Read the issues and more online! www.torecho.wordpress.com

A Look into the Inauguration

“How Low Can You Go?” Join

Tor EchoLet your voice be heard!

We meet every Monday

Orvis Conference Room at 4 P.M.

If you have any questions, feel free

to email:torecho@alfredstate.edu

Eric GuzmanOn the brink of Black History

Month and on the day we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday, our nation swore our first African American president into office for his second term. It could not have happened on a more historic and symbolic day. On a day in which we celebrate a spokesman for civil rights and equality 800,000 women and men of different ethnicities gathered, in full testament and realization of Martin Luther King’s dream. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

Those words were affixed in the minds of many as President Obama delivered a brilliant speech written

by Jon Favreau. For the first time in the history of inaugural speeches an American president addressed the inequality faced by gay men and women. For those that listened to the speech it was one of unification and a bold move in a nation segregated by political policies and pressing issues. It was a moving speech that reiterated that we’re one single country united.

Our president delivered positive words during testing times. However, critics are panning Mr. Obama and his liberal approach. He only mentioned the looming deficit issues only once. While some have attributed this omission as a sign of a president no longer worried about voter opinion, others are predicting that it’ll be addressed during the state-of-the-union message, on February 12th. Paul Krugman of the New York Times

praised Mr. Obama’s neglect of the budget deficit, stating, “arguably the most encouraging thing of all was what he didn’t say: He barely mentioned the budget deficit.” We’ve been in turmoil as a nation for the last four years waiting for a budget crisis that hasn’t happened. This is a sign that the experts have been wrong and although our economy has suffered it’d be unfair to compare it to that of Greece.

Looking forward it will be an interesting and grueling four years for our president as gun violence has been highly publicized. The massacre in Colorado when gunmen James Holmes opened fire in a movie theater and the tragic event in Connecticut both put a focal point on the lacking gun purchasing policy in place. Washington is divided on what should be done, but there is no

question harsher regulations have to be put in place. It’ll be important that responsible gun owners do not feel attacked by the new laws.

Obama’s tax hikes and spending cuts also need to be justified and the only way that will truly happen is if we see a decreased debt ceiling and a more efficient economy. Analysts are actually agreeing and believe that the tax hikes might actually work to Obama’s favor. Factually the increase in taxes will help GOP budget plans. It will be a challenge to get taxpayers behind the president’s long-term ambitions.

In all it was a triumphant day for a country in desperate need of improvement. Hopefully Mr. Obama can take a more aggressive approach since he will not have to face the voters again.

Are you one of those guys whose voice practically scrapes the floor when you talk? You know, the voice that is so

resonant that the walls tremble??? Perhaps people sometimes tell you that you talk too loud?? Well, do we have a spot for you---Alfred State College “Voices”---A State’s chorus. Give us try. Contact Linda Staiger at staigel@alfredstate.edu or Nicole Bennett at

bennetNC@alfredstate.edu.

Sponsored by Student Senate – your activities fee at work!

Outdoor Recreation Club offers

Winter Camping and Cross

Country Skiing

Trip Date: Friday, Feb. 15–Sunday, Feb. 17 2013

Cost for Trip:

$20/AS student w/college ID (cash only) + meal punches (cost includes transportation, camping, cross country ski equipment and

instruction, and meals)

Sign up for Trip:

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013 7 p.m.

ORC Rental Room MacKenzie Complex

No experience necessary!

If you have questions, please call Andy at 4329 or Kathy at 4228

O U T D O O R R E C R E A T I O N CLUB

KSE Honors MLK

Adam KowinskyOn January 26, the brothers of

Kappa Sigma Epsilon fraternity par-ticipated in a community service event in honor of MLK Day of Service. The event was hosted by Alfred State Col-lege’s own civic engagement team. The fraternity members helped out by organizing food pantries, moving furniture, shoveling snow and creat-ing calendars for our troops stationed overseas on duty. Kappa Sigma Epsi-lon members are big on giving back to the community and encourage any-one and everyone to get involved. This spring, the fraternity members

will be once again be raising funds for the Lungevity Foundation that the greater student body knows as our annual charity basketball game. The fraternity has been working closely with other on-campus organizations like Live to Fight to make this spring semester’s event a huge success.

