Fall 2012, issue 2

the compass, nov. 1, 2012 1

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH GEORGIA

w w w . g s c C o m p a s s . o r g

WE ARE THENIGHTHAWKS!PAGE 7

BUT DO OUR NEW COLORS MATCH OUR NEW BIRD? PAGE 13

compassG S C ’ s s t u d e n t n e w s p a p e r

Vol. XLVIII No. 2 November 1, 2012

2 the compass, Nov. 1, 2012

the compass xlviii no. 2November 1, 2012

Gainesville State CollegeGainesville, Georgia

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Audrey Williams [email protected] EDITOR Brent [email protected]

SECTION EDITORSNEWS Colin Ochs [email protected] LIFE Zachary Perry [email protected] & ENTERTAINMENT Brittany Poole [email protected] Mike Williams [email protected]

STAFFHunter Leger, Michael Blanton, Emily Primm, Sandra Reyes, Michelle Shellnut, Mackenzie Hamilton, Will Anthony, Jessica Anderson, Katie Keiger, Kevin Eagleson, Mike Mullins, Elise Perkins, Matt Hobbs, Max Mager

FACULTy ADVISER Merrill Morris [email protected]

The Compass releases three printed issues each semester and an online edition at www.gscCompass.org

f r o m t h e e d i t o rWHAT CAN yOU DO WITH 30 DAyS?

In 30 days the semester will be over.

you will have hopefully signed up for the classes you need (page 5), although getting all the ones you want isn’t likely.

you will have voted for the president of the United States (page 15). Go you!

If you listen to our movie buff (page 10), you will have seen at least one Oscar-worthy movie, which allows you some film snob bragging rights.

you might’ve even donated some canned goods in the spirit of the holiday season (page 3)!

you’re really taking advantage of these last days, champ. And if you haven’t, well, what are you do-ing? you’ve only got 30 days!

Audrey Williams Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

the compass staff

for more of our stories, visit GSCcompass.org


THE COMPASSDIRECTIONS

COVER DESIGNAUDREy WILLIAMS

PHOTOILLUSTRATION from arthursclipart.org

The Nighthawk, a common bird in North Georgia, will

be the UNG mascot, after a student vote.

NEWSpage 6

layout of this page Compass Staff

A&Epage 9

FEATURES &OPINIONS page 13

page 11SPORTS

C A M P U S L I F E

Zachary Perry Campus Life [email protected]

The spirit of giving is alive and well on the Gainesville State College campus, or at least Karen Chavez hopes so.

Chavez, who interns at the South Hall County Food Bank, first introduced the idea of a food bank to human services professors at GSC as an option for students who needed to obtain the required hours for the class.

There were a few students who went for this option. One such student was Ashling Ardiff.

Ardiff chose to receive her 15 hours of service learning by way of the food drive because her schedule kept her from volunteering at the South Hall Food Bank directly.

She agreed with Chavez that the food bank was in des-perate need of more food and realized that along with help-ing her with her hours, the food drive would help the Food bank obtain more food.

“I thought it would be a great way to get out in the com-munity and complete my hours,” Ardiff said.

When she heard of the opportunity, Ardiff took the ini-tiative to organize the food drive and bring in the other students to help her out. One of the students helping her,

Haley Collins, cites her strong faith and her desire to honor God as her reasoning for setting up the food drive.

“I decided to volunteer at the South Hall Community Food Pantry because of my faith in Jesus Christ,” she said. “Matthew 25:35-40 tells me that what I do for others is the same as what I do for God in his eyes.”

Chavez expressed a desire not only for the food drive to help the Food Bank in the short run, but also to begin es-tablishing a relationship with GSC as a whole.

Chavez believes that both entities could do nothing but benefit from such a relationship and ultimately help a larger group of people who are in need.

Collins believes that “the Food Drive is a way to raise awareness in our community of this need and also provide a way that other people can get involved and help.”

Anyone who is interested in donating for the food drive is encouraged to do so.

Collection tubs are located at the small student center in Academic 2, one on the stage in the Student Center and one at the opposite end of the Student Center by the doors and they are all labeled with the Food Drive flyer. Ardiff will also have a table set up inside the Student Center from Nov. 5-15 from noon-4 p.m. each day. Her goal is to collect 500 cans, if not more.

Getting rid of cans for a cause

IF yOU’D LIKE TO DONATE TO THE FOOD BANK, THEy ARE ACCEPTING:Cereal

Peanut Butter & JellyCrackers

Canned Soup, Meat & Tomato ProductsRice

Dry BeansBoxed Pasta

Toilet Paper & Paper TowelsSoap

THE DONATION PERIOD ENDS 11/30

The South Hall County Food Bank, pic-tured, is where the canned food col-lected will be donated. Stu-dents Karen Chavez and Ashling Ardiff wants these shelves filled, and they have a goal of collecting 500 cans.

Zachary Perry


the compass, nov. 1, 2012 5layout of this page Compass Staff

C A M P U S L I F E

Mackenzie HamiltonStaff Writer [email protected]

It’s that time of the semester again. Students are busy setting up appointments with their advisers to talk about their majors and decide what classes to take for the following semester.

Advising weeks are for students to meet with pro-fessors and faculty advisers before registration. Terri Carroll, director of academic advising, knows that it’s important for students to talk with their advisers.

“Advising weeks are an op-portunity to discuss major program planning, course se-lection, transfer and career questions, and any concerns or issues affecting academic per-formance,” she said.

Advising weeks are for stu-dents to get their majors and courses figured out prior to registration.

Shannon Gilstrap, assistant professor of English, thinks that advising is really impor-

tant for students and advisers.“In my opinion, advising weeks are an opportunity

for students to explore their options they have for the upcoming semester regarding courses. Advising weeks are not registration though, and registration is not ad-vising,” he said.

Students who meet with their advisers familiarize themselves with core curriculum and major programs of study.

They are able to talk to someone who understands their major area of study and their academic back-ground.

“It is an opportunity to dis-cuss what they have accom-plished academically, what they still need to accomplish in order to graduate, and also find out about campus support services,” Carroll said.

