The Print Edition 3-27-2012

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For updates involving the shooting and related events, visit us online

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Jackson resident apprehended, charged with capital murder

BY HANNAH ROGERS

Editor in Chief

A suspect has been arrested and charged with capital murder in connection with the homicide of a fi rst-semester transfer student who was shot multiple times on Missis-sippi State University’s campus.

Mason Perry Jones, 21, of Jackson, was arrested in DeSoto County on Monday and is one of the three sus-pects in Saturday’s shooting, MSU Police Chief Georgia Lindley said in a news release.

Detective Brad Massey of the MSU Police Department said Jones was booked in the Oktib-beha County Jail around 7 p.m. Monday.

Maridith Geuder, director of uni-versity relations, said the offense un-derlying the capital murder charge is sell of a controlled substance.

Jones was arrested Sunday night by the U.S. Marshal’s Offi ce in Memphis on a February warrant from the Jackson Police Depart-

ment for armed robbery. Jones was on a northbound bus from Jack-son, headed toward an unknown destination, supervisory inspector of the U.S. Marshal Service Rich-ard Griffi n said.

He said they gained knowledge the bus would be in Memphis around 7 on Sunday night. Jones was taken into custody at a bus stop in Memphis.

News outlets reported late Monday night that a second sus-pect turned himself into the U.S. Marshal’s service. He was still be-ing booked at the time of print.

John Sanderson, 21, of Madi-son, was fatally shot multiple times Saturday night on the fi rst fl oor of Evans Hall and was found outside a residence hall room.

Bill Kibler, vice president of stu-dent affairs, said Sanderson was transported to OCH Regional Medical Center where the doc-tors worked with him for around 40 minutes before he was pro-nounced dead at 11:03 p.m.

BY EMMA CRAWFORD

Staff Writer

In the midst of the shoot-ing that took place at Evans Hall on Saturday night and left 21 year old Mississippi State University student John Sanderson dead, students are expressing their sadness and concern for the victim and his friends and family.

Johnny Weichel, freshman whose major is undeclared, said he is upset by the inci-dent and the loss of a fellow student.

“I was shocked personally, it hasn’t really hit me yet be-cause I never thought I’d be

in the midst of a situation like this,” he said. “I feel ter-rible for the family of the victim and for the families of the suspects.”

William Fair, junior inter-national business major, said after receiving the news that the shooting had been fatal, he was saddened by the in-cident.

“Initially I just really felt bad for his family and friends,” he said.

Students have also said they are slightly disquieted by the shooting because vio-lent crime is not common on MSU’s campus.

Students attempt to understand chaos, mourn death of peer

BY HANNAH ROGERS

Editor in Chief

After a year serving as Student Association president, Rhett Hobart will offi cially end his term on Thursday when Shelby Balius takes offi ce. The familiarity of his of-fi ce is gone – blank walls now lack framed renderings of Mississippi State landmarks and a now empty bookshelf is missing the collection of maroon and white memora-bilia that has decorated it for a year. Although he has not offi cially moved out of the president’s offi ce yet, Balius’s nameplate now sits on the president’s desk. The one con-stant is the collection of around 100 folders of informa-

tion Hobart has used throughout the year. These folders, along with agendas and minutes from

meetings that have occurred from the past year that Ho-bart has been a part of serving as SA president and a com-puter database that covers every initiative and event the SA has, will be passed down to Balius during the transi-tion process.

Transition, which began for Balius and Hobart the night of the election, has now almost encompassed a month.

“We sat down at 8 a.m. the next morning (after Ba-lius was elected) and looked at our calendars,” Hobart said. “Transition serves as a way for me to pass down

as much knowledge as possible.” The SA has developed its transition process over the last

four to fi ve years, which has led to a system in which the offi cers attempt to pass down their expertise to the new administration. The result of this is that years of institu-tional understanding has been preserved, Hobart said.

This year, a 103 plus-page document that covers every SA position — including the cabinet and the senate — and the accomplishments made this year, along with a plan to move forward will be published online. The last document of this nature on record in the SA offi ce was made during the 2002-2003 school year during Parker Wiseman’s term as SA president.

Hobart leaves behind legacy, plans

Fatal shooting on campus; Suspect arrested, charged

COURTESY PHOTO | WMC-TV

Mason Perry Jones was arrested by a U.S. Marshal task force in Memphis.

COURTESY PHOTO | UNIVERSITY RELATIONS

(Above): Mark Keenum talks to residents of Evans Hall on Sunday. (Below): Friends and classmates have written on Sandersonʼs door.

SEE REACTION, 4

SEE SHOOTING, 3JAY JOHNSON | THE REFLECTOR

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125TH YEAR | ISSUE 43

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Rhett Hobart will officially step down Thursday, when SA transition ends.

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TRANSITION continued from 1

“It’s going to be very helpful. This is something everyone can see,” Hobart said. “My section is 20 pages, and it’s broken down by position … it will probably end up being longer.”

Along with the documents from this current year, Balius will have folders from previous presi-dents like Thomas Sellers and Blake Jeter. The SA has an extensive amount of records from the past, including the blueprints for the Junction.

Transition does not just involve the transference of documents — it is a physical process in which Balius has shadowed Hobart and has begun taking over his responsibilities as president and has meet with important players on campus.

“We share a calendar on Groupwise. Our calen-dars are the same except for classes. These meet-ings help,” Hobart said. “When I became vice president, (during transition two years ago) I met with ITS about BullyMail. We began moving into

BullyMail my fi rst month of offi ce.”Balius said she has gone or will go with Hobart to

all the standing meetings the president is a part of.“It is a chance to meet with the administration so

we can work together, rather than against each oth-er,” she said.

The SA president is a part of about 50 standing committees, 10 that are off campus in the city of Starkville.

“We attempt to go to as many as possible … I in-troduce her to the committee,” Hobart said. “Once I go with her to one, I pass it down to her.”

Although transition offi cially ends on Thursday, Hobart said it may continue in the sense that he will continue to go to scheduled meetings with Balius if they have not been concluded. As of now, they have meet with around 40 people out of about 60. However, as of Friday morning, all duties of the SA president will fall to Balius. Because it is important

to carry on the programs and initiatives put forward from the previous year, Hobart said, the transition is more detailed for the president than other positions.

“If there’s any platform points we didn’t accom-plish, we try to carry those over. In the last four years, we’ve tried to continue until its done. The Reveille was on Thomas’s platform; we accomplished it dur-ing my term. Teaching evaluations we started during my term, and Shelby is carrying it forward,” he said.

During Hobart’s term, he said he has accomplished every point on his platform except the ones in the works, including the textbook exchange program and online event forms.

“The year wasn’t enough time to get it done, but the ball has started rolling,” he said. “We are work-ing through contractual issues with the (textbook ex-change) company. Once it is done, the website could be up within a month.”

The streamlined event calendar Hobart proposed is in the works — the committee was formed a year ago — and recommendations are now being made around campus.

Balius said the proposal to transfer the process of students taking teacher evaluations from paper to on-line has gone through dean’s council and the teaching evaluations committee has been consulted. Once that has been completed, it will move to the faculty senate and will probably be on the agenda of the fi rst meet-ing of next year.

The reformation of teacher evaluations has to be done in two segments, Hobart said. The fi rst segment deals simply with the process being done online. The second part would deal with students being able to view part of teacher evaluations.

Kentucky and MSU are the only two schools in the SEC who do not have teacher evaluations online, Balius said.

“There is broad agreement to put them online in general,” she said. “We don’t reinvent the wheel. It’s important to look at what other schools are doing. We are looking at peer universities to ensure the best procedures possible are developed for our univer-sity.”

As Hobart completes his term as president, he said he is working to roll over projects to the new adminis-tration so it can continue what has not been fi nished. He will continue to work with the bullring project after his term ends in order to ensure its success.