If you are a club or organiza-tion who would like to work with us on a project, feel free to contact our President, Steven Snaider (917) 882-8416. The brothers of Kap-pa Sigma Epsilon are always in-terested in giving a helping hand.

Tor EchoMonday, February 4, 2013 Spring 2013 - Issue II

2 Tor Echo Monday, FEbruary 4, 2013

Tor Echo orvis activities center - alfred State10 upper college dr. alfred, n.y. 14802

1.607.587.3505torecho@alfredstate.edu

www.torecho.wordpress.comhttp://issuu.com/torecho

The Tor Echo is a student publication at alfred State college funded by the Student Senate and advertising revenues, published every other Monday. Submissions made to the Tor Echo do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Editorial board, the Student Senate, or alfred State college, and are those of the writer. Submissions for publication, including letters to the editor, must be signed, though upon request the name of the author shall be held. We encourage letters to the editor and story ideas. remember, submission does

not guarantee publication.Alfred, New York © 2013

SANdRA KiNNeRNeYadvISorBRiAN QuiNNconSulTanTLiLA CAmpizEdITor-In-chIEF/ManagIng EdITorLYNNette LoCKwoodTrEaSurErVACANtadvErTISIng ManagErdAmiAN gRimeScoMIc arTIST/SocIal MEdIa cordInaTor

VACANt phoTographErjohNNY AYALA arTS EdITorjACoB fReedmANWEb coMIcjeSSiCA StewARtSporTS rEporTErKAYLA mARShrEporTErANgeL toRReSrEporTEr

eRiC guzmANrEporTErSeBAStiAN feRguSoNrEporTErjoSh peRALdorEporTErAdAm KowiNSKYrEporTEr

Are Online Professors Real? - ASC.edu

Alfred State Holds Dream Week

Mike Deville, PhDI got some pretty bad news

this week. My online account-ing professor died. But hold your tears; it gets worse. I’m not sure he ever really existed. Sometimes you wonder if those ‘online’ profs are real. I mean, WHO are they really? And why do they go down the rocky ‘online’ prof road? That whole Manti Te’o thing got me wondering even more about my online profs from other semesters.

Let’s break this down. You sign up for a class online and then you start getting emails from some-one you’ve never met before, some-one you’re never going to meet. I know, so far it sounds like that woman in Africa who needs your help to get the $25 million dollars her husband left her. But at least the emails from your online prof are in normal English and his email address is probably in the USA.

Be honest with me. Have you ever wondered if your online prof really exists? I figure there’s a big building somewhere, may-be in Kansas, and it’s full of peo-ple in front of keyboards all typ-ing like crazy. And that’s where your online classes come from! Feeling better about your on-line classes yet? I thought so….

Or maybe it’s even scarier. Lonely people in cheap rooms in motels in New Jersey sit in front of keyboards ‘teaching’ accounting or comp or pysch or whatever the mar-ket calls for. Their ‘boss’ hires them by the hour and pays them almost nothing. When these ‘profs’ run out of cool stuff to say about accounting or comp or whatever, they get tossed out and replaced by younger, more creative ‘online’ profs. (Did I men-tion that their ‘boss’ probably drives a pimped out Caddy? Just sayin….)

Oh sure, most of these ‘profs’ have masters degrees in something, but that doesn’t mean they get paid much. Just like guitar pickers in Nashville, young and hungry peo-ple with masters degrees are every-where these days. Hey, I don’t want to shock you, but in the old days, young people went to the city for excitement and yes, a lot of them ended up broke, and they had to do some not so nice things to pay the bills. Take a history class and you’ll get your eyes opened. Can you say ‘prostitute’ or ‘pimp’? I thought so.

Fast forward about 100 years and things have improved a lot. These days, young people go to grad school, get masters and PhD’s, and then a lot of them do whatever they have to do to pay

off their college loans, things like working in a dingy motel room or strip mall in New Jersey in front of a keyboard as an ‘online’ prof.

But enough about other peo-ple’s problems. So my online ac-counting prof died, or maybe he never even existed. “What’s the difference?” you’re asking? Well, I need that accounting class to grad-uate. Yeah, I used the ‘G’ word.