Advising weeks aren’t just for the students.

Advisers find that it’s impor-tant to meet with students and help steer them on the right aca-demic path, Carroll said. Advis-ers are there to educate students on courses and majors.

“Advisers review each advisee’s background infor-mation on programs such as Tranguid and Degree-Works to understand the student’s progression toward graduation,” she said.

Gilstrap thinks that advising meetings direct stu-dents toward the right academic pathway.

“The early semesters in college are about exploring options, exploring what classes interest the student so that he/she can then begin declaring a major,” he said.

Gilstrap thinks that a good advising session will walk a fine line between allowing the student opportu-nity to explore and making sure the student isn’t taking unnecessary courses.

With the consolidation, many students are won-dering if the advising weeks will be affected with the change.

The details aren’t worked out yet, but Carroll believes that there will be some changes that follow the consoli-dation.

“Mandatory advising is already in place on the Dahlonega campus, and tentative plans are to imple-ment mandatory advising on the Gainesville and Oconee campuses up to a certain number of credit hours,” she said.

In conjunction with mandatory advising, “advising weeks will probably be extended to three weeks instead of two,” she said.

Get the classes you want, need with advising help

“The early semesters in college are about explor-ing options, exploring what classes interest the student so that he/she can then begin declaring a major.“

Shannon Gilstrap,assistant professor of English

28SUNDAy

Faculty Senate Committee Meet-ing; Library rm 134; 12 - 1pm.

29MONDAy

Working with your Dreams Workshop; Student Center rm 127; 12:30pm - 1:30pm.

30TUESDAy

Real Estate Sales-person’s Prelicens-ing Course; CE Bldg. rm 114; 9am - 4:30pm.

31WEDNESDAy

2012 Cottrell Speaker Series; Acad. IV rm 3110-A; 11am - 2:30pm.

November 1 THURSDAy

Resume Writing Workshop; Student Center rm 127; 12:30pm - 1:30pm.

2FRIDAy

Phlebotomy Tech-nician Program; CE Bldg. rm 134; 9am - 3pm.

3SATURDAy

4

Motivation Tech-niques for Manag-ers; CE Bldg. rm 110; 9am - 4pm.

5Healing Your Rela-tionship With Food and Your Body Workshop; Student Center rm 127; 12:30pm - 1:30pm.

6

Learn to Knit or Crochet; CE Bldg. rm 133; 10am - 12pm.

7

Adobe Photoshop Elements I; CE Bldg. rm 113; 9am - 4pm.

8

Education Club Scholastic Bookfair; Acad. IV rm 3110-B; 8am - 8pm.

9Black and White Gala; Student Cen-ter - Commons/Stage area; 7pm-11pm.

10

Driver’s Education; CE Bldg. rm 109; 1:30pm - 5:30pm.

11


12

Job Fair; Student Center - Robinson Ballroom ABCDE; 10am - 1pm.

13 Wayne Farms Quality As-surance Meeting; CE Bldg. rm 114;

7:30am - 5pm.

14Student Affairs Council Meeting; Student Center Meeting rm 1; 9am - 11am.

15


16Phlebotomy Tech-nician Program; CE Bldg. rm 134; 9am - 3pm.

17

Driver’s Education; CE Bldg. rm 109;

1:30pm - 5:30pm.

18

GSC Alliance Meet-ing; Student Center rm 326 (TV Lounge); 12pm - 1pm.

19

Phi Theta Kappa Meeting; Acad. IV rm 3104; 5pm - 6pm.

20

Thanksgiving Holidays / No Classes

21


22


23


24

25

Windows 7 CE Class; CE Bldg. rm 113; 9am - 4pm.

26Fall Graduation Reception; Student Center - Robinson Ballroom ABCDE; 12pm - 5:30pm.

27FACE Club Fund-raiser; Student Cen-ter - Commons/Stage Area; 10am - 12pm.

28

Design Your Own Webpage; CE Bldg. rm 113; 9am - 4pm.

29 Fall Classes End - “Full, Second , and Last 10 Weeks all end.”

30

Final Exams - December 1st; 3rd - 7th.

December1

N O V E M B E R

6 the compass, Nov. 1, 2012 layout of this page Audrey Williams

N E W S Emmanuel FisteagContributing [email protected]

A gas leak caused the temporary evacuation of students and staff from the Martha T. Nesbitt building the morning of Oct.11 between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Firefighters set up a perimeter around the building for the students’ safety ac-cording to the Director of Public Rela-

tions, Sloan Jones, “They’re (firefighters) going to turn the gas back on to find out where the leak is.”

According to a notice released Thurs-day afternoon by Interim President, Randy Pierce, the fire alarm exhaust system was used to clear any smell of gas in the building and the fire depart-ment conducted a thorough sweep of the building.

Finding no gas inside the building, a sweep of the grounds deter-mined that the leak was between the building riser and the boiler pip-ing.

Standing Lieu-tenant Rob Sand-ers of the Hall County Fire De-partment said, “there may not be gas going to the building for hot water (until the leak is fixed), we just wanted every-one to get out and make sure every-thing is safe for the classes to con-tinue.”

G a i n e s v i l l e State students Ka-zmasu Takikawa and Taylor East-wood said they smelled gas from

the parking deck.Aldin Zmajevac,

a GSC student said

he was “walking from tennis class and smelled the gas.”

“Hall County Fire released the build-ing back to the college, the building was reopened and students returned to class by 11 a.m.,” Pierce said, “the commercial division of Atlanta Gas Light is also do-ing an extensive gas leak check of the un-derground piping that feeds the building as a preventative measure.”

Pierce also said, “the repairs are be-ing made,” and “thanks to all those in-volved in making this incident go as smoothly as possible. We were fortunate that we did not have to interrupt classes and other activities by evacuating other buildings on campus.”

Gas leak in Nesbitt building raises concern

Accreditation prospectus to be reviewed by SACSHunter LegerStaff [email protected]

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) will be reviewing a prospectus, or a proposal containing information about the new institution, sent by GSC and NGCSU in order to ap-prove the consolidation.

