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Volume 7 Issue 6 | November 10, 2011
GO
TO A Day in
the Life C
ente
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ead
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x: OpinionFeaturesSports
Horoscopes and No means NoPages 5-7
Tattoos and ZombiesPages 10-12
Basketball and College HockeyPages 13-16
- Page 5
In May 2013, the class of 2013 will be the first RMU students to graduate with the Student Engagement Tran-script (SET) as a require-ment, prompting efforts to make students more aware of these requirements. Starting with the freshmen class of 2009, including online only students, RMU students are required to fulfill two of the first seven categories list-ed on their SET. Those cat-egories include arts, culture and creativity, transcultural/global experiences, under-graduate research, service, leadership and professional experience. The seventh category is ded-icated to special recognition, special projects and partici-pation, serving as a supple-
ment to the first six. This past fall semester, ac-cording to Dean of Engaged Learning, Shari Payne, the minimum SET requirements were also expanded to under-graduate transfer students. Students can find detailed information and even view their current SET online at http://www.rmu.edu/getset
after signing in through the Sentry Secured Services. In-formation is also regularly posted on the office’s Face-book page, Rmu Set. For now, students must sub-mit a SET Activity Approval form, which can be printed
Increased frustration with the speed of wireless Inter-net access across campus has students and staff alike ques-tioning why the slowdown is occurring. For approximately two months, many resident stu-dents have been experienc-ing a slowdown in wireless speeds and general network congestion. With increasing enrollment and resident students at RMU, the wireless network is now being utilized more than ever before. New wireless technology, such as iPads, netbooks, e-readers, etc., is also becoming explosively popular among students. Randy Johnson, senior di-rector of technical services at RMU, attributed the network issues to the quality of the hardware in many students’
purchased computers as well as an increased number of in-dividuals who are now using the wireless network. “Sometimes students find themselves a great buy on a laptop which may not have the highest quality wireless card,” Johnson said. ResNet implements a num-ber of access points in the res-idence halls, but if a student possess hardware with a low-quality wireless card, it can reduce the signal strength that they can utilize. Since wireless Internet was not implemented when the residence halls were built, their design is also a factor in some of the signal issues that may occur. The only resi-dence hall that was designed and built with wireless Inter-net was Peter Salem Hall.
In an email to students, faculty and staff, Robert Morris University Presi-dent Gregory Dell’Omo announced on Monday that the university had pur-chased the Holiday Inn, which sits on 17 acres and will provide rooms for 500 students. Purchased for $10.15 million at a sheriff’s sale, the Moon Township Holiday Inn has served as housing for RMU students for the past two years. Although originally against the idea of purchasing the hotel to solve the housing crisis, Dell’Omo told his staff a few months ago to start looking into it. “We began to look at the economics of it; what it will be like from a residence life stand point,” he said. With the average bed on campus costing about $70,000, the univer-sity board jumped at this opportunity rather than building a whole new resi-dence hall, which would cost an esti-mated $35 million. “It was a no brainer from the cost side,” stated Dell’Omo. However, Dell’Omo explained the conversion from a hotel to a fully func-tioning university building “will take some time” with the help of a manage-ment company that the university has hired to help with the transition.
Dell’Omo plans to run the establish-ment as a hotel and slowly diminish the amount of rooms they reserve for the general public over the next five years. “Once we have this facility filled with students we are going to convert their public restaurant into a university food operation,” he added. RMU plans to keep the bar func-tioning for staff, students and public events. Other gains from this purchase in-clude a pool, which is too small for competitions and will eventually be eliminated, 12,000 square feet of con-ference space and a fitness center, which will be expanded. With the new 17 acres of mostly flat land, the president sees great poten-tial. “We could actually begin to add more recreational areas for students . . . the more green space you have the better it is,” he said. This purchase not only affects RMU, but also the Moon Township commu-nity. For instance, how will this impact the unemployment rate? What will happen to the current hotel staff? “Our purpose is to maintain as much staff as possible. We’ll put people through an interview process and make sure they meet the standards of what our management company
wants. I anticipate keeping the major-ity of [employees],” stated Dell’Omo. The president also assured that this purchase would not interrupt any cur-rent building projects that are planned for this year and the next. Concerns about transportation to and from the hotel were taken into consid-eration prior to the purchase. RMU’s board members and staff plan to purchase more shuttles and create a rolling shuttle route and have also been working with Moon Township to create more sidewalk space on Univer-sity Boulevard. “Particularly with Walmart coming
in, more and more people will begin walking. So, I don’t want people walk-ing on the street,” said Dell’Omo. As far as parking goes, a definitive decision has yet to be made, but stu-dents will most likely be required to purchase a parking pass in order to park at the former Holiday Inn. So what does this housing expansion mean for current resident students on campus? “Next year, . . . our regular housing is able to go back to its regular status as opposed to what is called enhanced housing, which is a nice way of saying packing ‘em in,” said Dell’Omo.
RMU purchases Holiday InnBY MARIA MAUTISTAFF WRITER
PLEASE SEE SET,PAGE 4
BY RYAN PAINTERCONTRIBUTOR
PLEASE SEE ISSUES,PAGE 4
SET office begins outreach efforts BY ANDREA ZANAGLIONEWS EDITOR
PHOTO BY KELLY JOY
Slow wireless speed on campus
RMU’s new Engaged Learning Advisor, Terri Byrnes, welcomes questions from students about the SET graduation requirements.
Currently, 144 RMU students reside at the Holiday Inn.PHOTO BY LEAH MOOSE
SkATE wITh ThE
News November 10, 2011Page 2 NewsNovember 10, 2011 Page 3
In a packed gymnasium on Wednesday, Oct. 25, Presi-dent Barack Obama broad-cast to the nation his execu-tive order that fundamentally changed the student loan repayment process for strug-gling students and future gen-erations. In front of 4,000 students, staff, faculty and community members at the Auraria Cam-pus near downtown Colorado, President Obama announced, “Pay as You Earn.” “Because of this change, about 1.6 million Americans can see their monthly pay-ments go down by hundreds of dollars a month,” the presi-dent stated. He also unveiled “Know Be-fore You Owe," which is a fact sheet that will simplify what the student owes and when. “So you have all the informa-tion you need to make your own decisions on how to pay for college,” said Obama. The order expedited the 2014 effective date established when the bill passed to Jan. 2012, an action the current administration took because of the current state of the economy. “Our economy could use it right now and you could use it right now,” stated Obama. So what has changed?
The first thing that has changed is the percentage of income a student is required to pay, or IBR (Income Based Rate). What was once 15 per-cent of a student’s income is now 10 percent. The second thing that has changed is when a loan is forgiven. A student before this new policy had to wait 25 years for loan forgiveness. Now, loan forgiveness begins after 20 years, but before ev-ery student jumps for joy, there are only a limited num-ber of students who are eligi-ble for the program. The program is only applica-ble to Federal Student loans. Parent or private loans are excluded. The other require-ment is the student has to have taken out that federal loan after 2008 and originat-ing a new loan in 2012 or lat-er. For the students who are for-tunate enough to fit this strict criterion, they will enjoy more manageable monthly pay-ments between jobs or during unemployment. Publisher of FastWeb.com and FinAid.org, Mark Kan-trowitz, offers alternative repayment strategies even if you don’t qualify for the new program.
On Thursday, Oct. 27, Rob-ert Morris University’s Me-dia Management class hosted “Executive Decision: 2011.” This debate, which was held in the Academic Media Cen-ter, gave RMU students a first-hand look at Allegheny County Executive candidates D. Raja (Republican) and Rich Fitzgerald (Democrat). The Media Management class chose to organize, pro-duce and broadcast this event from start to finish and was graded on its production for their midterm project. D. Raja (R), who originally came to Pittsburgh over 20 years ago to attend college, founded a technology com-pany that employs hundreds of people in Allegheny County and surrounding areas. Currently a commissioner in Mount Lebanon, he also served as the President of Commission in 2010. Raja be-lieves his role as a CEO in his company will help him lead Allegheny County as Chief Executive, as the attributes
needed for each possession are very similar. In his opening statement, he stressed the importance of the Chief Executive understand-ing business, being able to effectively manage the opera-tions of the county, and how his prior experiences will as-sist him in the administration of Allegheny County. Rich Fitzgerald (D), a life-long Pittsburgher, is cur-rently serving his fourth term as the Allegheny County Council’s president. Founder of Aquenef, a local company devoted to promoting water and energy efficiency, he has also been a member of the Al-legheny Democratic Commit-tee and the PA State Demo-cratic Committee. Fitzgerald also played a key role in the reform of Allegheny County’s local government by abolish-ing the three-commissioner system and replacing it with a County Council and Chief Executive. In his opening statement, he stressed the importance of job creation, maintaining taxes, and creating a working envi-ronment conducive to those
entering the workforce for the first time. Justin Downs served as host and moderator for the night, adeptly asking the candidates questions on topics that have been hotly debated among Allegheny County citizens. These key issues included the Port Authority, Marcellus Shale, budget reform and job creation. For the first portion of the program, audience members heard taped opening state-ments from both candidates and got a chance to hear Ra-ja’s responses to questions dealing with transportation, job creation and tax reform. After attending a political dinner earlier in the evening, Fitzgerald joined the debate halfway through, and the de-bate heated up. Debating Marcellus Shale, public transit, the drink tax and the property tax, the can-didates found little ground on which to agree. However, each agreed that the other has taken nega-tive stances in regards to the other’s personal lives and that Allegheny County must be-
come a place that can foster the growth of families and create jobs for young people. Set up as a debate that pro-vided each candidate with one minute and thirty seconds per issue and allowed thirty sec-onds for rebuttal when neces-sary, the debate served as a forum to create both interest and awareness in issues sur-
rounding Allegheny County and the current election. Students were also given the opportunity to meet and inter-act with both candidates after the debate had concluded. If you missed the opportu-nity to witness this dynamic debate, you can watch the recorded broadcast at www.rmusentrymedia.com.