This could be the semester I graduate from Camp Alfred. Af-ter about five years here, give or take a decade, I’m getting close to leaving this crazy little town and heading out in to the real world. Sure, I’ve changed majors about eight times, but look at the positive side. I’ve probably tak-en ‘intro courses’ in every major Camp Alfred offers. I could teach half the intro courses on campus.

My resume, however, gets a little weak once we look past the in-tro courses, but hey, this country had plenty of ‘specialists’ the last time I checked. And a lot of them put their advanced degrees to work in motels in New Jersey or in a human warehouse somewhere in Kansas.

I’ve got some plans, and they don’t include Kansas OR New Jer-sey. I don’t want to give away too many details right now, but let’s

say Dr. Deville does NOT plan to be driving a puddle-jumping Prius in his future. And I won’t be calling crazy but cool little Alfred home forever, either. Sure, I love Terra Cotta and the ‘Jet, but let’s be real. There’s a big world out there, and I want to taste it and swallow it whole, if you catch my metaphor. (I put that in for my lit teacher. I think she was real and not imaginary….)

So as I start what might be my last semester here, I’d like each of you to pause in silence a moment out of respect for all the ‘online’ profs we’ve all had and will have in the future. I think we all know that someday, all SUNY classes will be taught online, probably by anony-mous, starving graduate students in a warehouse in Kansas, a strip mall in New Jersey, or even in a distant country where they use ‘En-glish’ to communicate. Until then, IF you have a real teacher and not an imaginary teacher, go by their office sometime and say “thanks for being here, live in Alfred!”

Now I have to go to an imagi-nary funeral for my imaginary online prof. I imagine he’ll be buried in the imaginary faculty cemetery they’re starting on the side lawn of SDC.

Kayla MarshThe week of January 21st,

Alfred State’s Liz Raterman and Jonathan Hilsher collaborated on “dream week”: a week to acknowl-edge Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream, life, and legacy. Martin Lu-ther King, Jr.’s voice was a voice for change and non-violence. Director of Multicultural Affairs, Liz Rat-erman, described the week as “an opportunity for us to remember that things have changed drastically.”

The week started with a “dream cloud” table set up outside of the Terrace dining hall. Students were encouraged to stop at the table and write their dream for our na-tion on a cloud. These clouds then decorated various venues around the campus. As many as 250 in-dividuals were said to have par-

ticipated at the event. Among the dream clouds, there were informa-tional packets about Martin Luther King, Jr. and a petition backed by UJIMA (formerly Black Student Union) and the Student Senate. The petition pressed for the for-mal recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr. day as a school holiday. Currently, Alfred State is the only SUNY campus to deny the holiday a school holiday, and therefore con-tinue with classes on January 21st.

On Wednesday, January 23rd, the 3rd annual dream gallery was held at Alfred University’s Knight Club. This free event show cased the artwork of Alfred Al-mond’s 3rd grade class. In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s infa-mous dream, each student created a black silhouette of their face with

their own accompanying dream written on it. The event also had a portion where you could create your own “dream candy bar” made with real ingredients. Also on Wednes-day, the film Boycott was shown at Alfred State in the E.J. Brown building. The film was an “educa-tional but entertaining” portrayal of the 1950s civil rights movement to boycott Montgomery buses. This film was made possible to view by the Kaleidoscope Coalition and Uji-ma (formerly Black Student Union).

Thursday, January 24th, the Celebration of Service Recognition Ceremony was held at the Village of Alfred Courthouse. This event recognized the nominees and recip-ients of the Spirit of Service award. This award was given to those who actively embody the principles

that Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for: equality, social justice, com-munity, and service. The recipi-ents from Alfred State were Sandy Dennison (of ACES) and Pheonix T. Garden. Two students from Al-fred University and one community member also received the award. There were 16 nominees in total.

Ending the dream week was the Day of Service. On Saturday, January 26th, more than 80 volun-teers were split among 12 volunteer sites and 15 service projects in or-der to give back to their commu-nity. The service projects ranged from reading books at the Box of Books library to playing board games with members of the Alle-gany County ARC. The day proved to be a great end to a week dedi-cated to service and community.

