THECAMPUS

covering the campus beat

ChronicleNovember 10, 2010

Ritalin: a study steroid?Are students abusing prescription drugs for an academic edge?

Pg. 4

Page 2 11/10/2010

The PublicationThe Campus Chronicle is an independent student newspaper serving the DMACC Ankeny campus. The Chronicle publishes weekly In print. Copies are located in newspaper boxes around campus.

Volume 10, Issue 9 Copyright 2010

Contact UsThe Campus ChronicleBuilding 3W, Room 22006 S. Ankeny Blvd.Ankeny, IA 50023

515.964.6425515.965.7301 (fax)chronicle@dmacc.edu

CorrectionsThe Campus Chroniclestrives to be accurate, objective and Fair in our news coverage. To report an error, please contact the editor at chronicle@dmacc.edu or call 515-964-6425

Subscription priceSingle copies are free to members of the DMACC community. Ad-ditional copies may be available for purchase for 50 cents each by contacting the Chronicle adviser at:Jkroosa@dmacc.eduor 515.965.7350

Photo EditorApril Kustanborter

Staff Writers/PhotographersBrian OsbornJason MesserJay WarrenCJ Eilers

jonathan Krueger

Circulation ManagerJill Majerus

Advertising StaffMike McGregorTrevor Stroup

Office ManagerPosition Available

Video Project/Web Manager

Glen Cosner

Faculty AdviserJulie Roosa

The Staff

Index

4 Study DrugsCheap cheats or helpful hands?

5Listen Local

Profile: Crashes Rivers

Editor in Chief-Brian Osborn-

Copy EditorMandy Bornhoft

Layout EditorMariah Mack

CartoonistKatie Hermann

Follow us on Twitter.Friend us on Facebook.Check out our website at www.campuschronicle.net

7

DMACC Bears BasketballWomen’s season starts with a bang

By Rene RodRiguez

Mcclatchy newspapeRs

(Mct)

Upcoming movies in theaters

Opening Wednesday:M O R N I N G

GLORY (PG-13): Harrison Ford makes a welcome return to comedy as a famous anchorman hired by a TV producer (Rachel McAdams) to revive the sagging ratings of her station’s morning news show. But the egotistical newsman refuses to

share the stage with his co-anchor (Diane Keaton).

___Opening Friday:THE NEXT

THREE DAYS (PG-13): Russell Crowe is a man desperately trying to find a way to get his wife (Elizabeth Banks) out of prison after she is charged with murder. Writer-director Paul Haggis (“Crash”) sets aside the social commentary

for ticking-clock Hitchcockian thrills.

SKYLINE (PG-13): The citizens of Los Angeles (among them Eric Balfour, Donald Faison and Brittany Daniel) try to make sense of the strange lights that suddenly appear in the sky. Could they be evil extraterrestrials with highly advanced technology? Could they be planning to wipe mankind off the face of

the planet? I’m betting yes.

UNSTOP PABLE (PG-13): Denzel Washington, Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson are among the employees of a rail company racing to keep an unmanned, runaway freight train loaded with toxic chemicals from destroying a city. Remember “Runaway Train”? This one is nothing like that film, I swear.

Bored?Want a Challenge?

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Its a fun and challenging venture that allows you to gain a lot of experience in not only jour-

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Sign up for JOU 125 today!

question? contact Editor in Chief Brian Osborn at baosborn1@dmacc.edu

Page 3 11/10/2010

November Calendar

Weather

Monday FridayWednesday ThursdayTuesdaySunday Saturday2

Wednesday 10 Thursday 11 Tuesday 16Monday 15Sunday 14Saturday 13Friday 12

T-Storms66°/36°

Showers49°/33°

Cloudy50°/31°

Cloudy47°/29°

Cloudy44°/28°

Showers50°/33°

Showers63°/41°

*For more information on events and their locations, go to dmacc.edu and click on the calendar.Weather.com

24 25 26

17 18 19 20

21 22 27

28 29 30

23

161514

13121110987

65431

Clearly Crystals 10 a.m.UNI Admissions Counselor 10 a.m.

Grocery Bingo 11:30 a.m.Venus Family PlanningClinic 1 p.m.