Robert Morris University Patrick Henry Room 118 6001 University Blvd Moon Township, PA 15108 www.rmusentry.com ISSN #1934-8878 November 10, 2011 Volume 7, Issue 6- Bi-Weekly
Student Media Advisor
Carrie Moniot
Editorial Staff
The Sentry is a student-written, student-man-aged newspaper serving Robert Morris University and Moon Township. It is published every other Wednesday except during semester breaks, holi-days and prior to final exams. Editorial Policy: Editorials are based on the opinions of the editors of The Sentry and do not necessarily reflect the views of the students, faculty, or administration.
Corrections/clarifications: Readers should report any story or photo errors to The Sentry. All legitimate errors will be corrected in print the following edition. Letters Policy: The Sentry welcomes letters to the editor but does not guarantee publication. We reserve the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Anonymous submissions will not be published.
Andrea ZanaglioNews Editor
Sabine CherenfantOpinion Editor
Sybile CherenfantFeatures Editor
Brooke SmithSports Editor
Marissa HomerAd Manager
Matt PolaskiPhoto Editor
Sean WhitfieldOnline Editor
Anthony LivecchiArt Director
Business Staff
Thurs, Nov. 10“Servent of Two Masters” - 8 p.m.
- Massey Hall
Fri, Nov. 11Zapped Laser Tag - 5 to 11 p.m
- John Jay Gym“Servent of Two Masters” - 8 p.m.
- Massey Hall
Sat, Nov. 12“Servent of Two Masters” - 8 p.m.
- Massey Hall
Sun. Nov. 13“Servent of Two Masters” - 2 p.m.
- Massey Hall
Tues, Nov. 1510 Steps to a Federal Job - 6 to 7:30 p.m. - Sewall 3rd Floor, International Suite
Open Mic Night - 9 to 11 p.m. - Nicholson Center Food Court
wed, Nov. 16Etiquette Dinner - 4:30 to 6 p.m.
- Sewall Center
Mon, Nov. 21 to Fri, Nov. 25NO CLASSES
- Thanksgiving Break
Mon, Nov. 28All Classes Resume
Tues, Nov. 29Open Mic Night - 9 to 11 p.m. - Nicholson Center Food Court
Romo’s RoundupCOMPILED BY JEFF CROOKS
Police Blotter: October 30 through November 710/30 - Property Damage - The university locksmith re-ported damage to a door in Concord Hall. The residents of the room were questioned and advised that one of them ran into it causing the dam-age.
11/01 - Accident - This depart-ment was advised of a motor vehicle accident in the Upper Massey parking lot. Minor damage was done to both ve-hicles, and both parties ex-changed their information. A report was written for insur-ance purposes.
11/01 - Suspicious Incident - This department received a call about someone being on the roof of the Jefferson Cen-ter. Officers responded and no one was on the roof upon their arrival.
11/02 - Department Informa-tion - A professor called and requested an officer stand by their class for a possible un-
ruly student. Officers stood by and assisted without incident. 11/04 - Maintenance Request-ed - Parkhurst called and ad-vised that one of the lights in Romo’s Café sparked. Officers responded with maintenance and it was determined that a valance burned out and need-ed to be replaced. The power was turned off to the lights until they are repaired.
11/04 - Medical Emergency - Valley Ambulance notified this department that they were sending an ambulance for a female who fell and pos-sibly broke her ankle outside of the Student Center. The student was transported to North Hills Passavant Hospi-tal for further treatment.
11/05 - Smell of Marijuana- This department was advised of a smell of marijuana com-ing from behind Monroe Hall. Officers checked the building inside and out with negative results.
11/05 - Assist Another Agency - North Fayette PD called re-questing information on a stu-dent’s vehicle that was hit in the parking lot for Wal-Mart. The student’s information was given to the requesting officer.
11/06 - Welfare Check - A con-cerned mother called and re-quested we check on her son who she has not heard from in a couple of days. The son was located and advised to contact his mother.
11/07 - Underage Drinking - This department was advised of a possible intoxicated male in Gallatin Hall. Officers made contact with the male who was issued a citation for underage drinking and taken to Coraopolis PD for lodging.
Read the full police blotter online at
www.rmusentrymedia.com
Fri, Nov. 112011 Veterans Day ParadeLocation: Downtown Pittsburgh Time: 10:30 a.m.Cost: FREE
Sat, Nov. 12Handmade Arcade for the Holi-daysLocation: David L. Lawrence Convention Center,Time: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Cost: FREE
Fri, Nov. 18Good Fridays at The Andy Warhol MuseumLocation: 117 Sandusky Street, North Side, Pittsburgh, PATime: 5 - 10 p.m.Cost: $4 for students
Sat, Nov. 19Pittsburgh Light Up Night 2011Location: Various locations throughout Downtown Pitts-burghTime: 5 to 10 p.m.Cost: FREE
Sat, Nov. 2631st Annual My Macy’s Holiday ParadeLocation: Downtown Pitts-burgh, Pittsburgh PATime: 9 to 11 a.m.Cost: FREE
For more information on free and low cost happenings in
Pittsburgh and a local Student Discount Guide, visit Living-
Pittsburgh.com.
The reelection campaign of President Barack Obama has launched Greater Together, a new initiative geared at ener-gizing young voters the same way his campaign did in 2008. Obama’s National Campaign Manager, Jim Messina, and Youth Vote Director, Valeisha Butterfield-Jones, announced the initiative on Oct. 31 dur-ing a conference call with stu-dent reporters. “Young people were key to our victory in 2008 and crushed the idea that young voters are apathetic,” Messina said during the call. Messina also pointed out that there are 8 million vot-ers, ages 18 to 21, who will be able to vote in a presidential election for the first time next year. The campaign hopes to reach out to these new voters through student led events on campuses. With these events starting now, Messina said he’s seeing earlier involvement from stu-dents this year than he did in 2008. One of the biggest parts of Greater Together is a new website geared at young vot-ers, www.barackobama.com/young-americans. On the website, young vot-ers can contact the campaign with questions, read blog
postings, sign up to volunteer, and learn how to organize an event at their university. There is also a video of the president speaking directly to young people, explaining why it’s important to get involved. “Our new website is designed to talk with and not to young people,” said Butterfield-Jones. “Our goal is to reach young voters where they are: online.” The campaign also plans to reach out to young voters online through sites they fre-quently use, including Face-book and Twitter. Various on-line student summits, where students can ask questions to officials within the campaign, will also be held. The first of these summits was held on Nov. 2. Another part of Greater To-
gether will include the presi-dent going out and speaking on college campuses, which are said to be some of Obama’s favorite events. “You will see the president across the country campaign-ing on campuses,” Messina said. “Greater Together recog-nizes the control of your gen-eration and the influence they will have on Nov. 6, 2012.” Overall, Butterfield-Jones said those working with Greater Together have one common goal: “We’re work-ing to keep President Obama in office, protect the progress we’ve made so far, and keep pushing forward.” With the election just un-der a year away, the Obama campaign clearly recognizes the need for youth support in 2012.
BY JEFF CROOkSASST. NEWS EDITOR
Obama reaches out to young voters
Young people are key for President Barack Obama’s reelection in 2012.
New student loan policyBY MARIA MAUTISTAFF WRITER
Media management hosts Executive Decision: 2011BY ELLEN LIChIUSASST. OPINION EDITOR
PLEASE SEE hELPFUL,PAGE 4
Questions? Call us at 724-969-2504
PHOTO BY EMILY KUKLISHRMU student Justin Downs (right) moderated the debate be-tween Rich Fitzgerald (left) and D. Raja (middle).
OPINIONNovember 10, 2011Page 5News November 10, 2011Page 4
Over 1,000 strong braved the rough autumn evening condi-tions on Oct. 27 while waiting outside the Sewall Center to see Wale’s Ambition concert. After finally being ushered into the arena, the audience then waited once again for the main attraction. Some Pitts-burgh-area rappers opened up the show to a mixed reaction. Then Black Cobain took the stage and raised the anticipa-tion level with a solid perfor-mance. Finally, around 11:30 p.m., Wale appeared from the west end of the stage and the pa-tient crowd went into a fren-zy. From that time until the lights came back on, Wale performed songs from his new album, Ambition, his debut album, Attention Defi-cit, along with songs from Self Made Vol. 1, The Mix-tape About Nothing and More About Nothing. He also took some time to tell some brief stories from his time at Rob-ert Morris. There have been mixed reac-tions to the concert.