“A lot of what we’re doing right now is looking at things we’ve started doing this administration and how to carry them over to this next year,” he said. “Transition has gone smoothly because of (Balius’s) previous knowledge.”

After responding to roughly 10,000 emails, sur-viving Tents for Tickets and providing the campus with new traditions and programs, Hobart said he is ready to move on. He said he’s proud of what he has done in the past year, including hearing at Cowbell Yell the remark from a cameraman who has worked for ESPN for 25 years state that he has never seen a student body this energized. He also was able to res-

urrect the class gift tradition and The Reveille. “Restoring and creating traditions was a goal of

mine from the beginning,” he said.The SA as a whole has become more transparent

and has better connected with the campus through avenues like Twitter, he said.

As Balius takes offi ce, Hobart said he is confi dent she can be successful in her new role.

“I’m excited about the leadership Shelby will be able to exhibit as SA president. Through her expe-rience with the SA in previous, I know she has the institutional and ability to continue moving the SA forward and representing the needs of every student at Mississippi State University,” he said.

Balius said as she moves forward, she is excited about cabinet selections, applications for which are due on Friday. The cabinet will have fi ve new pro-gramming positions, which Balius said will allow for more involvement for motivated students.

As she moves forward, Balius said she wants to prioritize the desires of the students when choosing programming because she only has a year.

“I want to reach out (to the student body) and be a visible person,” she said. “I’m very excited to have the opportunity I have, but it’s even more meaningful to have it on the foundation in which I do. We’ve had an incredible year at the SA.”

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Rhett Hobart poses for a photo with Director of the Office of Parent Services, Catherine Walker.

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Grant Cochran, former Student Government Association president of the University of Alabama, and Rhett Hobart are on site of tornado damage in Tuscaloosa when Hobart did work with the MSU SA.

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SHOOTING continued from 1SHOOTING continued from 1

Oktibbeha County coroner Michael Hunt has ruled the death a homicide. Preliminary results were expected around 4 p.m. on Monday but had not yet been received by Hunt at that time.

Lindley said the investigation is ongoing. A gun has also been found on campus.

Kibler said Sanderson, an un-declared major, was a resident of Rice Hall. Kibler said he believes both Sanderson and the suspects were in Evans Hall because they were invited.

There was no breech of secu-rity, he said.

“The relationships of the indi-viduals involved in the case will become clear as the investigation goes on,” he said.

The suspects were originally identifi ed as three black males who fl ed Evans Hall in a late model blue Crown Victoria. Geuder said Sunday the sus-pects were not believed to be students.

Kibler said there were wit-nesses to the event who helped

investigators determine the inci-dent was isolated.

“The perpetrators fl ed not only the scene, but campus, and probably the city of Starkville immediately,” he said.

The MSU Police Department was notifi ed of an incident at Evans Hall at 9:54 p.m. The

police arrived within one min-ute of receiving the emergency call. Sanderson was found with serious injuries, but it could not be determined immediately whether he had been stabbed or shot.

The investigation began im-mediately after the welfare of the victim was taken care of, Kibler said. Campus was placed on alert and patrols on cam-pus — including foot patrols in residence halls — increased signifi cantly.

Two of the suspects are still at large, but the campus is no lon-ger under an emergency alert.

Kibler said offi cials chose to release the fi rst Maroon Alert text message in order to alert the campus of a crime for safety reasons, despite not knowing if it was a shooting or a stabbing.

“We err on the side of safe-ty always,” he said. “We knew those who had performed this act had not yet been identifi ed, so we needed to send that infor-mation out to the campus.”

Twenty-four students in Ev-

ans Hall were asked to relocate to enhance and protect the in-tegrity of the investigation.

The motivation, along with surveillance video tapes from Evans Hall, are part of the in-vestigation and have not been released to the public.

In a press conference Sunday, MSU President Mark Keenum said the campus is known as a safe place and said he wants to assure students, parents, faculty and staff it continues to be safe.

“This is the fi rst time in our school’s history that such a trag-ic incident has occurred involv-ing a student being shot on our campus,” he said.

He said the campus goes to great lengths to promote safety.

“Our Bulldog family is sad-dened by this event and the loss of one of our students. Our hearts go out to John Sander-son’s family and friends and they will continue to be in our prayers,” he said. “Our top pri-ority is the safety and well-be-ing of our campus and all who inhabit it.”

Kibler said residence halls have three levels of card-access security during the night. One needs a student ID card to ac-cess the building, a wing, then a room. Visitors can be escorted into residence halls by students who live there. Surveillance video cameras are mounted at entrances.

Kibler said there are no hous-ing maintenance records that show a failure of card key access security in Evans.

Kibler said there have been no reports that any of the Ma-roon Alerts failed.

“We monitor that system carefully. We have the exact times when the button was pushed to send those. We send out tens of thousands, so there may have been a several minute gap. There were no reports of a systematic failure,” he said.

Kibler said the help the MSU Police Department has received from other law enforcement agencies has been exceptional and should be commended.

“Any assistance they have re-

quested has been provided im-mediately,” he said.

Keenum said in a news re-lease that the MSU police and the university’s Crisis Action Team have worked hard.

“We are extremely proud of the diligence shown by our police offi cers who have dem-onstrated the highest level of professionalism during the in-vestigation of the tragic death,” he said. “(The Crisis Action Team) also worked throughout the weekend to ensure that our campus was informed and up-dated as events unfolded.” ERIC EVANS | THE REFLECTOR

President Mark Keenum said at the press conference this is the first time for something like this to happen in MSUʼs history.

BY HAYLEE BURGE

Staff Writer

The Shackouls Honors Col-lege at Mississippi State Univer-sity may soon be taking on some changes, with the greatest being its link with universities in Ox-ford, England.

Hagan Walker, Honors Coun-cil member, said there will not be many curriculum changes for cur-rent honors college members. Be-cause the changes have not been approved by all, he could not give many details of the changes to come. The opportunity to study abroad will be more readily avail-able because of MSU’s partnership with three universities in Oxford, England.

Christopher Snyder, Shackouls Honors College dean and pro-fessor of history at MSU, said MSU students have been going to Christ Church, New College and Trinity in Oxford via MSU’s

study abroad program for the past fi ve years. This summer, he will be taking 15 students to Oxford in May and June. While there, he will be teaching a seminar on J.R. R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Dean Snyder will be using his book, “Tolkien and the Making of Middle Earth,” in the class.

Snyder said many study abroad scholarships are available and he believes the study abroad program in Oxford could be a great experi-ence for the students.

“Our students will benefi t from full college privileges, being taught by Oxford faculty, attending lec-tures by some of the greatest schol-ars in the world and by being part of the vibrant intellectual life in Oxford,” he said.

Ben Bailey, honors college mem-ber, is currently studying in Ox-ford at Christ Church. He said the structure of classes is very different there. At MSU, students take mul-

tiple classes and are tested on them a few times throughout the semes-ter. Classes at MSU may have up to 200 or 300 students. In Oxford, students may have two or three tu-torials, which are classes in which they meet individually or in small groups with the professor. Instead of taking tests, the students will write essays on questions posed by their professors. These papers are generally 2,000 words long. Bai-ley said in his eight-week term, he wrote 13 research papers.

Bailey said students who choose to study in Oxford usually take one primary tutorial, which meets once a week. They also take on a

secondary tutorial that meets every other week. Bailey said although it may seem like the students are only taking two classes, they will spend about 30 to 50 hours a week do-ing research, reading and writing essays. After the essays are written, the tutor will read them and dis-cuss them with the students. He or she will ask the writer of the essay diffi cult questions that cause him or her to think deeply and argue to defend the points made in the essay.

