The Print Edition

BY KYLIE DENNIS

Contributing Writer

On Tuesday evening, Mis-sissippi State University’s Stu-dent Association announced the newly elected members of their 2013 administration fol-lowing university-wide voting earlier that day.

Michael Hogan, junior business management major who championed more afford-able summer tuition for out-of-state residents, renewed in-terest in school spirit activities and closer relations between the SA and the student body, was elected president.

Hogan said this honor was the result of years of work, determination and a de-manding campaign backed by his friends, family and

numerous student organiza-tions.

“We really worked hard, and I think for the fi rst time it feels surreal. It just feels like for the last two months, for the last year, we’ve earned it, and we’ve had a good time do-ing it,” he said.

Hogan said, despite the hard work ahead, he is grate-ful to the students of MSU and hopes to assist them in any way possible in the com-ing year.

“It’s a lot of preparation. It’s a lot of knowledge to be gained in a month, but I’m excited about that,” said Ho-gan. “Thank you. I really do appreciate it. I’m excited to serve, and I hope that if any-thing comes to mind from the students that they’ll never hes-

itate to come to me because it is something that I’m really looking forward to, making sure it happens.”

Junior political science ma-jor and vice president elect, Shelby Sims said she was thrilled by the results and preparations are already being made to welcome in the new administration.

“I am so excited. I am amazed. I’m really looking for-ward to this year, and I cannot believe this is happening,” she said. “I have some different preparations to make because I am the secretary now. I’ll be transitioning the new secretary while learning exactly what I’ll need to do as vice president. Really, I’m just going to try to learn as much as I can in this next month before my term.”

Sims said she hopes the stu-dent body will take full advan-tage of her role in the SA. “If there is anything I can do to help, I am here to serve. It’s my job now to serve the students. I’m so excited about this year. Hail State!”

Kaeley Gemmill, junior po-litical science major, was elect-ed SA secretary.

Gemmill said the tremen-dous support she received during her campaign played a crucial role in her appointment as secretary.

“My sorority backed me a lot, and I had a few good friends that really worked for me, just standing out in the rain until fi ve o’clock at night asking people if they had voted yet. They knew how much I wanted it,” she said.

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FRIDAYSEE RESULTS, 2

Results of SA Executive Council election revealed TuesdaySEE BALIUS, 2

PASSING THE TORCHBY ZACK ORSBORN

Life Editor

In the offi ce of outgoing Student Association president Shelby Balius, offi cial agendas line her desk while seven crates of past presidents’ ideas and policies rest underneath. A poster hangs above with the words: “You have nothing to lose and everything, everything, everything to gain. Just do it.”

With a hectic schedule and no two days alike, Balius has done everything from evolving the concept of online teacher evaluations, preparing for Bulldog Bash, structuring the idea of an online syllabus bank and handling the needs of transfer students more effi ciently.

She said her main expectation about becoming SA president was to be able to truly see what SA does to make a difference in students’ lives.

“To an extent, I have seen that expectation re-alized. One of the things that we worked on from the get-go was trying to continue on teacher eval-uations with the process of getting them online,” she said.

After working with the concept of uploading teacher evaluations online for three years, Balius said an online pilot program will be implemented to see what effects the program would have on response rates.

“The fi rst kind of obstacle we went through was the Teacher Evaluations Committee and then there was sub-committee off the Associate Dean’s Council that considered the teacher evaluations academic operating policy,” she said. “From that, and with discussions from that sub committee,

and with further recommendations to associate deans, we were able to make revisions of the pol-icy to make sure that in the future, starting hope-fully in fall 2013, all of them would be online.”

Balius said she worked to create a better dia-logue with students through Twitter and a new cabinet position she opened to communicate more effi ciently. Previously, SA dealt with multi-ple Twitter accounts, which she said proved to be diffi cult to up-keep. However, Balius said the new cabinet position has allowed a more streamlined experience.

Balius also said she increased transparency by continuing Rhett Hobart’s use of Twitter to dis-cuss problems with the student body.

“By creating this dialogue, we can utilize the media that we have at our disposal that we already use in daily life and capitalize on that and be able to use it in communicating with students in what we need to do to prioritize what we’re doing,” she said.

By opening a new cabinet position dealing with transfer students, Balius said the success has been phenomenal. The new position allows transfer students to be heard and provides information on how a transfer student can be more involved on campus.

“The two members of cabinet that were chosen to be Transfer Students Affairs directors ended up deciding saying that ‘This was a great con-cept, but we’re going to run with it.’ And they did. Now, we have a new student organization on campus called the Transfer Student Association, and they had their launch meeting on Jan. 24,” Balius said.

BY HILLARY LAPLATNEY

Staff Writer

Student Association president-elect Michael Hogan said he hopes to bring Mississippi State University students a sense of comfort and re-liability during his year in offi ce.

Hogan said he is excited about the upcom-ing year, and one of his main goals once he takes offi ce is to keep students informed and involved with the SA.

“I’m looking forward to keeping traditions and initiatives, but also bringing my new ideas to the table,” Hogan said. “I feel like the aura I give off is very relaxed. I’m a student and I’m here to hang out, but I also get the work done.”

Hogan will be sworn in as SA president at the end of March. He said current president Shelby Balius has already shown him the busy schedule the incoming SA executive board will face over the next month.

“Shelby (Balius) kind of pulled out this fi l-ing cabinet of what we’re learning over the next month and there’s just tons of information,” Hogan said. “I’ve got to get to know all these different people. It’ll be fun, but it’s a time crunch. Once the end of March hits, it’s really up to me and the rest of the executive board to get everything together.”

Hogan was formerly chief programming of-fi cer for the SA, a position directly appointed by the SA President. He said he believes his role as chief programming offi cer prepared him for his upcoming presidency.

“I’m a very program-oriented person,” Ho-

gan said. “I love seeing people come out, not have to pay anything and just enjoy an activity on campus without having to think about class for a little bit.”

Hogan said he is looking forward to work-ing with the rest of the elected executive board offi cials. When asked about the future offi cers, he described a personal connection he shared with each.

“My campaign manager and I had friend-ships and relationships with everyone who was running, including my opponent,” Hogan said. “We were comfortable with whoever was going to get each position. After seeing how hard everyone worked on their campaigns, I’m excited to work with those who were elected.”

Although Hogan said he was happy to hear his name called as the new SA president-elect, he admitted having his family present for the announcement made the moment even more exciting.

“I’m from Memphis, and I came to MSU with some really, really good friends from home,” Hogan said. “When I walked into the Union on Tuesday, I saw my Memphis friends all together. One of my friends made a motion and out came my parents and my brother.”

Once he heard his name called as the future SA president, Hogan said he felt relief.

“We were confi dent throughout the cam-paign,” Hogan said. “If we had not been con-fi dent, we would be setting up for failure. I’ve been working for this position for quite some time, and the feeling of having it all come to-gether is pretty indescribable.”

Balius prepares to leave offi ce, Hogan steps up

KAITLIN MULLINS | THE REFLECTOR

Students gather in front of the Union as they await election results.

Foster lives out faith on court

Sports | 7

Paul Thorn plays Rick’s Cafe

Saturday nightLife | 6

KAITLIN MULLINS | THE REFLECTOR

Now that he has been elected SA president, Shelby Balius will work with Michael Hogan to train and transition him into his new role as president. He will be officially sworn in at the end of March.

THE REFLECTOR2 | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2013

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NEWS

Gemmill said she will continue to work diligent-ly in the coming weeks as the newly elected offi cials transition into the 2013 SA administration. “I want to do it to the best of my ability and work as hard as I can to do a really good job at it,” she said. “I want to be prepared for the things to come.”

Sophomore accounting major and treasurer elect, Andrew Sprecher, said the results of the SA election were a welcome surprise. “I’m still kind of soaking it all in. I didn’t know what to expect coming into the night. It could have gone either way,” he said. “It’s been a great experience. I’ve put a lot of work into it. I’m looking forward to getting started and being able to try to make a difference the best way I can.”

