Possibly stubbed out

Serving the University of Toledo since 1919

ICIndependent Collegianwww.IndependentCollegian.com

Summer Issue 293rd year

Monday, June 18, 2012

The

Marvel and DC promote gay characters; Movie review: ‘Rock of Ages’

Arts & Life, A4

Padres draft T.O.; Curtis Dennis leaves for Iona; Runner finishes 16th finishes at NCAA; Golfer wins Ontario tourney.

Sports, A3

Proposed budget includes tuition hikesBy Danielle GambleNews Editor

Tuition rates will increase 3.5 percent for undergraduates and graduate students if Presi-dent Lloyd Jacobs’ recom-mended budget is accepted by the Board of Trustees today.

This increase meets Ohio’s tuition cap, which mandates public colleges and universi-ties cannot raise undergradu-ate tuition and mandatory

fees more than 3.5 percent.Tuition for those in PharmD,

Medical Doctorate, Doctor of Nursing Practice, and Law pro-grams, as well as out-of-state surcharges for Law students, will increase 4 percent.

Also, scholarships will be cut by about $69,000 due to a pro-jected decline in enrollment.

President Lloyd Jacobs said this was due to a $7.6 million decrease in state funding and

in order to adjust for inflation. Jacobs said while the uni-

versity tried to reduce student bills by with projects like the restructuring of dining servic-es, they must maintain a cer-tain standard for students.

“For those that would say this is unfair, I would agree with them, absolutely,” Jacobs said. “This is the product of a larger issue. The cost of higher educa-tion has risen too high and too

rapidly in our country.”According to the College

Board’s 2011 report on the price of higher education, aver-age tuition rates for a four-year college have risen at an average of 5.6 percent a year since 2001.

Despite the price increase, Jacobs said UT is still “the best education bargain in the country.”

TPD offers advice after alleged robbery

By Danielle GambleNews Editor

The Ohio Board of Re-gents will vote on a resolu-tion this month that would urge a ban on tobacco use at the state’s 23 community colleges and 14 universities.

Supporters of the proposed

tobacco prohibition include Board of Regents Chancel-lor and former Ohio Attor-ney General Jim Petro. President Lloyd Jacobs has remained neutral.

Some smokers, like senior music education major Gary Gorton, are unfazed by the

idea of UT imposing a ban. Gorton, a pack-a-day

smoker, said he agrees with the health-conscious atti-tude behind the resolution, but he believes lack of en-forcement will continue to encourage policy-breaking.

“I can say that this will serve

as a nuisance, but nothing more,” Gorton said. “I learned to like the atmosphere of a smoke-free restaurant, and I can learn to appreciate a smoke-free campus.”

However, Gorton said equating a smoke-free envi-ronment with a clean one

might be an exaggeration.“The risks associated with

secondhand smoke from a passing smoker while outside are insignificant compared to other air pollutants, especial-ly in this area,” Gorton said.

Vincent D. Scebbi/ IC

Gary Gorton, a senior majoring in music education, takes a drag of his cigarette in the designated tobacco use area near Dowd, Nash and White Halls. Gorton said he believes should a statewide smoking ban in public universities is implimented, less students would smoke.

Students to have more flexibility to customize degreesBy Danielle GambleNews Editor

Administrators, deans and faculty are developing a new program structure to help stu-dents reach across colleges to personalize their degrees.

These structures, called “schools,” ask colleges to collaborate and build pro-grams that will “create new degrees to solve new prob-lems,” according to Ben Pry-or, vice provost of academic program development.

Pryor said the best exam-ple of this structure is the School of Green Chemistry and Engineering, a program that formed last summer.

“Green chemistry combines classes from engineering and

chemistry mixed with tools from the College of Business [and Innovation.] It teaches students how to work with cheaper materials and how to create less wasteful ways of production. If we can cut the waste of companies, we can help the environment.”

Pryor said the SGCE is the most developed of all current schools and should be fully functional with catalogue of-ferings by fall of 2013.

“Older degree programs don’t respond to some of the newer, more relevant issues we face now,” Pryor said. “New problems require new approaches to curriculum.”