“It is not a system where the teacher imparts knowledge on the student,” he said. “It’s a system where the student researches and develops an idea, and the teacher helps refi ne that idea.”

Bailey said he encourages all who enjoy a challenge, hard work and research to study abroad in Oxford, England. He will be join-ing the group from MSU when they join Snyder for their six-week term in the summer.

VIDEO BLOGStudents may watch Ben Baileyʼs video blogs from his time in Oxford at youtube.com/user/NerdsKitchen.

Honors students partner with universities abroad

Friday, March 23• 1:30 a.m. A student was arrested for possession of marijuana in a motor vehicle in the Sessums Hall parking lot. Student referral was issued.• 1:52 p.m. A student reported being harassed by her ex-boyfriend and his friends.

Saturday, March 24• 1:45 a.m. Student referrals were issued for climbing on top of Etheredge Hall to retrieve a frisbee.

Sunday, March 25• 1:18 a.m. A student was murdered at Evans Hall.• 6:39 p.m. A student reported items in his room in Evans Hall that did not belong to him.

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REACTION continued from 1

Fair said he has always thought campus to be very safe relative to the city of Starkville.

“I feel like campus is probably more of a safe place. I feel like there’s more crime that goes on off campus in Starkville; this is the first incident of its kind,” he said.

Austin Lenox, sophomore risk management, insurance and financial planning major, said he thought MSU is the last place an incident like this would happen.

“It is so out of character for something like this to happen at Mississippi State University,” he said. “I am very glad the per-petrators aren’t Mississippi State students; it shows that our students don’t do things like this.”

The recent abduction hoax was initially reported to stu-dents via the Maroon Alert text message sys-tem and could have led students to question the validity of the Maroon Alert text message they received inform-ing them of the shooting on Saturday night.

However, students under-stood that this situation held life-threatening consequences and the Maroon Alert was to be taken seriously.

Lauren Aycock, freshman kinesiology major, said the thought of this event being fab-ricated briefly crossed her mind after the initial shock she felt when she received the Maroon Alert.

“It definitely scared me at first; that thought crossed my mind a little later, but this was just so much more serious,” she said.

Shekerra Dawkins, freshman biochemistry major, shared

Aycock’s immediate reaction to the news of the shooting.

“I thought about that it could be fake, but I know someone wouldn’t joke about that; I knew it must be real,” she said.

Both Dawkins and Aycock live on campus and said the most unnerving aspect of the shooting is that it took place in a residence hall.

“I was just really shocked that it happened in a dorm where

we’re supposed to be safe,” Dawkins said.

Aycock said she is uneasy after Saturday night’s events but knows MSU is not a danger-ous place.

“I think things like this can hap-pen anywhere at anytime, but it definitely makes me more cau-tious,” Aycock said.

Kyle Wegrzyn, freshman insur-ance/risk man-agement major, lives in Evans Hall.

He said the incident is unset-tling because only a court-yard separates his dorm room from where the

shooting occurred. Even though the shooting

took place in the building he calls home, Wegrzyn said he thinks Evans is a safe place.

“I’ve never felt unsafe,” he said.

Wegrzyn said he did not think twice about the com-motion surrounding the inci-dent at Evans Hall on Saturday night.

“I thought nothing of it,” he said. “They were the quietest shots I’ve ever heard. It sound-ed like someone dribbling a basketball, and then there was a lot of screaming and yelling.”

Wegrzyn explained loud stu-

dents causing commotion is not uncommon in Evans Hall.

“There’s always something going on at Evans,” he said. “I hear people yelling every night, so I just blew it off, but this time it really was something.”

Wegrzyn said he does not doubt it was easy for the per-petrators to enter Evans Hall undetected and said he thinks security could absolutely be tightened in residence halls.

“It’s not very strict; pret-ty much anyone can get in,” Wegrzyn said. “I think if you want to find a way in, you can.”

Hank M. Bounds, Commissioner of Higher Education, released a state-ment Monday regarding the tragedy.

“The unfulfilled promise of a young person’s life cut short is always heartbreaking ... Mississippi State University’s extensive crisis planning was evident in their swift action and communication to stu-dents and the university com-munity through the Maroon Alert system,” he said.

Governor Phil Bryant also issued a statement Monday in response to the incident.

“Those perpetuating these crimes will be apprehended and held accountable,” he said. “Mississippi does not take these instances lightly, and, rest assured, we will con-tinue to provide a safe learning environment for students at all our Mississippi college and university campuses.”

Rhett Hobart, Student Association president, expressed his condolences in a statement issued Monday night.

“As a Bulldog family, we are deeply saddened by the tragic events that took place on our campus this past weekend, and we mourn the loss of a mem-ber of our student body,” he said. “It is in times such as these when it is vitally impor-tant that we come together and share the bond of loyalty and support that surrounds the People’s University.”

“Mississippi does not take these instances lightly, and ... we will continue to provide a safe learning environment for students at all our Mississippi college and university campuses.”phil bryant, governor of mississippi

By Emma Crawford

Staff Writer

In July 2008, the average price of regular unleaded gas hit $4.11 a gallon, the highest recorded na-tionwide average price of gas in the United States.

The cost of fuel in the U.S. is climbing once again and approach-ing a record-high price.

As of last Wednesday, the na-tional average price of regular un-leaded gas in the United States is $3.86. A month ago, it was $3.56. That is a 30 cent increase in four weeks.

Mississippi’s average gas price was $3.64 a gallon, and at most gas stations in Starkville regular gas costs $3.65 a gallon.

Students at Mississippi State University are feeling the pressure of rising gas prices on their already limited budgets.

Marissa De Los Santos, sopho-more kinesiology major, said it is hard to ignore the increase in prices.

“Especially when I drive home I notice,” she said. “It used to take $20 to fill up, and, now, it takes $40. It’s definitely inconvenient.”

De Los Santos also said if she plans on going home on the week-end, she does not eat out and skips grocery shopping during the week.

“Things have to come second if I want to go home,” she said.

Jacob Prince, senior geography major, said he thinks gas produc-tion has hit its peak and people will have to turn to alternative energy sources or change their lifestyles to coincide with increasing demand and costs of fuel.

“Eventually, people will have to find more efficient ways of getting around,” he said. “Students will either have to pay more or make different decisions.”

Prince said the current increase in gas prices has not been a prob-lem for him.

“Personally they haven’t affected me that much because I drive a gas-efficient car,” he said. “It’s not a hybrid, it sips gas; 11 gallons can take me 400 miles.”

Prince said he thinks students should make the switch to more fuel efficient cars.

“I think it would be the respon-sible thing to do, but it’s not fea-sible because not everyone can go out and buy a new car,” he said.

Ali Cuavas, freshman chemical engineering major, said she pays $50 to $60 for a full tank of gas in her Toyota Camry, almost twice as much as the $35 that Prince said he pays to fill up his Toyota Yaris.

Cauvas said she thinks biking would be a good alternative form of transportation to offset fuel costs for students.

She said if Starkville could accommodate bikers on Miss. Highway 12, she would see bik-

ing as a realistic option. “It would work if we lived in

a big city where things were bike friendly,” she said. “But it’s hard to get around on only a bike off campus.”

Students are not the only people feeling the weight of high fuel costs on their budgets.

Mike Harris, director of Park-ing Services, said the surge in gas prices over the past year has caused difficulty for the campus shuttle program.

“Does it cause strain? Sure it does,” he said. “We may not be able to buy new bikes for the bike program; you just make those ad-justments in your budget.”

Harris said although it has be-come more expensive to keep the shuttles running, sacrifices have to be made elsewhere to accommo-date rising fuel costs.

He said shuttle services will not be discontinued, even in the midst of soaring gas prices.

“Shuttles have got to run; they’re part of our environment,” Har-ris said. “It’s only fair to the stu-dents.”

