Jan. 12, 2012

BarometerThe Daily

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2012 • OREGON STATE UNIVERSITYCORVALLIS, OREGON 97331 DAILYBAROMETER.COM VOLUME CXV, NUMBER 58

PAGE 8

Tonight in Corvallis: Women’s basketball vs. ASU at 7 p.m..

SPORTS8 – Women’s hoops at home8 – Men’s hoops on the road

NEWS2 – House holds first meeting

FORUM4 – End of timber payments damages rural Oregon counties

Cultural Centers look forward to newer homes

Oregon State implements online course evaluations

Neil Abrew | THE DAILY BAROMETER

Gita Ramaswamy, OSU’s director of assessment, says the new electronic format by which students evaluate instructors increased responses rates.

n One term underway, OSU edits a successful evaluation system

by Kelly wardThe Daily BaromeTer

The recent implementation of online course evaluations left stu-dents expecting in class evaluations taken aback at the end of last fall term.

While the previous mode of sur-veying consisted of paper evalua-tions taken towards the end of the term, this new form allows students to complete evaluations online dur-ing their own free time and allows students to complete all evaluations in one sitting.

While there were many reasons for Oregon State University to switch to online evaluations, some of the most important included, “elimi-nating the waste of between 500,000 and 750,000 sheets [of paper] annu-ally,” according to Susie Brubaker-Cole, associate provost in academic success. Brubaker-Cole also men-

tions the new form of evaluations will allow “all students [to] have the opportunity to participate,” as opposed to the previous system when only the students present on the day of evaluations would be able to voice their opinions.

OSU is not the only university adamant on using this new sys-tem. The University of Oregon also “implemented the same system recently,” Brubaker-Cole said. Elite colleges made the online switch as well, including Stanford University and Princeton University and upon research, “found that the electronic format significantly increased stu-dent response rates,” according to Gita N. Ramaswamy, director of OSU Assessment.

The success rate after one term at OSU only benefits the previous research done about this system. Kent Kuo, from the OSU Office of the Registrar , estimates that under the old paper-based model, roughly 50 percent of students submitted an evaluation. This deflated per-

centage has spiked dramatically since the implementation of the new model.

“Out of the 151,546 total evalu-ations uploaded, 133,914 were either completed or declined to be answered by our students,” Kuo said. The shift from 50 percent of students completing evaluations to 88 percent has no doubt left pro-fessors with more complete feed-back on the courses they teach. Kuo proudly asserts, “of the 1,592 instructors, 1,590 were evaluated.”

Within this new system, stu-dents have the choice to evalu-ate their courses. One option is to answer questions rated on a scale and answering more open ended, opinion-based questions. The other option students have is to simply decline the opportunity to evaluate their courses, which may be taken by the student who felt lack of inter-est in a course he or she took. All of this must be done by logging into


M. “Tonga” Hopoi made the decision to run for office after her time as president for the Polynesian Cultural Club. Her decision to attend OSU was based on a late father-figure’s passion for the university.

potholed road to presidency

by Tony SantilliThe Daily BaromeTer

Milikaleakona Hopoi, bet-ter known as “Tonga,” was elected President of the Associated Students of Oregon State University last year. During her time in office, she has experienced drama and twists most ASOSU presidents don’t, including her impeachment in November. The Daily Barometer’s Tony Santilli sat down with Hopoi for a more personal glimpse at the life of the student president.

Q: What was your childhood like?A: Growing up, I was the only child

from my biological parents raised in a single mother household until my mom remarried when I was seven years old. My father passed away four months before I was born, so I grew up to stories about him.

As I look back now, one can assume

that I had a shaky childhood, as I was the only child and raised in a single parent household but I never saw it that way. If anything, growing up with my mom strong and guiding our family was the greatest role model I could ever have.

Q: Why did you choose to come to OSU?

A: For a man that I grew to love and call my dad. He had a secret love for this school. When my step dad passed away in 2008, I came home from Seattle Pacific University to be with my mom and attended Mt. Hood Community College. While attending Mt. Hood, I knew that I needed to come to OSU.

Something in me was calling that I have to give one last thing for my dad, and that was to come to his little favorite school in Oregon. I came to OSU in spring of 2009. For his mem-

ory and honor, I wanted to come to the school that he adored.

Q: What events, people and classes lead you to become president?

A: The fall of 2009 was a defining year for my involvement because I was involved with the Asian and Pacific Cultural Center and had to attend various trainings for my position.

I was also the president of the Polynesian Cultural Club and involved with the annual Lu’au and soon after became president for the 2009-2010 school year. As president for PCC, I was interested for PCC to get involved with International Students of Oregon State University and hopefully become an affiliate group.

To get PCC involved with ISOSU, I

Hopoi shares on her

See HOPOi | page 3

See eVAlUATiONS | page 3

n After efforts were postponed, spring anticipates reconstruction

by Katja KozberThe Daily BaromeTer

With decades under each build-ing’s belt, the cultural centers at Oregon State University are finally getting new homes.

The new buildings will be con-siderably larger than the originals, providing more space for events and programs. “The [cultural centers] should reflect the grow-ing community,” said Emanuel Magana, graduate teaching assis-tant at Centro Cultural César Chávez. There will also be new spaces dedicated to lounging, socializing and studying.

Staff members are excited about the new buildings and are hope-ful that they might inspire more traffic.

“There’s a misconception that you have to be Asian or a Pacific Islander to come into the center but we want to break that down,” said external coordinator Connie Tran about the Asian and Pacific Cultural Center. This is true of the other centers as well, which all encourage anyone of any ethnicity to visit.

Construction has been pushed back several times, but members hope it will start up again this spring. The first center to be rebuilt is the Native American Longhouse, which will be constructed in the area behind the center that is cur-rently a parking lot. Once it has been built and moved into, the old longhouse will be taken down and replaced with a garden composed of native Oregon plants that Jyl Wheaton, graduate teaching assis-tant at the Longhouse, believes will be “a positive thing for all

ViNAy biKKiNA | THE DAILY BAROMETER

Connie Tran, the external coordinator for the Asian and Pacific Cultural Center says all the centers are welcoming to all ethnicities.

See CeNTerS | page 3

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CalendarThursday, Jan. 12MeetingsRecreational Sports, 3-4pm, Dixon Conference Room. RecSports Board Meeting. Discussion and delibera-tion on 2012-13 Recreational Sports budget.

Monday, Jan. 16MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. HOLIDAY

NO CLASSES

Tuesday, Jan. 17MeetingsASOSU Senate, 7pm, MU 109A. Convenes to discuss student issues. Students and student organization del-egates are welcome to attend.

Wednesday, Jan. 18MeetingsASOSU House of Representatives, 7pm, MU 211. Convenes to discuss student issues and concerns. Students and student organization delegates are welcome to attend.

Student Sustainability Initiative, 7-8pm, Student Sustainability Center. Learn how you can get involved with sustainability projects on campus.

Thursday, Jan. 19MeetingsRecreational Sports, 3-4pm, Dixon Conference Room. RecSports Board Meeting. Discussion and deliberation on 2012-13 Recreational Sports budget.

Monday, Jan. 23MeetingsCollege Democrats, 5pm, MU Board Room. Come talk about current events, local campaigns and international news with like-minded people!

Tuesday, Jan. 24MeetingsASOSU Senate, 7pm, MU 109A. Convenes to discuss student issues. Students and student organization del-egates are welcome to attend.

Recreational Sports, Noon-1:30pm, MU 110. Open Hearing. Public input for 2012-13 Recreational Sports budget.

Wednesday, Jan. 25MeetingsASOSU House of Representatives, 7pm, MU 211. Convenes to discuss student issues and concerns. Students and student organization delegates are welcome to attend.

Baha’i Campus Association, 12:30-1pm, MU Talisman Room. Recharge your battery - Interfaith meditation, devotion and prayers - bring your favor-ite inspirational reading to share.