In relation to the current administrative layout, Pryor

describes the idea of schools as “orthogonal.”

“In relation to colleges and departments, schools leap off the page, almost perpen-dicular to the system struc-ture,” Pryor said. “Schools foster relationships between colleges, departments, and other schools.”

Pryor said current plans predict the creation of 5 to 10 schools, but that amount is only limited by the cre-ativity of students.

“We want to let administra-tive structure support faculty and student collaboration rather than the other way around. Our goal is to re-spond in a sensible way with relevance to new problems

— we need to see what the world needs.”

While cross-college deans and faculty will be the driving force behind school creations, Pryor said he will collaborate with the Office of the Presi-dent to oversee the develop-ment of these projects.

Other institutions like Ari-zona State University and Virginia Polytechnic Insti-tute and State University have similar programs in place, and Pryor said UT hopes to raise the bar of this new form of cooperation.

“Schools are really a way of raising visibility of projects on an international scale.”

Pryor said every school must have a business plan

that will keep the program sustainable, including ideas for grants or state contracts.

While the university may give schools “start-up mon-ey,” or hire faculty for the school, Pryor said it is impor-tant that each school be able to support itself.

Pryor said other ideas in-clude a School of New Media Studies, School of Informa-tion Technology and even a School of Humanities.

“Schools are bringing us to-gether to do new things,” Pry-or said. “People may think we’re replacing colleges or departments, but we’re really building on something. We’re leveraging our strengths.”

By Veralucia MendozaIC Staff Writer

In the wake of a case in which a UT student was charged with robbing four fellow students in their Dorr Street apartment, the IC asked the Toledo Police De-partment for tips students can follow to stay safe.

Police say two men, including Cassious Cook, 20, of Dayton allegedly entered the students’ apartment around 2:30 a.m. Sat-urday, May 5, through a back door that was left unlocked.

Cook allegedly held the vic-tims up at gunpoint and or-dered them on the floor.

After collecting several lap-tops, cell phones, wallets, a 40 inch LCD TV and a PlaySta-tion 3 game console with con-trols and games, Cook alleg-edly ordered the victims into the bathroom and told them to turn off the lights, accord-ing to the police report.

Cook was caught when the victims chased down his car and flagged down an Ottawa Hills patrol car to assist. He was arrested and later charged with aggravated burglary.

There have been no updates on the other suspect.

These are safety tips provid-ed by Sgt. Joseph Heffernan of the Toledo Police Department.

• Be watchful and careful of where you are, where you are going and who you are with. Heffernan said if students are more watchful of unlocked apartment and car doors, and of what time of night they are out, they can significantly reduce their chances of being attacked. Would-be criminals will target people and areas where the least amount of effort is required to commit a crime, he said.

• If you are the victim of a robbery, Heffernan advises not fighting back and simply giving the person what they are asking for. “Personal belongings can be replaced and are not worth getting hurt over,” he said.

• Although it’s stressful to be in that position, it’s impor-tant to focus on something that stands out about the per-petrator, Heffernan said. Look for hair styles, facial hair and clothing, and try to remember a detailed description of the person so they can be easily identified by the police.

• If you are directly threat-ened with violence and need to fight back, Heffernan said biting the attacker will cause involuntary release of their grip. He advises women to scream and talk while they are fighting, in case someone overhears and comes to help. Also, talking helps with breathing which allows a per-son to be more alert. Finally, if these things do not work, he advises going limp and allow-ing the body to become dead-weight because a relaxed body is harder to move.

The cost of higher educa-

tion has risen too high and too rapidly

in our country.Lloyd JacobsPresident,University of Toledo ”“

Statewide smoking ban for public institutions to be proposed to Board of Regents

— Tuition, Page A2

— Smoking ban, Page A2

Tuition hikes are too hard to justify

A local lawyer proposed to the Ohio Board of Regents that it recommend the public universities of Ohio enforce a full smoking ban on campuses. This is an in-crease of policies already in place restrict-ing smoking on university campuses.