Monday, FEbruary 4, 2013 3 Tor Echo

Tor Echo Wants YOUR Opinion

Power DE:RangersBy: Damian Grimes

WETD Spotlight

Hello everyone…. my name is Andy Jones from Milford, New York AKA

DJ Bigdog. I’ve been a member of WETD since my first semester here at Alfred State in the Fall 2009. I

decided shortly after on taking more of a leadership role and have been on the Board of Directors as the treasurer since the spring of 2011. This semester

I am taking on the role of Associate General Manager. I enjoy playing

a variety of music but typically top 40 and country. My show times are

Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00am to 8:00am.

I have received my Associates degree in CAD/CAM Technology. I hope to graduate with my second Associates in Mechanical Design Engineering Technology this semester and then

graduate with my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering Technology

in 2014. My interests outside of WETD and classes consist of being a part of the Pioneer Woodsmen Team, Lead Technical Activities Assistant,

the occasional video game and bodybuilding.

Lila CampizEditor-in-Chief

Sometimes I find it hard receiv-ing feedback on the newspaper and everything else Tor Echo is trying to accomplish. We have recently been going more online. Do you like that? Do the students prefer on-line over print issues? It’s a ques-tion that I have been trying to figure out since last semester. I hope with this semester I can find out what students prefer. I noticed that with our website there isn’t much traf-fic going to it. I think it might be because people do not like reading a newspaper off a website. One of our changes this semester is the PDF version through Issuu. I know for myself that I prefer reading the PDF then reading it off the website. Everyone has his or her preference.

I of course want get Tor Echo out there more. With the online is-sues I think people tend to forget about Tor Echo because they don’t see the issues lying around campus. Before joining Tor Echo, I remem-ber if I was just hanging around

certain places on campus and there was a Tor Echo issue, I would pick it up and read it because it was there. That isn’t the case so much anymore. Half our issues are online and half are printed this semester.

Word of mouth is always the best form of advertising, however as an organization on campus we have a number of means of other advertising. We have posters, Chan-nel 3, WETD, PioneerLink and Tor Echo. If you haven’t noticed, we have a link on our website for Campus Events Posters. I’ve been meaning to update it but I hope that will be a great resource for stu-dents when they are on our website.

I also think people forget they can submit articles to Tor Echo at anytime. All you have to do is email torecho@alfredstate.edu or Lila Campiz at campizle@alfredstate.edu. Have you every wanted to have your own column? We wel-come ideas from everyone. Stop by our meetings on Mondays at 4 P.M. in the Orvis Conference Room.

ToR EcHo SprinG ScheDuleSubmissions can be sent to torecho@alfredstate.edu.

remember, submission does not guarantee publication. however student participation is

always greatly appreciated.

Issue # Publication Dates Submission Dates1 01/21 - Online 01/142 02/04 - Online 01/283 02/18 - Print 02/114 03/11 - Online 03/045 04/01 - Printed 03/256 04/15 - Online 04/087 04/29 - Printed 04/228 05/13 - Printed 05/06

Want toAdvertise?

clubs and Organizations can advertise in the Tor

echo for FREE! Want the entire campus to know about

an event? Tor echo can be another way for advertising aside from posters, channel 3 and pioneer link. email

torecho@alfredstate.edu

Learn more about our:• Top-notch coaching opportunities• Incredible sports facilities• Crystal-clear mountain lake and heated swimming pool• Days off in New York, Boston and the Berkshires• Staff of 150 from all over the world• Camp trips: Baseball Hall of Fame, Lake Placid, white water

rafting in Maine, Boston, Cape Cod and California• “Staff Only” lounge open nightly, complete with food and

wireless internet• Activities at night for staff

Staffing information• Hiring done on a rolling basis – APPLY NOW!• Room and board, travel allowance & US summer work visa• Email access• All facilities open for staff use• 7-day staff orientation• Summer internship and college credits

www.campmKN.com • (800) 753-9118www.campdanbee.com • (800) 392-3752

Apply Online at:

aweSome Summer JobSIN THE BERKSHIRE MOUNTAINS

For Girls

Winter Offices: Camp Mah-Kee-Nac, 3 New King Street, White Plains, NY 10604 • Camp Danbee, 31 Nashoba Drive, Boxborough, MA 01719