SACS’ approval is integral in the new University of North Georgia becoming an accredited college.

A committee consisting of faculty from NGCSU and GSC had a hand in composing this prospectus, where they laid out the plans for a consolidated UNG.

The committee had to answer questions regarding

the new school’s mission, how it will be different, how degree programs will be impacted and even how students will be affected by admission requirements.

“In December, SACS will vote to allow us to consolidate. We must do so within 30 days, thus you have the January date for official consoli-dation,” Chaudron Gille said.

“Then we will write a more extensive report detail-ing how we have consolidated all aspects of the new in-stitution, and demonstrating that as this new consoli-dated institution, we meet all the requirements to be an

accredited school.”This prospectus contains nine categories where the

structure of the school is re-organized. SACS will meet in December to discuss, and possibly approve the pro-posal to merge NGCSU and GSC.

Betsy Cantrell, the Director of Planning and Insti-tutional Research, is optimistic about the outcome of SACS’ December meeting.

“We believe we are going to have a great Substintive Change report,” Cantrell said. SACS will visit the school after the consolidation in order to verify if we are quali-fied for accreditation.

“Sometime in the spring or summer, after SACS re-ceives our report, they will schedule a visit to make sure that all is functioning as we say it is,” Gille said.

“All schools must undergo a mini review by SACS every five years, and a complete review every 10 years in order to remain accredited. This visit will be our ini-tial visit in that cycle as UNG.”

Audrey Williams

Hall Co. firefighters were on the scene, but were not allowed to comment on the gas leak.

Students, teachers and faculty in the Martha T. Nesbitt building were told to evacuate after the alarm went off.

“I was walking from tennis class and smelled the gas.”

Aldin ZmajevacGSC Student

Audrey Williams

“All schools must undergo a mini review by SACS every five years, and a complete review every 10 years in order to remain accredited.”

Chaudron Gille,Associate Vice President

for Academic Affairs


GSC 2012 Mediation Team at the International Academy of Dispute Resolution 13th Annual National Intercollegiate Mediation Tournament. Team pic includes L to R, Top to bottom rows: Top Row- Penny Hollis, Consepcion Rodriguez, Branden Shaw, Ariana Melendez Middle Row-Gina Schwartz, Kiran Singh Lowest Row-Scott Fuller, Amy Broome, Bethany Waites, Fernando Gonzalez.

N E W S

layout of this page Audrey Williams

Colin OchsNew [email protected]

The newly formed University of North Georgia finally has its mascot. I present to you the University of North Georgia Night-hawks.

The Nighthawks beat out fellow finalists the Golden Eagles and the Warriors to be the new face of our school.

Starting Jan. 1, 2013, the GSC Fighting Geese and the NGCSU Saints will combine to form the UNG Nighthawks.

Research was done to identify animals and creatures indigenous to the region that could represent the university and its athletic and student life programs, NGCSU Director of University Relations Kate Maine said via e-mail.

Over 750 different mascot suggestions were made in response to a survey held in August open to students, alumni, faculty and staff, and community members.

A mascot work group narrowed the sug-gestions down to 13, which the Consolidation Implementation Committee then narrowed down to the three that were voted on by the students.

More than 6,300 students at GSC and NGCSU participated in the online survey to determine the new mascot.

The Nighthawks won with 51 percent of the vote with the Golden Eagles coming in second with 26 percent followed by the War-riors with 23 percent of the vote.

“This is a fresh start, everything will be new and we will create a new identity,” Jackie Mauldin of the GSC bookstore said.

Now that the mascot and colors, blue, gold and white, have been chosen, the next step is to design a logo.

“We are working with some professionals to design the logo, “NGCSU President and future UNG President Bonita Jacobs said.

“We want to be able take a scientific ap-proach to branding and not just design some-thing that looks good.”

The Nighthawk is a unique choice to rep-resent our school as only a handful of other colleges use it as their mascot. Most notably of which is Newbury College in Brookline, Mass.

“I didn’t tell anybody my personal favorite because I didn’t want to sway anybody, but Nighthawks was my personal favorite, so I was kind of glad students selected that,” Ja-cobs said.

Nighthawks announced as UNG’s new mascot

Emily PrimmStaff [email protected]

During a student government meeting last month, the topic of conver-sation was the ever-present problem of parking.

Students are priority and are given the most spots to park (1898 out of the total 2,378).

But with 6,496 students enrolled, even if half of them are present on a given day, that is not near enough.

The school, with the oncoming consolidation, does not have the funds to create more lots or a new parking garage to making parking easier for everyone.

The best advice offered at this time is being informed about where and when to park when you’re here. Here are some suggestions given by SGA and our campus police:

Remember that Tuesdays and Thursdays are when the most students are on campus than any other day.

There is a Ride/Share option on through GSC’s web site. There is a lot of people willing to carpool. By using this option, it can save all participants from a day of gas, a parking spot lost, and a ticket gained if parking is at its worst.

Taking advantage of Hall county’s Red Rabbit shuttle can allow you to park somewhere off campus and drop you at its assigned stops on campus.

Use the emergency campus police number to ask what spots are open and when. Operators are more than willing to assist you when they are available. But it is important to remember that we have a limited number of officers. They might not know about spots due to students’ coming and going throughout the day.

SGA encourages communication with the student body. They meet weekly to address

issues brought up by members or by the suggestions of faculty and staff.

If you have any questions or concerns you feel they need to address, the best way to contact

them is through their website:

www.gscsga.org

SGA talks parking

for winning overall fourth place in the Mediator Team

competition for the tournament and being named the ninth client/advocate Team in the tournament out of 38 teams.

courtesy of SGA

courtesy of Mediation Team

8 the compass, Nov. 1, 2012 Photos by Jessica Anderson

L-R Friends Karter Robinson, Austin Trusty, Michael Suttles, and Kayla Crowe having a good time after class.

Stephen Mendoza having a chat on the phone.L-R Mary Jackson and Nick Ayala studying after lunch.