With a smoke-free campus, nobody wins. A complete smoking ban should not be enforced on UT’s campus. In-stead, the middle ground — UT’s cur-rent policy — should be enforced.

There are three main problems with UT enforcing a full ban on smoking on campus. It is an infringement on the rights of students, faculty and staff who are smokers. If enforced, the current regulations protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke. For students living on campus, this regulation would pre-vent smokers from being able to smoke at their homes away from home.

When discussing infringements on a non-smokers’ rights, they are usually only think-ing about the breach of their own rights. Often, protecting one’s rights involves the infringement of the rights of others. Thus, the advocates become the oppressors, which is the case here.

If non-smokers wish to use the infringe-ment argument against smokers, non-smok-ers only serve to violate their own rule. There are alternative options which could be chosen. A better solution would be to allow the students, faculty, and staff to de-cide on the issue on their own with a major-ity rule since the campus is shared by all.

The deciding question on this issue is “what is the point of action if there is no re-sult?” Obviously, based on the current situa-tion, nobody would follow a full ban. Most smokers on campus violate the current reg-ulations which involve “butt huts” and previ-ous rules that required that smokers simply

be a certain distance from any building. Students do not currently see the policies

being enforced. If tickets are given out for ignoring these rules, they are not obvious. At best, smokers are generally scolded by other members of the UT community.

Reiterating President Lloyd Jacobs’ point concerning public health and second-hand smoking, the strongest argument for a smoking ban is that it hinders the rights and endangers the health of non-smokers, thus choosing a healthier lifestyle.

Perhaps change will occur and eventu-ally the students and faculty will adjust. This regulation will possibly reduce the amount of smoking because of its incon-veniences to go off campus in order to smoke. Smokers will smoke less and be healthier for it. The non-smokers will ex-perience less second-hand smoke.

While this is possible and would be lovely if probable, it is not likely. Instead of the students walking off campus, UT would simply have created another regula-tion which will not be followed by smok-ers and, based on the present situation, would not be enforced.

If enforced, the current university guide-lines concerning smoking will prevent a non-smoker from having to come into close-proximity with a smoker and the rights of smokers are preserved. To not allow smok-ing anywhere on campus, on public prop-erty, is to completely ignore the rights of the smoking population. This is an unnec-essary step if there are alternative options, such as enforcing the current guidelines.

We do not support a full ban, but an en-forcement of the current one. Our recom-mendation is to enforce the current policy before considering a new policy. The past policy may have changed, but reality has not.

If approved by the Board of Trustees, tu-ition rates will increase for undergraduate students by 3.5 percent in accordance with President Lloyd Jacobs’ recommendations. For those in many graduate programs, tuition will increase by 4 percent.

While an increase in tuition may be appropriate in order to support UT in tough financial times, it would be more acceptable if tuition were spent more wisely and not wasted on needless things.

Tuition needs to remain affordable for the students of the city of Toledo and their money should not be wasted if tuition is going to be increased year after year.

Part of an administration’s job is to raise funds for the university outside of simply rais-ing tuition. Part of maintaining a position as a top university and simultaneously serving the Toledo community is ensuring that it is reason-ably priced for the local students. UT adminis-trators whose jobs consist in part of fundrais-ing need to continue to allow the tuition to be affordable for students.

Funding seems to be continuously wasted on frivolous things. Administrator six figure bonus-es continue and enrollment is down as reflected by the cut in scholarships. The question remains, are the administrators earning their keep?

In the administrators’ defense, UT spends

money on things that may seem extravagant yet necessary. Examples are the new parking sys-tem and bonuses keeping quality administrators at UT. These so-called “extravagances” are in order to continue the university’s mission of improving the human condition and becoming a top university. Additionally, inflation really does need to be taken into account.

It is, in fact, important to continually improve the university physically and on our mission to be a top-tier institution and improve the human condition. However, students still do not wish to see their money wasted on extravagances when valuable resources are being lost.