Interviewers will be on campus at Alfred University on Tuesday, February 26th in the Powell Campus Center, 2nd floor, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

For Boys

Do you have an opinion the newspaper? Or maybe a

suggestion? Feel free to let us know! Email us at anytime!

torecho@alfredstate.edu

2 Tor Echo Monday, FEbruary 4, 2013

Hurricane Sandy through the Eyes of an ASC StudentJosh Peraldo

As the holiday seasons are coming we develop a sense of hol-iday cheer. Kids are always look-ing for the new things they will be receiving and few will look at the things that they will lose.

Hurricane Sandy came up the coast on October 29th of this year and it took a lot of hopes, homes, dreams and people’s lives. As a soldier of the New York National Guard it was my duty, responsibil-ity, and honor to go down to New York City and do my best to help the people of New York even if it was only to help them clean the streets.

Our unit was sent to a loca-tion in Staten Island. The sights that I saw were horrific. People had left cars on the streets and when they re-turned, they found boats through the windshields. Houses that were once perfectly fine are now condemned without any hope of repairing them.

While walking the streets and cleaning my first day there, I saw one or two American flags. Their only purpose was perhaps a hope of warding off the storm. But as the citizens of those streets saw that the National Guard

was there to help them, people searched for flags in their houses

and hung them where they could. It was then that I had real-

ized that we were not just there for cleanup but also for motiva-tion. The people who had noth-ing still felt that they had every-thing as long as we as soldiers still stood strong and helped them.

One thing we saw one day on

the street were old baseball cards. These cards were worth money if

in good condition. Unfortunately they were completely destroyed. A squad from my platoon came across the boy who had lost the cards. He was about 12 or 13 years old at most. We talked with him and his mother. After a short conversation, the mother went back inside and tried to give our squad of soldiers

her last case of water. Even though the soldiers all refused the water immediately, she insisted that she wanted them to take the water and she would feel disrespected if they didn’t take it. We apprehensive-ly took the water but before they had left they had asked the moth-er “Why of you have nothing and no clean water of your own why would you give us the last of your clean water?” She responded, “I can always buy more water. This water cannot even come close to the gratitude I wish I could show.”

My trip and experience get-ting deployed down to New York City changed me even though it came with some sacrifices. I came back with a sense of humbleness and humility that I did not have before. I have only been able to describe the visual feelings but to truly understand what I have said, well, it’s something that you need to experience. For everyone who reads this I hope that it moves you and it helps you think about how fortunate you are here to have not been hit by Sandy. And I hope you are moved to help those whose lives were so changed by that October storm.

Dream Week & MLK Day of Serivce

Spring WritingLab Hours

The Writing Center, located in SDC room 237, is open from 9:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night, Mondays through Thursdays, and from 9:00 in the morning

until 1:00 in the afternoon on Fridays. Professional Writing Proctors and student writing tutors are available to help with writing projects whenever the Writing

Center is open. Here, listed alphabetically, are the faculty and students manning the Writing Center and their schedules.

Professional Writing ProctorsDawn ButtsThursday: 12 noon – 1:00 p.m.Friday: 9:00 a.m. – 12 noon

Carol GeiselmanMondays: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.Wednesdays: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Kate StifflerTuesdays and Thursdays: 9:00 a.m. – 12 noonTuesdays: 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 – 12 midnight on STARThursdays: 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Student Writing TutorsCourtney CardinalMondays and Wednesdays: 4:00 – 8:00 p.m.Thursdays: 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Kayla Marsh Tuesdays: 12 noon – 1:00 p.m.And 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.

NOTE:Online writing assistance is available through STAR-NY, the online writing consortium, from 7:00 p.m. – 12 midnight Sunday – Thursday nights. Alfred State’s Kate Stiffler is on STAR every Tuesday night.

Log onto www.alfredstate.edu/tutoring-services and follow the online tutoring link.