He said they have applied for a grant that, if approved, would al-low the shuttle routes to expand into the city of Starkville and pro-vide additional funds for the shut-tle program, including fuel costs.

This grant would bring relief to the shuttle program by paying 50 percent of the $11,400 per month that it takes to run 11 shuttles 10 hours per day, five days a week.

Harris said there has been a 27.2 percent increase in how much it costs to fuel shuttles since this time last year.

At this time last year, MSU paid $2.71 per gallon for gas to run shuttles and currently they are paying $3.52 per gallon.

As for rising fuel costs, Harris said he doesn’t see prices falling anytime soon.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see it at $4.50 a gallon,” he said.

gas prices rise, msU students, shuttles make accommodations

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Source: consumerenergyreport.com zack orsborn | the reflector

This past weekend, the Mississippi State University community has been drawn together by a tragedy. First of all, the staff at The Reflector would like to offer its sin-cerest condolences to the friends and fam-

ily of the victim. It is a loss felt throughout campus, losing one of our own, and no one feels the loss as great as those who personally knew the victim. Time will help heal the hurt felt now, but his loved ones will never forget John Sanderson, who lost his life much too soon at the age of 21.

The feeling of security and safety was seemingly shattered on Saturday night, but only for a moment. A call for police assistance was made at 9:54 p.m., and police were on the scene by 9:55 p.m. That remarkable reaction time and commitment to serv-ing campus should make students and faculty feel secure that if tragedy does strike, response time will be minimal. Maroon Alerts were sent out to subscrib-ers about 40 minutes after help arrived on the scene, even though it may have taken longer to reach the phones, since there are tens of thousands of people receiving Maroon Alerts. Crimes are not the fault of campus, campus security or faculty, but the response does show the skill and care the university has put into its emergency planning.

Not all people are good, but it is comforting to know that sometimes the good of some, like campus security and faculty, can make the difference between allowing a crime to occur and allowing it to unrail the safety of an entire campus. While Saturday’s inci-dent unfortunately did end in fatality, the campus can rest assured that we are the top priority of those who have made it their careers to protect and serve. We would like to thank the MSU faculty, police and security for providing such a safe environment that even when tragedy does strike, it does not shake our faith in those who have the power to restore order. Without these individuals, we as a community would be much weaker than we are today.

In 2007, the Virginia Tech shooting shocked people worldwide, but its response time in letting students know resulted in a negligence charge, and VA Tech ultimately had to pay a $55,000 fine. VA Tech waited about two hours to let campus know of the danger. Comparitively, MSU took about 40 minutes. Additionally, MSU let us know the perpe-trator was still at large. It sent us updates on suspect leads, vehicle color and model and the condition of the victim. So let us remember that out of tragedy can we sometimes see the silver lining of unshakeable strength, resilience and compassion.

OPINION

CONTACT INFORMATIONEditor in Chief/Hannah Rogers

325-7905 [email protected]

Managing Editor/Julia Pendley


News Editor/Micah Green


News tips/Megan McKeown


Opinion Editor/Wendy Morell

[email protected]

Sports Editor/James Carskadon


Life Editor/Kaitlin Mullins


Photography Editor/Jay Johnson


Advertising sales/Emily Moak


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor should be

sent to the Meyer Student Media Center or mailed to The Reflector, PO Box 5407, Mississippi State, MS. Letters may also be emailed to [email protected].

Letters must include name and telephone number for verification purposes. The editor reserves the right to edit or refuse to publish a letter.

EDITORIAL POLICYThe Reflector is the official stu-

dent newspaper of Mississippi State University. Content is determined solely by the student editorial staff.

The contents of The Reflector have not been approved by Mississippi State University.

CORRECTIONSThe Reflector staff strives to maintain the integrity of this paper through

accurate and honest reporting. If we publish an error we will correct it. To report an error, call 325-7905.

Editor in ChiefHannah Rogers

Chief DesignerZack Orsborn

Managing EditorJulia Pendley

News EditorMicah Green

News EditorMegan McKeown

Multimedia EditorEric Evans

Life EditorKaitlin Mullins

Sports EditorJames Carskadon

Opinion EditorWendy Morell

ReflectorThe

Photography EditorJay Johnson

Copy EditorKaitlyn Byrne

Copy EditorMollie C. Reeves

It was not until spring break that I realized I was missing something: fire. I did not

feel like moving. I was making grades below those to which I was accustomed — and what was worse, I barely cared. I succeeded everywhere else, but I could not bring myself to feel too terrible about course work. I was at a dead end.

Then, over spring break, I ran across some-one from high school and the solution hit me so hard that I was tempted to imitate a certain s w i r l y - h a i r e d fictional being and cry, “Brain blast!”

I was missing my fire. I had no one there to start the fire. I did not have. . . Mrs. G. Mrs. G taught me AP English IV in high school, and I had never learned more from a teacher than I learned from

her. She was funny. She was coherent. And standing at just over five feet tall, she was the most feared being on campus.

Which begs the question of “Why?” Did she wield a taser? Did she employ cruel and unusual methods of behavioral

cond i t i on ing ? Did she have a replica of Ms. Tr u n c h b u l l ’ s chokey? Not at all. If you failed, you failed; have a nice trip down. She never yelled at us. But some-thing about her manner made us fear for our very souls and, for whatever reason, want to do well in her class. Every sin-gle one of her students wanted to see the pur-ple “good job!”

at the top of our essays. How the hell did she do it?

I think most of us students innately sensed how much she cared — about her job, teach-

ing children, or the very sub-ject of English I cannot say, but she deeply cared about something and we noticed it.

The problem is that educa-tors like Mrs. G are few and far between. She was the only high school teacher I had of that caliber. More depressing still, I only get a professor like this perhaps once or twice a semester and I do not under-stand why. Some professors — some teachers — are dignified, tenacious, passionate beings sent from God to educate the younger generations. But for those who fall so short of these standards, why, oh, why did you go into education? Why am I sitting here boring holes into the clock that, damn it,

seems to be broken?Remember. Remember being

an undergrad. Remember find-ing the subject that sparked your passion and spread that flame to your students. You do not have to like under-grads. Feel free to indulge in the urge to call pest control when you find yourself in a hallway teeming with us. But heavens above, love your sub-ject! Take pride in your work — only a fraction of which is publishing. Every student who sits through your course bares your stamp. Do you want your legacy to be a hoard of dispas-sionate blockheads? I promise that if your students see you frothing at the mouth with joy over atomic particles, they will at least feel a prickle of interest. Do not worry about making lame jokes or even about pretending to smile. If you start panting, “Oh my stars, look at this children, it’s e. coli!” some of us will think you’re a freak, yes, but at least we will remember class that day.

And maybe you will find yourself looking forward to class, too.

Teachersʼ passion makes clock tick fasterPLAYING IN TRAFFIC | H.C. MANNING

H.C. Manning is a sophomore majoring in geology. She can be contacted at [email protected].

T.J. VAUGHT

DO YOU THINK MSU HANDLEDGETTING INFORMATION ABOUT THESCHOOL SHOOTING OUT IN A TIMELY MANNER?

Vote online at reflector-online.com

- Yes, I was well-informed.

- No, I did not receive any information.

ZACK ORSBORN | THE REFLECTOR

EDITORIAL

Student fatal it y leavesMSU’s safety, strength intact

As a member of the Greek community, people have asked me what it is like

to be a member of a sorority. My experience in a sorority has been beyond amazing. I have been able to maintain friend-ships with not only members of my sorority but with members both of different Greek organi-zations and independents. The websites Total Frat Move and Total Srat Move are not a good representation of the Greek community.

TFM features a wall, col-umns and photos dedicated to Greek life. The website pokes fun at independents and boasts that Greek life is the best thing ever. TFM makes the Greek community look like snobs who only care about those affi liated with their organization.