Thursday, Jan. 26MeetingsRecreational Sports, 3-4pm, Dixon Conference Room. RecSports Board Meeting. Discussion and delibera-tion on 2012-13 Recreational Sports budget.

Monday, Jan. 30MeetingsCollege Democrats, 5pm, MU Board Room. Come talk about current events, local campaigns and international news with like-minded people!

International News From CNNMiddle east

Violence erupts in Homs, journalist killed

As violence erupted in Homs, Syria’s president turned up at a boisterous pro-government rally in Damascus Wednesday, whip-ping up his followers and again underscoring his view that the months of popular unrest in his nation are the result of a “conspiracy.”

“We will triumph over this conspiracy,” Bashar al-Assad told a cheering, clapping and flag-waving throng.

“I will not say that the coun-try is confronting a major conspiracy because you are here to stand up against it,” he said. “These are the final phases of the conspiracy, and we will make sure that we will stand up victorious.”

Al-Assad’s appearance at the rally comes a day after he delivered a defiant televised speech, strongly defending his government’s reforms and blaming the unrest on “exter-nal conspiracies.”

asiaMicrosoft investigates suicide threat at plant

Microsoft is investigating a report that workers at a Chinese plant that manu-factures its Xbox game systems have threatened mass suicide in a pay dis-pute, according to a state-ment issued Wednesday by the company’s Hong Kong office.

CNN has not been able to confirm details of the dispute, but Foxconn, the plant owner, and Microsoft did respond to inquiries.

“Microsoft takes working conditions in the factories that manufacture its prod-ucts very seriously, and we are currently investigating this issue,” the Microsoft statement said.

A company spokes-woman said the contro-versy appears to stem from employee grievances over “staffing assignments and transfer policies, not work-ing conditions.”

europeFailed Russian space probe to fall to Earth

A Russian probe that was supposed to reach one of Mars’ moons but failed to escape Earth orbit is expect-ed to fall to Earth between Saturday and Monday, Russia’s space agency said.

It’s too early to say where pieces of the unmanned Phobos-Grunt probe could fall. But on Sunday after-noon — the middle of the re-entry window — the nearly 15-ton probe is pro-jected to be over the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles southwest of Indonesia, the Roscosmos space agency said Wednesday.

Twenty to 30 fragments, weighing a total of up to 440 pounds, could survive the heat of re-entry, Roscosmos said, according to the state-run Ria Novosti news agency.

The craft is carrying 7.5 tons of toxic fuel. That fuel is expected to burn up on re-entry, Ria Novosti reported.

Middle eastState Dept. meets with Muslim Brotherhood

Deputy Secretary of State William Burns met Wednesday with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the highest-level contact between the United States and the Egypt’s largest Islamic group.

The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party won more than 40 percent of the seats in recent elections and is expected to lead the country’s first parliament cho-sen since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.

State Department spokes-woman Victoria Nuland said Burns’ meeting with party chief Mohammed Morsi was an opportunity to reinforce U.S. expectations that Egypt’s new government will support human rights, women’s rights and religious tolerance and support Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.

The new parliament, which will be seated later this month, must appoint a panel to write a new Egyptian constitution.

Biker, car collide yesterday morningThe Daily BaromeTer

According to the Corvallis Police Department, a bicy-clist collided with a car yesterday morning at 8:41 a.m. at the intersection of 29th and Tyler.

Bicyclist Sarah Shafer, who was headed south on 29th, was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for further evaluation.

Driver McKenzie Magaurn came to a complete stop at 29th before crossing the intersection, officials said.

737-2231 [email protected]

CONTribUTed by PHil MCClAiN

Fire trucks arrive on the scene of a biker-car collision at the intersection of 29th and Tyler.

House of Representatives kicks off winter termby Kristin PugmireThe Daily BaromeTer

Last night marked the Associated Students of Oregon State University House of Representatives’ first meeting of winter term. Though the term has just begun, the following issues were discussed:

• During joint committee reports, Representative Michael Robb reported that SB 71.03 had gone through a sec-ond reading and was tabled until next week. The bill states that if a member of Congress misses his or her office hours during three consecutive weeks, or four times during a term, his or her office will be declared vacant;

• During delegate reports, ASOSU

Executive Director of Services Amelia Harris presented a draft of a proposal for a budget increase. The increase would fund the hiring of a part-time immigra-tion attorney for the ASOSU Law Offices, who would assist both domestic and international students with immigration issues. The proposal will be brought up for discussion again next week;

• HR-03.03, a bill to reinstate fund-ing to the Oregon Students Association, was discussed. Though Congress voted to pass the bill during fall term, it was vetoed by ASOSU President M. Tonga Hopoi on Dec. 6. Hopoi wrote in a statement that the bill should not be considered until the House has completed its investiga-

tion of ASOSU’s relationship with OSA. The House voted to table discussion of HR-03.03 until next week, when the investigative committee has presented its findings;

• JB-71.01, a bill to eliminate suspen-sions during impeachment trials, was presented. The bill states that since the U.S. federal government only strips authority and pay from impeached indi-viduals if they are first convicted and removed from office by the Senate, the ASOSU should not suspend impeached individuals without a conviction. The bill will be voted on at a later date.

Kristin Pugmire, senior reporter737-2231 [email protected]

[email protected] • 737-2231 Thursday, January 12, 2012 • 3

Provost ’ s Literary Prize $5 00 A W ARD

AND PUBLICATION ON CAMPUS Sabah Randhawa, Provost and Executive Vice President,

requests submissions to the 24th Annual Provost’s Literary Prize for undergraduates at OSU.

The prize consists of an award of $500 and publication for on-campus distribution.

Rules The literary work may be fiction, poetry, drama, or creative nonfiction written for a general audience. The prize is open to currently enrolled undergraduate students at Oregon State University who may submit their own work or have work nominated by faculty members. Submissions must be the student’s original work, typed, no longer than 16 double-spaced pages for prose or drama, or eight manuscript pages for poetry, and include full name, year in school, current mail- ing address, phone number, and student I.D. number of the author.

Deadline Submit work to Prof. Keith Scribner, Chair of the Provost’s Literary Prize Committee – English Department main office, Moreland 238 – by 5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012 .

Announcement The Provost will announce the winner in May.

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the online system.For those who neglect

to log into the system and respond in any way, “her or his grades will be avail-able after the evaluations period is over,” Ramaswamy said. This is starkly differ-ent to paper evaluations, in which students never felt the threat of a hold on their student accounts if they neglected to complete in class evaluations.

Though the system has received largely positive feedback, student response has not gone without “a few concerns,” Kuo said. Concerns ranged from lack of knowledge of basic “pro-cess and procedures, holds on grades being lifted on time,” and not knowing what to do with “unneces-sary sections of laborato-ries and recitations [stu-dents] received,” according to Ramaswamy. However,

Ramaswamy asserts at the start of this term, she and her team will have a meeting to discuss all issues and will have it handled by the next round.

Despite these concerns from students, Ramaswamy contends that in relation to the whole university, the amount of students that did have problems completing their evaluations due to sys-tematic errors was minimal.

Though previous percent-ages show students’ general view of evaluations to be archaic and time infringing, eventually the new system will allow these previous assumptions to be set aside. Ultimately, Ramaswamy says, the university empha-sizes completing the evalu-ations as a means for “stu-dents to use their voice.”

If the increasing percent-age trends continue, stu-dents will assuredly proceed to do just that.

Kelly ward, staff reporter737-2231 [email protected]

students.”Both the CCCC and the

Black Cultural Center will be rebuilt on the same land as their current location, meaning that during con-struction the centers will be temporarily moved to other campus buildings. Unlike the CCCC however, the building currently housing the BCC will be uprooted and moved, then preserved because of its status as a historical landmark.

The new APCC will be moving to a new loca-tion altogether: the soccer field on Jefferson behind Fairbanks Hall. This central location will make the cen-ter more accessible to the OSU community, hopefully bringing in more people.