Many folks were upset that Wale and his crew were late, but if there’s one thing to ex-pect before a performance, it’s to believe that someone isn’t going to be on time. So even though it didn’t start for two hours past its projected start of 9:30 p.m., it wasn’t some-thing to get too upset about. It also seemed like two-thirds of the crowd were excited and hyped with every song Wale performed, while the other third seemed to be there just because it was the only thing going on at RMU. Wale has stepped up his promotion game for Ambition thanks to the alignment with Maybach Music Group. With his 2009 debut Atten-tion Deficit, Interscope under-shipped the album, and he on-ly sold 28,000 his first week. Ambition, however, is project-ed to sell over 180 thousand in first week sales, which is a huge accomplishment and rarity in the hip-hop game to-day. That being said, at this point, Attention Deficit has a higher rating of 77/100 than Ambition’s 73/100 score on Metacritic. Ambition is available in stores now.
“Graduates who are looking to get into the public service in-dustry will reap some advan-tages when it comes to paying off their loans. Public service loan forgiveness applies to jobs such as public school teachers, police, fire, EMT, public defenders, pros-ecutors, government work-ers, members of the military and anybody who works for a 501(c)(3) organization,” Kan-trowitz told NPR. As helpful as this all is for some people, CNSNews.com reports it’s just not enough, claiming that the root of the problem is the rising cost of college tuition.
RMU senior John Emrick does not believe the move was about students at all. “I think Obama’s new stu-dent loan plan is a political charade in hopes to garnish support from young people with student debt,” he said. RMU communication stu-dent Logan Williams also re-acted with hesitation. “When I heard that he expe-dited the process, I instantly thought he was using it as a political move,” stated Wil-liams. “I think many people are going to think the under-lying reasoning is that he is trying to get more votes. In reality, though, it will actu-ally help a lot of people in the long run.”
There are approximately 15,000 people that can call themselves Pittsburgh Pen-guins season ticket holders. I am one of those lucky indi-viduals. Of those 15,000 plus, I recently had an experience that most will never get. Sept. 12, 2011 is a day that neither I, nor my family, will ever forget. Five days earlier, on the seventh, I received a phone call from my stepdad, who seemed quite excited. Up-on picking up the other line, I was told that we had been selected by the team to have our tickets delivered person-ally to our house by a Penguin player. My first reaction was dis-belief. I was having a hard time coming to terms that we had actually been selected to participate in this fantastic promotion. The team began having players deliver season tickets five years ago, and for those past few seasons, I had always watched the online videos documenting the visits with envy. Not this season. After five long days of wait-ing, the hour had finally ar-rived to head home. The ride back to Mt. Lebanon with my
roommate and best friend, Jake Niehl, was one filled with excitement and antici-pation. Just the thought of having a member of the team that we worship standing in my living room was almost unfathomable. We arrived back home in the early afternoon, a couple of hours before our special guest was to arrive. Those hours were torturous; just sitting and waiting with an anticipation that I hadn’t felt in a long while. Finally, at around 3:30, the phone rang. The public relations employ-ee on the other line informed us that they would be arriving within 10 minutes. I, along with my mom, stepdad, Jake, and another one of my good friends, Peter Hric, were all in for a big surprise. The next 20 minutes were to become etched in my mind for eter-nity. The black Cadillac sedan pulled into the driveway, along with two other cars for a writer and photographer that were following. Out of the Ca-dillac stepped a cameraman, who went to the other side of the car to capture the player exiting the vehicle. The next moment was probably my fa-vorite of the entire afternoon.
After five days of anticipation, the wait was over. Out of the car stepped Selke Trophy finalist Jordan Staal. My mom’s reaction was price-less. “Oh it’s Jordan Staal!” she screamed with excitement. The towering forward, who is only 23 and certainly young enough to be my brother, im-mediately became part of the family. Not that I would ex-pect anything less, but he was extremely down to earth, and very kind and gracious. He signed upwards of 20 items for us, including jerseys, pucks, posters, hats, and even a stick that my stepdad had just pur-
chased on the way home. It just happened to be made by Bauer, the brand that Staal uses. The six of us, along with the writer, cameraman, photogra-pher, and public relations em-ployee chatted about hockey of course, and also how grate-ful we were for this opportuni-ty. The surprise as to who was going to step out of the vehicle was the standout moment for many of us. Upon leaving, we thanked ev-eryone once again, especially Jordan, for taking the time to stop by and bring our tickets. I’m not sure that he had any idea how much it meant to us.
It’s one thing when you meet a player after a game at the rink; you are in their environ-ment, and the interaction isn’t too personal. Having a player in your house for upwards of 20 minutes is a completely different experience. The Pittsburgh Penguins are repeatedly ranked among the top teams in fan relations, not just in the NHL, but in all of sports. Our surreal experience with Jordan Staal is just another reason why they continually receive this accolade. This segment is titled a day in the life. This was undoubtedly one of the best of mine.
Around 150 students were welcomed to the familiar aro-ma of a hotel at the beginning of this semester. The Holiday Inn on University blvd. would once again serve as a dormi-tory for students living “on-campus.” Even though the Holiday Inn is a mile away from the Rob-ert Morris University cam-pus, it isn’t entirely a burden. In many ways, it actually is a unique place for students to live. After a year of living in Hamilton Hall, it’s a relief to get away from all the incon-veniences of that freshman dorm. For example, getting to the restroom or shower is a jour-ney down a long, cold hall-way filled with random de-bris. Even before starting off, it was a necessary ritual to make sure you had every-thing you needed. If you were lucky, or happened to shower
at weird hours of the day, a stall with warm water was available. This was a constant struggle among 26 residents on a floor. At the Holiday Inn, that problem doesn’t exist. Only two individuals share a bath-room consisting of a toilet, shower, sink and hairdryer. In addition, their restroom is cleaned weekly by the hard-working housekeepers. The floors in the freshman dorm hallways and rooms are covered with tiles which are frigid in the winter months. Additionally, they can be an-noying when they allow ob-noxious voices to echo in the night. Just a mile up the road, residents can walk barefoot anywhere on soft, vacuumed carpets which drown out the casual corridor conversation and keep the rooms cozy and warm. Those who had a rough day can relax in the hotel’s hot tub or heated swimming pool. That’s impossible anywhere
on campus. If residents wish to stay in shape without the hassle of going all the way to Jefferson Center, they can just walk down to the main floor where a decent-sized fit-ness center awaits. When night falls, many stu-dents at the Holiday Inn are welcomed with a double-sized bed rather than the small, ge-neric mattresses found in the dorms on campus. Further-more, there aren’t just bricks separating you from the guy blasting his music next door. Thick, concrete walls offer a peaceful living and studying environment. Life at the Holiday Inn offers students a chance to escape the mundane and academic feel of the campus. It gives them a chance to easily walk to and see what the boulevard has to offer. For instance, they have the opportunity to still feel the thrill of high school football across the street at Moon Stadium. Many restau-rants are close by, several of which offer student discounts
for RMU students. Also, with numerous restaurants near, students looking for work who don’t own a car can effortless-ly reach their job by foot. If students don’t wish to go out in the rain or snow for a meal they have options avail-able to them within the build-ing. The hotel is home to the Bridges Restaurant, which of-fers a pasta buffet three days a week, and the Iron City Grille, an establishment serv-ing burgers, pizza, and other foods. This is more ideal than bracing the elements to get dinner at the food court.
You need to get to the airport for a certain reason? The Holi-day Inn offers a free shuttle upon request. You wish you knew more about the sur-rounding area? The associates at the front desk are willing to help out. Yes, there are, of course, some drawbacks of living at the Holiday Inn, such as hav-ing to take the shuttle to go to class, eat at the cafeteria, or hang out with friends, but if residents can look past that, they will realize that it really isn’t as horrible as it is made out to be.
Is the Holiday Inn really that bad?BY kEVIN ZAVITZSTAFF WRITER
A day in the life: Staal drops byBY BROOkS BRATTENSTAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY BROOKS BRATTEN
Getting SET for graduation Political move or simply helpful?