Ashton Casey taking a break in between class.

Take a quick break among the leaves

Some run indoors as soon as the breeze of colder weather comes around, but these Fightin’ Geese are enjoying the fall atmo-sphere around campus. You’d better grab a hot drink, pull on a sweater and find a seat around the quad with your friends.


Purchase tickets through the GTA Box Office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays at 678-717-3624.


A R T S & E N T E R T A I N M E N T

Kevin EaglesonStaff [email protected]

It is rare for college students, or professors for that matter, to find time for recreational reading. Just as rare is a story that merits find-ing time between chapters of textbooks to read.

“Emily’s Stitches: The Confessions of Thom-as Calloway and Other Stories,” written by Lev-erett Butts, PhD, professor of American litera-ture at GSC, is that story.

“Emily’s Stitches” is a collection of interre-lated short stories about a teen-aged boy grow-ing up in rural Georgia and faced with the challenges of approaching adulthood. When he stumbles across a young homeless girl, he must decide how best to protect her from the world despite the fact the he barely under-stands the world himself.

Lev Butts is able to deliver an incredible story in 120 pages, comprised of murder, mad-ness, abuse, passion, and self-destruction.

“Butts does a nice job letting his characters speak for themselves and you find yourself car-ing and hoping love finds a way (among other issues) right down tot the intense, gut-wrench-ing climax,” said Richard Monaco, author of “Parsival or a Knight’s Tale.”

Also included are the “Other Stories,” three poems and five short stories. “Negative Space” tells the story of a recently divorced photogra-pher who fins himself sharing Thanksgiving dinner with his ex-wife’s family. “Gods for Sale, Cheap” is a humorous examination of Ameri-

can religion and its commercialization.Most notably is “Misdirection”, the story

of two down-on-their luck hitmen and their quest for identity. Leverett Butts read this se-lection in the third floor ballroom of GSC’s Martha T. Nesbit academic building on Sept. 10, to enthusiastic reviews.

Butts is able to beautifully weave classic sub-jects with original stories. “Emily’s Stitches” is a must read.

“Emily’s Stitches: The Confessions of Thom-as Calloway and Other Stories” can be ordered from Amazon.com in either paperback or Kin-dle edition.

Professor publishes Emily’s Stitches

Amanda HeadContributing Writer [email protected]

GSC students, if selected, will have the chance to see their literary work published if submitted to The Chestatee Review by Dec. 1.

“To see your work published, it’s pretty exciting,” said Sarah Mad-sen, a current student who previously won first place in the GSC writ-ing contest.

The Chestatee Review, a literary magazine, is requesting entries that are poetry, short stories, one-act plays, and formal and informal essays.

“I’m glad it’s something we have on campus,” Madsen said.Anyone who wants to enter is encouraged to do so.“Even if a student isn’t an English major, he or she may still be

interested in writing, and the Chestatee Review offers them the op-portunity to share their work with a much larger audience.” Amanda Adams, an editor of the Chestatee Review, said. “Also, participating in the contest gets students used to adhering to deadlines.”

Prizes for each category include $100 for first place, $50 for second place, and $25 for third place. All first and second place winners in each category will be automatically entered into the Southern Literary Festival writing contest.

“The Southern Literary Festival is a bigger version of the GSC writ-ing contest,” Adams said.

All GSC students can enter the contest. It does not matter which campus the students attend. Students can submit any work in any of the categories and as many as they would like to enter. The literary work must be the students’ own original work, whether recently writ-ten or something the student has been holding on to, and unpublished.

Former contest winner, Madsen, plans on entering again this year. She enters as much literary work as she can.

“Submitting,” Madsen said is her strategy in trying to win.Entering in more than one category will give a student more pos-

sibilities of winning. Receiving first place on Madsen’s poem has en-couraged her to enter again for another chance to win.

“It was very exciting,” Madsen said while talking about her first time winning. “I ended up grinning for the next half hour.”

Students have a chance of winning more than the $100 first prize.“Each prize is per category,” Adams said, “we’ve had people win

first and third, and first and first, so it’s possible to win more than one prize.”

Adams is also hopeful that this will be the biggest year of entries since the contest started in the 90’s.

Adams suggested that if it is good and you like it, then a student should enter that piece in the contest.

“We are open to anything you want to do,” Adams suggest, “be as creative as you want. Whatever comes natural to you is usually when you write the best.”

Students need to be aware that their poems do not exceed 100 lines, and their literary work does not exceed 5,000 words.

Students who miss the deadline can always wait till next year, as the deadline every year for the writing contest is the same. However, some are scared what might happen to the literary magazine after consoli-dation next year.

Madsen fears a funding cut, where others continue with hopes that everything will stay the same.

“Hopefully The Chestatee Review will be able to continue the writ-ing contest for the foreseeable future,” Adams said.

If a student plans on entering this year, then they need to have their work in by Dec. 1.

“Many writers are scared to submit their work,” Madsen said. “Put the pen down and get it out there.”

The Chestatee Review encourages student writers to enter contest for cash

Leverett Butts, a professor at GSC, wrote and published “Emily’s Stitches: The Confessions of Thom-as Calloway and Other Stories.”

Where: Brenau’s Hosch

Theatre

When:November 6-10 & 13-17 at 7:30 p.m.November 11 & 17

at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets:$14-16 for students & $20-24 for adults

GSC site

10 the compass, Nov. 1, 2012 layout of this page Jessica Anderson

A R T S & E N T E R T A I N M E N T

WHAT yOU SHOULD BE WATCHINGWhile the Academy Awards, more popularly known as the Oscars, don’t take place until Feb. 26, 2013, it is time for the movies that will take center stage at the Oscars. So that you won’t have to scramble at the last minute to watch a plethora of movies, Kevin Eagleson, our movie buff, has a compiled a list of potenial Oscar contenders.