Cultural center staff members’ only concern

is that the homey feel of the current centers will be lost. Tran remains positive though; “The leaders of each took a lot of consider-ation into the culture they are representing to integrate into the atmosphere of the new buildings.”

This integration will be easily seen in the décor and features of the centers. In the case of the new Native American Center it will even be seen in the architecture. “Our building was designed with natural materials and modeled after traditional northwest longhouses,” Wheaton said. “It will be a very natural and inviting space.”

Students don’t need to wait for the new buildings to visit the centers though, as they are both always wel-come to and excited about guests.

Katja Kozber, staff reporter737-2231 [email protected]

began volunteering for leader-ship opportunities that ISOSU needed and one of them was an opening on the Memorial Union Board of Directors for the two-year student at-large membership. I got appointed fall of 2009.

During my time on the Memorial Union Board, there was a presentation from the ASOSU executive direc-tor of diversity programs for Diversity Development to move into Buenos Burritos. That night, I thought I needed to be smarter about the posi-tions that I hold on campus and make sure that I can do the most good by the deci-sions I make.

The next day from that meeting, I applied to ASOSU spring 2010, I was appointed ASOSU Executive Director of Diversity Programs that same quarter.

The spark for change at ASOSU happened in the win-ter quarter where there was a decision from the president at the time that I really didn’t

feel was appropriate for OSU students and the community. That Cabinet meeting was my tipping point with ASOSU. That next day I saw Sokho and what we agreed on was that someone has to run for office for any real change to happen, for our hopes and dreams.

Q: What types of responsibil-ities do you have as president?

A: This position is just like any other position I’ve held at OSU, be it president of PCC, working at the APCC or for ASOSU last year… I give it my everything and the best pieces of me, every decision is thought ahead and every move is done with the inten-tion that everyone in the end is satisfied and comes back the next day ready to give it their all again.

As the 111th president of ASOSU, it is my duty to keep that promise to the students of OSU; a self-governing system for the students by the stu-dents to improve and enhance the quality of education and experience at the greatest institution of higher educa-tion in Oregon, Oregon State University.

Q: Has the job of being president changed you as a person?

A: Being president of ASOSU didn’t really change me, but further defined and empow-ered me as a person to keep strong, listen to those who feel ignored and make balanced decisions that my soul can rest easy at night with. At the end of the day, I’m not the girl I used to be when I came to OSU and I won’t be the same when I leave… I’ll be a woman that learned how to be happy and have memorized the steps to get there, and that insight is precious.

Being someone that my family and friends still recog-nize means that I haven’t really changed at all but just have more tales of grand adven-tures and superheroes to tell.

Q: What is it like to bal-ance being a student and the president?

A: The balance of being a student and the president of ASOSU wasn’t really a dramat-ic shift until this past quarter as I was in office June first this past summer. When the fall quarter hit, I appreciated hav-ing classes because it gave my mind a break and shift in gears from the vigorous and exciting work at ASOSU.

The difficulty in the balance came when my office was impeached, that sort of pres-sure and publicity was some-thing that I was not prepared for. As a regular student in my classes, I did have difficulties focusing with classmates ask-ing me questions.

In the end, I just have to make sure my school work and ASOSU is balanced and that I find time for myself to rest, rejuvenate and get ready for the next week.

Tony Santilli, staff reporter737-2231 [email protected]

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Opportunities for Undergraduates!

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1000 Fungal Genomes Project may find more speciesn There are currently only 100,000 known

species of fungi, but millions exist, can be sequenced for free by institute

by McKinley SmithThe Daily BaromeTer

Joey Spatafora, an associate professor at Oregon State University, is leading an international project to sequence the genomes of a thousand fungi, a project aptly named 1000 fun-gal genomes.

“It’s a really, really exciting time in fungal biology because we can sequence fungal genomes more easily than we could ten years ago,” Spatafora said.

The Joint Genome Institute will sequence the genomes for free at a value of over a million dollars.

According to Spatafora, only about 100,000 fungi are known, but the number of actual species could be anywhere from 1 million to 1.5 million.

“The majority of fungi are not visible to the naked eye. When they think of fungi, most people think of mushrooms, but most fungi occur in the soil or in plant material like wood and never or rarely produce a fruiting body,” he said.

Spatafora hopes that the project will lead to “a better under-standing of fungi across the kingdoms.” According to Spatafora, fungi have broad potential, including use as alternative fuel sources.

“There are lots of challenges,” Spatafora said. “Right now our biggest challenge is obtaining enough DNA of high quality to sequence.”

The 1000 Fungal Genomes Project will sequence the genomes of two representatives from five hundred fungal families to help create phylogenetic framework that will help identify other samples in the future.

Alisha Owensby, a doctoral student in Spatafora’s lab, became involved in the project when her thesis led her there.

“My thesis project is focused on comparative genomics,” Owensby said. “I’m looking at the genes that may be involved in host switching.”

Owensby studies a fungus belonging to a group of fungi that are insect pathogens. This particular fungus, however, is a fun-gal pathogen. It switched hosts from insects to fungi sometime in its evolutionary history and Owensby seeks to learn why.

Spatafora confirms the importance of fungi. “Fungi are intimately associated with other organisms as

symbionts,” Spatafora said. Fungi can coexist with plants, and exist as a pathogen in

some plants and animals. Spatafora became interested in fungi when a mycologist at

Louisiana State University, Meredith Blackwell, introduced him. “The light bulb came on when I realized, oh, that’s what I

want to do,” Spatafora said. The 1000 Fungal Genomes Project was built on nearly ten

years of research by Spatafora’s lab, a project called “Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life,” that investigated evolutionary relation-ships among fungi.

McKinley Smith, staff reporter737-2231 [email protected]

4 •Thursday, January 12, 2012 [email protected] • 541-737-6376

The Daily BarometerForum Editorial Board Brandon Southward Editor in ChiefJoce DeWitt News EditorArmand Resto Forum Editor

Grady Garrett Sports EditorDon Iler Managing Editor Alexandra Taylor Photo Editor

Editorial

LettersLetters to the editor are welcomed and will be printed on a first-received basis. Letters must be 300 words or fewer and include the author’s signature, academic major, class standing or job title, department name and phone number. Authors of e-mailed letters will receive a reply for the purpose of verification. Letters are subject to editing for space and clarity. The Daily Barometer reserves the right to refuse publication of any submissions.

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Memorial Union East 106 Oregon State University

Corvallis, OR 97331-1617or e-mail: [email protected]

Looking ahead to 2012: Doomsday, solar storms?

Earlier FAFSA date brings more stress

Well, 2012 has just begun, and we have toasted our toasts, sang our “Auld Lang Syne,” and maybe spent the early

hours of the morning sick over a toilet seat. Many of us have made new resolutions, or maybe reit-erated old ones, and somehow the beginning of a new year brings fresh promise. There are those of us that hope that 2012 will be a better year than 2011, maybe the economy will take a turn for the better, maybe our GPA will improve and maybe some phenomenal scientific breakthrough will solve our problems with global warming, AIDS and stupid reality shows.

But no matter how we see or hope that 2012 will be, there are some of us who fear it. And no, the fear is not of the presidential election. Instead, some feel that this is the beginning of the end, as prophesized by the Mayan calendar. Many superstitions have sprung up and the Internet is full of websites predicting doom come Dec. 21 — the end of the world as we know it.

I do not personally prescribe to any of this. It’s possible that the Mayans simply got tired of recording future calendars. I mean, it’s pretty damn hard to engrave on stone. There had to be a stopping point, and the invasion of the Spaniards

seems like a good enough reason to call it quits. Mayan prediction never prophesized the end

of the world, it simply forecast a major change. Sensationalism has always existed (i.e., the end of the first century when doomsday was predicted, Nostradamus prophecies, “Chicken Little” and the falling sky, Y2K, but this year may outdo the rest. According to doomsday predictions, one of these events will happen: the planet Nibiru, discovered by the Sumerians, is headed on a collision course with Earth, all the planets in our solar system will align causing disastrous results, or the Earth will become engulfed in a massive solar storm.