Lost resources are the cuts in Carlson Li-brary in terms of books, journals and other resources in order to prevent the library from becoming what Vice Provost Ben Pryor called in an IC article, “a museum consisting of books people aren’t reading or checking out any-more.” Another example is the massive layoffs experienced by former UT employees in re-cent years. These cuts to valuable aspects of university academic life are in the face of ex-travagances like the new parking system which has proven ineffective and the six figure bonuses in the face of decreasing enrollment.

With these in mind, it seems difficult to jus-tify a tuition increase.

- In our opInIon -

Enforce what we have first

Forum A2Monday, June 18, 2012

Vincent D. ScebbiEditor in Chief Business Manager

Managing EditorNate Pentecost

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“Higher education is still a good investment,” Jacobs said. “Hopefully our students can be comforted in knowing that this pain will not be for nothing.”

Students like Taylor Meek, a junior majoring in criminal justice, are not comforted.

Meek, who pays about $9,600 a year, said universi-ties around the country are overcharging students, but UT could be more helpful.

“It is the state’s fault be-cause funding for higher edu-cation seems to be shrinking

and shrinking every year, which forces places like UT to raise tuition,” Meek said. “But, at the same time, in-stead of raising tuition on students that are already struggling to pay for their college education, UT could find other areas in the budget to cut from,” Meek said.

Meek said investments like the digitized parking system are unnecessary, calling the last year’s park-ing project “a joke.”

“UT paid $175,000 for a sys-tem that failed and is still not working perfectly,” Meek said.

While some stress about fees, Student Government

Vice President Chris Dykyj said reduced state funding and declining enrollment are unavoidable factors in UT’s tuition increase.

Dykyj will not pay this year’s tuition due to his posi-tion in SG but he said a tu-ition bump is the price to pay for attending “one of the leading schools not only in Ohio, but the United States.”

“With all the wonderful im-provements the university has given us, and their best efforts to give us the most beautiful and modern campus possible, our tuition is going to increase,” Dykyj said.

TuitionFrom Page A1

The

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Other smokers like Kelli Ketring, a junior majoring in history, oppose any tobacco restrictions, including the ones already in place.

“Once you’re in college, you’re an adult — this isn’t ele-mentary school,” Ketring said. “Unless smoking becomes ille-gal, I don’t think they should restrict smoking outside.”

Taylor Meek, a junior ma-joring in criminal justice, said he thinks a resolution from the Board of Regents about smoking is inappropriate.

“While I don’t agree with people smoking, it’s not right to restrict someone from do-ing something that is their personal choice,” Meek said.

For tobacco users who live in dorms, the problem of liv-ing on a campus could make their home-away-from-home feel less comfortable.

Nathan Leroux, a sopho-more majoring in religious studies, said a smoking ban could make students who live in dorms feel less at home.

“A complete ban on smok-ing really does dictate how some people live, and that isn’t right,” Leroux said.

While Gorton is sympa-thetic, he doesn’t think the policy would hinder resi-dents too much.

“One could say smoking is a legal thing, so let the dorm residents do it,” Gorton said. “But at the same time, drink-ing is legal and I believe that even if you’re 21 years old most dorms don’t allow you to drink in them. This [alcohol]

policy isn’t weird because there’s a precedent for it. If we make that switch with smok-ing, people will get over it.”

Regardless of their views on a ban, many students said the current policy of designated smoking areas is broken.

“I’ve never used the butt huts,” Gorton said. “In the time it takes for me to walk to a butt hut, I could have already finished a cigarette, and since I’m usually trying to squeeze them in between classes when time is a constraint, it’s just not convenient.”

Gorton said he will contin-ue to smoke on campus wherever he wants until he is issued a ticket.

Meek is against the current UT policy, saying the desig-nated smoking huts were “a waste of money.”

“It is just another way the in-stitutions are getting involved in peoples’ personal lives and decisions,” Meek said.

Ashley Klein, a senior ma-joring in music education and vocal performance, said most of the people she has seen adhering to the tobacco policy are younger students who believe there are conse-

quences to violating it. Currently, the university

has no punishments for those who use tobacco outside designated areas.