Anna Karenina Nov. 16

Based on one of Leo Tolstoy’s most famous novels, this film is set in late-19th-century Russian high-soci-ety. The aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. This marks the third collaboration between director Joe Wright and actress Keira Knightley. The two previous have also been popular, classic novels (Atonement and Pride and Prejudice). If the previ-ous two collaborations are any indication, Anna Karenina will be a visually stunning and artistically bold film that astonishingly brings the pages of classic literature to the screen with uncompromis-ing excellence.

Skyfall Nov. 9Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. No Bond movie has ever been nominat-ed for an Academy Award outside of Best Effect, Best Music, or Best Art Direction. With Sam Mendes direct-ing, and Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes in support-ing roles it’s hard to believe this is a “Bond” movie. It’s even harder to believe that this Bond movie won’t be at least nominated for Academy Awards involving directors and supporting actors.

Flight Nov. 2

Denzel Washington plays an airline pilot who miraculously saves a flight from a crash that would have killed every passenger, but an investiga-tion into the malfunctions leads to more troubling secrets. Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump) directs an all-star cast (Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Don Cheadle, and Melissa Leo) in his first live-action film since 2000’s Castaway and first R-rated film since 1980’s Used Cars. Flight has been described as a “character-driven story” with Denzel doing the driving. Also intriguing, Flight is one more movie filmed com-pletely within the state of Georgia.

Lincoln Nov. 9

As the Civil War continues to rage, America's president struggles with continuing carnage on the bat-tlefield and fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.Last year’s Academy Awards saw Spielberg nominated simply for being Spiel-berg. One can only hope that Spielberg’s lackluster releases from last year were due to putting everything he can into Lincoln. Whether the direction is there or not, one thing can be counted on: Daniel Day-Lewis will deliver nothing less than perfection as the nation’s 16th president.

The Master currently in theaters Returning from Navy service in World War II, Freddie drifts through a series of PTSD-driven breakdowns. Finally he stumbles upon a cult which engages in exercises to clear the emotions. He becomes deeply involved with them, but does it change anything fundamental in his life? Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the few directors able to tiptoe the lines of “Hollywood mainstream” and film artist. Anderson has been previously nominated for Academy Awards three times. The Master easily could give Anderson his fourth nomi-nation. While strong performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, and Amy Adams may go unnoticed by most of the public viewer-ship, hopefully they get recognized by the Academy.

Argo currently in theaters

Argo is based on the unbeliev-ably true story of how a CIA exfiltration specialist attempts to free six Americans who have taken shelter in the home of the Canadian Ambassador during the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979.Ben Affleck continues to amaze audiences and critics alike with the turnaround in his career since the disastrous Daredevil in 2003. Affleck continues his upward streak, both directing and star-ring, with Argo. Affleck balances suspenseful drama with surpris-ingly funny moments to make, what is sure to quickly become, the popular favorite this year.

the compass, nov. 1, 2012 11layout of this page Mike Williams

S P O R T SMichael MullinsSports [email protected]

Not even one year old, the Ping Pong club is hosting its first tournament

“We’re planning on doing at least two tournaments for people with different types of skill levels, maybe three if we get a significant number of people.” Christo-pher Price, president of the Ping Pong club, said.

The tournament will last approximately two weeks and anyone can register

“We’re trying to play on Tuesdays between 2 and 5, but if that schedule doesn’t fit with people then we can work with them,” Price said.

Also, there could be a prize for the winner.“Right now it’s (the prizes) not set in stone, we are

looking a possible different options,” Price said.One award that is a possibility is a plaque that would

have the winner’s name on it every semester.“You can see who has been winning the tournaments

and it can add a legacy to it,” Price said.Price also said that the tournament would be held

every semester.The club started in the spring and is seeing growth.“Originally we started the ping pong club just be-

cause we already had a bunch of people in here, who were just casually playing. ... We started the club just to get more people in and casually playing,” Price said.

Land Yang, vice president of the club, said it is a good way to socialize and meet new people.

“If there are any new players who are interested play-ing the sport, we can teach them,” Yang said.

The ping pong club started in the middle of last spring semester.

“Originally we started the ping pong club just be-cause we already had a bunch of people in here who were just casually playing. ... The only place we could play was here in the game room,” Price said.

Now the club has expanded enough to where there is a ping pong table in the gymnasium.

The ping pong club looks to keep growing through-out the year.

“The goal is to expand and eventually be able to make trips to play against other schools” Yang said.

Ping pong club to host first tournament

GSC Fencing team wins big at tournamentBrent VanFleetSports [email protected]

Gainesville State College made its presence known in the college fencing world at University of Georgia's inaugural fencing tournament.

UGA wanted to hold a fencing tournament that contained all of the colleges in the state that carried a fencing club. This was the first year they could finally arrange it.

The notable schools that were involved were Geor-gia, Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern.

Schools had the ability to send a team in the three different styles of fencing. The three styles are foil, epee and saber.

The difference between the styles are the weapons and the areas on the body where the fencer is allowed to strike opponents.

Foil is a light weapon that targets the torso and the back region. Points can only be gained by using the tip of the weapon.

Saber is a light and thrusting weapon that tar-gets the whole area above the waist except the hands. Unlike foil, a fencer can gain points by the tip or the sides of the blade.

With epee, the whole body is vulnerable for points and the weapon is heavier, but the fencer must score with the tip.

“Basically there were six teams fencing each weap-on,” Black said.

GSC was able to send a foil team along with an epee team. They were not able to send a saber because they did not have the proper equipment. According to Black, this was their first out of town tournament.

Even with only two teams, the Fighting Geese made the most of it. They had to compete from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“This shows our endurance,” Black said.With these two teams, only one school was able to

take GSC -- Georgia Southern.Southern was able nab a win over GSC in epee. With

the loss, GSC was still able lock up the runner-up posi-tion.

They were not done just yet.GSC went undefeated in the foil, never losing to any

opponents and ran away with first place in that particu-lar style.

“This was GSC's first out-of-town tournament, so finishing that well is a great introduction for the club,” Black said.

Despite not having a saber team, GSC was able to get second overall for the entire tournament.

Black was pleased with his team.“I think everyone was surprised how well a small

school could do against well funded and well trained state universities,” Black said.