First off, if a planet were on a collision course with Earth, I’m quite sure that NASA would know. Yes, we do have that kind of technology. Secondly, there are no planetary alignments in the next few decades. Even if these alignments were to take place, there would be no disastrous results. Each December, the Earth and sun align anyway.

Then that leaves the solar storms, which, OK, are possible. But what is a solar storm and why

should it be considered a catastrophic event? Solar storms are events where solar activity inter-feres with the magnetic field on Earth. The storms are result of solar flares and coronal mass ejec-tions. Most people do not seem to equate a solar event as having massive effects on our planet, but these events can be quite disrupting to power grids and wireless communication systems.

Solar flares usually rise and fall in an 11-year cycle, and the effects on Earth are negligible to the mass population, most of the time, but in 1859, a CME, or coronal mass enjection, caused a massive cloud of electromagnetic plasma to slam into Earth. This event, also known as the Carrington event, which was the most severe recorded solar storm ever recorded, actually over-rode Earth’s own magnetic field, melting tele-graph poles throughout the U.S.

This may not seem of great consequence, but the solar storm of 1859 wiped out our com-munication centers across the whole continent. Electricity was in its infancy at the time, and most technology was rudimental. The results of a solar storm, such as the Carrington event, today would

This week, students are slug-gishly working their way back into daily school routines —

doing homework, getting up early and missing the relaxation of win-ter break. Unfortunately, along with returning to school, the end of winter break also means the filing of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid .

This year, to make filing easi-er and more convenient, the U.S. Department of Education has allowed students to file as early as Jan. 1. The problem is that most of us, as well as are parents, don’t receive proper tax information until the end of January, making early filing difficult.

The general consensus is that we should use the previous year’s tax return information to fill out this year’s FAFSA. Then, when we receive our tax forms in the end of January, if anything needed to be changed, we would amend our FAFSA. Unfortunately, this method doesn’t work for every student.

If your parents have changed jobs, make significantly more or less money than the year before, have different deductions, or even have different obligations, such as child support, using the previous year’s tax

return does the student absolutely no justice in receiving aid. Perhaps the student’s parents are in a less finan-cially secure state this year than they were the last, which would provide more aid for the student, such as Pell grants. But without the proper tax information, they cannot make the claim until it is too late.

Students need to be able to feel like they can accurately file their FAFSA to get the aid they deserve without hav-ing to wait until it is too late. Instead, students have to try and guess at the accurate numbers, knowing that they cannot use the previous year’s tax return, in order to hopefully quali-fy for the limited scholarships and grants. Furthermore, they have to fret about filing early so that they have a shot at such scholarships.

Naturally, I would chose to not stress about this minor situation and wait to file until I received all of the information I needed. This year how-ever, I have been bombarded with so many emails warning many scholar-ships and grants are limited and filing

as early in January as possible is the only way to try and get one of those precious forms of college cash.

I immediately got my parents on the phone to begin the filing process, hoping we could scramble up the right information from previous tax returns, last week’s paycheck, and some estimation. Unfortunately, we stumbled against certain deduction information and other minor tax details that I would only be able to get accurately on a tax return.

After stressing to try and stay with-in the first few filers to get the limited grants and scholarships, I finally gave up and am now waiting until the end of January to file. Being a senior, and behind in $60,000 of debt in school loans, I figured this FAFSA for my one term of summer classes really wouldn’t make much of a difference whether I had grants or loans.

Looking back, I can remember how hard it was as a freshman to get grants and scholarships, and how none of the ones I received amounted enough to actually matter. Plus, the actual filing process didn’t seem as rushed as it does now. I can only sympathize with all of the incoming students and undergraduates who stress to find

information in order to get first in line for those grants.

Considering that most students will probably be in the same situation, waiting for tax information before filing, perhaps the early filing date won’t work as well, and the grants and scholarships will still be available for the end of January filers. Or the alternative would be people estimat-ing and averaging numbers to put in their FAFSA, only to amend them later when the correct information comes.

Either way, the FAFSA filing pro-cess is putting already stressed stu-dents under even more duress. We have enough to worry about with homework, heavy class schedules, money problems, and jobs to try and worry about financing our next year’s schooling. Perhaps we should all postpone filing until the end of the month, in hopes that people who file at the end of January won’t be penal-ized for the scholarships and grants next year.

t

Cristina Himka is a senior in English. The opinions expressed in her columns do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Barometer staff. Holcomb can be reached at [email protected].

No more physical war, focus on economics warBefore anyone makes quick

judgments or tries to read between the lines, assuming

they know what the point being made is, realize this is not an anti-war piece. There is nothing here to attack or defame soldiers or the military. This is only questioning the validity of war in today’s society.

In 2011, we finally pulled combat troops out of Iraq, killed Bin Laden and witnessed the 10th anniversary of war in Afghanistan. Now, some people would argue this is all part of the war on terror, which is necessary, or that the United States managed to accomplish great things through mili-tary intervention. Regardless of the accomplishments or failures brought about by the current or past war the United States has been involved in, the point is that war is no longer waged the same way anymore.

When there was a declaration of war it used to be against an entire country, not a group of radicals liv-ing in several countries. Not to men-tion, war was typically between countries with natural-born citizens (of the country). The world is slowly becoming more and more like the

United States in the sense that there is not a homogenous group of peo-ple, but people with different back-grounds and beliefs living somewhat harmoniously.

But more importantly, beyond the fact that the process and act of war has changed, the actual reason for war has been lost.

First, there isn’t going to be another World War or even another country versus country war. No country in Europe is going to invade one of their neighbors, neither will Asia. Not even the Middle East and Africa would consider starting a war. Despite the media talking about Iran potentially creating nuclear weapons, and North Korea finally being able to fire a real missile, those fears are just fluff with no substantial backing.

With a global economy, all coun-tries interconnected, there are far too many supporting interests to fully

enter a war. We get our oil from Saudi Arabia, our toys from China, our dia-monds from Africa, technology from Japan, and our tech support from India. The truth of the matter is if one country got the harebrained idea of attacking or invading another coun-try, the rest of the world would stand up against the invading country.

Regardless of alliances or non-aggression pacts formed, no country is going to let the global economy collapse because that will also bring about the collapse of the internal economy of each individual country. If there is going to be a war, it will be through economics and America has unfortunately already lost that war.

China has won the economics war without a bullet fired and before any-body knew there was a war going on. The global economy centers around China and their ability to make prod-ucts cheaper and more efficiently than most other countries.

There are natural resources, scien-tific discoveries, and technological advances that are happening around the world, all of which also rely on sharing all these materials among other countries. Japan has cell phone

technology that is years beyond what the United States boasts as a high-tech smartphone. China has the fast-est trains and Britain has a strong healthcare system that we could learn from.

World leaders have failed to realize that globalization has almost essen-tially removed the need for war. If we finally realized that the arms race is no longer necessary, then we could stop spending money on nuclear warheads that we will never fire and maybe pour some of that into social security or education reform.

Instead of worrying which country might attack next — since no country is going to attack, only small groups of people trying to upset the status quo — imagine if all the countries worked together without the fear of attack the medical and technologi-cal advances — the potential to end world hunger or finally make robots that do the household tasks no one wants to do.

t

Robert Fix is a senior in business. The opinions expressed in his columns do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Barometer staff. Fix can be reached at [email protected].

The Daily BarometerCristina Himka

The Daily BarometerAngela Cail

Robert Fix

Rebel without a pulse

See CAil | page 5

Logging to aid rural

communitiesAnyone who has ever

ventured beyond the I-5 corridor of

Oregon knows that in between the mountains, trees and riv-ers there is a lot of beautiful country. But many of Oregon’s rural counties are entering dire straits this year as payments from the Securing Rural Schools Act comes to an end.