Nurse Practitioner10 a.m.Writing Workshop:Sentence Variety 11:15 a.m.

Scholarship Deadline4 p.m.

Drake Admissions Counselor 10 a.m.Nurse Practitioner10 a.m.

Karaoke 4 p.m.

Thanksgiving Meal11 a.m.Writing Workshop: Verb and Pronoun Consistency 1:25 p.m.

DMACC Play: “Safe Haven” 10:10 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12:20 p.m., 7 p.m.Nurse Practitioner 10 a.m.

Mall of America Trip7 a.m.

Workshop: Preparing for Final Exams 11:15 a.m.Licensed Mental HealthCounselor 4 p.m.

Workshop: Preparing for Final Exams 11:15 a.m.

DMACC Play: “Safe Haven” 11:15 a.m., 12:50 p.m., 7 p.m.

Page 4 11/10/2010

“I think it is just as serious as plagiarism.”-- Bradley Spahn, a student at Wesleyan University in Connecticut

referring to the abuse of “study drugs” as cheating

By Kathleen Megan

the hartford Courant

(MCt)

Study drugs: A new way to cheat?

HA R T F O R D , Conn. _ To

Bradley Spahn, it seemed like a clear case of cheating.

The Wesleyan University student was assigned a 24-hour take-home exam. Later, he said, nearly half the class would admit to taking so-called “study drugs” _ medications like Ritalin or Adderall _ to help them focus during the exam. They either took the drugs without a prescription or, if they had a prescription, took more than the prescribed dose.

“It seemed pretty obvious that taking illegal drugs to help you do better on an exam is cheating,” said Spahn, now a senior. “I think it is just as serious as plagiarism.”

The incident spurred Spahn to expand an effort he already had begun: trying to getting the university to classify the abuse of “study drugs” _ usually stimulants prescribed for attentional disorders _ as cheating.

During the 2008-09 academic year, Wesleyan’s honor code review committee took up the matter but decided not to include study drugs. But the

university’s non-academic code of conduct covers the abuse of prescription drugs _ along with alcohol and drug abuse.

While all universities are concerned about the abuse of prescription drugs as a health and legal issue, questions about fairness and cheating are seldom raised, as they were at Wesleyan.

Benedict Bernstein, a 2009 graduate of Wesleyan who as chairman of the academic affairs committee was present at the honor code review meetings, said he could not disclose the discussion but said he did not support the inclusion of study drugs in the code.

“I didn’t feel that it could be prosecuted,” he said.

A college might be able to prove that a student was in possession of “study drugs,” but he said it would be very difficult to prove that the drugs were used to prepare a particular paper or for a test.

And then, he said, there would be more questions raised: Would it violate the honor code if a student found he or she could study more effectively while under the influence of marijuana?

A statement from Michael Whaley, vice president of student affairs at Wesleyan, said

the university does not “condone any form of illicit drug use” and that there is “no reason to believe that the misuse of prescription drugs has increased at Wesleyan, but national survey data seems to indicate that such misuse is becoming a concern nationally.”

Indeed, several college administrators interviewed for this story said that while the questions about fairness and study drugs have not come up in discussions about cheating yet, they expect such questions to arise in the future.

Ann Reuman, an associate dean of students at Trinity College, said she could see that students without prescriptions taking “study drugs” without prescriptions might be likened to athletes on steroids. “It is an unfair advantage when someone is using these kinds of drugs inappropriately,” she said.

On the other hand, she said, a student might legally consume “No Doz, Red Bull or vats of coffee” to produce the same kind of affect effect.

“It would be a great thing to discuss,” Reuman said. “I would guess that most students wouldn’t consider it to be cheating.”

Donna Latella, director of academic integrity at

Quinnipiac University, said the consideration of cheating there hasn’t included the abuse of study drugs.

“It would be interesting to look at,” she said. “It’s intrigued me, and I’m actually going to bring it up.”

The medications in question _ Ritalin, Adderall and others _ are stimulants that are generally prescribed for children and adults who have attentional disorders. As the numbers of children diagnosed with attentional disorders has multiplied in the past couple decades, so too has the availability of the drugs, whether among high school students or on college campuses.

For someone with a disorder, the drugs work to help the person focus and maintain concentration. But people without the disorder also experience an increase in energy and focus, so students seek it out, particularly during midterm and exam periods.