Some of the posts are funny and not derogatory. However, most of the posts make Greek organizations look like they believe they are superior to other groups on campus. Several wall posts on TFM include “Awe, she only thinks she is in a real sorority” and “Explaining

Greek life to a GDI is like explaining quantum physics to a 5 year old.”

It is quite diffi cult to explain to anyone what it is like to be Greek to anyone. However, from my own personal experi-ence, I did not even know what it was like to be a member of the Greek com-munity before I pledged Delta Gamma.

Growing up, I never thought I would join a sorority due to the portrayals of the Greek com-munity in mov-ies. It was not until the spring semester of my senior year of high school did I decide to rush. One of my friends didn’t rush until her junior year of college because she was afraid to go through rush due the stereotypes of the Greek com-munity.

College is where one should

fi nd his or her own happi-ness regardless of whether the Greek system is for them or not. Everyone has a different experience with the Greek sys-tem; for some it works out, and for others it does not.

However, what makes TFM different from the movies is that members of Greek organizations are responsible for the cruel comments. No one is repre-senting their let-ters appropriately if they are show-ing a bad attitude toward any group. This also plays a major disad-vantage to those uncertain about the Greek system.

One column claimed the campus police were not serving and protecting but rather were a step above a mall cop. Greeks seem to believe they are above authority in the columns. This is very disrespectful because the campus police face many

incidents every week. An advice column on TSM

suggested that every senior should skip class on a sunny day and go drink at a local bar’s patio. TFM and TSM do not do justice on showing members of the Greek community are studious.

TSM makes Greek girls look like they are on a manhunt for a frat boy who drives a Land Rover just so they can get an engagement from Tiffany’s. Bragging about having Lilly Pulitzer dresses and Tory Burch purses on a website does not make anyone more special than an independent.

Total Frat Move is just a website that makes the Greek community seem like it is cruel and thinks it runs the whole campus. Being a member of the Greek community is a great experience fi lled with chari-ties, friendships and unity with other organizations. However, the bad representation from TFM does not show what the Greek system truly is to those who are not affi liated with a Greek organization.

TFM, TSM inaccurately portray GreeksLETTER TO THE EDITOR | EMMA HAWES

Total number of votes: 96

Do you think the media negatively affects people's body images?

783

15

Yes.

No.I don't care.


The Reflector editorial board is made up of opinion editor Wendy Morell, news editor Micah Green, news editor Megan McKeown, sports editor James Carskadon, life editor Kaitlin Mullins, photo editor Jay Johnson, copy editors Kaitlyn Byrne and Mollie C. Reeves, multimedia editor Eric Evans, chief designer Zack Orsborn, managing editor Julia Pendley and

Editor in Chief Hannah Rogers.

***

R E F L E C TO R - O N L I N E . C O M TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 | 5

“You do not have to like undergrads. Feel free to indulge in the urge to call pest control when you fi nd yourself in a hallway teeming with us. But heavens above, love your subject!”

“Total Frat Move is just a website that makes the Greek community seem like it is cruel and thinks it runs the whole campus.”

6 | tuesday, march 27, 2012

Across1 Storage spot5 10-Down’s request:

Abbr.10 State along the Sea

of Cortez14 Overhead projector?15 Control __16 Sensory stimulant17 Some Monopoly

props.18 Long look19 Iris locale20 *Hail23 Club with very little

loft24 William of __,

known for his “razor” maxim

27 Bouquet __28 *Tar32 “You rang?”34 Dos Passos trilogy35 Some map nos.36 [not my mistake]39 *Tin42 Lunch, say43 Norsk

Folkemuseum setting

45 Sashimi choice46 Shelf-filling ref.

work48 *Poe51 “The best is __ be”:

Browning55 Fractious56 Had a slice of

humble pie58 What you need to

get the starred clues to fit their answers

62 Shell occupant64 Handled65 Pilate’s “Behold!”66 Typesetting unit67 Paper fan feature68 Unité politique69 Envelope abbr.70 Sturdy fabric71 Est. and Lat., once

Down1 Seasoned salt?2 Plaza de la

Revolución locale3 Hit that sends the

game to extra innings, e.g.

4 Predetermined outcome

5 “__ Easy”: Buddy Holly classic

6 Like many aunts7 Actor McGregor8 Dorm hoops ball9 Lineage display10 Imposer of a drunk’s

comeuppance11 Champion12 Break fluid?13 First name in

Fighting Irish history

21 Northeastern natives

22 Theater ticket word25 Quarter26 Computer game set

on an island29 Inventive cubist?30 Pac-12’s Beavers31 Seat of Texas’s

McLennan County33 Coal-rich region36 Woefully out of

shape37 Ferry destination38 Someone to admire40 Question of identity41 Worked (up)

44 Empire partitioned by the Treaty of Lausanne

47 Official proclamations

49 Mitt Romney’s alma mater: Abbr.

50 Livestock marker52 Developers’

acquisitions53 RV follower54 Nocturnal newborns57 CD alternative59 Baker’s qtys.60 Healthy61 Decorative jug62 Returns pro63 Aflame

BULLETIN BOARD

3-27-12 Solutions for 3-23-12

CLASSIFIEDS POLICYThe deadline for Tuesday’s paper is 3 p.m. Thursday; the deadline for Friday’s paper is 3 p.m. Tuesday. Classifieds are $5 per issue. Student and staff ads are $3 per issue, pre-paid. Lost and found: found items can be listed for free; lost items are listed for standard ad cost.

for saleZiggy’s Buy & Sell. Don’t throw it away! Get cash for your used furniture and other items. We sell everything from furniture to antiques to music. 434 Miss. Highway 12 West, look for the orange sign with Ziggy’s picture, or call 312-8895.Faculty investment opportunity. Enjoy benefits of retirement now, as you teach. Live in your five-plex on Oktibbeha County Lake, and let rentals pay your mortgage. 340’ waterfront, five-plex, dock, ski-boat. $342,000 firm. 418-2790.

for rentCanterbury Townhouses. 990 Old Mayhew Road. 2012 lease special (12th month free with 12-month lease). One, two and three bedroom newly-remodeled townhouses. Call 323-9216 for details.“Lodge at the Lake.” Great one bedroom, waterfront, dock, appliances, washer/dryer, free cable and fast-access Internet. See now. Available May 1 for 15 months. $525/month. Pet friendly. 418-2790.AVALON Large two and three bedroom apartments from $729 per month. Reserve your apartment today for fall. live atavalonapts.com. Rates include cable Internet and all appliances; unfurnished.One bed, one bath apartment for sublease at Parkside Apartments. $400 per month. Spacious bedroom, walk-in closet, energy efficient. Some furniture, appliances included. Available now. 648-8595, call or text.One bedroom mobile home for rent. One mile from campus. Hunting and fishing privileges. Pet friendly for additional fee. $350 per month. Lease and deposit required. Call 418-8555. Pasture boarding also available.

Maden, two well-preserved older homes with ammenities. Spacious. Yard care provided. $500 per month and $600 per month. 263-8394.On a lake, furnished, one-bedroom apartment. Available June 1 for 14-month lease at $525 per month. TV cable, water, sewer, high speed wireless Internet provided. You pay electricity. Call Bob at 418-2790.

HelP WanteDBartending. Up to $300 / day. No experience necessary. Training available. Call 800-965-6520 ext. 213.Attention students: $15 starting pay. Flexible hours around class. Customer sales and service. No experience required. Call 268-5097. Collegeincome.com.Serious art student for joint venture wanted. Must be able to draw graphics and liberal. Call 646-1315 for more information.

miscellaneousApple iPod lost on MSU campus (likely at Barnes & Noble) a few weeks ago. Contains Latin and classical music. Reward $25. 312-0253.