“We held our own.”

TEAM ROSTERFoi l Team

Jeovany Arroyo

Matthew T inney

Kait lynn R ivas

Nick Nguyen

Epee Team

Chr is topher Nelms

Just in Todd

Casey Mcginnis

Matthew Pa

Members of the GSC Fencing Club pose with their weapons.

The ping pong club looks to keep growing throughout the year.“The goal is to expand and eventually be able to make trips to play against other schools,” yang said.

If you are interested in joining the ping pong club, contact Christopher Price([email protected]).

Courtesy of Ezekial Black

12 the compass, Nov. 1, 2012 layout of this page Mike Williams

S P O R T SCurrent GSC students will be eligible for NGCSU sports after consolidationAlex ForresterContributing [email protected]

Current Gainesville State College stu-dents will have the chance to try out for North Georgia College & State Univer-sity’s sports programs in the spring, fol-lowing the consolidation of the schools in January.

However, only students pursuing a four-year bachelor’s degree will be eligi-ble to play for a sports program, accord-ing to NGCSU’s athletic director Lindsay Reeves.

“All students who are enrolled in bac-calaureate programs will be eligible to participate in NCAA sports if they fulfill the NCAA academic and amateur quali-fications,” Reeves said in an email inter-view.

With the merging of the two schools, GSC students will be introduced to the variety of sports NGCSU has to offer: baseball, softball, basketball, golf, cheer-leading, soccer, tennis, rifle, and cross country.

Basketball, golf, cheerleading, soc-cer, tennis and rifle will be the only coed sports available.

“Students who want to try out for a sports team after the consolidation must contact a coach immediately,” Tori Kostecki, head coach of NGCSU’s coed rifle team, said in an e-mail interview.

“There’s a lot of paperwork involved for joining any athletic team. Contact is everything.”

Once the schools consolidate, the main campus of the University of North Georgia will be in Dahlonega, where NGCSU’s current campus is now.

Kostecki said, “Students must be will-ing to drive to play a sport. Some sports may be able to practice on multiple lo-cations, but the majority will practice on the main campus.

I like that there’s more potential ath-letes, but I think it is unlikely most will want to travel if they are on another campus.”

NGCSU is currently a Division II school in the NCAA and is located in the Peach Belt Conference.

The PBC consists of a slew of schools: Young Harris College, University of South

Carolina Aiken, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, University of Montevallo, Lander University, Georgia

Southwestern State University, Georgia College, Francis Marion University, Fla-gler College, Columbus State University, Clayton State University, Augusta State University, and Armstrong Atlantic State University, with Georgia College being the prominent rival of NGCSU, accord-ing to Reeves.

The consolidation of the schools will not interrupt or cause any changes in the conference, according to Ken Gerlinger, assistant commissioner for communica-tions for the PBC.“There will not be any changes because of the consolidation.

North Georgia is not the only school in the PBC undergoing this process.

Augusta State and Georgia Health Sciences are also being consolidated. While this has a tremendous impact on campus, there will be no changes from the conference in terms of divisions or championships,” Gerlinger said.

The primary colors of NGCSU are currently blue and white, but are subject to change to blue, white and gold after the consolidation.

NGCSU will also be losing its cur-rent mascot, the Saints. The new mascot following the consolidation will be the Nighthawks.

Gainesville Gladiators vs. DO WORK: Game analysisMatt GreenContributing [email protected]

With just one week left in the regular season, there is now only one team in Gainesville State’s intramural flag football league that has yet to win a game. DO WORK and the Gainesville Gladiators each entered Wednes-day’s contest with a 0-3 record, but after a 35-18 win, the Gladiators find themselves winless no-more.

“It feels good to get off that hump,” Gladiators’ wide receiver Cody McGin-nis said. “We played as a team. Receivers ran good routes; the quarterback was mak-ing good throws, the defense played well. It was an all-around team effort.”

McGinnis led the team with six recep-tions and four touch-downs. He caught three through the air and ran for another. He also threw for a two-point conversion on a wide receiver pass that was caught by Jesse Turner.

Turner could’ve had

a 60-yard touchdown catch of his own just before half-time had it not been for an illegal block that brought the play back.

“I’d say the quarterback was the key to the win,” Gladiators’ quarterback Trevor Huth said jokingly.

Huth was in complete command of the offense on this day. The offense scored on four of their five drives, including three that resulted in touchdown passes from Huth to McGinnis.

“We need a girl every time!” Huth said. “Every time we play, the other team has a girl rushing the passer

on defense, then on offense girls will just run short routes and they’re wide-open be-cause nobody guards them.”

According to GSC’s co-ed flag football rules, a team lacking a fe-male must play s h o r t h a n d e d , which typically means six on sev-en.

Since DO WORK was al-ready shorthand-ed, they found

themselves playing five on seven against the gladiators.The Gladiators’ defense was stifling in the second

half. After surrendering 12 points and holding a nar-row one-point lead at half time, they outscored DO WORK 22-6 in the second half.

T.J. Williams played a big role on the defensive side of the ball. He intercepted two passes which both led to Gladiator touchdowns.

The first one he returned all the way down inside DO WORK’s 5-yard-line, and the second one he took all the way for a touchdown himself. Williams also intercepted a two-point conversion attempt which he took back the length of the field for a safety, making the score 35-18.

“We made some half-time adjustments, coach gave us a good pep-talk,” McGinnis said with a laugh. “We’re no longer the worst team!”

That now leaves DO WORK as the lone winless team in the league.

“We had five players and they had eight, simple as that,” DO WORK wide receiver Chris Ryan said. “We tried but a loss is a loss.”

Ryan did his part in the losing effort however, tally-ing up four receptions and two touchdowns. With next week’s matchup against the undefeated Losers That Win (3-0) looming, a winless season is becoming more and more of a reality for team DO WORK, but Ryan re-mains confident that they can get that elusive first win.

“Oh, we’re gonna win,” Ryan said. “No matter how many times it happens, I can’t just walk onto a football field thinking I’m gonna lose.”