Sprecher said his fi rst act as SA treasurer will in-clude drafting an outline for the SA’s fi nances in the upcoming year. “As soon as we get transitioned, I’m going to start working on the budget and getting that planned for senate approval this Spring.”

Eddie Mac Huddleson, sophomore biochemistry major, was elected attorney general.

Huddleson said he is grateful for the opportunity to serve on the SA and for the support he received throughout his campaign. “I am absolutely blessed and excited to be given this stamp of approval by the students of Mississippi State and just really excited to serve the students on a higher level,” he said. “My support system has been incredible. I’ve told people I

haven’t had a campaign team or a campaign manag-er, but I’ve had a campaign family. I owe everything to them.”

Huddleson said he will be collaborating with the current SA administration to ensure he is aware of the full responsibilities of his role and capable of assisting the student body in whatever means nec-essary.“I’m defi nitely going to make sure to study the SA Constitution even more thoroughly than I already have and meet with current attorney general Donny Banerjee to make sure that I’m ready to fulfi ll my position.”

Shelby Balius, senior fi nance and management major and current SA president, said she is confi dent in the capabilities of the newly elected executives, crediting their previous personal experiences and achievements as former SA representatives. “I have absolute faith in all of our members,” she said. “The amount of institutional knowledge that we are going to be gaining from one year to the next is going to really help in the transition which is sometimes the most important part of bringing one administration into the next.”

“Thank you for the voter turnout,” Balius said. “We hope that this will be another successful admin-istration within the Student Association.”

The newly elected offi cials will transition into the start of their terms the evening of March 27.

BALIUS continued from 1

ZACK ORSBORN | THE REFLECTOR

RESULTS continued from 1

With over 150 people in attendance, Balius said the outcome infl uenced her to see many people wanting to get to know other transfer students because it showed the work of the executive council in action.

Also showing the action and hard work of the SA executive council, Bulldog Bash proved to be a success but was met with several obsta-cles. Balius said the coun-cil learned the concept of adapting.

“ B u l l d o g Bash,” she said. “It’s a funny thing. It’s our pre-miere event, and we have so much fun and develop so much experi-ence in planning that one event because it’s just astronomical,” she said.

She said the fi rst problem occurred when the event’s ti-tle sponsor pulled out, leaving them without 30 percent of the budget. Along with losing fi nancial stability, the headliner, Neon Trees, canceled 17 days before the event.

“It was defi nitely a learning experience, but we can laugh about it. It ended up being even better with the Eli Young Band.

It was a blessing in disguise,” Balius said.

Some of Balius’s other plat-forms, including a 5-day dead week and an online syllabus bank, have the appearance of being stalled, but still exist as ideas discussed in meetings. Balius said one of the most common misconceptions, and unfortunately most disheart-

ening parts of being exec council is hav-ing ideas, but getting them into action can take three to six years.

“A lot of this year has been r e s e a r c h i n g other institu-tions, seeing how the culture was before they implemented

the dead week and after and seeing how those implica-tions would affect the culture on MSU’s campus and quite frankly, sure it might be a great idea, but will it really work in the long run,” she said.

In regard to the online sylla-bus bank, Balius said the con-cept is still being researched and a lot of questions still need to be answered, but the council has been encouraged by dis-cussion with the faculty senate president, Meghan Millea.

“One of the issues that other campuses have seen is actual-ly getting faculty to post their syllabi,” she said. “We would be putting the cart before the horse if we built it now because we would fi rst have to develop a policy on how the syllabi get up there, when they would need to be submitted and by whom they need to be submitted.”

Balius offered a piece of ad-vice to the next SA president with a smile.

“Don’t be afraid to admit that you are wrong. And quick-ly ask for help because one way or another, you have to move forward. You can see that in the way that Bulldog Bash went,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be something that necessarily went bad. It’s making sure that you have heard all the different opinions so that you can make an informed decision.”

Looking back, Balius said every minute of her day was carved out, and that balancing life as a student with exams and papers proved to be diffi cult.

She said she has learned to adapt to quick change and lis-ten to every opinion expressed.

“I have had an incredible ex-perience and time being able to serve my fellow students in this capacity. I could not be more grateful and thankful for their support. I can’t wait to see what’s next for the Student As-sociation.”

KAITLIN MULLINS | THE REFLECTOR

A crowd gathers in front of the Colvard Student Union in anticipation of the election results.

It was defi nitely a learning experience, but we can laugh about it. It ended up being even better with the Eli Young Band. It was a blessing in disguise.”Shelby Balius,SA President

“

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BADDAWGS

Tuesday, February 12• 1:17 a.m. A non-resident/visitor was arrested behind Sessums Hall for possession of paraphernalia.• 1:17 a.m. A student was arrested behind Sessums Hall for minor in possession of alcohol.• 1:17 a.m. A student was arrested behind Sessums Hall for possession of marijuana.• 11:50 a.m. A student was complaining of dizziness in Hilbun Hall. The subject was transported to OCH.• 8:17 p.m. A student backed into a light pole in Magnolia Hall parking lot.• 11:09 p.m. A student was arrested at North Hall for possession of marijuana and paraphernalia. A student referral was issued.

Wednesday, February 13• 12:07 a.m. A student was arrested for minor in possession of alcohol in Hathorn Hall. A student referral was issued.

Citations:• 3 citations were issued for speeding.• 1 citation was issued for an expired tag.

BY CANDACE BARNETTE

Copy Editor

Many faculty and students are getting fi red up about the newly-enforced build-ing regulations in McComas Hall.

John Forde, head of the communi-cation department, said Mississippi State Univer-sity’s safety offi cer advised all fi re doors be shut at all times during a building walk-through on March 4.

“We had a safety inspec-tion, and we were encour-aged to keep all the fi re doors closed as much as possible. One of the high-est priorities is to keep ev-erybody safe because we have to do all we can at the university to take care of everybody on campus,” Forde said. “Any time you make any change, there’s always a little adjustment period, but overall, we’re just trying to follow what’s recommended by the uni-versity.”

According to Fire Mar-shall Mark McCurdy, the purpose of a fi re door is to contain a fi re and allow people to exit the building before a fi re would have time to spread.

“The doors that lead into individual hallways and in stairwells, those are fi re doors. A fi re door is designed to separate what’s called fi re areas, and they are designed to be closed all the time, but it’s a very common fi re code viola-tion,” McCurdy said. “People want to prop open their fi re doors. Under nor-mal circumstances you don’t think of it as a big deal, but if there ever was a fi re, those doors could create some serious problems.”

In an email interview, Alicia Mussel-white, the safety offi cer who called the fi re door violations to attention, said the requirement by the 2012 International Fire Code is not a new regulation, and the Offi ce of Regulatory Compliance and Safety could prevent both a fi nancial cost, as well as a cost of lives by keeping them closed.

“On an average day, over 200 fi res

occur in U.S. workplaces. Annually, those fi res kill 200 workers, injure 5,000 more and cost American businesses well over $2 billion,” Musselwhite said in the email. “Unfortunately, there are dozens of ways for workplace fi res to start:�chemicals, electricity, fl ammable

liquids, combustible materials, compressed gases, smoking, even poor housekeeping. We need to protect against all these potential fi re hazards all the time to prevent the loss of property and life.”

Some feel, though, keeping the fi re doors closed could lead to further dangers.

Mark Goodman, professor in the De-partment of Commu-nication, said he is con-cerned students might get injured by someone opening the door due to the diffi culty to see through the window to the other side.

“The daily problem is the fact that most of the doors have very small windows, so when they’re open, you often cannot see who’s on the other side. Considering that students come to classes in McComas by the thousands on a

daily basis means there’s a high probabil-ity that somebody’s going to get injured when they get hit with the door,” Good-man said. “At the top of the stairway to the second fl oor, it’s already dangerous because the entrance to the doorway can only hold one person, which means the people coming up the stairs and the peo-ple going down the stairs are constantly colliding with each other. Now there is a closed door that pushes out into the staircase, so if the door was opened with enough force, it would seem quite possi-ble to knock another student all the way down the stairs.”