CLUB INFOThe deadline for Tuesday’s paper is 3 p.m. Thursday; deadline for Friday’s paper is 3 p.m. Tuesday. MSU student organizations may place free announcements in Club Info. Information may be submitted by email to [email protected] with the subject heading “CLUB INFO,” or a form may be completed at The Reflector office in the Student Media Center. A contact name, phone number and requested run dates must be included for club info to appear in The Reflector. All submissions are subject to exemption according to space availability.

BaPtist stuDent unionThe BSU at Mississippi State invites all students to our weekly worship service, PRIORITY, on Tuesday nights at 6:15. You are also invited to a $5 home-cooked meal, called NOONDAY, on Wednesdays at noon. The BSU Center is located

directly across the street from Campus Book Mart. All students are welcome. Visit msubsu.com for more information.

camPus BiBle stuDentsIntensive Bible study Mondays from 7 to 8 p.m. in room 324 of the Union. All are welcome. Email [email protected] for more information.

catHolic stuDent association

The CSA invites you to join us each week at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Student mass is on Sundays at 5:30 p.m. Good food and fun fellowship can be had at $2 dinners on Tuesday at 6 p.m., followed by weekly/Bible study at 7 p.m. Come to one of these events and learn more ways to get involved! For more information, simply “like” our Facebook page: “Mississippi State Catholic Student Association.”

faamsuCome join us for lively discussions. Believers welcome! Every Thursday, starting Sept. 8, in the Union room 226 from 6 to 9 p.m. Twitter: @SAUCEFORALL. We are the Freethinkers, Agnostics and Atheists of MSU.

female GraDuate stuDents

New group for female graduate students in science, engineering and mathematics: Please email [email protected]

liGHt Bearers Yeah! We Bear The Light! Come join us for fellowship, dynamic worship and inspirational devotions every Thursday at 7 p.m. Union 3rd floor, room 329.

msu canterBurY ePiscoPal felloWsHiP

“Spiritual but not religious?” Spirituality and home-cooking at the Episcopal Church (“Canterbury”). Free dinner, activities each Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. Canterbury Lodge, 105 N. Montgomery St., Starkville. For more information, contact Chaplain Carol Mead at 694-1178. Sponsored by Canterbury Episcopal Fellowship.

PHilosoPHY cluBTuesdays at 5 p.m. in Union 226.

AN IN-CLASS DISTRACTION ...THE REFLECTOR

OCTOPUzzLEDue to space, Octopuzzle will not be in this issue of The Reflector. The puzzle will reappear as space allows.

LIFE TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 | 7R E F L E C TO R - O N L I N E . C O M

The Hunger Games

COURTESY PHOTOS | LIONSGATE

reviewBY HANNAH ROGERS

Editor in Chief

Long-term fans of The Hunger Games trilogy (like myself ) have recently been faced with dif-fi culty — cringe-inducing comparisons to fans of a certain pathetic, young-adult series that features sparkling vampires, scrutiny from part of the public for liking a “popular” series as buzz around the series has increased and, above all else, the question of whether the movie would capture the spirit and message of its source mate-rial.

After years of imagination, months of antici-pation and weeks worth of planning to see the adaptation opening day in theaters, I now have my answer. “The Hunger Games” director Gary Ross's vision successfully allows for Suzanne Col-lins's book to effortlessly transition from page to screen.

“The Hunger Games,” the fi rst in a proposed series of fi lms based off Collins's trilogy, focuses on a dystopian North America called Panem ruled by the wealthy Capitol. In this future, 12 districts must offer as tribute a boy and a girl to fi ght to the death in a gladiator-like reality show called the Hunger Games in penance for rebel-ling against the Capitol years before.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) becomes the fi rst volunteer tribute of District 12, taking her younger sister's place in the arena. In order to return home, Katniss must be crowned victor by surviving and defeating the 23 contestants, including her fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).

Lawrence portrays the Katniss of the book se-ries — a strong, unfl inching young woman who understands she must make hard decisions to survive. Katniss's independence and love for her sister (stronger than that of any feelings she has toward a love interest) set her apart from typical heroines in action fi lms. She is not a supporting love interest to the hero — she's the protagonist, and Lawrence draws the audience in with her solid line delivery and nuanced expressions that convey Katniss's inner thoughts.

The rest of the cast perfectly fi ts the characters created by Collins. Hutcherson's Peeta remains the charismatic, selfl ess hero. As Cinna, Lenny Kravitz brings energy to the role as Katniss' styl-ist. Woody Harrleson (Haymitch) and Elizabeth Banks (Effi e) occasionally spar comedy and respectively keep the drunken mentor and mate-rialistic Capitol pawn from becoming one-note, outrageous characters.

The scriptwriters (including Collins, who helped adapt the novel) made the wise decision to balance emotion with action. And, although parts of the book are omitted or slightly altered, the intent of the movie aligns with its source material. The fi lmmakers do not ignore the vio-lent nature of the story and choose moments of blatant bloodshed for when it serves a purpose.

It's no surprise the movie is already breaking box-offi ce records — it's a well-crafted fi lm that respects a popular series' source material and can easily enough attract new fans.

Some book-to-screen adaptations disappoint because of lack of faithfulness to the source ma-terial (see The Chronicles of Narnia), some bare-ly make an effort knowing screaming girls (and 40-year-old women) will show up in droves to swoon no matter what (The Twilight Saga) and some lack the emotional intensity of their source material (several of the Harry Potter fi lms). As a fan, I have never been more pleased with a fi lm adaptation of a young adult book series.

But what makes “The Hunger Games” so successful is its ability to be more than an action fi lm. At its heart, “The Hunger Games” is a story about surviving against impossible circumstances and making sacrifi ces for love.

YOU SAID...Lawrence Strout | @lstrout @LifeReflector @reflectoronline Great. Oscar wor-thy performance by the female lead.

Rachel Burke | @thatburkegirl @LifeReflector Better than the book. #didthatjustco-meoutmymouth

Kurt Wirth | @RingProudly@LifeReflector @reflectoronline Read the book, was very disappointed.

Sarah Sage | @sarahesage@LifeReflector brilliant. Collins did an amazing job transferring her world from book to screen.

K. Redding @keRedding @lifereflector I thought it was a great telling of the story through a different medium #thehungergames

LIFE THE REFLECTOR8 | TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012

IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME CAMERON MCMASTER

Libraries host world-class artistsBY JULIA V. PENDLEY

Managing Editor

The Mississippi State Uni-versity’s Mitchell Memorial Li-brary will host the sixth-annual Charles Templeton Ragtime Jazz Festival March 30 and 31 featur-ing fi ve pianists.

Brian Holland, Jeff Barn-hart, Sonny Leyland, Martin Spitznagel and David Jasen will all be present at the festival and performing in concerts, “living room” sessions and lectures. All events are free for students. For anyone else interested in attend-ing, the all-events badge is $50. Tickets can also be purchased online at library.msstate.edu/ragtime/festival/tkts/index.html.

Stephen Cunetto, festival co-ordinator, said the event grew out of an idea when talking to Chip Templeton, Charles Templeton's son, and is an out-growth of the Charles Temple-ton Sr. Music Museum.

“We thought it was a good thing to bring to Mississippi State and Mississippi that really shows the evolution of music to where it is today,” he said.

Cunetto said the festival brings people from all over the

country to Mississippi to show-case the music.

"This is a good opportunity for them to broaden their hori-zons and hear great performers that they may not hear other-wise," he said.

Lyle Tate, festival planning committee member, said there will be three different types of events. During the day, there will be talks at the piano in the museum, located in the library. These will be intimate “living room” sessions and will allow attendees to be able to hear the artist perform as well as have dis-cussions with them.

“I think it's a neat experience for students to talk in this culture and see world-class musicians up close and personal,” he said.