Klein, a nonsmoker, said while she saw fewer people smoking last year, she also saw countless students disre-gard the current campus to-bacco policy.

“I guess they do it because they’re lazy, or they think they’re above the rules,” Klein said. “I think if there were re-percussions, that might deter people from smoking on cam-pus. The system we have now would work better if people knew what happens if they violate it, and if something actually happened.”

Klein said once more stu-dents discover the flexibility with the system, they will abuse it more frequently.

Gorton said if there was a way to enforce a complete smoking ban, it would make a big difference.

“I know I would smoke less if I had to leave campus every time I wanted a ciga-rette,” Gorton said. “Ulti-mately, I’d either smoke less or be on campus less, and the latter really isn’t feasible.”

Gorton said tobacco-free campuses are becoming more acceptable.

“The country’s kind of moving in that direction any-way, with the new laws against smoking in bars or restaurants,” he said. “I think these policies will get people to smoke less, but I don’t think it will get them to quit.”

Smoking banFrom Page A1

I can say that this will serve

as a nuisance, but nothing more

Gary GortonSenior,Music education ”

“

Forum EditorZachary R. Dehm

SportsMonday, June 18, 2012 Page3

www.IndependentCollegian.com Jay Skebba – Editor

He went with the APR rule that makes it awfully easy

for a kid in his situation. That’s one of the flaws and problems

with the APR concept.Tod KowalczykUT head basketball coach ”“

Curtis Dennis leaving UTBy Jay SkebbaSports Editor

After coming on strong in the second half of 2011-12, senior-to-be Curtis Dennis was poised to become a star for the Toledo Rockets bas-ketball squad.

Dennis’ final season in col-lege basketball could very well be his best, but it will no longer be with UT after the 6-5 guard elected Monday to transfer to Iona.

“Over the last week or so, we knew that it was a possibil-ity,” said UT head coach Tod Kowalczyk. “We think very highly of Curtis and wish he would have stayed. We cer-tainly are disappointed.”

Dennis is a native of the Bronx, New York, which is lo-cated about 10 minutes from the school. He expressed a desire to return closer to home after his aunt passed away and his grandmother became ill.

“I can guarantee you this,” Kowalczyk explained, “he was perfectly happy at Tole-do. He was happy with bas-ketball, he loved it here.”

The NCAA handed down a postseason ban for next year in March as a result of poor APR scores stemming from the two previous head coach-es. Per NCAA rules, any play-ers who will be seniors during a season in which a postsea-son ban exists can be recruit-ed to other institutions with-out permission.

“He went with the APR rule that makes it awfully easy for a kid in his situation,” Kowal-czyk said. “That’s one of the flaws and problems with the APR concept.”

Dennis averaged over 25 minutes, 11 points, and three rebounds a game last season, mostly as a reserve. After sit-ting out the first portion of the season after transferring from New Mexico, Dennis made an impact during Mid-American Conference play.

At times, he was Toledo’s second-best scoring option behind Rian Pearson and gave UT a spark off the bench. Dennis was certainly in line for an increased role next year and was just three class-

es away from graduating.“He has a chance to go home

and play in front of his family and has a chance to play in the postseason,” Kowalczyk said.

Dennis’ departure leaves an obvious hole, especially from an offensive standpoint. Kow-alczyk suggested A.J. Mat-thew and incoming freshman

Josh Lemons will both have an opportunity to log signifi-cant minutes. UT will still have a lot of talent left over from last year.

“Let’s face it, we still have our starters back,” Kowalczyk said. “We still feel very good about next season and the future.”

The NCAA will meet next

month to decide if the APR rules should be amended. There is a chance the Rockets could see their postseason re-strictions lifted.

“If [the NCAA] does the right thing and does the intelligent thing, they would use the most recent data to reward or penalize institutions,” Kowalczyk said.

Vincent D. Scebbi / ICCurtis Dennis drives to the hoop in the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The senior forward is transferring to Iona.

Padres draft Owens, but he plans to stayBy Nate PentecostManaging Editor

The Padres have mustered just five playoff appearances and have failed to win a World Series title in 42 full seasons of play.