Kelli Conrad, senior communication major, said she has already been injured in the week the fi re doors have been closed.

“I was running late for class in a hurry

in the stairwell that’s near the vending machines, and you can’t see who’s on the other side (of the door) unless you’re right in front of the door,” Conrad said. “There was a guy coming, and I couldn’t see him. He opened the door into me; it was startling and painful.”

Goodman also pointed out the build-ing is made entirely of concrete, a sub-stance which does not burn. He said it disintegrates at temperatures reaching over 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

“In effect, we’ve created a daily risk in return for some rather nebulous bene-fi ts should the concrete block ever catch fi re. I’m guessing each student has to go through at least two fi re doors to get to a classroom, which means four times a day going to class, they have a chance to get hit by the door,” he said. “We have about 60 to 70 percent female students, most of which can’t see out the window, and most of them could get knocked down the stairs if somebody just pushed the door open without looking.”

Goodman said he was also concerned with how the closed doors could infringe on how those students with a disability, such as a wheelchair or crutches, get to classes.

Micah White, assistant director for Disability Support Services, said his department usually deals with individu-al cases as they arrive for students who have diffi culty accessing a classroom due to disability.

“Sometimes we have to get a class-room moved before classes start; we get it worked out with the registrar to move the class to a place that’s more ac-cessible. You want to be proactive, but there’s only so much money to do things sometimes,” White said. “With an old building like that (McComas Hall), un-less something’s needed or somebody’s asked, you usually wait.”

White said closing the fi re doors could be troublesome to anyone in McComas Hall, but as a whole, MSU works hard to provide for those with disabilities.

“I mean, it’s an inconvenience for ev-erybody.� Students with disabilities will be inconvenienced just like students without disabilities. It’s a little harder for them, but that’s something they’re used to,” he said. “They (students with dis-abilities) don’t want to leave when they get here because it’s so accessible; there’s a few places still struggling, but 95 per-cent of this campus is great.”

Sometimes we have to get a classroom moved before class-es start; we get it worked out with the registrar to move the class to a place that’s more accessible. You want to be proactive, but there’s only so much money to do things sometime. With an old building like that (McComas Hall), unless some-thing’s needed or somebody’s asked, you usually wait.”Micah White,Assistant director for Disability Support Services

“

McComas Hall enforces building regulations, fire code

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Editor in ChiefHannah Rogers

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ReflectorThe

THE REFLECTOR4 | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2013

Allow me to fi rst offer a bit of anecdotal evidence: I have never had a fl u vac-

cine, and I have never had the fl u. My sister, 26, has never had a fl u vaccine. She, also, has never had the fl u.

It’s not that I’m a love-child who thinks vaccines cause au-tism or will turn you into a witch or some-thing. I received the chickenpox vaccination as a baby, and I have never had the chickenpox. I understand this may or may not be linked to me having received the vac-cination; I may have never got-ten the chickenpox anyway, or I may suffer it in my later years (profusely knocks on wood).

What most people don’t re-alize is the way the media ma-nipulates the public into feel-ing secure about getting the fl u vaccine. This, of course, gives the health care industry a boost, since most people, if not all, have to pay for the vaccine. (Even if it’s free, someone is pay-ing for that vaccine. So thank your boss.)

A study in the Lancet Infec-tious Diseases found the fl u vac-cine actually only prevents 1.5 out of 100 adults from suffering the fl u. First understanding how the fl u vaccine actually works is important. Each year, medi-cal professionals predict which strains of the fl u will be the most widespread.

So, then, the whole vaccine contains a few strains of three different strains of infl uenza: one infl uenza A (H3N2) virus, one

seasonal infl uenza A (H1N1) virus and one infl uenza B vi-rus. Only sometimes are those strains the ones that are actually being circulated. We also must remember the “fl u” is short for “infl uenza,” and during fl u sea-son, a lot of people automatical-ly attribute fl u-like symptoms

to having the “fl u.”

Even if you go to the doc-tor, and the doctor guesses what is wrong, there is no way

of knowing unless tests are tak-en to confi rm as much. Many times, these symptoms can blame other bacteria or virus-es for their days of fun in your body. The media will up-play the vaccination saying it’s 60 percent effective; if a vaccine is over 50 percent effective, it is considered a success.

But what does 60 percent ac-tually mean? It means that, an-nually, only 2.7 percent of adults get the fl u.

Studies show the fl u vaccine will make this number drop to 1.2 percent, about a 60 percent drop. But, guys, your chance was only 2.7 percent in the fi rst place.

So instead of the media say-ing, “The fl u vaccine drops chances of getting fl u by 1.5 percent!” they’ll tell you, “The fl u vaccine is 60 percent effec-tive!” I’m not saying you should get the vaccine, but if you are a student reading this paper (aka a relatively healthy adult), then you really don’t need to worry about it. Children over 6 months, elderly people, and

pregnant women should give it more consideration because the fl u could be more serious for those people and the percent risk rises.

So many people just listen to their doctors’ suggestions to get fl u shots or the media’s encour-agement to receive a fl u shot without questioning the need.

Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I think injecting anything into yourself without need is just unnecessary.

Don’t even get me started on diet soda. To see people down-ing chemicals like water but then getting vaccinated because they are concerned about maybe contracting the fl u is absolutely sickening.

The most important thing to remember is to do your research about the actual relative effec-tiveness of the fl u vaccine.

Make your own decision about your health, but remem-ber that maintaining a healthy lifestyle in general will defi nite-ly reduce your chances of get-ting the fl u. It will boost your immune system and make you stronger against all of those pes-ky viruses and bacteria, not just the fl u.

Wendy Morell is a senior majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected].

WENDY MORELL

THE GOLDEN THREAD | WENDY MORELL

Flu shot not effective, superfluous

Should everyone get a flu shot?FACE-OFF:

The state of our union looked signifi cantly dif-ferent around this time

150 years ago. No living American remem-

bers what our country was like in 1863. Those 150 years might as well be an eternity away from our technologi-cally-advanced, c o m f o r t a b l e lives. None of us know what owning a slave feels like. Most of us don’t know what being a slave feels like. None of us know what goes through your mind when you pull the trigger and blast a ball of lead into the chest of a man — once a fellow American — now deemed a “damned Yankee.” We don’t know what living during the bloodiest war on American soil was like. The American Civil War was a dark time in our na-tion’s history.

Last week, the Memphis City Council changed the names of three parks in the city original-ly bearing Confederate-themed names. Confederate Park, Jeffer-son Davis Park and Nathan Bed-ford Forrest Park — complete with a statue of the general — are

now Memphis Park, Mississippi River Park and Health Sciences Park. The city council rushed to make this change before the state legislature could pass the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act of 2013, preventing histor-ical landmarks, plaques, parks

and other monu-ments on public property from being renamed or changed.

City council members seem to have varying opinions on the matter of chang-ing the park’s name. Some fi nd the Confederate landmarks of-

fensive, others do not. Various groups have protested to change the parks’ names over the years, but until now, there was no ac-tion upon the requests. Chang-ing the names of the parks will not rid the city of racial tension. Re-writing history will not fi x the problem. We cannot simply pick and choose which areas of history we care to remember. The Civil War happened, whether we like it or not.

Should the South glorify the ideals of the Confederacy? Ab-solutely not. Southern Ameri-cans who hold fast to the idea

of the South rising again clearly do not understand the implica-tions of such a statement. During the Civil War, many Americans thought owning another soul was permissible. This ignorance and hatred fosters the feud sur-rounding this entire situation and others like it.

The South’s heritage of the Confederacy should not be erased from history books. My ancestors fought and died in the Civil War, on behalf of the Con-federacy. Memories of the Civil War should be a reminder of our past: of where we came from, what we learned and how we can prevent our nation from tearing apart.