Cunetto said the evening con-certs are something students will enjoy.

"We try to make it high tech as well," he said.

There will be television cen-ters showing hands watching their hands.

Tate, senior library associate, said the festival highlights this genre and a great way of keeping its history alive.

“(The festival) draws people into the ragtime music and brings attention to music over 100 years old,” he said.

Cunetto, library system ad-ministrator, said the festival helps participants understand musical roots and evolution. He said all types of music can trace back to this genre.

“We think hip-hop is new, but really it has roots in this type of music,” he said.

Tate said an interesting dy-namic of the festival is that

Brian Holland and Jeff Barnhart because it is so rare to get those two together.

Cunetto said the last time Barnhart played at the Temple-ton festival he played an un-scripted, unplayed performance where other performers joined the piano. At one point, there were four people playing one piano.

"It brought the house down," he said. "It sounds fantastic. I have a feeling it will probably happen again."

Cunetto said some of the more well-known songs include “The Entertainer,” “Maple Leaf Rag” and “Kitten on the Keys,” as he looked through a stack of ragtime CDs on his desk.

Ragtime music is character-ized by syncopated music with strong bass clef. Tate said the music is upbeat and has no words, and it is almost always piano music, although there will occasionally be duets and trios with other instruments.

Cunetto said the music is more lively than classical music, even though the music is from a time very different from today.

"They're very dynamic perfor-mances," he said. "It's not you get your bowtie own and your stiff shirt kind of music."

Templeton was a 1949 MSU graduate and Starkville busines-man. His main hobby was col-lecting turn of the century instruments, which were later donated to the library. The mu-seum, located on the fourth fl oor, has just under 200 instru-ments, 13,000 pieces of play-able music and 22,000 pieces of sheet music from various genres, but mostly ragtime.


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SPORTS TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 | 9REFLECTOR-ONLINE.COM

STEPHANIE GODFREY | THE REFLECTOR

TAKING A BREATHER | Mississippi State running backs LaDarius Perkins (29), Kasey Akins (48) and Nick Griffin (29) take a break during Saturday’s practice, the second of the spring for MSU. These running backs will look to replace the production of Vick Ballard, who is now pursuing a career in the NFL. The team will practice again this afternoon.

No. 12 Bulldogs sit atop SEC WestBY JACK HILL

Staff Writer

The No. 12 Mississippi State Bulldogs continued their push toward another SEC West cham-pionship this past weekend.

After a 4-2 win in Gainesville Friday over the No. 11 Florida Gators, the Bulldogs returned home to defeat the No. 40 South Carolina Gamecocks 6-1.

With the win Sunday, State placed itself in sole possession of fi rst place of the SEC Western division after an Ole Miss loss in Oxford to Florida Sunday.

The matches started with a very close doubles win for the Bulldogs. After splitting the fi rst two matches 8-5, Louis Cant and Malte Stropp came up big winning the third match in a tiebreaker 9-8(2).

“We had a good start with the doubles; they’re a very good team in doubles. That gave us a lot of confi dence to come out in singles,” Cant said.

A quick start in singles it was for the Dogs, as junior James Chaudry led the way with a swift 6-2, 6-0 victory over South Carolina’s Nick Jones.

Minutes later, the Gamecocks’ Thiago Pinheiro could not fi n-ish the match as senior George Coupland earned a shortened 7-6(2), 1-0 win.

The victories kept coming for the Bulldogs as Cant took down Kyle Koch 6-4, 6-4 to extend State’s lead to 4-0 and put the match in the win column for the Bulldogs.

Play still went on, however, as senior and No. 14 ranked Artem Ilyushin downed Ivan Machado 6-4, 6-2, while sophomore Zach White won his match 6-2, 6-2.

The only loss for Mississippi State came in the last match to fi nish when Gamecock Andrew Adams defeated Bulldog Stropp 6-3, 6-4.

The win marked State’s third in a row and improved the Dogs to 14-4 overall and 5-1 in SEC action.

The Bulldogs are not satisfi ed

yet, though. Head coach Per Nilsson still believes this team can take the next step.

“You have to be able to have a game plan and stick to it. Mentally, you have to do it day in and day out. We’re getting there,” Nilsson said.

State now turns its focus to this weekend, where the Bull-dogs will face two Western Di-vision opponents. LSU comes in Friday while the Bulldogs will honor their seniors Sunday as they entertain the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Although LSU posts a not so impressive 11-7 (2-4) record, the Tigers do have a win over Texas A&M 4-3, who beat State in a dramatic match early in the Bulldog’s campaign.

“LSU is really tough. They have a young team; we always have battles with them. They beat Texas A&M, who we lost to,” Nilsson said.

Arkansas is in a similar spot

as the Tigers. At 13-7 (1-5) the Razorbacks are a young, capa-ble team that cannot be taken lightly.

The Razorbacks and Bulldogs have each played Auburn, Ala-bama, Tennessee and Georgia. State defeated three of the four, losing to Georgia 4-3; while Ar-kansas dropped matches to all four teams.

“We’ve been successful against Arkansas in the past; they have nothing to lose. We’re the hunt-ed people now,” Nilsson said.

That mindset is something the Bulldogs will have to possess as they enter the home stretch of their season.

After LSU and Arkansas this weekend, State travels to Ken-tucky, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss to close out the season on a three-game road swing before coming back to Starkville for the SEC Championships April 19 through 22, which is also Super Bulldog Weekend.

SEC slide continues for Lady DogsBY ELLIOTT REES

Staff Writer

After dropping Sunday’s game three, 8-0, in Starkville to the No. 12 ranked University of Tennessee Volunteers, the softball Bulldogs fi nd themselves facing an uphill climb to get back into contention in the Southeastern Conference.

The loss gave the Volunteers the weekend series sweep and Missis-sippi State has now lost six confer-ence games in a row after starting the season with a 3-4 mark in the SEC. The Bulldogs are currently near the bottom of the Western Division with an overall record of 18-15 and a 3-10 record in confer-ence play.

Sunday was the second game of the series that the Bulldogs were defeated by the eight-run rule and the Volunteer bats were too much for State pitching to handle, head coach Vann Stuedeman said.

“It was a rough day three and we were playing a great Tennessee team and they were extremely of-fensive,” she said.

Mississippi State tried to coun-ter the offensive production of Tennessee by starting junior left-handed pitcher Stephanie Becker who has been the ace and most consistent pitcher to this point. Even Becker had no answer for the hot bats of Tennessee. Becker dropped two decisions against the Volunteers in three days and now has an overall record of 10-7. However, Becker did manage to

reach a total of 100 strikeouts recorded for the season with her play over the weekend. Becker had an earned run av-erage of 2.36 entering the game on Sunday and only allowed four earned of the six charged to her. This was an improvement after allowing seven earned runs on Friday. The team committed a total of three errors on Sunday and a total of six over the entire weekend. Stuedeman said Becker’s performance was an improvement, but the defense be-hind her needs to be able to elimi-nate errors.

“I thought Becker came out today and was a whole lot better than Friday night and was able to work herself out of some jams,” she said. “Early in the game, un-fortunately, we were not able to make a play or two for her for the fi rst four runs.”

The Bulldogs also struggled to generate offense not only on Sunday but for the entire week-end. State was outscored by the Volunteers 26-3 in the series and was out-hit 28-18. The two bright spots for the Bulldogs on Sunday were sophomore Sam Lenahan and senior Brittany Bell who both went two for two and accounted for four of the fi ve total hits in the loss. The Bulldogs had their opportunities to drive in runs

throughout the weekend, but Le-nahan said that the team needs to have timelier hitting.

“We need more timely hitting, we’re having quality at-bats,” she said. “We just need to have those quality at-bats more often.”