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
Mixed reactions for Wale
ResNet working to solve issuesUnfortunately for Lexington and Concord, some locations in those buildings have low wireless signals, but ResNet is working to solve these is-sues. Nevertheless, ResNet has implemented a number of wireless access points in the halls to minimize any prob-lems like these. Additionally, wired connec-tions always provide a more reliable speed than wireless connections. “We do not have any spe-cific out of control residence hall areas where network use is extremely high. Wash-ington Hall does have a very high occupancy of students, but the amount of data used fluctuates everywhere,” said Brandon Hamilton, network administrator. The Holiday Inn, where 144 RMU resident students re-side, features a different net-
work system that is not main-tained by ResNet. ResNet does, however, try to assist with some of the network is-sues that some students face there. “The Internet at the Holiday Inn is slow quite often,” said Stephanie Sims, who resides there. According to the Robert Morris University Informa-tion Technology Facebook page, ResNet is currently seeking student input on their Internet access speed results. RMU Network Engineer Dennis Jochmann said that the main issue is that not enough students are report-ing their network issues to the right department. “Students haven’t been re-porting problems to ResNet. We’ve heard of many issues from the dean’s forum and the president’s house, but not enough people have come to the IT Department,” Joch-
mann said. Students are strongly ad-vised to contact ResNet if they experience any network issues that are not immedi-ately resolved. Any phone call made to the ResNet office automatically creates a problem ticket with the student’s phone number, assuring students that their problem will be dealt with. “Tickets are reviewed by nearly everyone in the de-partment. The Information Technology Vice President actually looks at all of them as well,” said Johnson. ResNet hours are Monday through Thursday from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Walk-in appointments are always welcome at their office on the first floor of Lexington Hall. Students can also reach the office at 412-397-2299.
out from their website, to Engaged Learning Advisor, Terri Byrnes, at [email protected] to have activities included on their SET. Payne said the IT department is currently working on an electronic process for the ap-proval forms to be submitted in order to speed up the process. In the past, SETs have been updated yearly, but Brynes said she hopes to be able to up-date them at the end of each semester when the new electronic submission is implemented sometime next spring. Despite all of this information online, Class of 2014 Vice President, Jeff Siwik, finds many students, including himself, unaware of what exactly is involved with the SET require-ments. “From my perspective, a lot of sophomores aren’t really fully aware of how the SET works and what the SET can do for them,” he said. In an effort to make students more aware, Siwik, with the help of the Student Life Of-fice, is in the process of organizing an infor-mation session on the SET that will include speakers from each required category to speak about opportunities available to complete the requirements. Siwik plans to have the session take place sometime before the end of this semester, so students can start getting involved and work on their SET in the spring. “I think [students are unaware of the SET re-quirements] because it’s really only described in the first week, and in the first week, there’s so much else going on . . . that the SET is re-ally just another thing to learn,” explained Siwik. Byrnes, who began working as the engaged learning advisor in June 2011, agrees that more needs to be done to make students aware throughout their time at RMU. She recently sent out letters to students of the 2013 class about the requirements they are currently missing on their SETs, and she is planning several information sessions that
include a step-by-step process for completing the SET and a question and answer section. “We’re doing the outreach a full two years ahead so that we know that students are go-ing to have enough time to complete these requirements by the time they graduate,” ex-plained Payne. “We’re confident with our out-reach efforts.” While having a second transcript may seem redundant to some students, both Payne and Brynes believe it gives students an edge over others because it shows more than what one can fit on a resume. Brynes also feels that the SET encour-ages students to try new activities that they wouldn’t consider otherwise. “Besides having the actual Student Engage-ment Transcript that documents these extra-curricular experiences, the student benefits from the experiences themselves. It might push the student out of his/her comfort zone to participate in some activity that he/she would not normally do,” added Byrnes. In 2007, the SET Advisory Board, which in-cludes 20 people from each student service of-fice and each school on campus, was formed to create a co-curricular transcript that Presi-dent Gregory Dell’Omo wanted RMU students to have to supplement their academic tran-script, explained Payne. After the pilot program in 2008, it was made mandatory of all students. Being one of very few schools with a SET, RMU has garnered national attention. Payne stated that after doing an interview with Inside Higher Ed and the Recruitment and Retention newsletter in 2009, she was contacted by universities and colleges across the country. While Payne offers her advice to other uni-versities and colleges that contact her about the SET, she hopes to eventually expand the interest with a webinar or on campus confer-ence. “We have some plans going forward to really put our stamp on it,” she stated.
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BY EThAN wOYSTAFF WRITER
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Rape. It is a strong topic to write my first opinion piece on, but with the recent events at Slippery Rock Univer-sity, I feel compelled to get my voice heard about the terrifying and horrific ordeal of getting assaulted. Two suspects, were charged with raping another stu-dent on an off-campus location earlier this month, and I am dumb-founded to even think that someone would do such a thing to another human being. Do these people have remorse or knowledge that what they did was wrong? I’ve seen it multiple times where guys think that they can get away with doing whatev-er they want because they feel as if they are entitled to have what they want when they want it. Well I’ve got news for these attackers: You don’t have the right to force another individual to do something they don’t want to! Yet, a rape occurs every 10 minutes and sadly only 10 percent of them are reported to the authorities. What happens to the other 90 percent of victims? How do they cope with what happened to them if they never re-port it? Sometimes reporting the crime may not seem like the best option, and victims may feel as if they are being attacked all over again because of having to go through the ordeal of preliminary hearings, court dates and re-scheduled court dates, media coverage, harassment by those who don’t believe her and so on. The victim is
looked at through a microscope, and is picked apart for every bit and piece of information. The information can be used to make a case against by saying: “She asked for it, or she led them on.” It’s disgusting that these defense attorneys do every-thing in their power to make the victim look like the bad guy. Does that seem fair? Does that make any sense what so ever? Does this girl need to be put through the agony and pain of having her whole life broadcasted for everyone to see? In rape cases there is one bottom line and that is when someone says no, whether they are intoxicated or not or said yes at first but then changed their mind, it still means no. It goes back to simply learning what the meanings of certain words are. Maybe these attackers need an English lesson because clearly they have no idea what the word “no” means. The truly sad part about this is what happens to the victim. Their whole life is completely turned upside down and can never go back to the way it was before. Most suffer from depression, drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders; the list goes on and on. I truly believe, however, that these victims have the power to stand up for what’s right and the power to stand up and take back their control if they choose to do so. It’s not an easy path to take, but it’s the only one that can lead them out of the dark and back to a sem-blance of normal life. What these victims need is the support and the courage to no longer be a victim, but to become a survivor.
As the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement continues to heats up, one can only wonder when the mad-ness will stop. Just last week, police fired tear gas and various projectiles into the crowd at Occupy Oakland in order to stifle riots that closed the city’s port. The OWS protests, which began on Sept. 17 in the Wall Street financial district of New York City, have now spread to over 700 cities and communities. The OWS protests began as pro-tests against social and economic in-justices and inequalities, including corporate greed and corporate influ-ence over the federal government. The slogan of protestors is “We are the 99 percent.” The remaining one percent refers to the wealthy in the U.S. economy, typically those mak-ing over $200,000 per year. The country-wide protests take stances against corporations who abuse their funds and the money grant-ed to them by the government. As someone who is disgusted with the thought of a CEO using my tax money to fund extended vacations, private jets, and large social soi-rees, initially I believed the move-ment may be something that is in sync with my political and economic ideologies. However, upon further investigations into the fundamental beliefs of OWS and its similar dem-onstrations, I was quite shocked to
see how extremely anti-corporate these protesters truly are. The mission statement of the WS has been adopted by many of its offshoots. It acknowledges that they have been brought together to fight for common interest. These interests include rights, corruption, democracy, and the fact that our government is now being run by corporate leaders that cannot look out for the interest of the common man. Upon further reading, the statement goes on to make claims that corporations have taken their property through illegal foreclosure processes, have sold privacy, “have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press”, “have participated in torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas,” and “continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive gov-ernment contracts.” The mission statement is accompa-nied by a statement of nonviolence that defines its philosophy of “Tac-tical Violence.” Tactical Violence is defined as: “not to initiate physical violence with members of the police or public; if attacked by either, to respond in ways that seek to mini-mize harm to persons; and to ab-stain from provocative destruction of property.” However, by merely looking at headlines of articles from major cities and communities alike, it is easy to see that these protestors are not afraid to use violence when they do not get their way.
While OWS and similar move-ments may look tempting to join, at the end of the day, they are against free enterprise and the free market economy on which our country was founded. While many CEOs have taken their rights and benefits to an extreme, will fighting back with ex-treme protests and ideologies really help to combat corruption? That one percent has also done a lot of good for the economy. They have rein-vested in the market and have aided smaller companies in surviving the recession. Also, they are in charge of corporations that create jobs. Many “OWSers” would like to see money invested into energy efficient companies and agriculture; the fact of the matter is, we cannot regress to the times in which our country was sustained by agriculture alone. Fighting extreme actions of greedy businessmen with extreme actions by those uneducated in econom-ics or those who are angry will not bring the changes needed to rejuve-nate our economy. Our country was founded on an economy that has al-lowed people rise to the top and to become highly successful by promot-ing free enterprise. By taking out these top leaders and corporations, we would be limiting their rights. Isn’t restriction of rights some-thing that “OWSers” are fighting? The Occupy Pittsburgh movement is gaining momentum. Will you be joining? I know I won’t be.