Renaming the parks has only fueled the anger and wrath of radical groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Forrest was one of the founding members of the origi-nal KKK, a group of six well-edu-cated, angry Confederate soldiers that spiraled into something ter-rible.

Since the parks’ renaming, the KKK has threatened to visit the parks and protest. And it will continue to threat and protest, like it always have and will, be-cause ... it’s the KKK. But this time, they’re clinging to the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest. They don’t need to have a “reason” to protest.

Having Nathan Bedford For-rest Park, Confederate Park and Jefferson Davis Park in the city of Memphis should serve as re-minders of our past, our history, our heritage and our mistakes.

A few miles down the road sits the National Civil Rights Muse-um and Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr., was as-sassinated. Memphis has always been a city of diversity and rich history; what better way to repre-sent the actions of our past than by having memorial landmarks of both the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement?

The Confederate-themed parks represent a time of divi-sion, war and loss. The Lorraine Motel represents how a nation was able to heal — through pain, violence, sadness and peace — and bring an entire generation of oppression into freedom.

THE CONSTANT | MARY CHASE BREEDLOVE

Painful history should not be erased

Mary Chase Breedlove is the opinion editor at The Reflector. She can be contacted at [email protected].

MARY CHASE BREEDLOVE

Memories of the Civil War should be a reminder of our past: where we came from, what we learned and how we can prevent our nation from tearing apart.”

“

I often consider how the con-venience of today’s technolog-ical advances in student life

must astonish older generations. Most of our courses appear in on-line classrooms where we can fi nd notes, homework, quizzes and sometimes tests.

Online homework makes grading an ease for teachers. The ability to access notes is especially helpful if a student misses some-thing (almost giving an incentive to skip class). And as far as exams … I know I’m not the only one who takes a sigh of relief when I fi nd out one of mine is online. I wonder, though, how our integri-ty is affected in testing situations outside of the classroom. Hang-ing in each Mississippi State Uni-versity study is the well-known

honor code: As a Mississippi State University student, I will conduct myself with honor and integrity at all times. I will not lie, cheat or steal, nor will I ac-cept the actions of those who do.

How many of us have these words written on the walls of our bedrooms? If lec-ture halls require TAs to walk up and down the aisles to monitor cheating, why are we trusted to act with similar honor when away from the eye of faculty?

During spring fi nal exams last year, an alleged 125 Harvard

students turned in suspiciously similar take-home exams which were open-note, open-book and,

su rpr i s ing ly, open-Internet. The skeptical Gove r n m e n t 1310: “In-troduction to Congress” pro-fessor expressed concerns to the administrative board, which led to the big-gest cheating scandal in Har-

vard’s recent history. About 70 of these students were punished with temporary withdrawal from the university after the investiga-tion ended this past fall. Half of

the remaining students received probation while the rest were left unpunished.

Cheating on a test with un-limited open sources seems pret-ty diffi cult to me. The “Intro to Congress” students violated codes, crossing the fi ne line of “take-home exam morality,” when they shared answers, es-sentially turning in each other’s work. Harvard offi cials did not care if that work consisted of sim-ply browsing the net. My main concern is the possibility the stu-dents in this circumstance did not understand the expectations of them for the exam. Instructions including “open-note, open-book and open-Internet” give such an informal impression and show the professor’s lenience.

Collaborating in such a non-chalant setting seems reasonable, even resourceful. Plagiarism is never okay, and I am not justi-fying turning in someone else’s work as your own. What I am questioning is the wisdom of pre-senting the temptation of work-ing with classmates alongside permission to use the Internet to students. Using the Internet itself, I realize, will always result in the use of others’ work.

This being the case, professors must be clear on their expecta-tions of students to use citations. The lack of specifi c instruction is the cause of messy plagiarism and cheating accusations like these.

The truth is: teachers know students will work together out-side of class, even if they shouldn’t.

This knowledge does not make the behavior permissible, but it does introduce a responsibility of the school to teach students how to live up to the academic honesty standard in such a new environ-ment.

We can be sure evolving tech-nology in the landscape of educa-tion has created situations today’s professors never had to deal with when they were students. When teachers give assignments outside of the classroom, they should at least expect the student will pro-duce different work than if they were inside. Engaging outside of the typical test-taking setting comes with additional distrac-tions and resources that should be taken into consideration by teachers before scandals ensue.

I think injecting anything into yourself without need is just unnecessary.”

“

CONTRIBUTING WRITER | ANNA WOLFE

Integrity among college students lacking, even at Harvard

Over the past few years, there has been much controversy over the

fl u shot. Some people claim the fl u vaccine does not work, some claim the vaccine actually gave them the fl u and others oppose fl u vaccines and all other types of vaccines for religious or per-sonal beliefs.

Contrary to popular belief, the fl u vaccine is generally safe for individuals over six months of age. The only exception is for people who are allergic to eggs, people who have certain medical conditions that may become worse with the vac-cine or people who have had severe, life-threatening allergic reactions to past vaccinat ions . One of the side effects of the fl u vaccine is recip-ients experienc-ing cold-like symptoms after vaccination similar to those of the fl u but is not actually the fl u.

Vaccine recipients may expe-rience sneezing, coughing, fe-ver, body ache, congestion and other symptoms that mirror the cold or fl u.

In addition, the vaccine is an inactive or “dead” version of the virus that your immune system uses to build anti-bodies against the live virus you may encounter at some point. Your body cannot be infected by a dead virus.

If a person does contract the fl u after receiving the fl u shot, the person most likely had al-ready been exposed to the fl u virus prior to vaccination or came in contact with the virus

before the vaccine had a reason-able amount of time to work. On a side note, the fl u vaccine will not protect against other respiratory infections such as the cold, sinus infection, hay fever, etc.

Another common myth is the vaccine is ineffective. No vaccine is 100 percent effec-tive. Second, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, individuals who receive the fl u vaccine reduce their chances of contracting the fl u by at least 60 percent.

Furthermore, if a person gets the vaccine and ends up with the fl u, his or her case is usually milder and the duration time

of the disease is shorter. The vaccine offers p r o t e c t i o n against the most com-

mon strains of the fl u virus pre-dicted by the CDC. The vac-cine isn’t perfect, but it’s better than no protection at all.

A fi nal myth is the fl u vac-cine causes autism. There is no scientifi c evidence suggesting the fl u vaccine causes autism or increases the chances of devel-oping autism.

This myth began when a small study published in 1998 in The Lancet by Andrew Wakefi eld and colleagues at Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine in London suggest-ed childhood vaccines might cause some cases of autism.

The study only involved 12 children, but the debate about the safety of childhood vac-cines has continued ever since. The study has been retracted,

but the myth persists, mostly among those strongly opposed to all vaccines.

After years of research and studies, scientists have found no evidence or link between autism and the fl u vaccine and its former ingredient thimero-sal (which, before 2001, was a common ingredient in fl u vac-cines but is no longer used in today’s vaccines).

The same holds true for the myth the fl u shot causes Alzhei-mer’s. In fact, a study published in The Canadian Medical Jour-nal in 2001 suggests the fl u vaccine may lower the risk of Alzheimer’s in older adults.

Aside from the medical ex-ceptions mentioned in the be-ginning of the article, the ben-efi ts far outweigh the risks. If you are still skeptical about the fl u shot, follow the universal medical principle.

When in doubt, ask your doctor. Need a little more convincing? Here’s some great news: The year’s fl u-shot not only protects you from the in-fl uenza virus, but it also pro-tects you from the H1N1 virus (swine fl u) so you get double protection.

Kimberly Murriel is a senior majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected].

KIMBERLY MURRIEL

The benefi ts (of a getting a fl u shot) far outweigh the risks.”“

Flu vaccine needed to stay healthyDARK ANGEL | KIMBERLY MURRIEL

We can be sure evolving technology in the landscape of education has created situations today’s professors never had to deal with when they were students.”