Monday, FEbruary 4, 2013 3 Tor Echo

A Different Kind of BankSteve Jakobi

People who are knowledge-able about such things estimate that multicellular photosynthetic organisms – plants – made it onto land during the Silurian Period in geologic history. During the past 450 million years or so, terrestrial plants diversified into more than 300,000 living species. Of these, the most successful group today is the flowering plants, which account for about 275,000 known species. Only a small fraction, about 7,000 species, are used for agricultur-al purposes and of these, 30 make up most of the world’s staple food sources. Wheat, corn and rice ac-count for more than half of the dai-ly calories humans consume today.

At some point during the evolution of human societies, someone somewhere realized that discarded seeds sometimes sprout-ed and could provide a staple food source without having to move onto new areas in search of food. Where agricultural settlements began in human history is not entirely clear but anthropological data point to the “Fertile Crescent” of the Near East as the center of wheat- and bar-ley-based settlements about 10,500 years ago. A few years ago there was quite an excitement (well, at least among those who get excited by such things!), when Israeli sci-entists discovered what appeared to be carbonized remains of do-mesticated figs in the Lower Jordan Valley, near Jericho. Although the findings were not universally ac-cepted, if true, these artifacts push the evidence for purposeful plant-ing of crop plants about 1,000 years before that in the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers region. Around the world, ar-cheologists postulate many centers of origin for agriculture at different times. In addition to the Near East, Northern China is thought to have the second oldest center at 9,000 years ago, followed by Central Mexico (5,700 years ago), the An-des region of South America around 5,200 years ago, and West Africa and North America about 4,500 and 4,000 years ago, respectively. Two basic types of agricultural systems have been proposed: seed crops, such as wheat, maize, rice, barley, etc., which are labor-intensive and more vulnerable to natural disasters (e.g. hail, locusts, floods) that lead to crop failure, and “vegeculture”, in which root and tree crops, lke av-ocado, manioc, yam and potato are grown. These require less manual labor and is less subject to large-scale destruction by natural forces but the caloric value of the foods they produce is also generally less.

Scholars sometimes argue over what the first crops were and

where they were first domesticated. With the discovery of the fig re-mains, archeologist Ofer Bar-Yosef was quoted in a June 2, 2006, New York Times article: “Eleven thou-sand years ago, there was a critical switch in the human mind – from exploiting the earth as it is, to ac-tively changing the environment to suit our needs. People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods.” In other words, people learned to exploit plants. But there is another way to look at this. In a beautifully written book, “The Botany of De-sire,” author Michael Pollen argues: “we automatically think of domesti-cation as something we do to other species, but it makes just as much sense to think of it as something cer-tain plants and animals have done to us, a clever evolutionary strategy for advancing their own interests.” Those interests, of course, includes protection and dispersal by humans.

Whoever exploited whom

is a matter for semantics debate. Just the same, some people are in-terested in the origins of crops for more practical than philosophical reasons. One of the individuals who had done an extraordinary amount of work on the origins of cultivat-ed plants was the Russian scientist, Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov. Inspired by the writings of the Swiss bota-nist, Alfonse DeCandolle on plant geography, Vavilov spent most of his scientific life traveling around the world, collecting, saving, and cataloguing seeds and other plant specimens. Whereas DeCandolle, son of a protestant minister and a devout Creationist, believed that each new species arose from a spe-cially “created” individual, Vavilov embraced Darwinian evolutionary concepts. Having spent some time in the laboratory of the renowned British biologist, William Bateson, Vavilov was well-versed in the modern 20th century science of evolutionary genetics. As a result

of his world-hopping journeys and keen observations, Vavilov eventu-ally mapped 8 centers of origins for domesticated grain crops. He pro-posed both primary and secondary centers of origin for many important cereals. In a 1926 essay, for exam-ple, he writes: “…bottom cultivat-ed wheat has two centers of origin: North Africa and southwest Asia…during very ancient times Egypt and other countries in North Africa had developed their own groups of cul-tivated wheat, sharply isolated from Asiatic wheat.” Vavilov could make such claims because he actually traveled to these places to examine not only the cultivated varieties but also their “wild” relatives. And he made another valuable contribution: he postulated that the centers of or-igin should be the sources of great-est genetic variability. He proposed that many wild relatives of modern crops should be able to be locat-ed in mountainous areas, as these would offer the greatest degree of environmental variation and, thus,

harbor the greatest genetic diver-sity in the population. This “gene pool” could then be the source of new, improved varieties of crops.