It’s time we learn that no means no
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HoroscopesBY hEIDI hICkLESTAFF WRITER
Aries (Mar. 21 – Apr. 19) – Walking around in the middle of the night is not something you are used too, but, this week, you will have to expect the unex-pected around every corner. Lucky num-bers include 20, 16, 3. Taurus (Apr. 20 - May 20) – Your mem-ory is slacking. You may feel like you have to retrace your steps over and over. Stick to your path because change is coming to you. Lucky numbers include 82, 72, 64. Gemini (May 21 - June 21) – A shopping spree is coming your way. Although you do not get everything you want, the best things are yet to come. Money cannot buy everything. Lucky numbers include 29, 69, 42. Cancer (June 22 - July 22) – Your life is going to spin out of control in a positive direction. At the end of each day, think about all your accomplishments. Lucky number include 55, 49, 21.
Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22) – An adventure is ahead. Let yourself go, and take ad-vantage of all the things it offers. Don’t think about the things you could be do-ing. Lucky numbers include 7, 15, 33. Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22) – Getting knocked down is something you may feel a lot when the challenges come to you. Remember to breathe. Lucky numbers include 22, 15, 9. Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 23) – Going out is something you need to do. Leaving your comfort zone does not happen eas-ily. Push through and learn to take on the challenges. Lucky numbers include 3, 56, 19. Scorpio (Oct. 24 – Nov. 21) – College is meant to be a new experience. Take ad-vantage of everything it has to offer be-fore it’s too late. Live it up. Lucky num-bers include 85, 44, 1. Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21) – Happy attitudes are the main things you bring to the table. Don’t let anyone damper your mood as you cheer up the rest of the crowd. Lucky numbers include 2, 77, 46. Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19) – Swing-ing is in your path this week. Your moods will swing, and your attitudes about different subjects will swing. Go with it, what’s meant to be will. Lucky numbers include 9, 25, 36. Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18) – Trouble seems to find you this week. Although you tend to drag yourself into it, watch where you step and what you say. Lucky numbers include 3, 61, 93. Pisces (Feb. 19 – Mar. 20) – You lose your passion for the things you thought you once loved. Get your thinking cap on, and think about the things you still care about. Lucky numbers include 6, 82, 00.
Stand up for what you believe in: you could fall for any anti-corporate movement
BY LAURA DEELYSTAFF WRITER
BY ELLEN LIChIUSASST. OPINION EDITOR
Skate With the Colonials
Colin South, sophomore forward.“It’s great. There’s no better feeling really. We realize that we’re not going to the NHL, so this is the chance we get, or the closest we’ll get, to having fans that really look up to us and to be able to interact with them the way we do is pretty special.”
Nick Chiavetta, senior forward“Well, I personally enjoy when the dads come up and they bring their kid, and they ask you to help them out and skate with them and show them around a little bit. I appreciate that because I remember when I was little and anyone older took the time to skate with me and show me a little bit, I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”
Jeff Jones, freshman forward“It’s good to give back because they’re always here cheering us on, so I think it’s a good thing that we’re out here sharing and communicating with them too.”
Trevor Lewis, senior captain/forward“I remember when I was that little skating with some older kids.It’s definitely something you remember, so it’s always a good time. Whether we win or lose, for the kids, it’s still fun, so it’s important for us to get out there and have fun with them.”
Twice a year, the RMU men’s hockey team gets the unique opportunity to skate with the fans that come out and support them at their games at the RMU Island Sports Center. After an unfortunate 2-0 loss to American Interna-tional (AIC) on Nov. 5, the Colonials took to the ice with some of their biggest fans. The outcome of the game was not what the fans and Colonials wanted, but that did not stop everyone from having a fun time. “It’s a good feeling, especially the crowd that they packed in here,” said senior captain Trevor Lewis. “They always come support us so it gives us a chance to go back and show them some support and hang out with them and get to know them and some of the kids so it’s fun.” “Whether we win or lose, for the kids it’s still fun, so it’s important for us to get out there and have fun with them,” he added. Senior forward Nick Chiavetta also sees this as a unique way to interact with fans. “We enjoy skating with them,” said Chiavetta. “It’s fun just getting the opportunity to not have that glass between us anymore and we get to experience hockey, which we both love, and that’s why we come to the game.” For freshman forward Jeff Jones, this was his first Skate with the Colonials and he had a great time interacting with the fans. “Meeting new people is always fun, so that’s probably my favorite part,” said Jones. Skate with the Colonials is also a great way for the team to unwind. “The hockey season is pretty stressful, so skating with them helps take the edge off a little bit,” explained sophomore forward Colin South. When asked if Skate with the Colo-nials should be a tradition that continues, Chiavetta enthusiastically replied, “Absolutely! It’s awesome. We love it, and they enjoy it. So, why not?”By Brooke SmithSports Editor
Photos by Chelsey Frey
FeaturesNovember 10, 2011 Page 11November 10, 2011Page 10 FeATureSAfter the arrival in the university of rapper Wale on Oct. 27th for his concert, one can’t help but wonder whether Robert Morris University (RMU) stores other future rappers on campus. James Jermany, a senior major-ing in Software Engineering, is a student who enjoys the art of rap-ping very much. “Rapping is a way for me to ex-press my feelings and emotions,” said Jermany. However, while Jer-many enjoys to rap, he only sees it as an activity. “I don’t consider myself to be a rapper,” said Jermany. “I just do it as a hobby.” With no intention on turning this hobby into a career, Jermany does not reject the possibility of joining the rap industry in the future. “… I don’t plan on making a ca-reer out of it, [but] if it happens it happens,” he said. Rapping for Jermany started in middle school with friends. “You see, like old sitcoms, peo-ple in the corner rapping having a good time?” asked Jermany. “It was like that.” Jermany did a small performance for Paul Spradley, RMU’s former director of Multicultural Student Services, last spring. “People seemed to love it,” he ex-plained. However, he never judged himself on his rap skill. In the meantime, Jermany does have his input on the rappers in the indus-try. Like every industries, the rap industry has been opening up to
new artists. Two new artists that Jermany perceives as leaders in the future of rap are Drake, a popu-lar rapper signed with Lil Wayne’s Young Money Re-cords, and J. Cole, an evolving rapper signed with Jay-z’s Roc Nation. “Rap is different from what it used to be,” said Jer-many on the way the new generation of rappers is bring-ing a new style. “I don’t know where it’s going to go, but it’s going some-where different.” Tyler, The Cre-ator who has made headlines for his unpopular songs toward gay and women rights ac-tivists, and has gained fame for his surprising win at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, is the most controversial rapper of this year to Jermany. “Everyone goes crazy for this guy,” explained Jermany. “I’m not a huge fan, but I respect what he’s doing. I think he’s creepy, but cool at the same time because he’s dif-ferent”. “He’s done a lot and has come very far,” said Jermany regarding his favorite rapper, Jay-z. Like many students, Jermany was excited to welcome Wale for
his concert this past October, and he strongly encouraged the uni-versity to host more concerts, with different genres of music, on cam-pus. “I like all music,” Jermany said. Jermany believes passion is what will push people far into a com-petitive industry, including the rap industry. Dedication and hard work are the keys for people to reach their goals. “Just be passionate,” Jermany advised the aspiring rappers. “If you get your heart into it, it will take you wherever you want to go.”
RMU Student James Jermany
with her mother. It became even stronger since she was diagnosed. Hook had a positive outlook, and knew she could always talk to her mother about her thoughts. Despite her mother’s feelings about body art, Hook is looking to get an-other tattoo in the future to serve a similar purpose. “I would definitely want the tattoos to correlate in some way,” Hook said. “I would get a tattoo of the music lyr-ics that have helped me deal with ev-erything I went through. Our bond is now stronger than ever.” Other people have also gotten tat-toos to remember their lost ones. Jeff Hayes lost his father when he was just 16 years old to cancer. As soon as he turned 18, he got a tattoo that read, “In Loving Memory” with a cross and “DAD” written beneath it. Hayes was left to take care of his mother and sister after his father’s death. “He was more of an inspiration than anything else,” said Hayes. “I didn’t beat myself up over it because I knew I was now the man of the house and that’s what my dad would have want-ed, for me to take control and carry on.” While life has become more difficult for Hayes, particularly with provid-ing for his family, he only has to look at his right bicep and realize that there’s still a life worth living. “I showed the tattoo off to everyone I knew,” Hayes said. “I was proud. I still am proud, and that’s because I know my dad will always be with me.”
While showing support and memo-rializing are means of expression, some people like to tell a narrative with their tattoos that reflect their personalities and aspects of their life. Musician, Danny Chavarrie has several tattoos placed on his upper body that are visually striking, and carry a great significance. “Each tattoo has a different mean-ing to me,” said Chavarrie. “My Def-tones one symbolizes my favorite band. My scorpion is my zodiac sign. My dragon symbolizes the strength I have and keeps my morale up. My evil jester means that I was once a fool, but now my purpose is to better myself. My Latin saying on my stom-ach, ‘odi et amo’ means that I have
both loved and have hated many peo-ple and things in my life.” Tattoos become immortalized on a person with how they view them-selves and how others perceive them. They become physical traits in their own way. They become similar to a person’s hair, eye color or skin tone. They are very much present, and they help mold or identify some-one’s life. There’s no sign that this form of art will disappear any time soon. According to a U.S. News and World Report article, there are over 20,000 tattoo parlors operating in the United States with it becoming more prominent as years go on. Tattoos are not just inked on people, but inked on society.