“

BULLETIN BOARDCLASSIFIEDS POLICY

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

HELP WANTED

Bartending. Up to $300 / day. No experience necessary. Training available. Call 800.965.6520 ext. 213.

FOR SALE

1.5-carat past, present and future engagement ring. Paid $500, will take $300, fi rm. Call 617.0111 and ask for Angela.

FOR RENT

Apartments for rent close to campus. One bedroom, one bathroom. Appliances include microwave, refridgerator, stove, washer and dryer. No pets. Call 648.9519, 323.5186 or 341.5186.

Two bedroom apartment for sublease through August. $300 per person. By Campus Bookmart. All appliances included, private bathrooms, walk-in closets, patio. Pet deposit paid. Call 640.8132. Functioning wood-burning fi replace. Move in ASAP. February rent already paid.

Two bedroom, one bathroom mobile home, private lot. Two miles from Walmart. $400 deposit, $400 per month rent. References required. Ready in March. Call 769.7407 or 312.6238.

MISCELLANEOUS

Call Oda! ABC Professional Tutoring. High school and college: Math, business, statistics, physics, chemistry, statistics, ACT, SAT, GRE, GMAT and more. Available seven days a week. Call 722.0020.

Wanted: Up to four tickets to the Feb. 22

Lyceum Series performance of Twelfth Night. Please call 418.3287.

White Glove Cleaning Service. Commercial and residential. Also, one-time move in, move out service available. Very detailed. Satisfaction guaranteed. Call Tess at 699.9660.

Legacy Hospice of the South is seeking volunteers. Hospice volunteers provide invaluable services for our patients as well as our staff. If you would like to become a volunteer or want more information about Hospice volunteer presentations in your community, contact Sierra Amos, volunteer coordinator at 338.0007 or email [email protected].

CLUB INFO

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

MSU CATHOLIC STUDENT ASSOCIATION

The MSU Catholic Student Association invites you to join us for Sunday mass at 5:30 p.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 607 University Drive. All are welcome to $2 Tuesday night dinner at 6 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/msstatecsa

THE WESLEY FOUNDATION

Insight Bible study and worship Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Wesley Foundation Worship

Center, East Lee Boulevard, next to Campus Bookmart.

MSU STUDENT CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF

MICROBIOLOGY

Contact [email protected] or like us on Facebook, “MSU ASM,” for membership information.

YOGA MOVES CLUB

School or work stressing you out? Get moving into Yoga Moves! Try our moves to get into shape and our relaxation techniques to handle the stress. Yoga Moves meets at the Sanderson Center in Studio C, Thursday evenings 5 to 6:30. Like Yoga Moves Club-MSU on Facebook.

STUDENTS FOR A SUSTAINABLE CAMPUS

SSC meets every Thursday at 6 p.m. in McCool room 212. Come and meet really cool people who all share interests in saving the environment. Don’t forget to opt-in for the Green Fund.

SOCIOLOGICAL STUDENT ASSOCIATION

The Sociological Student Association is based in the Department of Sociology. Undergraduates of all degrees are welcome. Meetings are held the last Thursday of every month in Bowen Hall room 250 at 5 p.m.

MANIFESTING GLORY

Manifesting Glory is currently looking for musicians on a temporary or permanent basis. All who are interested, please call 518.1456.

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION CLUB

Are you interested in talking about the deeper questions of life? If so, come and join us on Thursdays at 5 p.m. in Union Room 227. Email [email protected].

2-15-13AN IN-CLASS DISTRACTION ...

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Life & EntertainmentLife & EntertainmentTHE REFLECTOR6 | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2013

BY ERIC IRBY

Contributing Writer

From merengue, salsa, foxtrot and other great dances, Mississippi State University’s Ballroom Dance Club has it all.

Current vice president Elizabeth Rugel, senior Spanish major, said the organization aims to provide, promote and educate the ballroom dance club.

“We’re a student-led organiza-tion. The students teach it, organize it, schedule and do publicity. We meet once a week to teach students who show up for free if they have an account with the Sanderson,” she said.

Current president Amanda Washington, senior biological sci-ence major, said she encourages ev-eryone to join the club.

“Dancing is fun. It gives you structure in a lot of different aspects of your life. It teaches you how to be a leader and a follower. It teaches you how to deal with people and different personalities defi nitely,” she said. “I’ve met 9-year-olds all the way to 80-year-olds. It defi nite-ly teaches you to be a people per-son.”

Rugel ventured into ballroom

dancing after seeing a performance by the organization.

“I started my sophomore year. I went to Salsa in the Streets, one of the big events we have and I always loved the ‘Dirty Dancing’ movies and ‘Dancing with the Stars,’” Ru-gel said with a grin, “so I kind of encouraged it even more. But most importantly the friendships and relationships you make; I met my boyfriend in Ballroom Club.”

The organization stresses the le-niency of membership and how involved each member of the orga-nization can choose to be.

Rugel said she thinks everyone will appreciate that factor from the group.

“You make your own decision on how involved you want to get,” Ru-gel said. “You can come a few Sun-days and learn a little bit or you can do extra things we do like take trips and go out of town with the club.”

The next event coming up for the Ballroom Dance Club is the Valentine’s Day dance today.

Rugel said the event will be a great opportunity for the interna-tional students to meet people at the school as well as learn a few dance moves.

“After Valentine’s Day, we’re hav-

ing our Valentine’s dance, and we’re working with the ESL department to get all of their international stu-dents to come,” she said. “They can meet some American students and learn how to dance. We’ll be doing all different kinds of dances and giving mini lessons.”

Though the Valentine’s Day dance is one of their upcoming events, Washington said one of their next big events coming up is the All Star Dance Weekend on Feb. 23 in Tupelo.

“It’s a workshop which is defi -nitely pretty big for instructors,” Washington said. “The club is paying for the instructors to take an entire weekend of lessons under professionals.”

She said how far students want to go into ballroom dance is what they put in it.

“Basically, you make ballroom. You decide how far you’re willing to go with it. You make whatever you want out of it. We’ll give you the opportunity, and if you want to go there we’ll help you as much as we can.”

Rugel and Washington instruct ballroom classes on Sunday in the Sanderson Center in Dance Studio A at 5:30 p.m.

Ballroom Dance Club encourages membership

This month, Netfl ix re-leased its fi rst original series called “House

of Cards,” a thrilling political drama series starring Kevin Spacey. While the series it-self has generated positive re-views, the format of the show has competitors chatting. The burden of scheduled

airing has an enormous im-pact on the storytelling of a television show. Writers of-ten insert false cliffhangers for commercials and endings, which can cause the story to feel convoluted or fabricated. Limited blocks of time can force writers to cut material that could be benefi cial to the development of the show,

or conversely, they may have to add elements that are not necessary. What has really set “House

of Cards” apart from the rest is its freedom from a tradi-tional scheduling. The ep-isodes are written in a way that fl ows smoothly without commercial interruptions, and vary in length so that each story can be told in as little or as much time as needed. In addition, the en-tire season is released at once, which caters to the tendency of most of Netfl ix viewers to binge-view episodes. Writers do not have to recap viewers on what happened a week ago in the previous episode

because they know that most will watch multiple episodes in a sitting. “House of Cards” is also

shaking up the works in the media critique depart-ment. Far too often a series won’t even make it through the fi rst season because of criticism. TV critics usual-ly have to make evaluations based on only fragments. With “House of Cards,” that model is challenged. Critics can write a review of the show based on the entirety of the season.Although this new format

has a slew of advantages, it also presents some challeng-es. For one, there’s no money

being made on advertising, but the show is intended to attract subscriptions in ex-change for exclusive content. The simultaneous release

of every episode in the sea-son may also create hurdles. Shows like “The Walking Dead” and “Mad Men” have enormous social media fol-lowings based on the antici-pation between airings. Fans are less likely to discuss a single episode, and no lon-ger create a buzz from spec-ulation about what might happen next week. Social chatter is further dampened by the fact that not all view-ers have fi nished the series. Spoilers are hard to avoid

when every viewer watches at a different pace. Despite drawbacks, Net-

fl ix studios seems confi dent

the $100 million spent on “House of Cards” was mon-ey well spent. Netfl ix con-tent chief Ted Sarandos told CNET that relative to oth-er expenditures, “House of Cards” is doing more than its fair share to bring in sub-scriptions.“We can control the con-

tent cost that ultimately controls pricing. We try to make it more and more ac-cessible to more and more people,” Sarandos said. Netfl ix took a gamble

on the shaky structure of “House of Cards,” but it doesn’t look like it’ll come tumbling down any time soon.