“All students who are enrolled in baccalau-reate programs will be eligible to participate in NCAA sports if they ful-fill the NCAA academic and amateur qualifica-tions.”

Lindsay Reeves,NGCSU athletic director

“It feels good to get off that hump,” Gladiators’ wide re-ceiver Cody McGinnis said. “We played as a team. Re-ceivers ran good routes; the quarterback was making good throws, the defense played well. It was an all-around team effort.

the compass, nov. 1, 2012 13layout of this page Audrey Williams

F E A T U R E S & O P I N I O N S

What’s happening with this Syrian civil war?

What started as simple, peaceful

demonstrations demanding the resig-nation of President Bashar al-Assad has turned into the deadliest uprising of the Arab Spring. With anywhere from 30,000-50,000 dead, the Syrian upris-ing has gradually turned into a vicious civil war and spilled over into a region-al conflict. Syrian Armed Forces have caused a number of border clashes with Turkey and Jordan as refugees pour out of Syria and into these countries.Foreign involvement from the United Nations has been blocked by both Russia and China, and the Syrian government has said it will use chemical weapons in the event of foreign involvement. Even supplying the rebels with heavy weapons is an extremely complicated situation, as several thousand mujahideen and Islamic extremists have entered the conflict on the side of the rebels.

you should know this, NOW: Don’t be a dumb college kid

Colin OchsNew [email protected]

What colors come to mind when you think of night-hawks? Blue, gold and white, right? No? Well, you better change that because the Consolidation Implementation Committee has chosen those colors to represent our new University of North Georgia Nighthawks.

In fact, they chose those colors long before the mascot was decided.

Did you miss that memo? So did every other student be-cause no one asked us. Why? Because NGCSU bought new uniforms before the consolidation was announced and to save a few bucks they decided to keep their school colors regardless of the mascot.

That’s not fair, you might say. How is that a compromise between NGCSU and GSC if we are only using NGCSU’s colors? The CIC is trying to convince GSC that it is a com-promise because it is using our historic colors of blue, gold and white. I can count the number of people at GSC who knew that on my right hand with fingers to spare.

No current student or staff identifies GSC with blue, gold and white. It’s green and white. If blue, gold and white were so great, then why did GSC change it back in the day?

When I think of a nighthawk, the first color that comes to mind is black, and if you take a look at an actual night-hawk, you would see the distinguishing white strip at the end of each wing. Black and white. That may not sound too creative, but take a look at the new Brooklyn Nets uniforms.

Those look pretty tight, and if it’s OK with Jay-Z, it’s OK with me. Still not good enough? Add some silver ala the Oakland Raiders. To me that seems so much more fitting for a nighthawk than blue, gold and white. We aren’t the Fightin’ Irish for crying out loud.

Yeah, but those teams aren’t the Nighthawks, so how can you compare the two, you ask. Then let me introduce you to the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League? What are their colors? Blue, gold and white? Nope, guess again. Black and white? Ding, ding, ding, you are correct.

No matter how you slice it, blue, gold and white does not serve the Nighthawk justice.

For NGCSU to push these colors on us just to save a few bucks on reordering uniforms and changing a few signs is wrong.

One hundred years down the road, I don’t want our col-ors to be misrepresenting our mascot, which is a bird with dark colored feathers and white wing-tip stripes, because NGCSU was too cheap and too stubborn to change.

Nighthawks ferocious in blue, gold, white?

No matter how you slice it, blue, gold and white does not serve the nighthawk justice.

Who’s Malala yousufzai?

A teenage Pakistani women’s education activist was shot in the neck and the head during a day-time assassination attempt. Malala Yousufzai is a resident of the Taliban-controlled Swat Valley in Pakistan, a place where women and young girls are often banned from attending school. She began writing a blog for the British Broadcasting Corpo-ration at the age of 11, detailing life under Taliban rule and the Pakistani government’s attempts to re-take the valley by military force in late 2009. Since she began writing her blog, Malala has risen to prominence in Pakistan, giving regular interviews and remaining an outspoken advocate of women’s right to education. She won Pakistan’s first Nation-al Youth Peace Prize and has been nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize.

On Oct. 9, 2012, two Taliban gunmen stopped and boarded her bus on the way from school. Threatening to shoot all the children on the bus, her classmates quickly identified Malala who was then shot once and left for dead. She was rushed to a military hospital where doctors stabilized her after three hours of surgery. Now, almost a month later, she is hospitalized in the United Kingdom and is expected to make a full recovery.

And what about those issues over there in Greece?

The European Union is facing one of the worst financial crises in its history, with much of the blame being piled on Greece. In 2009 it became apparent that the Greek govern-ment would be unable to fulfill its debt obligations due to the skyrocketing national debt. While EU members such as Germany and France did step in and approve a massive 110 billion euro bailout package, there were a number of condi-tions that the Greek government had to meet.

The most widely debated and controversial is the imple-mentation of severe austerity measures that would include massive social program and pension cuts.

In the midst of all this political and social turmoil some elements of fanatical nationalism and fascism have risen to the surface, specifically the Golden Dawn party. This ultra-conservative political party has a long history of violence, intimidation, police corruption and even murder. As the government’s power and influence has eroded due to the fi-nancial crisis, the Golden Dawn has attracted more and more support.

If Greece does not meet the austerity measures put forth by their creditors, they will have to declare bankruptcy and default on their loans. This could start a catastrophic chain of events that could send the Eurozone, if not the rest of the world economy, spiraling back down into a deep recession.

Opinions are like a**holes. Everybody has ‘em...

let’s hear yours!

Send your opinion to [email protected] and be heard.

14 the compass, Nov. 1, 2012 layout of this page Audrey Williams

Dubstep is just a flash in the pan Matt HobbsStaff [email protected]

I hate Dubstep and I’m not sorry. It has gone from slightly interesting to in-credibly annoying in roughly 20 short months. I like to keep an open mind though, so I gave it the old college try for the first month or so and I’ll admit I was intrigued at first. There can sometimes be an ambient quality, and some tracks did initially catch my ear.