SRSA, enacted in 2000, was designed as a stopgap mea-sure to help rural counties facing ever decreasing money from timber receipts from the U.S. Forest Service during the 1990s, as timber harvests on federal lands decreased. This money was originally given to county governments to allievi-ate the fact that these federally owned lands could not be lev-ied by local property taxes. It left many counties unable to tax the land which is the primary source of income for most local governments. These payments were supposed to end in 2006, but have been renewed every year on a year-to-year basis, as most counties which had come to depend on this money have been unable to find other sourc-es of income.

At the same time, since many of the jobs in these communities were dependent on the natural resources provided by harvest-ing on federal land, rural coun-ties have seen a flight of well paying jobs, removing their tax base as well as increasing high unemployment, which drives up the need of government services. Altogether these have created a firestorm of difficult circumstances, leaving rural Oregon counties in an unwin-nable situation.

A recent study by Oregon State University’s Rural Studies Program stated that allowing these payments to expire would result in the loss of 3,800 to 4,400 jobs and nine county govern-ments would be facing general fund budget cuts of at least 25 percent. According to a Dec. 19 article in the Oregonian, Curry County, in the southwest corner of the state, receives 61 percent of its general budget from fed-eral funds and is facing insolven-cy with an estimated $3 million budget shortfall within the next year. The situation also looks equally dire for Coos, Josephine, Klamath and Lane counties who receive significant amounts of money for their federal forest land.

What is needed is a long term solution that balances the needs of rural communities with the environmental concerns that

See ediTOriAl | page 5


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THURSDAYJAN. 194 - 5 P.M.LaSells Stewart Center

Oregon State University’s impact can be seen across Oregon and beyond. As part of his annual State of the University address, President Ed Ray will discuss these impacts — specific and measurable, wide-ranging and personal — and the expanded commitment our faculty, students and alumni are making to promote economic growth, strengthen communities and improve quality of life.

MAKING IMPACT THAT

COUNTS

Studying, cramming, managing stress and trying it all at onceWhen I look at my past schedules

and notebooks, I am astounded at how much detailed information

of different subjects I had to manage and file away into my brain. I am in awe at how much learning an undergraduate education can compress into four years.

But how effective is it to cram that much information into one’s head at small bursts of one term a shot? How much do I remem-ber from class to class? Honestly? Probably enough to surprise myself from time to time, but not enough for me to make jaws drop at a party over my knowledge of the War of the Roses (which all I remember is that some point in England’s history, they had a war titled the War of the Roses). After drawing blank after blank to the question, “What did I actually learn in that class?” I wonder if four or five (admit it — sometimes six) years of cramming is a healthy way of continuing our education.

During the spring term of my junior year, I bit off 15 credits, four of which were dedicated to my writ-ing intensive class. Topped off with a new job and an internship, I felt like I was practically drowning every day. When the term finally ended, I took one giant gulp of warm summer air and told myself I wasn’t going to ever going to pile it on like that again.

While I recognize everyone’s gauge for acceptable levels of busyness vary, I really wonder how much I synthesized that term: I blazed through most of my readings, skimmed an entire novel for one of my English classes, stuffed every nook and cranny of the day with work or study. Did I make the most of my education that term?

Comparatively so, that answer is no. The majority of my undergraduate career, I took only 13 or 14 credits while not working and liv-ing at my parents’ house. I was the freak who actually bought the HHS 241 textbook and read the entire thing. Each assignment received my full attention and sincerity. I envied my fel-low students: they lived on their own, earned money and participated in more extracurricu-lar activities than I did. However, due entire-ly to privilege, I ravenously consumed my academic education and definitely reaped the benefits of my countless, uninterrupted hours of studying, but perhaps became a bit bloated.

So the question still haunts me: what did I really learn? I’ve learned a lot of content, ideas, concepts, equations and theories for sure. And due to my circumstances, I had the luxury of allowing all of it to simmer in my brain, for ideas to melt into one another and form new ones. I learned deep, sustained focus creates a relaxed mental environment necessary for some types of thinking, often the most productive and cre-ative, for me anyway.

But my fellow students learned to cope with a great shift in life: college, job, serious relation-

ships, and living on one’s own for the first time. They learned how to prioritize and essentially ignore some pressing things that they may or may not realistically be able to finish. They learned to work under tons of pressure, juggling multiple deadlines. These invaluable skills reflect more the non-academic world than the contemplative and iso-lating study I experienced.

However, this set of skills could be learned under less intense conditions. Unless you plan on

becoming a Certified Public Accountant, a stock trader, or a CEO, is life as intense as schooling? No. All types of education, for there are more than just the two I discussed, need to be recog-nized as valid, important and vital for their own contributions in forming a well-rounded adult.

Academic knowledge is not the only valu-able knowledge (ever had a clogged toilet?) and it’s nice to see that universities are starting to acknowledge that students don’t live in a bub-ble. Formation of programs like the emergency food pantry, the Mind Spa at Counseling and Psychological Services, and academic regula-tions that give students the freedom to schedule time off ¬¬signal a recognition that our lives are a touch more complicated than we want them to be, and learning how to manage stress, set boundaries, and prioritize is just as important as the War of the Roses, Charles Dickens, C++ or Boyle’s law.

t

Kelly Holcomb is a non-degree seeking graduate student with a bachelors of arts in English. The opinions expressed in her columns do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Barometer staff. Holcomb can be reached at [email protected].

do far more damage to the population than it did in 1859.

NASA believes that we are due for a major solar storm either this year or early 2013. Not all believe this happens in the time slot allocated by NASA, but one thing all experts agree on: it will happen.

Solar activity has been almost nonexistent in the last few years; it is known as the “quiet before the storm.” The greater the quiet, the greater the storm, and it has been extreme-ly quiet. It leaves scientists predicting for major activity in the near future.

The ramifications could be disastrous if we had a CME like the one in 1859, because we are far more technology-dependant than we were 150 years ago. A major CME would wipe out this continent’s electrical grid, satellite systems, and do major structural damage to cell phone towers. The effects would be devastating: no electricity means no refrigeration, which would severely dis-rupt our food supplies. We rely on refrigera-tion; without it, we would suffer major food shortages. Without electricity, we could not pump gas, heat our houses, take showers, prepare food or wash clothes. Without elec-tricity, most of us could not work; we could not use our computers or run our machines.

With the loss of cell phone towers, we

would lose our communication with the outside world. We could not use the Internet, place a phone call on our cell, or even pay our bills at the bank. We could not use the ATM machine, transfer funds, or even deposit a paycheck. The technological and financial aspects are staggering. We would, as a nation, be brought to our knees.

With such a massive meltdown of our infrastructure, it would take three to four weeks to resume some electrical power to the larger cities. Can you imagine what it would be like to live in New York City for three weeks without electrical power or potable water, in the middle of winter? The worst effects would be seen in major cit-ies such as Houston, New York, Chicago, Phoenix and Los Angeles, where the popula-tion relies on electricity for drinking water, food supplies and even personal access to apartments and skyscrapers.

Such a mass event would only affect the electrical grid in the part of the world fac-ing the sun at the moment of CME impact. There’s a 50-50 chance it could affect the Continental United States, Canada, Mexico and South America. But no matter which side of the planet gets exposed to CME, the effects will still be felt worldwide due to sat-ellite loss and economic consequences.

t

Angela Cail is a freshman in new media communications. The opinions expressed in her columns do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Barometer staff. Cail can be reached at [email protected].