Add 2010’s historic late-sea-son collapse and this year’s second-worst record to date (23-42) — aided in no small way by a team ERA of 4.06 (18 of 30) and the league’s third-worst team batting average (.230) — and it should come as no surprise that second-year general manager Josh Byrnes is seeking a new approach.

But on June 6 when San Diego selected Toledo quar-terback Terrance Owens in the 40th and final round of the draft (1,215 overall) more than a few heads turned. Owens’ included.

“I got that call that said ‘Congratulations you’ve been drafted to the Padres,’ and I’ve been working out for football,” Owens said. “That was such a surprising thing.”

The junior signal caller has not played baseball since his freshman year at Glenville High School in Cleveland, but with his exceptional arm strength and the premium placed on left-handed pitch-ing in MLB, San Diego felt he was worthy of the gamble.

“I was really confused. It was just a random call for me while I was just sitting on the couch,” Owens said. “I played baseball when I was younger but for that call to be made, it was really random. I didn’t know how to react to it.”

Owens confirmed the fol-lowing day what many al-ready suspected — the inter-est was not mutual.

“I’m staying in Toledo,” he said. “I’m trying to stay fo-cused on football and having a good season.”

The southpaw was one of just two players from UT se-lected in the MLB Draft along with pitcher Mike Hamann who was chosen in the 16th round (494 overall) by the Cubs.

Owens started 12 of 13 games last year for the Mid-American Conference West Division Co-Champions, com-pleting a Toledo record 72.2 percent of his passes for 2,022 yards and 18 touchdowns with three interceptions. He ranked first in the Mid-American Con-ference in passing efficiency and sixth nationally.

Owens is expected once again to split time behind center with senior quarter-back Austin Dantin when the season kicks off Sept. 1 at Arizona.

Nick Kneer/ICJunior quarterback Terrance Owens will remain at UT de-spite being drafted by the San Diego Padres.

Kertesz finishes 16th, wins honors in 10KBy Nate PentecostManaging Editor

Junior Emma Kertesz rep-resented Toledo with a 16th place finish in the 10,000-me-ter run at the NCAA Track and Field Championship on June 7 in Des Moines.

Kertesz finished with a time of 33:54:99 to earn sec-ond-team All-American hon-ors. She edged out Louis-ville’s Holly Knight who came in at 33:57:36 to grab the final All-American spot.

“It was a great race. It went exactly as I was hoping it would go,” said Kertesz, Toledo’s eighth track All-American in the past 11 years. “It came down to the last 3,000 meters with four of us battling for the 16th spot. I really had to kick in the last lap. It’s the hardest I’ve ever run in my life.”

UT’s sole representative

at nationals stuck with the pack for the first 7,000 me-ters before beginning her push toward the front.

“It was an incredibly fast race, so Emma really played it smart,” added UT head coach Kevin Hadsell. “The first 7,000 meters were tac-tical, hanging back and waiting for the right time to move. She then ran hard for the next 2,400 meters, pick-ing off some of the runners who had tried to stay in the lead group. Then the last 600 meters was really an all

out sprint. She really out-kicked that last runner to get 16th place.”

The Central Catholic grad-uate took 10th place in the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA East Preliminary Championship meet in Jack-sonville, FL on May 24 to qualify for the national meet.

Two of Kertesz’s teammates

also ran in the 10k but were not among the top 12 runners, a requirement to advance. Se-nior Ari Fisher finished in 19th (35:11:13) while sopho-more Megan Vogelsong came in 29th (36:13:43).

Junior Katie Bollin competed in the long jump at the prelims, finishing in 44th place with a top leap of 18 feet, 1/2 inches.

It’s the hardest I’ve ev-er run in my life.

Emma Kertesz ”“

Courtesy of UT AthleticsJunior Emma Kertesz finished 16th in the 10,000-meter run at the MAC Track and Field Championship.