‘House of Cards’ shakes up traditional television models, premieres on streaming service NetflixCULTURED DE-BATES | CALEB BATES

Caleb Bates is a junior majoring in English and communication. He can be contacted at [email protected].

CALEB BATES

BY CATIE MARIE MARTIN

Staff Writer

In the summer of 2008, Whitten Sab-batini made plans with a friend to attend Lollapalooza music festival. He had the money. He had the ride. He had the pent-up excitement. And then a week before the show, Whitten spent his savings on a camera.

“I kind of make decisions like that, but I’d never been into art before. I don’t know. I just stumbled into it,” Sabbatini said.

Now, four and a half years later, Whitten is preparing to graduate with a Masters of Fine Arts in photography and several in-ternational photography awards beneath his belt.

Sabbatini’s work was recently chosen for display in the Portraits 2013 series at The Center For Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colo. Two of his digital images, “Tim’s House” and “Jeffrey and Jr. Skin-ning a Deer” were selected by juror Charles Guice for his gallery in New York City.

Professor Marita Gootee confi rmed the signifi cance of such an achievement in an interview with the Mississippi State Uni-versity Department of Art News. “Two images into an international exhibition is fantastic. To be selected by a juror such as Charles Guice is extremely impressive and could really open doors for Whitten.”

Sabbatini’s success this year does not stop there. His photo “October 12, 2012” was also selected from 1,000 entries to be displayed in the fall 2012 New York Cen-ter for Photographic Art International Call for Entry.

When asked what his vision for these

photographs was, Sabbatini said he was shooting portraits with a lot of detail.

“You can get a sense of location. (I) am focused on themes like people of place or spirit of place, and that’s why I shoot por-traits of people right now of the South. Spirit of place.”

Sabbatini says his interest in photogra-phy began with a genuine interest in seeing a shallow depth of fi eld, like a blurry back-ground against a sharp image.

In a world where Instagrammers con-sider themselves photographers, Tweet-ers think themselves comedians and now Vine-ers believe themselves fi lmmakers, artists like Sabbatini are often pushed aside.

“It gets idealized. Like, oh, it’s cool, you’re creative, la de da, I don’t know. I’m just passionate. Life is weird,” Sabbatini said, shaking his head and smiling.

While Sabbatini’s humility is refreshing, one can truly get an idea of his talent by talking to those who have watched him grow as an artist.

“It is a privilege to work with a student so talented and excited about the medium of photography and the work he is making. I have no doubt that he is going place,” as-sistant professor Dominic Lippillo told the Department of Art News in an interview.

When asked for advice for aspiring pho-tographers, Sabbatini’s words of wisdom are simple: be passionate.

“It’s necessary to learn from what’s come before you, to allow yourself to be infl u-enced by everything,” he said. “If it’s just photography, don’t be intimidated by buy-ing a camera. Crave knowledge and ask questions.”

Paul Thorn performs at Rick’s

Whitten Sabbatini

COURTESY PHOTO | WHITTEN SABBATINI

MSU student Whitten Sabbatini begins successful photography career.

OUTSTANDING HUMAN BEING:

BY DANIEL HART

Staff Writer

Paul Thorn, a Tupelo native and rock and roll musician, said his show in Starkville at Rick’s Café on Saturday will be a little hard to defi ne.

“I’ve had the same band members for 20 years. It’s a tight band. We do a rock and roll show, I talk to the fans when I’m onstage and have a good time. It’s diffi cult to describe,” he said.

Thorn’s stop in Starkville is one of 175 dates he undertakes, on average, each year. Although reluctant to give any labels to his music or show, Thorn’s daughter, Kit Thorn, said she was willing to give it a shot.

“I’d say his music is kind of a mixture of everything. It’s a little country, rock, blues. It’s pretty loud and upbeat,” she said.

Thorn said he strives to perform to standards of a heyday past, interacting with the audience even outside of the songs he performs.

“I consider myself an entertainer in the old-school fashion. Dean Martin was a great entertainer and singer. He would sing songs but also talk to the fans between songs, tell jokes. He made everybody in the crowd feel like they were hanging out,” he said. “That’s what I shoot for.”

This inclusive informality extends even to family, as Thorn’s daughter, Kit Thorn, said she may join her father’s performance.

“When he does shows, I usually get up and sing a song or two with him,” she said.

The Starkville, university student clientele differs from Thorn’s usual crowd, which he said is middle-age and married people.

“My audience is for the most part married folks, mid-dle-aged folks with mortgages and house payments, but when young people come I always like it. I certainly hope they will come out and enjoy the show,” he said.

Like his shows, Thorn, himself, is a bit hard to defi ne; he said he was a boxer for a time in his life, going so far as to fi ght some world famous contenders.

“I got to fi ght Roberto Duran in 1988, and anybody who knows boxing knows he was probably in the top 10 greatest fi ghters who ever lived. I hung with him for six rounds,” he said. “There’s no shame in getting beat by a better man.”

Although Thorn boxed before beginning music as a pro-fession, he said growing up with a pastor father resulted in his immersion in music from a young age.

“My dad is a Pentecostal preacher, so music was there before boxing. I was a fairly good boxer, but I didn’t have that extra something it took. But in music, I’m probably more where I belong,” he said.

The infl uence of Thorn’s father shows up on his most recent album of original material, Pimps and Preachers. The album’s title draws on two major forces in Thorn’s life as he matured, both his preacher father and pimp uncle.

According to Paste Magazine, the album exists in a place juxtaposed between these two concepts, two ways of living and how they shaped Thorn.

Thorn’s show is Saturday, Feb. 16 at Rick’s Café, with special guest Bill Cook. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 9. Tickets are $20. Information about the show can be found at rickscafe.net.

COURTESY PHOTO | BALLROOM DANCE CLUB

Mississippi State University’s Ballroom Dance Club features dances from merengue to salsa.

COURTESY PHOTO | BLIND AMBITION MANAGEMENT

SPORTSREFLECTOR-ONLINE.COM friday, february 15, 2013 | 7

Football adds Gonzales as wide receivers coach

By Kristen spinK

Sports Editor

On Monday, April 30, 2012, Candace Foster was preparing for her first exam when she received that dread-ed phone call. Her sister called to say her mom had died of cancer.

But during a time most people would consider filled with sorrow, Foster had a dif-ferent perspective character-ized by peace and joy.

“I thank God that I know who God is, and I know my momma’s a firm believer and a Christian. I knew it doesn’t take anything away from who God is, and he carried me through that situation,” Foster said. “Knowing that helped me through that time of grieving. It wasn’t a time of grieving actually; it was a time of rejoicing knowing she’s with the Father.”

Foster’s biggest fan passed away four months after hearing the news that the former walk-on was given a full scholarship to play wom-en’s basketball at Mississippi State. Having dreamed of playing basketball at a Di-vision 1 SEC school, Foster said she thought there was no better place to go than MSU.

“We had been in faith to-gether about earning a full scholarship, and lo and be-hold, God did that for us,” Foster said. “I think about my mom all the time, but when I’m out there on the court, I play for the glory of the Lord. My work ethic just has to do with bringing glory to the Lord, and that’s some-thing my mom taught me to do.”