The Daily BarometerKelly Holcomb

CAiln Continued from page 5

brought an end to most log-ging on federal forest land. The current situation, while having protected wide swaths of forest, has left high unemployment and failing businesses in its wake and has stretched county govern-ments to the breaking point. A recent bipartisan proposal by three Oregon congress-men, Peter DeFazio, Greg Walden and Kurt Schrader would open up logging on land that has been previous-ly logged while at the same time claiming to protect old growth forests and other sen-

sative areas. Of course, the exact details

still need to be worked out, of what land would be open to logging and what wouldn’t, and of course we don’t want to see clear cut after clear cut or a return to the unsustain-able practices of the old days. But we believe the proposal is a step in the right direction.

By allowing more logging, timber payments would increase to rural counties, shoring up their schools and other essential services, while also providing jobs for loggers and those who work in mills. But before these details are worked out, a stopgap mea-sure of approving funds for another year is needed while

scientists, foresters and envi-ronmentalists work out the details of what can be logged and what will be preserved.

Action is needed fast how-ever, because these counties, which are already stretched thin, cannot be allowed to go bankrupt. Lack of fund-ing will result in poorer qual-ity schooling for children, jails that cannot hold criminals and roads that are unsafe to drive. Solutions are needed for rural Oregon quickly because even though it may be out of the way, they are still Oregonians.

t

Editorials serve as a means for Barometer editors to offer commentary and opinions on issues both global and local, grand in scale or diminutive. The views expressed here are a reflection of the editorial board’s majority.

ediTOriAl n Continued from page 5

CHriSTiAN SMiTHrUd iS A SOPHOMOre iN New MediA COMMUNiCATiONS

‘‘ ‘‘...my fellow students learned to cope with a great shift in life: college, job, serious relationships, and living on one’s own for the first time.

Mitt Romney arrived Wednesday in South Carolina as the clear front-runner for the Republican presidential nomi-nation, while his rivals cam-paigned across the state to try to halt the former Massachusetts governor’s momentum after his victory the day before in New Hampshire.

CNN projected that Romney’s second straight tri-umph in the first two contests of the nomination process gained him seven of the state’s 12 delegates, based on his first-place support from just over 39 percent of primary voters.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who finished second with about 23 percent , picked up three del-egates, and former Utah Gov. and U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman gained two del-egates based on his third-place finish with roughly 17 percent of the vote.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and for-mer Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum got no delegates for their support of just under 10 percent each, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry also was shut out by trailing with less than 1 percent of the vote.

With 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination, the New Hampshire haul was more symbolic than substantive, but it further bolstered Romney’s campaign after his razor-thin victory in last week’s Iowa caucuses.

Next on the primary calen-dar is the January 21 prima-ry in South Carolina, where Romney’s five opponents are counting on the state’s social conservatism and reputation for brass-knuckle political brawls to help their cause.

The Palmetto State has

picked the winner of every GOP nomination fight since 1980.

Gingrich told a town hall in Rock Hill, S.C., that the result of the upcoming primary will be historic.

“I believe the next 10 days are as important as any 10 days we have seen in modern American politics,” Gingrich said. “I believe that South Carolinians are either going to center in and pick one conservative or by default they are going to send a moderate on to the nomination.”

Santorum, who lost to Romney by eight votes in Iowa, said Wednesday that it was “silly” for anyone to suggest Romney has the nomination wrapped up.

“This is a long process,” Santorum said while cam-paigning in Ridgeway, South Carolina. “Half the people (who) voted yesterday weren’t even Republicans.”

Romney is hoping a combi-nation of momentum, cam-paign cash, growing establish-ment support and a fractured opposition will lead to a vic-tory not only in South Carolina but also in Florida at the end of the month. That would be four straight victories for Romney after Iowa and New Hampshire, and could bring the Republican contest to an early conclusion.

In a sign of Romney’s sup-port, his campaign said Wednesday it would report fourth-quarter earnings of $24 million for a total of $56 million in 2011.

“I have a long way to go before I get the nomina-tion,” Romney told CNN on Wednesday morning. The other candidates will “find new attacks. (But) I think in the final

analysis people want someone who can lead the country back to strength with good jobs and rising incomes, and all these attacks I think will fall entirely flat.”

In his victory speech Tuesday night, Romney sounded like the presumptive Republican nomi-nee, calling Barack Obama “a failed president” who puts his faith in government while “we put our faith in the American people.”

Romney is the first non-incumbent Republican in modern history to win both Iowa and New Hampshire.

For their part, the other can-didates quickly tried to mini-mize New Hampshire’s impor-tance and appeal to South Carolina’s more conservative electorate.

In Rock Hill, Gingrich said that if elected, “we will not toler-ate a speech dictatorship in this country against Christianity.” He also questioned Democratic challenges to Republican efforts to require more strin-gent voter identification efforts in some areas.

“What does it tell you about the Obama administration that they are afraid — afraid — to have an honest elections?” Gingrich said. “They are afraid if we only allow legal voters.”

Perry noted the fact that he had all but abandoned New

Hampshire, focusing his time and energy on South Carolina.

“South Carolina is a winner-take-all state,” Perry said on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight.” “Winning here, I can promise you, wipes out the caucus vic-tory and New Hampshire. So if Mitt’s thinking he’s got it in the bag, I think he’ll be in for a great surprise in South Carolina when he shows up here.”

Santorum, meanwhile, took aim at both Romney and Perry. Without naming Romney, Santorum said electing a moderate would be little bet-ter than having a Democratic president.

“That’s not a victory at all,” Santorum said, adding: “We want a leader that believes in us and is not an establishment candidate who’s going to do more of the same.”

Responding to Perry’s claim of being the only true political outsider in the race, Santorum noted that Perry “requested 1,200 earmarks as governor of Texas, and Rick Perry’s been in politics in Texas for 25 years, so he’s been in public life more than anyone else running for president.”

Santorum’s campaign said it has raised $3 million since the second-place finish in Iowa, with at least half of that planned for spending on ads in South Carolina.

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Tucson school board suspends Mexican-American studies program

Tucson, Arizona, pub-lic schools suspended their Mexican-American studies program after an administra-tive law judge ruled it violat-ed a new state law and the state said the local district was going to lose $15 million in annual aid, officials said.

The Governing Board of the Tucson Unified School District voted late Tuesday to suspend immediately the Mexican-American studies depart-ment, marking a turning point in a yearlong controversy over a new state law banning cer-tain ethnic studies.

“The district shall revise its social studies core curricu-lum to increase its coverage of Mexican-American history and culture, including a bal-anced presentation of diverse viewpoints on controversial issues. The end result shall be a single common social stud-ies core sequence through which all high school students are exposed to diverse view-points,” the governing board said in a statement.

“The district shall study and bring to the board new measures designed to narrow the achievement gaps for tra-ditionally underserved and economically disadvantaged students,” the board said.

The board action came in the wake of Friday’s order by Arizona State Superintendent John Huppenthal to withhold 10 percent — or about $15 million a year — of state aid to the Tucson district retroactive to August 15, 2011, according to a copy of the order posted on the district’s website.

The state superintendent’s order was, in turn, made after last month’s ruling by an administrative law judge that found the program’s curricu-lum was teaching Latino his-tory and culture “in a biased,

political, and emotionally charged manner,” and upheld state officials’ findings that it violated a state law passed in 2010.

The Tucson Unified School District had appealed a deci-sion by the law’s chief backer, then-state schools superin-tendent Tom Horne, to shut down the program.

Horne left office at the end of 2010, but his successor, Huppenthal, backed Horne’s ruling in June.

Under the law, the state can withhold 10 percent of its funding for the school district until the district changes the course.

During their appeal, dis-trict officials pointed out that an audit commissioned by Huppenthal praised the pro-gram and found “no observ-able evidence” that the classes violated state law.

A witness for the school system argued that teaching students “historical facts of oppression and racism” was less likely to promote “racial resentment”— something specifically banned by the 2010 law — than ignoring that history.

In last month’s ruling, administrative law judge Lewis Kowal said the audi-tors observed only a limited number of classes. He added, “Teaching oppression objec-tively is quite different than actively presenting material in a biased, political, and emo-tionally charged manner.”