Golfer Lancaster wins Ontario men’s tourneyBy IC Staff

Toledo redshirt-freshman Mike Lancaster was victori-ous at the Ontario Men’s Match Play Championship, working through six rounds of match play and registering 23 bird-ies with one eagle.

Lancaster won the first five rounds with a score of 5 and 4, 4 and 2, 3 and 1, 2 up, and 2 and 1, respectively.

Lancaster battled Chris Hemmerich through 18 holes in the final match of the championship. The 17th hole saw Lancaster drain a 20-foot putt and gain a 1-up lead be-fore the final hole.

On the 18th hole, Hemm-erich placed his ball ten feet from the hole, but Lancaster was able to drop his inside of Hemmerich’s to set up the title-winning birdie.

The Ontario Men’s Match Play Championship is held annually and features 64 of

Ontario’s best amateur golf-ers. The golfers must gain entry through one of six qualifying tournaments that are held earlier in the sea-son, or gain exemption into

the event.Lancaster played

in seven events for the Rockets in the spring and had the fourth lowest stroke average on the team with 79.

Lancaster is also the second Rocket to win a championship this summer, as his teammate freshman

Chris Selfridge won the Irish Amateur Close Champion-ship at Royal Portrush.

In addition to winning the match play title, Lancaster has also earned an exemp-tion into the 2012 Ontario Amateur Championship along with Hemmerich as the top two golfers in the Match Play Championship earn an exemption into the Amateur Championship.

Lancaster

MORE ONLINE Detroit Red Wings look to reload this offseason. Read Jay Skebba’s column at IndependentCollegian.com.

ArtsandLifeMonday, June 18, 2012

www.IndependentCollegian.com Russell Axon – EditorPageA4

quote of the WeeK

“If a June night could talk, it would probably boast that it invented romance.”

– Bern Williams

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A new kind of heroBy John GoodspeedFor the IC

When most people think of classic ’80s rock ‘n’ roll, they describe tight clothes, guitar solos and sex appeal. In the new musical “Rock of Ages,” moviegoers experience all of these as well as some late ’80s classic rock anthems.

The story follows two young lovers, Sherrie Christian (Juli-anne Hough), an aspiring singer ready to find fame on the Sunset Strip, and Drew Boley (Diego Boneta), also an aspiring singer and a barback at the Bourbon Room, the lo-cal mecca of rock ‘n’ roll in Hollywood. The club’s owner, Dennis Dupree (Alec Bald-win), and his sidekick Lonny (Russell Brand) must deal with financial troubles, con-servative mothers attempting to shut the bar down, and the unique persona of Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise), the lead singer of the biggest rock band in the world. Additionally, the may-or’s domineering wife, Patri-cia Whitmore (Catherine Zeta-Jones), has pledged to rid the city of rock ‘n’ roll. Our he-roes try to keep the bar alive and pursue their dreams of fame, while entertaining the audience with a medley of ’80s rock hits.

This film was surprisingly entertaining, even for some-one who may not enjoy ‘80s rock ‘n’ roll.

This is a musical about a point in time when everything was very over-the-top, especial-ly the music and musicians.

Big hair, weak story‘Rock of Ages’ sounds and looks great, but suffers from cliché storytelling and shallow characters

Photo courtesy of MCT CampusLonny (Russell Brand, left) and Dennis (Alec Baldwin) try to save their infamous club in the movie musical ‘Rock of Ages.’

Seeing Cruise with long hair and leather pants running around the stage without a shirt on would seem strange in a modern context but worked really well for this movie. This musical won’t be recognized for being a gut-busting comedy, but there were a few funny moments that really hit the mark.

There were, however, many things about the film that could have been better.

The actual story is cliché — boy meets girl, they fall in love, some miscommunica-tion leads to a betrayal where they are separated, they grow as people, they resolve their issues, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Although that may be the standard way of writing a mu-sical, it’s very trite and lazy.

Many of the character arcs were predictable, too. From the minute the antagonistic Patricia is introduced, it’s easy to guess the secret

motivations for her cru-sade against Jaxx.

The comedy duo of Baldwin and Brand are severely under-used. These two actors are amazing at improvising lines which are usually funnier than the original script, but here they seemed limited.