Modern crop science is a multibillion dollar business. Bio-technology promises to revolu-tionize agriculture, but such claims have been made before, as was the case with the “Green Revolution.” Traditional breeding programs may be slower but rely on genetic het-erogeneity as the source of varia-tion. For example, rice is not one uniform crop. There are roughly 40,000 different varieties of rice, belonging to 4 main categories: in-dica, japonica, aromatic, and gluti-nous. Each variety has slightly (or vastly) different genetic charac-teristics. In addition to nutritional value, taste, aroma, and stickiness upon cooking, there are also vari-ations in yield, disease resistance, and ease of cultivation. These varia-tions represent “insurance policies” because monoculture may lead to

complete crop failure as the result of a single environmental change.

Vavilov recognized the im-portance of these genetic variations and spent three decades in identi-fying, collecting and storing seeds from all over the world in his In-stitute of Plant industry in St. Pe-tersburg, Russia (later Leningrad, then Stalingrad in the Soviet Union; Petersburg again today in the Rus-sian Federation). He looked at his collection as a savings account, a bank deposit of genetic diversity to be drawn upon in the development of new crop varieties. The idea caught on and there are about 1,400 seed banks around the world today. The three largest ones include the Millenium Seed Bank in London, the Svalbard Global Seed Bank in Norway, and Vavilov’s seed bank in Russia. Other smaller, more spe-cialized centers are the Internation-al Center for Tropical Agriculture (cassava, beans) in Coli, Colombia; the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru; the International Insti-tute for Tropical Agriculture (cow-pea, yams, soybeans) in Nigeria; and The International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, which houses about 100,000 rice samples in its gene bank collection. The Millenium Seed Bank in England is by far the largest repository of plant samples, consisting of about 100 times more specimens than the one in Norway. The Svalbard Seed Bank opened in 2008 in a convert-ed old mine near the Arctic Circle. A joint venture between the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the Consultive Group on International Agriculture, the Norwegian government, and private donors, 400,000 seed sam-ples, representing about one-third of the world’s most important food crop varieties, are housed in a cli-mate-controlled, earthquake- and nuclear bomb-proof facility. Seeds are classified as “orthodox” or “re-calcitrant.” Orthodox seeds can stay viable for very long periods of time. For example, date palm seeds as old as 2,000 years have been successfully germinated and there is a recent report from Russia that 32,000 year-old seeds from the per-mafrost of Siberia have been found to be viable. Recalcitrant seeds can not be maintained for long periods and must be continuously grown and harvested. Either way, these so-called gene banks represent food security for a hungry world. These natural sources of variation are like-ly to represent the most important savings accounts for the foresee-able future. The seed banks guard something far more precious than gold or money: they are the de-positories of sustenance on which humans and other animals depend.

4 Tor Echo Monday, FEbruary 4, 2013

Dr. Arroyo’s Plans for the Athletic department

Kendo Club in a Nutshell

Jessica StewartDuring an interview with Dr.

Arroyo, he talks about his plans for future recruiting, the possible transition from JCAA division II to NCAA division III and an in-sider on the athletics department.

How are the men and women’s basketball teams doing so far? “They are doing ok. The women are ranked second in the region. They just beat Jamestown which was the champions last year, scoring 58-57. The women have an all American and national player of the year, Ha-ley Witchella” Dr. Arroyo stated.

He goes on and states “the men are doing better than last year and they are a pretty young team. Hopefully this team will stay to-gether for the full four years rath-er than the original two years.”

Are there any obstacles that they are currently facing?

“In any sport there are obstacles that each team faces. You will al-ways have to deal with motivating the athletes to go to their full poten-tial, academic is-sues, and behav-ioral issues. The bigger challenge that all teams will have to face is the transition to the NCAA.”

Alfred State will find out in a month if they will officially join the NCAA Division III. If they do, this will be a great transition to have com-petition with stronger teams and a more exciting environment.