Robert Morris University (RMU) just welcomed another visiting scholar for the Fall semester. Dr. Catherine Ramsey-Por-tolano joined RMU and Luca Guardabascio, this Fall’s Rooney scholar, to help cel-ebrate the 150 years of Italy’s Unification. She is the department chair and an associate professor of Italian studies at the Ameri-can University of Rome, an af-filiation to RMU for the study abroad program. Ramsey-Portolano stayed in RMU from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4, and gave lectures to RMU fac-ulty and staff members, along with students. “Many professors welcomed me into their classes,” said Ramsey-Portolano, who spoke to students in several class-
rooms. Among these classes, was the Honors Research Method one, in which she used her thesis on an Italian female writer to lecture the students on research. “I’ve talked about Italian Literature and culture,” she explained regarding the main topic of her lectures. “I hope that has increased students’ awareness of Italy.” She added that students who attended her presenta-tions were interested in her experience in Italy, which she shared with them. Ramsey-Portolano, a native of the United States, went to Italy as a study abroad stu-dent when she was 20 years old, and was entering her last year in college. “I loved it so much, I decided to stay longer,” said Ramsey-Portolano. It was actually Ramsey-Por-tolano’s second time in Italy.
She visited it for a summer program, in which she stayed in Urbino, a small in the Cen-tral part of the country. This six-weeks sojourn led to her decision to return to Italy and
reside there for a year. After getting her bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Ramsey-Portolano enrolled in a university in It-aly, Libera Universita Maria
SS. Assunta, to continue her studies and receive her degree in Italian Literature.
BY ShALIDA-ANN DOBBINSASST. FEATURES EDITOR
Rooney Scholar visits for celebration BY SYBILE ChERENFANTFEATURES EDITOR
What rapping means to James Jermany
BY ANThONY NIEMIECSTAFF WRITER
Meanings behind people’s tattoos
Getting to know people through tattoosCONTINUED FROM PAGE 10
People express themselves in many ways, sometimes through their choice of clothing, their peers, or their genre of music. Meanwhile, some people also express them-selves in a much more permanent way by tat-tooing themselves. As an art form, tattoos have become engrained in popular culture and have seen an influx since the 1990s and early 2000s. According to a 2006 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 36 percent of people ages 18 to 25, and 40 percent of people ages 26 to 40 have at least one tattoo. In fact, the word,”tattoos,” has been among the most searched terms since 2002. Whether it being profound or not, people al-ways have a reason for getting tattoed. Rather than getting inked for status, certain people turn a part of their body into a canvas to con-vey a message or meaning that only they can explain. 19-year-old Carrie Hook got her tattoo to sup-port her mother who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The tattoo, the teal ovarian cancer ribbon, was a natural choice to show her support. “I wanted to get the tattoo and it was some-thing I was going to regardless of what other people thought,” Hook said. Ironically, her mother opposed the idea, and saw no appeal behind the art. While her moth-er wanted to move forward, Hook saw the tat-too as her way of coping with her feelings. “She didn’t like it at all,” Hook said. “I think she didn’t like the tattoo mainly because it was permanent and she thought that her illness wasn’t.” Hook has always had a strong relationship
On Oct. 13, 2009 President Barack Obama announced that the month of November is officially the National Diabetes Month. According to the American Diabe-tes Association, 28.5 million children and adults are diabetic, and seven million of them are undiagnosed. The fact is that people are targeted at any age. There are two different types of dia-betes. There is the Type One diabetes and the Type Two diabetes. Diabetes is caused by difficulty en-countered by the pancreas to produce insulin to break down sugar and car-bohydrate. With the blood sugar on the rise, most Type One diabetics have to take an injection of insulin. Meanwhile, the Type Two diabetics take an oral medication with or with-out insulin, or they have to control the diabetes with diet, exercise, and weight management. Rosmarie Bruich, Robert Morris University’s (RMU) registered nurse and the director of student health services, provides a blood glucose me-ter in her office to examine diabetic students, and students with signs of high or low blood sugar levels. While the accepted level is between 60 and
110, it depends on the individual. “I appreciate when students wear a medical alert,” Bruich stated on knowing when students are diabetic. “It’s for safety reasons. I don’t like to label people.” When students join the university, they are asked to fill out a form to indicate their medical history and problems. Bruich uses the informa-tion to meet with the students to make sure the campus provides a good environment for them, and the cafeteria provides quality selection of food for them. Diabetics have to follow a little-to-no sugar diet, as well as eating few carbohydrates, lots of whole-grains, a variety of vegetables and certain fruits that will not raise a sugar lev-el. Bruich insists that diabetic students should inform their roommates and Resident Assistants of their condition in case of an emergency. If an emer-gency does occur, the roommates should call Public Safety. Stress and lack of exercising can raise sugar levels. For this reason, Bruich advise that student should not procrastinate. “All of us have a lot of things on our plates, and you should only wor-ry about the things you are able to change” Bruich said about college
students and the stresses they face. This includes the first year students who stress for being homesick. Bruich suggest, all College students should drink a lot of water, espe-cially in the winter when their skin dries out, and they should try to get more rest. The average person should drink six to eight glasses of water in an eight ounce glass daily. In addi-tion, all individuals with diabetes should go for a flu shot every year. Bruich will be putting up a post-er outside of her office to promote the awareness of Diabetes this month. “People with Diabetes really don’t want to be singled out, every-one wants to be treated like every-one else,” stated Bruich. Bruich is against categorizing people based on their medical history. “I would love to have someone come from a facility to answer questions about Diabetes,” Bruich said regard-ing how to inform people about the disease. Even though there are many health complications that can result from Diabetes, having a healthy lifestyle, and going to regular doctor’s appoint-ments can bring the chances of hav-ing complications down. Diabetes is manageable, and can be lived with, without slowing down someone’s life.
Advice for students living with diabetes
PLEASE SEE GETTING TO kNOw, PAGE 11
PHOTO BY NOAH PURDY
PHOTO FROM WWW.FREDONIA.EDU
BY ShALIDA-ANN DOBBINSASST. FEATURES EDITOR
PLEASE SEE UNIFICATION,PAGE 12
Overhead view of RMU affiliate American University of Rome
SPOrTSNovember 10, 2011Page 13Features November 10, 2011Page 12
Last week’s solution
Unification of Italy celebration
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The Sentry RMU 11/10/11 Crossword PuzzleJunction.com
Solution on next page
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plant 45 Mistake word 46 Adult female
chicken 47 Antelope 48 Looks forward
to 49 Conclusions 50 Frosts 51 Major ___
(leader) 52 Genuine 53 Streamlet 54 Among 56 Soap measure 57 Watering hole
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1 Rational 5 Fake 9 Wager 12 Protective
garment 13 Employ 14 Singe 15 Party device 17 To be (Lat.) 18 Lazy Susan 19 Minerals 20 Teases 21 Common
contraction 22 Enemy 23 Foodfish 24 Mutt 25 Easter plant 27 Acquired 30 Lounges 33 Nevada gambling
city 34 Short skirt 35 Political Q&A
session 38 Area unit 39 Taro 40 Anxious 41 Chin. principle 42 Brews 43 Insect 44 Ringlet 46 Sandwich inits. 47 Sheep 50 Moron 52 Musical group 54 Astronaut Shepard 55 Henhouse 56 Wedding party
participant 58 Flightless birds
59 ____ lang syne 60 Pub offerings 61 Distress signal 62 Depend 63 Contributes
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1 Archery, for one 2 Operas 3 Snoopy 4 Compass pt. 5 Divvy up 6 Long walk 7 Greek god of war 8 Sea (Fr.) 9 Attacking 10 Direction 11 Very (Fr.)
12 Opposed 14 Glue shut 16 Make fast 20 Male child 22 Agitation 23 Wild plum 24 Lawsuit 25 Gives
temporarily 26 Details, for short 28 Formerly 29 Layer 30 Squabble 31 Killer whale 32 Fierce 33 Travelled 34 Beef 36 Jail feature or
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Zombies at RMU!PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE HOLTZ’S
INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOGRAPHY STUDENTS
In the spirit of Halloween, Christine Holtz’s Introduction to Photography class participated in a zombie photoshoot on RMU’s campus. The processbegan with putting on make-up to turn students into zombies, thenproceeded outdoors where students posed for zombie photos. Please visit www.rmusentrymedia.com to view the full gallery from this photoshoot.
Ramsey-Portolano has been living in Italy for 20 years now. “I worked in several universities in Rome as an adjunct professor,” said Ramsey-Portolano. Ramsey-Portolano also worked in two universities in the United States. While getting her doctorate from the Univer-sity of Chicago, she taught at both the aforementioned university and Loyola University Chicago. Ramsey-Portolano became a full-time professor when she joined the American University of Rome.