Not taking it seriously, I can under-stand how people would enjoy this form of entertainment, but when it is unrea-sonably referred to as music, I draw the line. When people start calling them-selves musicians because they threw some beats together with their Mac and used a “wobble,” I draw the damn line.

The line hath been drawn!By the way, all you maniacs, that

“wobble” has an actual musical term. It’s called a Low Pass Filter and has been around for 20-plus years. Aww, yeah I know, not as cool now, huh?

These posers are not musicians. Musi-cians play instruments. Musicians com-pose works of art by piecing together musical parts physically created with instruments. They perform their instru-ments live. They do not stand on stage behind a computer desk and press play.

They do not click and drag pre-recorded sounds using a recording program arrang-ing each track in an indistinguish-able structure.

What hap-pened to artistic integrity?

These press play musicians and their product have literally no shelf life. Music is supposed to make you feel. It follows you wher-ever you go and makes you recall past experiences. Because most Dubstep is all so similar in sound and structure, it does not carry that quality. Fur-thermore, it has become an incredibly overused sales point for several prod-ucts, most annoyingly, new cars.

Additionally, I’m hearing Dubstep used as ringtones. Yeah that’s great, because listening to people’s stupid-

ass ringtones didn’t get on my nerves enough already, leaving me grumbling like Side-Show Bob from the Simpsons after stepping on a rake.

Dubstep is nothing more than a fad. It is thoughtlessly monotonous sounds scattered together to a beat. It is an over-

saturated genre that will eventually die because of its lack of intelligent artistic engineering.

There is a point when something has been used so much that it becomes un-interesting. For dubstep, that time has come and gone.

Students versus stanky STD’s

Sonny Moore, better known by his stage name Skrillex, first started playing in Los Angeles night clubs in 2008. Fast forward four years and he is now a global sensation.

DUBSTEP ARTISTS yOU LOVE TO HATE

Bassnectar

Nero

Skrillex

Elise PerkinsStaff [email protected]

Welcome to one-night stands, hook ups and friends with benefits; relationships are fading fast and instant gratification is on the rise.

Thanks to society’s desensitized view of sex and everything that goes with it, more and more people are not afraid to venture into the realm of random hookups throwing caution to the wind thanks to bad decision making, a need for a pick-me-up, or a couple drinks that were just the right flavor.

Besides the walk of shame the next day, many people are forgetting about some major issues that might be following them home. Pregnancy is the most common fear for most of the female popula-tion, but what about your friendly neighborhood sexually transmitted disease?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this unfortunately is not a prob-lem that’s going away, “with nearly 19 million new sexually transmitted diseases and infections occurring each year, almost half of them among young people ages 15-24.”

Everyone shudders at the thought of contract-ing one, and many brush it off because they think it wouldn’t happen to them. Wrong.

Let’s say you do make that mistake, that one wrong decision. How do you know if you got more out of it than just a good time?

Many STDs often have no symptoms in the be-ginning, can be misdiagnosed for something else and may be passed on with no indicators that you or your partner are infected.

I can personally say it has been a few years since my last high school health class: bad videos, ba-nanas and all, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help you out.

For a full rundown of symptoms, treatments and the longevity of some of the most common infections in the STD family scan this code with your smartphone. Better safe than sorry.

SCAN THIS!you’ll never wonder what that curious itch is again with our handy STD chart!

Get QR code reader at http://getscanlife.com

Nice haircut, dude.

It’s a two-for-one deal on annoying “musicians.”

And there’s then there’s this guy.


R O M N E Y ?




OBAMA?

VOTE!WHO IS GSC VOTING FOR THIS yEAR?

“Obama.”

Bobby NguyenGSC Student

“If I could vote I would vote for Gary Johnson.”

Ana MorenoGSC Student

“Romney.”

Amanda AndersonGSC Student

“Romney all the way!!”

Kristian MartinGSC Student

R O M N E Y ?

Check out more opinions at youtube.com/gscCompass


Science students show off their research

Photos By Katie Keiger

Science, technology, engineering and math students at GSC showed projects they’ve done during a poster session in the Stu-dent Center this week. Jeanelle Morgan, assistant professor of biological sciences, said they got the idea from the social science poster sessions that have been going on for years.

“It’s a day to showcase what’s going on in different classes,” she said. At least 40 posters showing research were on display, and Morgan said the best part was seeing all the students talking to each other about their research.

Here are a few of the students who were at the event.

Water Quality Analysis of Flat Creek

Quorn Craving Caterpillars

Holy Moldy DNA!

Michelle Grigsby, a math ed major, stands by the project she did with Brant Barron, Young Kim, Jennifer Singharat, Jared Tench and Kayla Whitaker. The students used a pro-cessed food called Quorn to feed caterpillars, and compared what happened to a group of caterpillars eating regular cat-erpillar chow.

The students, working in Evan Lamperts BIOL 1107 class, found that the Quorn-eating caterpillars gained lots of weight and started pupation sooner. The diet also affected the cater-pillars’ respiration.

“We want to do [the experiment] on a larger scale now,” she said.

Dennis Hardigree’s group, including Jennifer Lo, Courtney Nash, Lydia Skolrood, Anthony Smith, Stepha-nie Swenson and Brittany Williams, compared how mold grew in bread versus in Agar, a protein-based growth food for a BIOL 1107 class.

Turned out mold likes Agar better. And that might be more important than you think. Hardigree said the ex-periment has implications for helping create new forms of antibiotics by manipulating DNA.

GIS students Jayme Plont (L), Savanna Sapp, Mor-gan Bell, Lee Jackson and Ashley Crain have been test-ing Flat Creek in Gainesville, and have found some pretty bad stuff in it, like e coli. “It runs through the industrial part of downtown,” Plont said, “and lots of stuff gets washed into the creek.” Not so good for what is living in the creek or for us: Our drinking water comes from Flat Creek, and it flows into Lake Lanier, which provides water for Atlanta.

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Fall 2012, issue 2