tobe Drexel because they alsopicked up an early loss toDelaware in their first confer-ence game of the season.

Essentially, it’s verystraightforward. We need to ei-ther win the CAA Tournamentor make it to the championshipand lose to the No. 1 seed. How-ever, for now let’s just take itgame by game, starting withthis week against VCU at home,as well as our Bracketbusteragainst Lamar.

Section

124

BestChance at a Bid

A View from the Platoon

Daniel ZimmetPatriot Platoon Member