When she is on the court,

Foster energizes the team and brings a tough, defensive mentality to the floor. The “Energizer Bunny” as her teammates call her, only av-eraged 2.7 minutes and took just five shots her first two seasons at MSU, but this year, Foster’s role has increased. She averages 13 minutes and has recorded 21 rebounds, 20 assists and 17 points.

Head coach Vic Schaefer said Foster plays with pas-sion, aggression and tough-ness, and when she missed

practice one day, the whole practice was terrible because she brings a level of intensity and energy the team desper-ately needs.

“She’ll tell you and I’ll tell you she plays with God in her heart. She’s just a good Chris-tian kid. She’s just apprecia-tive, she loves being a Bulldog and she embraces Mississippi State,” Schaefer said. “She’s everything I want in a bas-ketball player. I wish she had a little bit better jump shot, but I play her because of

those other things I just told you, and at the end of the day, that’s more important than her skills set right now, and that’s what she brings to my team, and I gotta have that person. I’m glad I have her, and I love her intensity. I love everything about that kid.”

Foster said her first two years at State were a strug-gle with the team losing a lot and not being produc-tive, but when Schaefer, who is known for his defensive

schemes, came to MSU, he saw her love for defense and has granted her the opportu-nity to do what she does best.

Foster takes pride in her defense and loves to do the dirty work. Although most players enjoy the glory that comes on the offensive end, Foster enjoys doing the un-noticed aspects, like getting a steal or making a hustle play, that let other people shine.

Foster’s teammates said they appreciate the mentali-ty and passion she brings to the team. Sophomore Kendra Grant said she loves being on the court with Foster because her personality and her char-acter in general transfer over to the court.

“If you know the type of person Candace is, you can see it on the court, like her attitude about everything; she lays it on the line wheth-er it’s in practice or in games. However many minutes she’s in, it doesn’t matter whatev-er it is, she’s gonna go hard,” Grant said. “I feel like that’s just something that’s been placed in her by God.”

A l l i e s h a Easley, the FCA wom-en’s chaplain, leads Bible studies before home games. Before Eas-ley came to MSU, Foster led the Bible studies for her team.

Easley said Foster carries the mindset found in Colos-sians 3:23 of working for the Lord and not for men when she plays basketball.

“When I first got here, there was no doubt in just

meeting her that she loved the Lord and she was differ-ent, and you could just tell she was set apart through things she talked about and just her demeanor. She gave off light,” Easley said. “Some people play hard because that’s what they do, but from talks with Candace, I know she plays hard because she wants to glorify the Lord.”

Foster defies the stereotyp-ical D-1 athlete. She loves defense and understands her role as an “undercover man.” The once walk-on trusts in her Lord through the good and the bad and seeks to glo-rify Him with her actions.

Foster said she has a heart for each of her teammates, each member of the coaching staff and whomever else she may come across. Her pur-pose here is not basketball; it is about faith, eternity and reaching lives for the King-dom.

“I really want to be an in-fluence for them to turn to Christ and let them know life in Christ is not boring.

It’s not ‘I can’t do this now, I can’t do that now.’ There is freedom in Christ to know that there is some-one who loves us so much despite our

faults,” Foster said. “I am not perfect, but I know God loves me; God is forgiving. I just try to live out loud for him and let them know they can do it, too, and God loves them just as much, and He wants to see them prosper in Him.”

Former walk-on Foster seeks to honor Christ through basketball

By Forrest BucK

Staff Writer

After bringing in a successful recruiting class, head football coach Dan Mullen has made some tweaks to his offensive coaching staff.

Mullen brought in Billy Gonzales to be his new wide receivers coach.

Mullen said Mississippi State was lucky to be able to bring Gonzales in and praised his track record with coaching re-ceivers.

“I think Billy is one of the premiere receiver coaches in the nation,” Mullen said. “He’s had

like seven All-SEC receivers in his time in this conference and developed receivers at Utah as he had two 1,000-yard receiv-ers in one season. Just about ev-erywhere he’s gone, his receivers have broken records.”

Mullen and Gonzales have a history as the two have coached together at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida.

Gonzales spent last season as co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Il-linois. In 2010 and 2011, he was LSU’s passing game coordi-nator and wide receivers coach and helped LSU advance to the 2012 BCS National Champi-

onship Game. He also helped the Gators win two national titles in 2006 and 2008.

Mullen said he and Gonzales have remained in contact with each other over the years.

“Billy and I talk all the time, and it is something that we dis-cussed,” Mullen said. “It wasn’t that we were trying to change things up; the opportunity was just there. When I talked to Bil-ly, he said he’d be really interest-ed, and it was a pretty easy deci-sion to fit him in on our staff.”

Gonzales credited Mullen’s character as one of the main reasons he decided to come coach at MSU.

“When you start picking a place to have the opportunity to go coach, you want to sur-round yourself with great peo-ple, and I know what kind of guy he (Mullen) is,” Gonzales said. “I know he’s a great father, and I know he’s a great leader. It’s neat to preach family in the recruiting process because that’s what you need to do, but it’s good to be here with a guy that can talk about family and mean it.”

Last season Tim Brewster coached the wide receivers for State. Next fall, Brewster will coach tight ends, which is his specialty. He will also be the

team’s assistant head coach. Brewster coached tight ends at North Carolina and Texas be-fore moving to the NFL and coaching the position with the San Diego Chargers and Den-ver Broncos.

Brewster said the decision to bring in Gonzales to coach receivers and for him to coach tight ends again was natural.

“I’m in a great place in my career where I can help where needed,” Brewster said. “I’ve coached tight ends for a long time, and I’ve been a head coach, so I know about the things that go with that.”

Brewster speculated that

he possibly turned down other offers to stay at MSU.

“I’ve had opportunities come up, but where I’m at in my career, the grass isn’t always greener,” Brewster said. “I have been ab-solutely thrilled with Mississip-pi State and living in Starkville. My family is comfortable here, and we’re really excited about being a part of Dan Mullen’s program, and I think we’re on the cusp of doing something special.”

Gonzales

Ultimate team hosts tournamentBy Anson Keith

Staff Writer

Mississippi State University’s ultimate Frisbee team, “Dark Horse” is hosting the Cowbell Classic Tournament Feb. 23 and 24. There are currently 14 teams signed up for the two-day extrav-aganza, and with teams like LSU, Ole Miss and Southern Miss in the mix, the Dogs expect the tournament to be good practice for conference play. Two slots re-main available, and the bids are $300 a team.

Dark Horse team members said they are already excited about and looking forward to the upcoming tournament. These tournaments allow players and teams a chance to get a glimpse of teams from all over the coun-try instead of being confined to the Gulf Coast Conference. Rob-ert Stroup, team president, said even though it is good and help-ful to the sport to see teams from up north come down every now and again and play in their tour-naments, the Dogs still have their eyes set on the bigger picture.

“We are looking to defend our home turf and win the tourna-ment,” Stroup said. “Each tour-nament we play is practice for the Gulf Coast Conference Champi-onship tournament. While it’s fun to play and win throughout the season, we’re always looking forward to April.”

The Cowbell Classic of 2012 was canceled due to lack of teams signing up for the tournament, but this time around, things are in top gear.

The tournament will start next Friday on the intramural fields. Normal field food and water will be served throughout the tour-

nament, and pizza will be served Saturday after the last round.

MSU finished No. 13 in Southeast rankings last year, and with a win in this tournament, its stock would continue to grow. Dark Horse made it to regionals the past five years, and this year when the team plays next week-end, it will sit at an unblemished 15-0.

Last weekend, the team placed third at the Mardi Gras Tourna-ment, winning five more games. Dark Horse practices year round, so even in the off season, the guys are preparing while most other teams enjoy breaks.

Along with having a slight edge on the competition with its non-stop preparation, Dark Horse also made some additions during the off season. Erik Allen said the addition of the newcom-ers was key for the team.

“We picked up a solid group of young guys,” Allen said. “They traveled and played with

us during the Mardi Gras Tour-nament, and they all played real-ly well.”