Dr. Yitfrah Kaminer, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, said studies show that 4 to 8 percent of college students use such stimulants regularly, getting them without prescriptions.

He said that between 10 and 16 percent of young

people who are medicated for attention deficit disorder share or sell their pills with others.

Kaminer said the drugs definitely can improve concentration and focus in people who do not have any attentional disorder.

At Wesleyan, Spahn said he has noticed that it tends to be top students who seek out the medications because they are concerned about performing well.

David Callahan, the author of “The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead,” said he doesn’t think taking study drugs “qualifies as cheating in the way that cheating has been traditionally defined.”

He said he understands “the sentiment that a study drug gives advantages to some students.” But, he said, “if you find a way to study more effectively, to master more information ... one can make an argument that to the degree study drugs allow people to put more information in their brain or master a more complex idea, what’s wrong with that?”

Even if the drugs are illegally obtained? “I guess that’s a different issue,” Callahan said. “That’s an issue about drug abuse.”

Andrew Dunn, a student at Naugatuck Community College who is studying radiology, was diagnosed with an attentional disorder around the time he entered college. When some students learned he was on Adderall, he said, they “constantly” offered to buy it from him.

“It’s very, very annoying,” he said. He added that he “pretty much” keeps it to himself because otherwise, “it starts drama and other problems.”

A student who attends UConn at the Waterbury campus said his roommate has a prescription for Adderall and lets him have a pill when he needs one to get his work done. The student, whose name the Hartford Courant is not using because he is using the drug illegally, said, “You can interpret it as cheating if you are talking about academic integrity,” he said.

But he said he doesn’t see it as cheating because he is so busy _ working full time and going to college full time _ that he otherwise would be unable to succeed.

He said it helps him to do the work needed to pass his classes: “It can make the difference between a B and an A on a paper.”

Visit the Hartford Courant at http://www.courant.com/.

Page 5 11/10/2010

The Des Moines Area Community

College (DMACC) women’s basketball team began the 2010-11 season with victories against the University of Sioux Falls (USF) junior varsity and the William Penn University junior varsity in the DMACC Classic Nov. 5-6.

Sophomore Caitlin Axland of Irwin scored 20 points and four other players scored in double figures as the Bears defeated the USF JV 97-61 on Nov. 5. Freshmen

Ashley Hagedorn of Irwin and Ann Walker of Brayton scored 15 points each to lead DMACC past the WPU JV on Nov. 6.

“I think it was a really good start,” DMACC coach Steve Krafcisin said. “We’ve got to rebound a little better and take care of the ball a little better, but I thought it was good and good practice to go against those teams.”

DMACC opened up a 50-26 halftime lead against the USF JV and coasted to the victory by outscoring the Cougars 47-35 in the second half. Freshman Joscelyn Coleman of Shenandoah finished with 13 points and a team-

Cowboy’s head coach fired

DMACC Bears women’s basketball start season off strongPress release from DmaCC

By ToDD arCher

The Dallas morning news

(mCT)

IRVING, Texas _ Less than 10

months after he was given a two-year contract extension, Wade Phillips is no longer the Dallas Cowboys head coach, according to sources.

For the first time in team history, the Cowboys have made an in-season coaching change with owner and general manager Jerry Jones handing the interim job to their assistant head coach Jason Garrett.

Phillips’ job security has been a consistent question even after winning two NFC East titles in three seasons but the Cowboys’

1-7 start forced Jones to do something he has never done before and consistently said this season he would not do.

The last straw was the 45-7 loss Sunday night to the Green Bay Packers, in which the Cowboys rushed for 39 total yards, allowed 28 second-quarter points and turned the ball over four times. The Cowboys lost 35-17 to Jacksonville

the week before at C o w b o y s S t a d i u m . P h i l l i p s ’ d e f e n s e a l l o w e d J a g u a r s quarterback D a v i d Garrard to throw four touchdown p a s s e s , M a u r i c e

Jones-Drew to rush for 135 yards and wide receiver Mike Sims-Walker to gain 153 receiving yards.