They could have been re-placed with lesser actors and no one would have noticed.

The end of the movie felt incomplete. Important ques-tions were left unanswered, and not everything was wrapped up with a nice little “happily ever after” bow.

Overall, “Rock of Ages” was an entertaining film. Casual au-diences may get lost in the style-over-substance approach, but it’s a great show for fans of musicals and ’80s rock.

On a scale of “Wait to watch it on Netflix” to “Go to the midnight release,” this movie ranks as “Go on $5 Tuesday.”

Photo courtesy of DC ComicsGreen Lantern Alan Scott kisses his boyfriend in a panel from the second issue of “Earth 2” by James Robinson and Nicola Scott. Several comics are focusing on openly gay characters.

By Russell AxonArts and Life Editor

As Kory Kyler started reading his comic book stack last week, he saw action, costumes and vil-lains trying to rule the world. He also saw two gay men kissing.

The UT senior majoring in education was surprised by the intensity of the scene.

“I thought that they did a good job, but they really emphasized it,” Kyler said.

The book in question, the second issue of DC Comics’ “Earth 2” by James Robinson (writer) and Nic-ola Scott (artist), features a modern update of the character Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern. As part of the update, Scott, who was originally hetero-sexual, is now in an openly gay relationship.

Wednesday, Marvel Comics will also promote gay characters with the release of issue 51 of “As-tonishing X-Men” by Mar-jorie Liu (writer) and Mike Perkins (artist).

The issue features the mar-riage of Northstar, a member of the X-Men and Marvel’s first openly gay character, to his longtime boyfriend.

Although openly gay characters have appeared in comics since the ’60s, most of them are featured in books from indepen-dent publishers, while ma-jor companies such as Marvel and DC have slow-ly given more focus to such characters.

Both of these storylines come off the heels of sev-eral forward gay rights events, specifically the vote to ban gay marriage in North Carolina and Presi-dent Obama’s endorsement for same-sex marriage.

Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, said in a statement that the idea came organically from those real world events.

“When gay marriage be-came legal in New York State, it raised a question, since most of our heroes reside in that state,” he said.

Robinson, who is known for prominently featuring gay characters in his work, said in an interview with the website Comic Book Resources that homosexu-ality is too common in the real world to be ignored in comic books.

“It’s a realistic aspect of the cross section of diver-sity that exists in soci-ety,” he said. “That would exist on a team.”

Kyler said both stories are a great step for gay rights and for comics as a respected medium.

“In comics nowadays, we really see a lot of fantasy but we like it to be in a hint of re-ality,” he said. “To just ignore the fact that there are homo-sexual people in the world isn’t very realistic.”

Kyler said this focus on re-al world issues helps make the otherwise fantastical characters relatable.

Paul Shiple, manager of The Game Room, a Toledo comics and games shop on Sylvania Avenue, said the in-creased exposure of gay characters has affected his store’s sales marginally.

“[The response is] mostly apathetic. No one really seems to care,” he said.

Shiple, however, said this general mood is a positive com-pared to the extreme responses

populating the Internet, citing conservative group One Mil-lion Mom’s call to boycott all DC and Marvel titles featuring gay characters.

“It is my belief [that] true equality will be had in this society when instead of cel-ebrating sexual lifestyle choices, we all shrug and say, ‘So?’” he said.

Shiple said that while events and gimmicks can help to bring in readers, the quality of the storytelling is what deter-mines true success.

“If it’s a good story, people will start reading it. And if it isn’t, people won’t,” he said.

“Astonishing X-Men” #51 goes on Wednesday, June 20. “Earth 2” #2 is already avail-able. The Game Room is locat-ed at 3001 W. Slyvania Ave.

Photo courtesy of Marvel, LLC.Northstar, a member of the X-Men and Marvel’s first open-ly gay character, will marry his longtime boyfriend in “As-tonishing X-Men” #51 by Marjorie Liu and Mike Perkins.

Openly gay characters feature prominently in upcoming comic books from DC and Marvel