Longevity is needed in sports such as ultimate, especially when playing multiple games on mul-tiple days, and Max Mosely said the extra bodies will be beneficial for Dark Horse.

“We have a deep bench we can rely on to give our starters a break throughout the day, so we can be firing on all cylinders on Sunday afternoon,” Mosely said.

In addition to the men’s team, there is a women’s team that goes by the name “Night Mare.” The Mardi Gras Tournament was the first tournament in which the team competed, winning one game.

Night Mare currently consists of 10 players and is looking for more ladies to get involved. Any-one interested in playing can contact captain Katy Fuqua at [email protected] or visit msuul-timate.com.

Bulldogs travel to LSUBy Forrest BucK

Staff Writer

Dan The Mississippi State men’s basketball team will go on the road to Baton Rouge for a rematch with the LSU Tigers Saturday after losing a thriller on a game-winning shot by LSU guard Anthony Hickey nearly two weeks ago.

The Bulldogs led the ma-jority of the game, but let it slip away in the final seconds.

Head coach Rick Ray said he is more concerned with his team’s ability to stay in the game this time around rather than worrying about what his team has to do to make sure they do not blow a lead again.

“We have to be in the game first,” Ray said. “If we’re in the game, then we can worry about finishing it out.”

Ray’s concern was justified after his team suffered the worst loss at the Humphrey Coliseum in MSU history Wednesday night. Missouri won the game easily 78-36.

The loss extends MSU’s losing streak to nine games, which is the team’s longest losing streak since 1981 and tied for the fourth longest losing streak in school histo-ry. The 36 points scored by the Dogs was also the lowest point total of the season.

Freshman Gavin Ware said he was extremely disappoint-ed after the loss.

“It is kind of embarrassing for us to come out and not compete,” Ware said. “We are in a slump, but through it all we will come back. It’s like one of our coaches said,

we still have seven games left whether we like it or not, so we just have to keep playing.”

Ray shared Gavin’s sense of shame in the team’s perfor-mance.

“To be quite frank, this is an embarrassing loss,” Ray said. “You would hope that our guys would have some pride about themselves and about Mississippi State bas-ketball and want to go out and rectify that. And if that’s not enough to motivate them, then we got problems.”

Obviously, when a team is on a nine-game losing streak and has an overall record of 7-15, things are not going well to say the least.

But injuries have had a huge impact on this team. Right now, State has three scholarship players (Wen-dell Lewis, Jacoby Davis and Andre Applewhite) out with injuries, and they are going to be out for the rest of the season.

It also does not help mat-ters that disciplinary issues have seemed to plague this team all year as junior guard and supposed “team leader” Jalen Steele is currently sus-pended indefinitely.

Ray expressed his disap-pointment in Steele in a press release earlier in the week. “It was a selfish act,” Ray said. “The thing that’s disappoint-ing for me as far as our disci-plinary issues is our freshmen need somebody to look up to and, right now to be honest with you, we just don’t have that.”

Colin Borchert was also

s u s p e n d e d earlier in the year, and be-fore the year even started, players were d i s m i s s e d from the team for dis-ciplinary reasons.

When a team has major injuries and an abundance of youth, those factors mixed with multiple disciplinary issues really set a team back. In the loss to Missouri, the Bulldogs only had eight active players, and just six of those were scholarship players.

Trivante Bloodman, who led the Dogs with 13 points against Missouri, said he would not blame the team’s struggles on injuries and play-ers being out.

“Yeah, we have a lot of in-juries, but you can’t really blame that. Look at Kentucky last year. They only played six or seven guys, and they won games,” Bloodman said. “That just means you have to step up and work twice as hard, and we didn’t.”

In Saturday’s game at LSU, the Dogs will be short-hand-ed again, making rotations even shorter. Guys will have to play more minutes and at a higher level to compensate for the loss of talent on the floor.

The Tigers stand at 13-8 (4-6), led by Johnny O’Bry-ant III and Hickey, who both average 12.3 points per game. Tip off for Saturday’s game against the Tigers is set for 4 p.m.

Bloodman

courtesy photo | msu club sports

Graduate student Cody Smith lays out in a defensive effort.

emma katherine hutto | the reflector

Candace Foster came to MSU as a walk-on but earned a full basketball scholarship last Christmas.She’ll tell you and I’ll tell you she plays with God in her heart ... I love everything about that kid.”Vic Schaefer,head coach

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BY KRISTEN SPINK

Sports Editor

Jarvis Varnado played bas-ketball at MSU from 2006-2010. He holds the SEC record for blocks in a season with 170 and career blocks with 413, passing Shaquille O’Neal. He was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year three consecutive seasons.

Varnado was drafted by the Miami Heat in the 2010 NBA draft but went to play basketball overseas in the Italian league and the Israeli Basketball Super League.

After a stint in the NBA D-League, he signed with the Boston Celtics for 10 days, and then Jan. 30 he signed with the Heat through the remain-der of the season.

Varnado answered these questions for The Reflector via email.

Q: What was your thought process when you did not immediately make it in the NBA? Did you get frustrated or did it make you want to work that much harder to get there?

A: After I was drafted by the Miami Heat and sent overseas, I was very frustrat-ed because I wanted to play in the NBA, but I took it as an opportunity to get better.

Q: What was your experi-ence like playing basketball overseas? Were there any ma-jor differences or was it pret-

ty much the same as playing here?

A: It was very different. The style of play varies in different countries, but cer-tain calls like a travel may not get called, and the fouls there are not like they are here in college or the NBA.

Q: During your 10-day contract with the Heat, what did you do to impress them and make them realize they needed to sign you for the whole season?

A: I had a lot of good prac-tices and showed them that I belong in the NBA and can make a difference on this team, especially on the defen-sive end with my shot-block-ing and rebound ability.

Q: Most people can only dream about playing for the NBA Champions, but this dream has become a reality for you. Is it intimidating, exciting or what are your thoughts about signing with such a great team as the Heat?

A: It is pretty exciting not just being on the Miami Heat but just being in the NBA. It’s a dream come true.

Q: How has it been playing with Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh so far?

A: Those guys are pretty talented, and I learn a lot from them every day on and off the fl oor.

Q: Any insight you can

give as to behind the scenes stuff with the Heat? Have you become good friends with any of the players in particular, is it a tight-knit team, did it meet your expec-tations, etc.?

A: I have become pretty cool with Udonis Haslem and Dexter Pittman, but I get along with everyone on the team. The guys are pretty cool.

Q: Do you feel like the Heat will win back-to-back NBA titles, and if so, what do you bring to the team to help in this endeavor?

A: There is tough compe-tition for the championship this year, but I defi nitely feel as though we have a good chance to win it. I bring shot blocking and rebounding to the team. We have a lot of offensive weapons, but I can defi nitely also help out on both ends of the fl oor.

Q: What did you learn from your time at MSU that you have used thus far in the NBA?

A: The value of hard work.

Q: What would be your advice to the current MSU basketball team as it strug-gles with youth and lack of depth and adjusting to a new coach?

A: They have to keep fi ght-ing to get better and take it game by game and focus on getting better on the areas

they are having the most problems. They also have to look at the SEC tournament as another season. Anything can happen there.

Q: What would be your advice to the MSU fans who may become impatient with the lack of wins this year?

A: You guys have to hang in there. You have no clue how hard it can be to rebuild, es-pecially in such a tough con-ference as the SEC. You guys have to keep showing up and cheering your team on. Show that Maroon pride. Those guys feed off of the fans en-ergy, so it’s important for the fans to show up cheering no matter if the team is winning or not. Let them know that you have their backs. It could help spark a comeback if they are down.

Q: Is there anything else you want to add?

A: Thanks so much to the Maroon nation for your con-tinued support!

BARTON DINKINS | THE REFLECTOR

Jarvis Varnado was a three-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year in his time at MSU and recently signed with the Miami Heat.

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