The Cowboys entered 2010 with the hopes of being the first team to play in a Super Bowl in its own stadium only to see dreams of a spot in Super Bowl XLV crash. The only team with a worse record than the Cowboys is winless Buffalo.

Phillips finished with a 34-22 record, but his time will be remembered more for what the Cowboys were unable to accomplish.

In 2007, the Cowboys finished with an NFC-best 13-3 record but were knocked out of the divisional round of the playoffs by the New York Giants, 21-17, at Texas Stadium. The Giants ended up winning the Super Bowl. In 2008, the Cowboys missed the playoffs altogether with a 9-7 mark that culminated with a 44-6 embarrassment at Philadelphia to close the regular season.

Last year the Cowboys rallied to finish 11-5 and ended their playoff-win drought with a 34-14 win against Philadelphia in the wild-card round, but they were crushed the following week by Minnesota, 34-3.

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The Cowboys hired Phillips on Feb. 8, 2007 after an exhaustive search to replace Bill Parcells, who went 34-30 in his four years as coach. Phillips’ easy-going manner and success in running the 3-4 defense was viewed as the perfect antidote to Parcells’ strict regime.

It worked at first with the 13-3 start, but the Cowboys were among the most penalized team in the league during his tenure and could not create enough turnovers defensively. The Cowboys marked Phillips’ third full-time head coaching stops (Denver , Buffalo) and including two interim jobs (New Orleans, Atlanta), he has an 82-60 record but went just 1-5 in the postseason.

Garrett, 44, was viewed as a head coach in-waiting in part because he was hired

before Phillips. The former backup to Troy Aikman has called the offensive plays since 2007 and while the unit has piled up yardage it has not always led to points.

After the 2007 season Garrett had the chance to become the head coach in Baltimore and Atlanta but chose to stay and became the NFL’s highest-paid assistant coach at $3 million per season. After the 2008 season he nearly became St. Louis’ head coach.

Garrett does not have head coaching experience, but Jones has long admired Garrett’s organizational skills and offensive mind. His father, Jim, was a long-time scout for the Cowboys and his brothers, John and Judd, are the team’s tight ends coach and director of pro scouting, respectively.

high seven rebounds, sophomore Sam Thrapp of Davenport added 11 points and sophomore Katlyn Wood of Monroe and Hagedorn contributed 10 points apiece. Thrapp had six assists in the win and Coleman finished with three steals.

The Bears took a 37-13 lead into h a l f t i m e against the WPU JV and pulled away in the second half. C o l e m a n added 11 points to the D M A C C attack and

Wood contributed seven points, 12 rebounds, six assists, six steals and three blocked shots. Thrapp led the Bears in assists with seven and sophomore Carli Bunning of Boone, freshman Karlie Warehime of Gowrie and Coleman finished with six rebounds apiece.

“I wanted to see if we could do what I thought we could do and how it would look,” Krafcisin said. “Transition is what we’re going to be good at and we got great shots, they fell in the first game and didn’t fall in the second game, but we still scored 84 points.

What we want to do now is correct our mistakes.”

DMACC travels to Norfolk, Neb., Nov. 12-13 for the Hawks Classic. The Bears will play Northeast Community College of Norfolk on Nov. 12 and will play North Platte (Neb.) Community College on Nov. 13.

(MCT)

Page 6 11/10/2010

By Betsy sharkey

Los angeLes

(MCt)

‘Due Date’ makes for an ugly babyJohn Hughes did it

better.I say that because it

is nearly impossible to watch “Due Date,” the new comedy from “The Hangover” filmmaking phenom Todd Phillips and not be hit by a wave of nostalgia for the far better “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”

Since Phillips and crew never mention “Planes, Trains, etc.” as either inspiration or reference point, I can only assume they either missed it, although with cable and all kinds of handy film reference guides, that hardly seems possible, or they’re counting on the generational divide to keep comparisons at bay. Fat chance.

Since there is no train on this road trip starring Zach Galifianakis and Robert Downey Jr. as strangers thrown together by happenstance and a Homeland Security infraction, there’s more auto action, much of it the monster-truck-rally sort. Still, at times it feels as if little more than the names have been changed. This is a disappointing turn coming from Phillips, particularly since “The Hangover” was such a fresh, bracing brew of black comic fun.