Tucson educators who have challenged the con-stitutionality of the new law in court have defended the Mexican-American stud-ies program as no differ-ent than African-American or Native American studies classes.

— CNN

Thirty years ago, many students began their school science projects with a visit to the World Book Encyclopedia, the 22-volume set found in many homes and most school libraries covering topics from A to Z.

Now, the Encyclopedia of Life website provides students with much more infor-mation on living beings than those 22 volumes could ever hold.

“Knowledge of all biodiversity is scat-tered all around the world in databas-es and drawers and people’s heads,” Encyclopedia of Life director Bob Corrigan said. “If it flies, crawls, grows, spores, if it is life, we want to have one place to bring it all together.”

The Encyclopedia of Life, found at http://www.eol.org, is less than 5 years old but is approaching 1 million species pages that include everything from the names of animals (the Atlantic cod has more than 100 of them in the English lan-guage) to information about their habi-

tats (the common wasp’s natural habitat is grasslands and woodlands, but it easily adapts to urban habitats) to reproduction habits (the eggs of the longnose sawshark hatch before the young are released from the mother’s body).

The site also includes fungi like Armillaria solidipes, the largest living organism in the world, which has been growing for an estimated 2,400 years.

There are around 1.9 million identified living beings in the world, and scientists believe somewhere between 3 million and 10 million are yet to be discovered.

The Web curators take the validity of the information seriously by marking it as “trusted,” “untrusted” or “not reviewed.”

“There was an article about pika. The first sentence described it as a rodent, and it’s not a rodent,” Corrigan said. The article was marked as “untrusted” until a new version was posted saying the pika was “rodent-like.”

There are about 30 full-time

Encyclopedia of Life employees, but hun-dreds of other scientists volunteer their time and knowledge by adding and con-firming the content.

“You can go to Apis mellifera, the European honeybee, and find a wonder-ful set off descriptions written by schol-ars and by thoughtful people, not joeba-nana546,” Corrigan said.

When the site came online, its target audience was professional scientists. This past fall, EOL was reworked to appeal to citizen scientists, the general public and students.

Middle school science teacher Jeff Danielian has incorporated the Encyclopedia of Life into his Providence, R.I., classroom. His students choose a plant or animal to research and go to the site for their preliminary informa-tion. Then, the students create their own online collections of similar creatures.

— CNN

Rivals turn up heat on Romney after New Hampshire win

Website aims to describe every living creature

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Oregon State’s Jenna Dixon shoots a three in a game at Gill Coliseum earlier this year.

that is coming off a heartbreaking quadruple-overtime loss to Stanford at Gill Coliseum. A loss like that can really hurt a team’s psyche, but Robinson is confident the Beavers have rebounded well.

Despite the urgency with which Oregon State needs a win, Robinson emphasized that this win is no more important than any other win. He and the players are living by his mantra of taking the season one day at a time.

“[It’s] going to be a very tough game and it’s very important for us to play well,” Robinson said. “Is it so important that you base the whole season on it? I don’t think so. We’re not at that point yet, but it’s important, as is every game you play.”

Alex Crawford, sports [email protected]

the University of Arizona.

“[On] athleticism, ASU is doing a great job. They are what they have typically been, which is defense-oriented team,” Rueck said. “They really compete, they are very athletic. They are more like Cal in that regard. They will pressure you 94 feet, they’ll make every dribble and pass a tough one. So it will be a 40 minute battle.”

Both Arizona State and Oregon State are looking to break losing streaks (two games for ASU, three for OSU).

Expect to see the matchup against U of A keying off of dynamic junior guard, Davellyn White.

“Arizona is extremely talented and athletic, and probably has one of the most dynamic players in the conference,” Rueck said. “Davellyn White is a phenomenal basketball player and can score from anywhere across half court, so we are going to have [our] hands full as well. We have two more great opponents coming in here.”

Oregon State has been taking practices very seriously, imple-menting offense into their defensive identity.

“One thing Scott and the coaches really want for us is to reach our potential, emphasizing how important each possession is and how much it can change the momentum of the game,” Indendi said. “We are making good passes and making sure people are open, passing on time, seeing our post and not limiting ourselves.”

“I’ve looked at the tapes of ASU and [Arizona] a lot, letting them [the team] see exactly what is coming in here [tonight] and this Saturday,” Rueck said. “It is the Pac-12, there are zero nights off.”

These next couple games could have a significant impact on where OSU would look to finish within the Pac-12.

“I think our team understands that, and I think our team is maturing as a group,” Rueck said. “I think we are going to continue to see growth and progress.”

Jacob Shannon, sports [email protected]

wOMeN’S bASKeTbAlln Continued from page 7

MeN’S HOOPSn Continued from page 7

Pac-12 standings1. Stanford 4-0 13-12. USC 3-1 8-63. WSU 3-1 9-74. Colorado 2-1 13-15. Cal 2-2 11-56. UCLA 2-2 7-87. Arizona 1-2 12-38. ASU 1-2 10-49. Utah 1-2 8-610. OSU 1-3 10-511. UW 1-3 9-512. Oregon 1-3 9-7

OSU individual stats PPG RPG APGMarchbanks, E 13.2 6.9 4.1Gibson, A 12.7 3.9 2.9Bright, P 9.7 5.3 0.1Martin, A 8.8 3.6 2.0Pinto, T 6.9 4.9 0.1

OSU results11/11 WOU W, 96-3211/13 Montana St. W, 83-5311/17 CSN W, 83-6311/20 Southern Utah W, 90-4011/22 @ EWU W, 74-6011/02 vs. North Texas L, 60-5312/03 @ Rice W, 63-5712/10 @ Pepperdine W, 63-5212/13 @ CSB W, 85-6212/16 Corban W, 79-4712/19 Saint Mary’s L, 81-6112/29 UW W, 60-5512/31 WSU L, 61-5401/05 @ Cal L, 61-54 (2 OT)01/07 @ Stanford L, 67-60

Next two:01/12 ASU 01/14 Arizona

Beavers in the top 25Wrestling (NWCA/USA

Today Coaches Poll)1. Oklahoma State2. Iowa3. Penn State4. Minnesota5. Cornell6. Illinois7. Nebraska8. Ohio St.9. Missouri10. Pittsburgh11. Michigan12. Oklahoma13. Wyoming14. Maryland15. Lehigh16. Oregon StateT17. NorthwesternT17. Virginia Tech19. Central Michigan20. Rutgers21. Virginia22. Kent St.23. Edinboro24. Binghamton25. Hofstra

WrestlingGymnastics (GymInfo)

1. UCLA2. Alabama3. Florida4. Oklahoma5. Utah6. Nebraska7. Oregon State8. Stanford9. Georgia10. Michigan11. Arkansas12. LSU13. Penn State14. Boise State15. Illinois16. WashingtonT17. AuburnT17. Ohio State19. Arizona20. Denver21. Kent State22. Minnesota23. Kentucky24. Iowa State25. Iowa

Beavers at Zona

Oregon State has tradi-tionally struggled at the

McKale Center. The Beavers have won in Tucson just once dating back to the

1982-83 season.A look at the past 20 results:2010-11: L, 70-592009-10: W, 63-552008-09: L, 64-472007-08: L, 76-632006-07: L, 83-722005-06: L, 80-582004-05: L, 91-702003-04: L, 109-752002-03: L, 72-602001-02: L, 93-872000-01: L, 65-541999-2000: L, 90-731998-99: L, 89-721997-98: L, 93-801996-97: L, 99-481995-96: L, 84-601994-95: L, 83-691993-94: L, 100-561992-93: L, 81-701991-92: L, 86-58