Ramsey-Portolano is married with two sons, named Thomas and James, aged seven and five respectively. “I speak English to them, so they are growing up knowing Italian and Eng-lish,” said Ramsey-Portolano. “It’s im-portant for them to be aware of their heritage.” “It’s been a very warm welcome,” stat-ed Ramsey-Portolano, who is visiting RMU for the first time. Before leaving for Italy on Nov. 4, she held an informational meeting about The American University in Rome hop-ing to get more students, and teach some of them.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10
Coming off a successful sea-son, the Robert Morris wom-en’s basketball team’s 2011 debut is right around the cor-ner. With sophomore Artemis Spanou and senior Mary Du-rojaye leading the team, suc-cess can only be expected. The past two seasons have been consistent and address the norm of Colonial basket-ball. In 2009-2010, they went 17-1 in the conference, ending in a regular season title and a Northeast Conference (NEC) semifinals departure. Last season Spanou and company ended the season with a 12-6 conference record, and ended the season with a similar result of the season before; a semifinal loss to Long Island in the NEC tour-nament. Alongside Spanou and Du-rojaye, was Yohanna Morton who lit up the scoreboard for 14.1 points per game. Upon graduation, she passed the proverbial torch to Spanou who was second in scoring with 13.1 points per game. The Colonials record in non-conference play hindered their potential post-season tourna-
ment chances last season, as they went 4-8 with losses coming against Florida, North Carolina and Kent State. From hindrances to advantages, Robert Morris knows the mean-ing of “home court advantage”. With an 8-4 record at home last season, seven of those wins came in con-ference play with only two losses. Head coach, Sal Buscaglia, noted, “Being on the road is really tough, be-cause we are the farthest team from all the other teams. When you have to go to a game on a Friday night, have a game on Saturday and they have class on Monday, it’s dif-ficult.” “We really welcome more people to our games. Home-court advantage is nice and what we need is more people on board from the community and the students,” said Busca-glia. Administration has always been supportive of the wom-
en’s basketball program, but the focal point is the students. It was announced in a media conference call yesterday that the Colonials were picked to finish second in the confer-ence, and that Spanou made first-team all-conference pre-season. The Colonials open the sea-son with three straight home games at the Sewall Center against Coppin State, Kent State and Central Michigan. In a nutshell, Buscaglia has optimistic views on the team’s success this season, even with a few injuries. “I think we can be a good
team and match what we achieved in the past. Jasmine Tate has a concussion and a return is still up in the air, and Anna Kavasila should be back in the December.” Two consecutive strong sea-sons in the NEC led to success and one national tournament appearance, Buscaglia noted. “We have six new players, so I’m confident that we can get to where we want to go. It will count on chemistry and stay-ing healthy. If we can have those both in effect, I’m very confident.” Come support the Colonials on Saturday November 12th.
Women’s basketball ready to tip off 2011-2012 season
During the month of November if any-one was to walk around Robert Morris University’s campus, they would see quite a few students growing mus-taches. They are not trying to start a new trend; they are simply participat-ing in a fundraiser for a cause they all support - Movember. For these students, November be-comes Movember, and they grow mus-taches to raise awareness for prostate and testicular cancer research. This year in conjunction with the RMU men’s lacrosse team, almost half of the RMU NCAA men’s hockey team is participating in raising money for this cause. The lacrosse team is mak-ing t-shirts that will be sold for $10 and the men’s hockey team is raising money on their “MoSpace” pages. Each player got involved for different reasons, with some joining in for fun and some to help raise money for what they feel is a very important cause. “I thought it was a hockey thing at first just all of the guys growing mus-
taches but it turns out it’s for a great cause,” explained Blandina. “It raises awareness for prostate can-cer and testicular cancer and it’s just kind of a thing for guys. Women have all of October for breast cancer month, so guys can grow their mustaches out in November.” “We went on the site and did a lit-tle bit of research and it’s for a great cause,” said Hervato. “It’s not just about growing a mustache to look cool, so we put a team together and we’re raising some money now on the Movember site and we feel like that’s something we can do while we’re at school.” At first junior Andrew Blazek was on the fence about growing a mustache, but his teammates were able to change his mind. “It wasn’t really my choice. I kind of got peer pressured into it, but I’m glad I did, and it’s to creep people out for a good cause,” said Blazek. While the guys note that they do look a bit ridiculous, they do not mind the look because it’s for a good cause. “We have fun with it and we kind of get to make fun of each other for the
way we look,” explained senior cap-tain, Trevor Lewis. “It just kind of lightens the mood in the locker room and it’s something that we really en-joy doing.” Blandina hopes that by raising mon-ey for the cause there will be more awareness for prostate and testicular cancer. “Not a lot of people know about it and I read a stat on the Movember web-site that 30,000 males in the United States die each year from prostate cancer or testicular cancer. Not many people know that and it’s just a good thing to do,” he explained. “Participating in Movember is also a unique team building experience. We sort of compared it to breast cancer awareness for the ladies, it’s the same thing and it’s not as big as people want it to be,” said Hervato. “We just want to raise awareness for prostate cancer and it’s very common in men so we wanted to put that on the map with Movember and also it’s good team bonding too to grow some mustaches and do something fun for the month.” The Colonials hope that as many
people as possible will help them raise money for a cause that they are pas-sionate about. “If you want to feel good about your-self, just donate and it can be as little as a dollar. We’ve had people from school donate 20 dollars so it’s really cool that they did that,” said Blazek. Lewis also added, “It’s just a great cause and any type of money we can get from it, you know whether it’s my page or anybody else’s page, it’s all go-ing to the same foundation and for the same purpose so really giving a little bit of money can make a pretty big dif-ference.” The team has 12 members currently participating in Movember and to-gether they have received $540 in do-nations thus far. If you would like to donate and help the Bobby Mo Bros raise awareness and money for the cause you can ei-ther search Bobby Mo Bros or just do-nate straight to the Movember official site: http://us.movember.com/?home
Men’s hockey and lacrosse participate in Movember
BY JONAThAN FIShERSTAFF WRITER
Upcoming Colonials
home games
Friday November 11th7:05 Men’s basketball
Saturday November 12th
12:00 Football3:00 Volleyball
7:00 Women’s basketball
Sunday November 13th1:00 Volleyball
Tuesday November 15th
7:00 Women’s basketball
Friday November 18th7:00 Women’s basketball
Friday November 25th7:05 Men’s Ice hockey
Saturday November 26th
7:05 Men’s Ice hockey
BY BROOkE SMIThSPORTS EDITOR
PHOTO BY RMU ATHLETICSThe RMU women’s basketball team has been picked to finish second in the Northeast Conference pre-season coaches poll.
PLEASE SEE MOVEMBER PhOTO,PAGE 16
Sports November 10, 2011Page 14 SportsNovember 10, 2011 Page 15
Disheartening. This was the word used by junior goalkeeper, Toba Bola-ji, of the men’s soccer team to describe their season. A season that saw them go 0 for 10 in the Northeast Conference, a sea-son that saw their last win recorded on September 22, a season that ended on Sunday afternoon with a loss in the 100th minute of play against St. Francis (PA), and a season that will hurt for a long time. “As a team, we had goals we wanted to accomplish,” said Bolaji. “Unfortu-nately, we didn’t accomplish them. The worst part is knowing that you have the ability to compete but fail to transcend that skill onto the score-board.” The contest against the Red Flash remained scoreless at the end of regu-lation, with St. Francis outshooting Robert Morris 17-9 through the first 90 minutes. It looked as though the two teams would be headed to a second over-time session, however the Red Flash’s Kingsley McLeod had other ideas. In the 100th minute, McLeod received a cross in the box, and chipped the shot into the back of the cage. The loss capped off the 12th on the campaign for the Colonials. St. Francis added five more shots in overtime to bring their total on the day to 22. Although they outshot Rob-ert Morris by a 2 to 1 margin, Bolaji
says those numbers were not neces-sarily indicative of how the game was played. “I thought the game was pretty even,” said Bolaji, who finished with 7 saves on the afternoon. “We had some great opportunities at the goal but ob-viously couldn’t finish. Unfortunately we let up a bit of our intensity in OT and that’s what led to the goal.” The most obvious reason for the Colonials’ lack of success was the in-ability to put the ball in the net. They finished with just 3 goals in their 10 Northeast Conference matchups. “That has been the story of our sec-ond half,” said Bolaji. “We can’t score.” No matter which angle you take, this is a season that will go down in histo-ry, for all the wrong reasons. Perhaps even more frustrating? The Colonials played evenly with a majority of their opponents, even vastly outplaying a handful. The soccer Gods were simply not on their side. “I’ve seen success in my sport, but I’ve also had downtimes like what we have gone through,” said Bolaji. “It’s a hard situation to swallow because our record truly does not reflect the skill we have.” For the remaining members of the squad, a shot at redemption to show-case that skill cannot come soon enough. One can assume that it could only get better. Unfortunately the team will lose some key players to graduation, but their hope is that they will perfom better next year.