Granted, it’s tough to hit it out of the park when you’re starting with such a familiar premise (though remakes, sequels and the like are a bad habit that

Hollywood in general can’t seem to break). Or maybe Phillips would argue he’s just repeating himself, doing a more grown-up version of his first feature film, 2000’s “Road Trip,” which had some of the frat-house vibe he perfected quite nicely a few years later in “Old School.”

Whatever the starting point, screenwriters Alan R. Cohen & Alan Freedland and Adam Sztykiel & Phillips, never quite pull it off here as our mismatched pair fight and fuss their way from Atlanta to Los Angeles. There are laughs, yes, but the sweetness and soft heart that made the John Candy-Steve Martin Thanksgiving journey all

warm and cozy has gone missing.

As Ethan Tremblay, Galifianakis once again draws the loser card that he’s been playing since he sat down at the table last summer in “The Hangover.” Tremblay is a wannabe actor on his way to Hollywood with scoring pot as his raison d’etre and a vague plan to scatter his dad’s ashes at the Grand Canyon en route. He’s got a man-perm, carries a man-purse and has a French bulldog named Sonny as a sidekick, so the character is tailor-made for the comic’s eccentric brand of humor.

His opposite number is Downey as Peter Highman, a name that will provide the

film its final, “sounds like,” R-rated punch line (with the “The Hangover” guys, nothing is accidental). That comes right after another gag with racial overtones, so misogyny and racism, how funny is that?

Peter is an A-type business guy desperate to get home for the birth of his child, although, honestly, if it was your firstborn, would you leave town if you didn’t have to (he didn’t) with your wife only days from delivery? Over the years, the usually excellent Downey has made an art out of the arch, which gives even the most despicable character he takes on some

redeeming qualities. But in “Due Date,” he struggles to unearth any inner goodness in Peter _ tough to do when he’s expected to get laughs by spitting at a dog.

What fun there is to be found is tied to the friction of the bumps along the way. There are problem people to deal with, primarily in the form of an Alabama back-country premium-pot seller played by Juliette Lewis, another off-the-grid character of the type she’s favoring these days, and Jamie Foxx as an ex-football superstar and close

friend of Peter’s, perhaps even closer (hint, hint) to the pregnant missus (Michelle Monaghan).

There are a lot of ramped-up action bits, including a mad dash across the Mexican border that should satisfy any metal-crushing, car-chasing fever thanks to director of photography Lawrence Sher (another “Hangover” buddy). And there are a series of increasingly serious mishaps with Peter lucky to get away with his life, but, frankly, he’s such a pill it’s tough to care.

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Page 7 11/10/2010

Listen Local

Profile: Cashes RiversBy CJ EilErs staff WritEr

This week for Listen Local I’ll be looking

at Cashes Rivers, a folk-rock singer-songwriter from Des Moines.

Cashes Rivers is Matthew Garcia (vocals, guitar) and his backing band. The name was a possible name for his friend’s baby, but was never used. Cashes Rivers has been around for two years. Drawing from folk and rock music, Cashes Rivers started with just the acoustic guitar and then become a full band. “I’ve always loved music,” said Garcia. “I learned how to play the guitar at age 14. I wrote my own songs because I had a hard time playing covers.” Cashes Rivers main influences include Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles (especially the Revolver album), Sufjan Stevens and Neutral Milk Cartel. Bands

in the area that Cashes Rivers likes are So Much Fun, Lastrange, Parlours and Canby. 

Since Cashes Rivers started two years ago, they have played at the Vaudeville Mews several times, People’s Court, The Ames Progressive, The M-Shop and even went on a week-long tour to North Carolina in support of Merge Records (which is Arcade Fire’s label). Cashes Rivers also released an EP in the fall of 2008, which garnered them much attention and opened the door to play more shows in the area. Last month, Cashes Rivers released a self-titled full-length album. They will be playing with Canby at People’s Court on Nov.19 and with The Envy Corp, in Omaha, on Nov.27. “I’m really excited about playing with the Envy Corps in Omaha,” said Garcia. 

For more information on Cashes Rivers, check out their Myspace and Facebook pages or cashesrivers.com. 

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DMACC Chronicle ad.indd   1 10/13/2010   11:56:04 AM