“Transitioning to the NCAA will greatly affect recruiting, eligibility, the types of athletes that we will

be attracting. The transition will be exciting and little bit scary.”What are your plans on recruiting

future athletes?“One of the things based on my background on coaching is trying to support the coaches to recruit more. We purchased an on-line database for our coaches to put their recruits in the system eas-ily, and they can send mass text messages and

emails. It helps to keep in contact with recruits. We also have a phone app so that the coaches will be able to access the database while on the road and see new recruits come into the system. We purchased the high school contact information for all the high school coaches in

New York State, so we can send the coaches emails or text messages for anyone that may be interested in our school. All of our coaches have been doing a great job in recruiting in the past, but now we are giving them more tools in recruiting and more financial support to get out there.”

In terms of money, will re-cruiting be more of a bene-fit or a loss to Alfred State?“Certainly recruiting is a benefit to Alfred State. It is not only a bene-fit to athletics but it is a good ben-efit to the institution when we get the right students. Coaches are not just recruiting for teams but they are also recruiting for Alfred State as Alfred State is trying to increase their enrollment for more students, and recruiting is a big part of that. Right now Athletes are about 10% of the students. We are a state in-stitution so most of our recruiting is regional rather than state wide.”

Sebastian FergusonAs of now, the Kendo Club as

been active for many years now and is under the management of a new President, Josh Fitzgerald. He is hopeful that his new position will bring in many new members to the club, but is not specifying any lim-itation, so this is a club that anyone can join. But don’t worry if you are unsure about Josh’s inexperience as an instructor. Assisting him through-out his lessons are Mike Joel and Katie Sprague and Amanda Zeizer who are very experienced and are in their last year at Alfred State. Josh is a student of Digital Me-dia & Animation and is taking his Second semester this time around.

Classes for inexperienced members and those that just want casual lessons take place on Fri-days at 7pm to 8pm, with an ad-ditional hour to any who wish-es to continue practicing, while the more experienced classes take place on Wednesday at ….

If you are unsure about join-ing because you might be the only one there, fear not. There are many members taking les-sons already and are more than willing to offer a big, warm wel-

come to anyone wishing to join. Rumor has it that the club may

be getting an additional set of ar-mor, allowing for real fights with wooden sticks. Now you too can beat a defenseless man with a stick, just like in your youth. Just kidding.

During most, if not all classes, all Students will be allowed to prac-tice what they learned or want to try out against Josh himself, who will be protected in traditional Kendo fighting armor. The rumor is that an additional set of armor may be pur-chased, allowing members to engage in full fledge fights with each other, under the supervision of their fellow students and instructors. Please be warned though that no real swords will be allowed in the club. Please seek permission from Josh before bringing in any wooden swords for practice. The club wants to keep the environment Safe and boring, just kidding about the last part. Also, this club is not a Self-defense art like most mar-tial arts, as the club specifically trains you in ways to win tourna-ments, NOT fights against hood-lums. I suggest taking the Ka-rate Class/club for that instead.

Ergo is always looking for ways to bring in submissions (art,stories,poetry,photos)

Send submissions to TommDA@alfredstate.edu or place a printed copy in the ERGO folder taped on the outside of Professor Constantine’s office door.

ERgostudent literary magazine

Hit the ground running®.. .

The Center for Community Education & Training at Alfred State

(607) 587-4015 ccet@alfredstate.edu

CLEP shortens the time it takes to earn your degree.

Improve your chances for admission to college.

Computer Based Testing allows instant score results.

Receive college credit for what you already know.

Satisfy a proficiency requirement by demonstrating you’ve already mastered the content.

Satisfy NYS Teacher Certification Requirements.

Save time and money. Skip general introductory courses and make college more interesting.

Work full-time and still continue your education.

Alfred StateSUNY College of Technology

Center for Community Education and Training at SUNY Alfred

Are you thinking of taking a CLEP exam?

College Level Examination Program

www.alfredstate.edu/CCET

CLEP is the most widely accepted credit-by-examination program in the United States today, helping students of all ages earn college degrees faster by getting credit for what they already know. By receiving a satisfactory score, you can earn from three to 12 college credits toward your college degree for each CLEP you take, depending on the exam subject.

For the list of examinations available, go to: www.alfredstate.edu/CCET/CLEP

Each test is approximately 90 minutes and only $130.