At the beginning of the sea-son the Robert Morris-Central Connecticut State Univer-sity game was thought to be the deciding contest for the Northeast Conference cham-pionship, but as the season played out both teams entered Saturday’s game with only two wins apiece. RMU brought a three-game losing streak to Connecticut as the Blue Devils were wal-lowing in a six-game skid. Something had to give, and unfortunately for the Colo-nials, CCSU left the field with a 31-24 victory. As if things weren’t going any worse for RMU, quar-terback Jeff Sinclair left the game in the second quarter with an injury and didn’t re-turn. On the possession after tying the game at seven with an eight play 80-yard drive that he finished with a 7-yard touchdown run, Sinclair again marched the Colonials down the field for another score, this time a 33-yard Greg Langer field goal, to take the lead at 10-7.
“I felt we made a lot of big plays. They just made a cou-ple more,” offensive tackle A.J. Dalton explained. During the drive Sinclair was sacked by Charles Williams and suffered a lower-body in-jury, which placed freshman Matt Layman behind center for the rest of the day. After CCSU took a 14-10 lead on a Gunnar Jespersen 5-yard touchdown pass to Dave Sabilia, Layman con-structed a four-play 56-yard scoring drive that took only 39 seconds and was capped off by a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jamie Cobb to give RMU a 17-14 halftime lead. “When Jeff went down we weren’t worried. We knew we all needed to step-up,’’ defen-sive end Steve Mitchell said. Layman and the Colonial offense sputtered somewhat, though, in the second half though as Jespersen’s 15-yard touchdown strike to Raul De-Benedittis in the third quar-ter gave the Blue Devils the lead for good. The fourth quarter was much of the same as Brian Fowler added a 13-yard touchdown run and Juan Duque padded
the CCSU lead with a 31-yard field goal. Layman did lead another quick scoring drive late in the fourth when he took RMU 67-yards in three plays and found tight end Paul Evans from 27-yards out to cut the lead to seven with 2:07 remaining, but it was too little too late as the ensuing onside kick attempt was re-covered by CCSU.
“I thought Matt was really calm and just stepped in and made plays. Everybody played with emotion, the ball just didn’t roll our way at the end of the game,” Dalton added. With the loss the Colonials are now 2-7 on the season and 2-4 in conference play as CC-SU snaps their six-game los-ing streak and improve to 3-7 overall and 2-5 in the NEC.
RMU returns home next week, Nov. 12, to host the Wagner Seahawks at noon for their last home game of the 2011 season at Joe Walton Stadium. The Colonials last regular season game will be Saturday, November 19 at Duquesne University with kick-off scheduled for noon.
BY JUSTIN CRIADOSTAFF WRITER
The RMU football team is currently 2-7 on the season with a 2-4 record in NEC play.PHOTO BY BILL PATTERSON
Colonials fall to Blue Devils 31-24, drop fourth straight
Men’s soccer finishes winless in NECBY BROOkS BRATTENSTAFF WRITER
The Robert Morris men’s basketball team began the 2011-2012 campaign against Wheeling Jesuit University in an exhibition match and the Cardinals near-ly scored the preseason upset against a Division I opponent. Although the Colonials won by seven points, head coach Andrew Toole was disap-pointed in his team’s per-formance against the Cardi-nals. “Wheeling Jesuit is a good team. They averaged 85 points per game last year and for us it’s a hard match-up but our young kids played like freshmen,” Toole explained. “Some of the things we talk about in practice everyday they didn’t do.” Russell Johnson and Coron Williams led the Colonials with 23 and 22 points respec-tively. Johnson hit 6-8 from the field including 11-15 at the foul line while Williams shot 60% from beyond the arc. Williams believes that he
needs to step up this season and be a leader for the young-er players on the squad. “My role has increased this year and I have taken that to heart. I need to step it up,” the 6’2” sophomore guard said. “My confidence has grown and I’ve gotten more comfortable shooting this year.” The Colonials got on the board early but the Cardinals, a NCAA Division II program, matched RMU shot for shot. Despite WJU’s late rally in the first half, RMU built a nine-point lead going into the locker room as Johnson knocked down a short jump shot at the buzzer. Robert Morris would eventu-ally take a 14-point lead early in the second frame, but the Cardinals staged a comeback late in the contest. After Re-cardo Gaddy hit a three point-er that knotted the score at 64 with 2:40 left, Johnson took the game into his own hands. The 6’6” forward scored eight of his 23 tallies in the final two minutes, including six straight free throws to seal
the victory for Robert Morris. Junior guard Velton Jones wasn’t too concerned when the Cardinals evened the score late in the game. “We weren’t worried when they tied it. We still knew we were going to win the game,“ stated the native of Philadelphia. “Once we started to get in our groove and started doing the right things we knew we could win.” According to Toole, the Co-lonials would not have been able to triumph in its exhi-bition match without the outstanding performances of Johnson and Williams. “Russell was terrific. He was in a good frame of mind and was really active around the rim,” said the second year head coach. “Without him and Coron Williams and their of-fensive output, we don’t win the game.” Four of the program’s five freshmen saw playing time in the preseason contest with the exception of David Appo-lon, who was out with a dislo-cated shoulder. Brandon Her-
man contributed two baskets while Lucky Jones added two baskets, a block, an assist and three steals. “We’ve always played nine or ten guys. We have six re-turners plus Mike McFadden when he’s eligible so now two or three of the freshmen ear-ly in the season will have to play. They have to now figure out what it takes to be suc-cessful in Division I,” Toole
added. “They’ve improved in the fifteen practices we’ve had so hopefully now they can im-prove quickly in the game set-ting as well.” The Colonials begin the regu-lar season against Rider Uni-versity at the Sewell Center on November 11 before trav-eling to Jersey City to battle Saint Peter’s.
On October 21, 2011 the Rob-ert Morris University wom-en’s hockey team set off to Rensselaer Polytechnic Insti-tute (RPI) to begin the first series of their nine game road trip. Road trips can be particular-ly stressful to a team, which is why head coach, Paul Colon-tino, believes preparation is key when on the road. “Road games are interest-ing,” he says. “Sometimes you get a little more quiet time because you are in hotels, and there aren’t as many distrac-tions. You’re able to get some meals, do some homework, settle in, and get a good night sleep. With those parts it’s more or less being prepared to be on the road.” Most would think that fresh-men would have trouble ad-justing to being on the road so often, however Courtney Vinet thinks it has been rela-tively easy. “There hasn’t been any trou-ble adjusting to it because our pre-game rituals are usually very well planned out,” she said. “We have a pre-skate the morning of our Friday games and have a team walk
through on our Saturday af-ternoon games as well as very good meals. They make it feel as though we are right at home.” Sometimes an important fac-tor to being successful on the road is keeping your pre-game routines the same. “Being a goalie, I try to do all the same pre-game rituals at home and on the road,” ex-plained junior Kristen Di Ci-occo. “This keeps everything consistent.” The Colonials began their road trip with a sweep of the Engineers, and Brianna Del-aney’s record breaking point was the highlight of the trip. With the nine game road trip being so early in the season, Colontino believes the team will have the ability to become closer. “I think what’s great about it being early in the season, is that it’s a great opportunity to get closer, learn a little bit more about each other both on the ice and from a social standpoint,” explained Colon-tino. “We should bring the team a little bit closer togeth-er over the next nine games.” Gaining team camaraderie is never a bad thing, so the factthat the Colonials have four-
weekend away trips as well as a weeknight game against Colgate will be a huge help. Despite road trips having the potential of bringing to-gether a team, they can also be physically stressful on the athletes. “I think long road trips can take a toll on the team,” Di Ciocco said. “With road trips we’re often missing classes and sleeping on busses or planes which can definitely take its toll.” Thus far on the road trip
the Colonials have gone 3-0-1, which is a successful four game stint. They are cur-rently coming off of a bye weekend, which will hopefully regenerate the team and get them ready for the second half of away matches. “Having this weekend off is definitely beneficial so that everyone can get rested up,” said Di Ciocco. “We don’t need people falling behind in their classes or getting sick from being run down.” Assuring that team mem-
bers don’t fall behind in their classes is important, because of the fact that their most im-portant job is being a student. “You realize that they are student athletes, which means they’re a student first, and an athlete second,” Colon-tino said. The Colonials will face off against Lindenwood, Colgate, Yale, and a team to be named later. They will return to the Island Sports Center on De-cember 9 and 10 as they take on Syracuse.
BY ALYSSA BENSONASST. SPORTS EDITOR
Women’s hockey in midst of nine game road trip
The women’s hockey team will return home to face Syracuse on December 9, 2011
Robert Morris knocks-off Wheeling Jesuit in preseason playBY NICk BUZZELLISTAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY MATT POLASKIThe Colonials topped Wheeling-Jesuit for a good start.
PHOTO BY MATT POLASKI
Sports November 10, 2011Page 16
PHOTO BY CHELSEY FREYScott Jacklin, Andrew Blazek, Brandon Blandina, Tyler Hinds, Cody Cartier, Zach Hervato, Ron Cramer, Brendan Jamison, and Trevor Lewis are all participating in Movember this year. Hervato is the team captain of the ‘Bobby Mo Bros.’