Pac-12 standings1. Colorado 3-0 11-42. Stanford 3-1 13-33. California 3-1 13-44. Washington 3-1 10-65. Arizona 2-1 11-56. Oregon 2-2 11-57. UCLA 2-2 9-78. ASU 1-2 5-109. Utah 1-2 4-1110. WSU 1-3 9-711. OSU 1-3 11-512. USC 0-4 5-12

OSU individual stats PPG RPG APGCunningham, J 17.6 3.4 3.1Starks, A 13.7 2.7 2.8Collier, D 12.4 4.9 2.0Nelson, R 10.7 3.1 2.9Burton, J 10.1 6.6 3.6

OSU results11/12 CSB W, 86-6211/14 WA W, 93-6011/16 Hofstra W, 82-7211/19 vs. Texas W, 100-95 (OT)11/21 vs. Vanderbilt L, 64-6211/26 @ Towson W, 66-4612/04 Montana W, 71-4612/09 Idaho L, 74-6012/13 UIC W, 95-5312/15 Howard W, 93-7212/18 Portland St. W, 101-6812/21 @ Chicago St. W, 92-6612/29 @ UW L, 95-8012/31 @ WSU L, 81-7601/05 Cal W, 92-8501/07 Stanford L, 103-101 (4 OT)

Next two:01/12 @ Arizona 01/14 @ ASU

Men’s BasketBall

WoMen’s BasektBall

8 •Thursday, January 12, 2012 [email protected] • 737-6378

The Daily Barometer Sports ‘‘

‘‘

#howtobeagoodmother raise him or her to hate the ducks

— Joe Burton (OSU_11_Joe) Beaver Tweet of the Day

Gill Coliseum — Tonight, 7 p.m.

NEil AbREWThE dAily BAroMETEr

Kimberly Brandon

25Vital Statistics (Senior forward) PPG RPG APG2011-12 Season 10.0 7.0 1.1Last year vs. OSU 12.0 7.7 0.3

Micaela Pickens

2Vital Statistics (Junior guard) PPG RPG APG2011-12 Season 7.9 5.1 1.7Last year vs. OSU N/A N/A N/A

Kali Bennett

11Vital Statistics (Senior center) PPG RPG APG2011-12 Season 7.2 6.4 2.2Last year vs. OSU 4.0 4.0 1.7

Deja Mann

5Vital Statistics (Junior guard) PPG RPG APG2011-12 Season 6.9 3.4 4.0Last year vs. OSU 2.7 1.0 1.3

E. Marchbanks

15Vital Statistics (Senior guard)

PPG RPG APG2011-12 Season 13.2 6.9 4.1Last year vs. ASU 6.7 6.0 1.3

Ali Gibson

14Vital Statistics (Freshman guard)

PPG RPG APG2011-12 Season 12.7 3.9 2.9Last year vs. ASU N/A N/A N/A

Patricia Bright

20

Alyssa Martin

24Vital Statistics (Sophomore guard)

PPG RPG APG2011-12 Season 8.8 3.6 2.0Last year vs. ASU 13.0 3.7 2.3

Vital Statistics (Junior forward) PPG RPG APG

2011-12 Season 9.7 5.3 0.1Last year vs. ASU N/A N/A N/A

Why should you go?Two years removed from winning just three Pac-12 games, the Beavers are off to a respectable start in confer-ence play. They’re 1-3, but one of those losses came in double overtime to Washington State and the other was a seven-point loss to No. 4 Stan-ford. Simply put, it’s a program on the rise.

Last year’s close callsArizona State won all three

meetings, but it was never easy. The Sun devils won by three in Tempe, five in Corvallis and six in the opening round of the Pac-10 Tournament.

Arizona St. vs. Oregon St.

EARlySiA MARchbANkS

Beavers have shown promise so farn The women’s basketball team

is 1-3 in conference, but they’ve competed well

by Jacob ShannonThe Daily BaromeTer

If it were a sink or swim situation, the Oregon State University women’s basketball team seems more than capable of treading water. But there isn’t room for mediocrity when it comes to Pac-12 basketball.

For the Beavers (10-5, 1-3 Pac-12), there seem to be waves of mojo and splashes of cohesion, but the next step to moving upstream in the rank-ings of the Pac-12 is harnessing wins.

Oregon State tipped off conference play during winter break, hosting both the University of Washington and Washington State University at home. After their win over the Huskies, the Beavers were unable find themselves in the victorious after taking Washington State into double overtime.

Reflecting on last week’s trip to the Bay Area, Oregon State couldn’t find its rhythm to match Cal point for point. However, the team’s resiliency shouldn’t go underrated, as they took Stanford, ranked No.4 in the nation, down to the last few possessions.

What their record cannot measure is the team’s confidence. Two of their three conference losses could have gone the other way.

“Any time you play a team like Stanford, No.4 in the country, you get to see what your character is and what you could see yourself be as a player or a person, and a lot of us really felt that that night,” said junior guard Sage Indendi.

“It was awesome, it was great to go toe-to-toe with those guys for 33 minutes,” said head coach Scott Rueck. “We saw one night we were taken out of our game completely, then the next night we were able to learn from that, we were able to play at a level we all want to play. Overall it’s two losses, but in the journey of the season, it was a very positive step for us.”

It will be interesting to see how this persistent mindset plays out in tonight’s game against Arizona State and if any momentum can be carried through to Saturday’s game against

Men’s hoops versus Arizona in Tucson tonight

TAylOr HANd | THE DAILY BAROMETER

Devon Collier and the Beavers found life relatively easy early in the season. Pac-12 play has been a different story, however.

n The Beavers take their 1-3 Pac-12 record to a place they’ve traditionally struggled

by Alex CrawfordThe Daily BaromeTer

After getting off to its best start since Gary Payton was on the team, the Oregon State University men’s basketball team has hit a bit of a rough patch for the last four games.

Despite going 1-3 to start Pac-12 play, the Beavers are confident they can pull it together and regain the winning form that led them to a 10-2 out-of-conference record.

“This is a process, but with each game we play I see [progress] with our guys. They’re getting more and more confident in themselves,” Head Coach Craig Robinson said. “They don’t need me to pump them up all the time.”

This weekend the Beavers travel to Arizona to take on University of Arizona on Thursday and Arizona State University on Saturday.

Last season, Arizona won the Pac-10 and reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. But gone is 2010-11 Pac-10 Player of the Year Derrick Williams, who was the second overall pick in last June’s NBA Draft.

This season, the Wildcats are just hoping to compete in a conference that has no heavy favorites and could see as few as two teams hear their names called on Selection Sunday.

Oregon State comes in as a much taller team, which, on paper, seems to give the Beavers a big advan-tage. But despite their small size, Arizona has been out-rebounding their opponents by 7.2 rebounds per game.

“They’re like five guards and a small forward, and that’s hard to guard when you’re playing man to

man. You’re already taller than them except for Ahmad [Starks] in our cur-rent starting lineup,” Robinson said. “They’re going to be at an advantage if they decide to break us down one-on-one and take us to the basket.”

Robinson stressed the importance of playing very good man-to-man defense against a small team like this but also noted that the Beavers will be playing some zone.

“We have to guard them and they have to guard us, so at some point there’s going to be a meeting of the wills [and] we have to impose our will more than they impose theirs,” Robinson said.

Expect a high scoring affair tonight as Oregon State is tied for fourth in the nation in points per game with 84.4 on average. Arizona and Oregon State are first and second in the con-ference in three-pointers made per game, respectively.

A win tonight against Arizona would be huge for a Beaver squad

See MeN’S HOOPS | page 7

OSU (11-5, 1-3) vs. UA (11-5, 2-1)Where: McKale Center (Tucson, Ariz.)When: Tonight, 5:30 p.m. PSTOn air: ROOT Sports

See wOMeN’S bASKeTbAll | page 7

A ‘Celebration of Life’ honoring the late Fred Thompson will be held in the Austin Auditorium at the LaSells Stewart Center at 3 p.m. today. It’s open to the public.

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Jan. 12, 2012