The Bulldogs will travel to Mis-sissippi Valley State on Wednes-day and then have the No. 1 team in the nation, the University of Alabama, coming into town for a three-game series starting on Fri-day at 7 p.m. Lenahan said the game against Mississippi Valley State, a team which State beat earlier this year 3-2, is going to be important for the team to win in order to get back on the winning track before the series with the Crimson Tide.

“It is going to be big,” she said. “We have to keep going out there fi ghting, go out and score runs early and get that win to give us momentum going into the Ala-bama series.”

Stuedeman

COURTESY PHOTO | HAILSTATE.COM

Senior Louis Cant, ranked No. 37 in the country, won his singles match in straight sets on Sunday over South Carolinaʼs Kyle Koch. Cant, alongside partner Malte Stropp, clinched the doubles point for MSU.

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SPORTS STAT OF THE DAY :233 – THE NUMBER OF STRIKEOUTS FOR THE MSU BASEBALL PITCHING STAFF IN 2012, THE SECOND MOST IN THE NCAA

10 | TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012 THE REFLECTOR

ON THE DIAMOND:ALCORN STATE VS.

MISSISSIPPI STATE

6:30 TONIGHT

Sidney, Smith no longer with MSU

BY KRISTEN SPINK

Staff Writer

With fi ve opening day starters out with injuries, the Mississippi State baseball team is craving ex-perienced players but has been forced to gain experience for the younger guys. Unfortunately, it just so happens that experience is coming against the top teams in the country. After taking one of three games at No. 13 LSU last weekend, the Bulldogs fell just short of taking a weekend series against No. 3 Arkansas, falling 8-5 in an extra innings contest Sunday in the series fi nale.

SEC West foe Auburn, who just won two games against LSU, is awaiting the arrival of the Bull-dogs, but the MSU baseball team had an upset of its own to take care of fi rst. The Arkansas Razorbacks, who fi nished fi rst in the West last year topping MSU by one game, came into Starkville atop the West with a 21-2 overall record and 4-0 in the SEC.

But Friday night was all Bull-dogs as they jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and defeated the Razorbacks 11-2. Sophomore Hunter Renfroe got it started in the fi rst with an inside-the-park home run and made things easier on himself in the second inning by hitting one out of the park.

Renfroe said he thought his third base coach was crazy when he was pointing for him to run home on his fi rst hit, but he knew his second one was gone right when he hit it.

“I think I felt better today than I have in a really long time about swinging the bat. I’ve hit enough home runs in my life that I knew

that one was gone,” Renfroe said. “We had a lot of good video on (Arkansas pitcher D.J. Baxendale), and we were focusing on his arm slot because that’s where it was go-ing to be.”

The Dogs continued to pile on the runs, adding two more in both the third and fourth innings and capping it off with three in the sev-enth. Renfroe led all players with four RBIs, while juniors Sam Frost and Trey Porter each added two.

The pitching duel was won by MSU junior Chris Stratton, who kept his stainless record moving to 5-0, while Arkansas ace Baxendale suffered his fi rst loss of the year and moved to 5-1.

The No. 3 Razorbacks bounced back quickly for Saturday’s game and overtook the Dogs 8-0. MSU only had three hits on the day compared to Arkansas’s 14. On the mound none of the four MSU pitchers could ever take control of the game.

Sunday’s rubber match needed extra innings to decide a game in which MSU started fi ve freshmen. After jumping out to an early two run lead, State did not score again until the ninth inning, tying the game at three. Junior Kendall

Graveman pitched 5.1 solid in-nings and allowed only two runs.

At the plate the Dogs failed to fi nd the holes. They hit numerous line drives off a sinker-ball pitcher, one which ended in a triple play. The team went 0-3 with the bas-es loaded and left 14 runners on base.

The Razorbacks opened up the game in the 11th inning, plating fi ve runners and running senior Caleb Reed out of the game after 4.2 innings of relief work before Tanner Gaines recorded the fi nal two outs.

The MSU pitching staff gave up the most hits so far this season with 15, but the Dogs still had a chance in the bottom of the 11th. However, they only managed to score two runs, leaving the bases loaded once again to fall 8-5.

Head coach John Cohen said he feels like in the long run the expe-rience gained by the younger guys will help, but for the short term it is frustrating and disappointing.

“I thought our kids competed their hearts out; they never give up,” Cohen said. “This is a really good baseball team, and this is a team that could win a National Championship. They’re right there, and we’re so stinking close to being at that level even with vir-tually no experience on the fi eld.”

The experience will only contin-ue to grow for the Bulldog fresh-men as they host Alcorn State to-night at 6:30 and then travel to Auburn for the weekend. Frost, who went 3-3 on Sunday, said the team can fi nd a way to win against tougher competition in the SEC.

“We’ve played two of the best teams in the SEC the last two weeks, and we’ve played some of the best baseball we’ve played all season,” Frost said. “It gives us a lot of confi dence knowing we can compete with the top teams and lets us know we are one of the best teams in the confer-ence.”

MICAH GREEN | THE REFLECTOR

MSU second baseman Sam Frost dives back into first base during Sundayʼs extra innings loss to Arkansas. Frost went 3-3 in the game.

Diamond Dawgs fall just short against Hogs

BY JAMES CARSKADON

Sports Editor

Slightly less than three years after it began, the Renardo Sidney saga at Mississippi State came to a close Monday. The junior forward has declared for the NBA draft and signed with an agent , ending his MSU career, the university announced.

Sidney signed with MSU in April of 2009 but missed all of the 2009-2010 season and part of the 2010-2011 season due to suspen-sion for receiving improper ben-efits. Coming into State, Sidney was expected to be a major fac-tor for the Bulldogs, but weight and conditioning issues caused his play to be inconsistent. In a release from MSU, Sidney said he was thankful for the opportunity given to him by MSU.

“I appreciate Mississippi State giving me an opportunity to play, but I feel it’s time for me to move on,” Sidney said. “I’m grateful to all the administrators, coaching staff and the fans for their support during my time at Mississippi State. I’m entering the draft to follow my dream of playing in the NBA and to help my family.”

Sidney showed flashes of athlet-cisim that made him look like the top recruit he once was but never consistently played at that level. Easily one of the most criticized players in MSU basketball history, Sidney frequently drew criticism from national media during his MSU career.

Sidney will be represented by Rogue Sports, an entertainment firm that also represents athletes, according to the release. The Jackson native played in 48 games during his Bulldog career, starting in 46 of them. He averaged 11.5 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game.

According to his Twitter feed,

Sidney has been training in Florida since last week and will likely continue to train there until the NBA draft in June.

Smith looks to transfer

Freshman guard DeVille Smith has withdrawn from school and left the Mississippi State basket-ball program, a team spokesper-son announced Monday.

Smith, who came to MSU from Calloway High School, av-eraged 4.2 points per game in 26 appearances for the Bulldogs this season. He missed playing time due to frequent headaches and dizziness that led to extended hos-pital stays.

Smith is reported to be inter-ested in enrolling at Jackson State University. Smith’s high school coach, Wayne Brent, told the Clarion-Ledger the guard was “en-tertaining the idea” of enrolling at Jackson State.

The departure of Smith leaves a signifi cant void at the guard po-sition for State. With seniors Dee Bost and Brian Bryant graduat-ing, that only leaves three schol-arship guards on MSU’s roster (Rodney Hood, Shaun Smith and Jalen Steele.)

MSU signed Josh Gray, a guard from Houston, Texas in Novem-ber, but he has asked to be released from his National Letter of Intent following the retirement of Rick Stansbury.

Junior forward Arnett Moultrie has yet to make a decision regard-ing the NBA draft as of Monday. All of this happens while MSU continues its coaching search. A reported MSU target, Steve Pro-hm of Murray State, signed a con-tract extension with the Racers on Monday.

Sidney

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The Print Edition 3-27-2012