Vol. 87, No. 39

THE APPALACHIANTheAppalachianOnline.comThursday, March 28, 2013

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Study AbroadFollow three Appalachian students studying abroad as they document their experiences in Poland,

Chile and Spain.

by STEPHANIE SANSOUCY

Senior News Reporter

Chancellor Kenneth Peacock sent an email to Appalachian State University faculty Wednesday commenting on the Faculty Senate’s vote of “no confidence” in the leadership of Provost Lori Gonza-lez on Monday.

“I have listened and given serious and thoughtful consideration to your feed-

back, and I thank the Faculty Senate and the campus community for continuing to share their voices on important issues,” Peacock said in the letter.

Peacock went on to express his support for the provost.

“Since arriving on campus, Provost Gonzalez has tirelessly met challenges, many of which existed long before her

Peacock responds to Faculty Senatevote of ‘no confidence’

by MICHELLE PIERCEIntern News Reporter

Newly-elected student body vice president and current SGA senator Mi-chael Page is working to bring a cell phone applica-tion to students that could potentially keep their walk at night safe.

“My hope is to see the app implemented next spring before I leave,” Page said. “This is how I want to leave my legacy.”

The app is called Life-Line Response, also known

SGA works to bring safety app to Appalachian State students by JOSHUA FARMER

News Editor

Dylan Russell and Michael Page were elected Tuesday as the next SGA president and vice president.

The two earned 1,578 votes, more than quadrupling the total of their opponents, Nathan Bailey and Nick Smith.

“It means a lot that people are willing to stand with you and believe in you and believe in what you stand for,” Russell said. “It’s an empowering moment.”

Since then, the two have named Adam Ezell, the current director of governmental operations, as their chief of staff.

“Adam and I have grown really close to each other working through cabinet this year,” Russell said. “Adam was our cam-paign manager, and he was a rock for Mi-chael and myself throughout the campaign process, keeping us calm, cool, collected.

We are extremely honored to have Adam as our chief of staff.”

Russell said the director of elections posi-tion, a new cabinet position required by the recent referendum, will be key in recruiting students to get involved with SGA.

“We want all 93 senate seats filled by the next time we come in,” Russell said.

Russell said that Page and Ezell will help him put together the cabinet, and that they will take résumés in the SGA office until April 12.

Though Russell and Page were elected with 80 percent of the vote, the number who voted in the election represented just over 11 percent of the student population.

“We were a little disappointed by the numbers, but we weren’t disappointed by the support,” Russell said. “Next year we definitely plan to vamp up marketing. Next year there will be no reason that people don’t know about SGA elections.”

Russell,Page win SGA election

see App page 2

SGA vice presidential-elect Michael Page displays the Blue Light mobile phone app, which will allow users to connect with authorities in case of an emergency. The application is used at other universities. Russell/Page included the application in their campaign platform.

Justin Perry | The Appalachian

see Response page 2 Presidential elect Dylan Russell (left) and Michael Page (right), vice presidential run-ning mate, celebrate while reading the official results of the SGA elections Tuesday.

Justin Perry | The Appalachian

‘PERFECT FIT’by ANDREW CLAUSEN

Sports Editor

After months of ru-mors and this week’s reports, Appalachian

State University is officially a member of the Sun Belt Conference and, subse-quently, the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Chancellor Kenneth Pea-cock formally accepted the invitation Wednesday from Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson, who said the addition of App State was a “perfect fit.”

“The Sun Belt’s goal has been to build a conference that makes sense,” Benson said. “We are here today to tell you all that the Sun Belt conference got a whole lot better with the addition of Appalachian State.”

Peacock said it was a good

fit as well.“We were looking for

a good geographical fit,” Peacock said. “We looked, we thought, we hammered this, we discussed this. This was not something that was done overnight by any means.”

Athletic Director Charlie Cobb said the announce-ment was the “starting point,” and that the “heavy lifting” started Wednesday.

He also said that the de-cision to move conferences was bigger than the football program and bigger than the athletic department - it was a university decision.

“As an institution, Appa-lachian deserves to be con-sidered one of the top-tiered universities in our system and in this region,” Cobb said.

The announcement also

brought with it the answers to many questions.

App State has to com-plete a two-year “reclas-sification process,” which includes raising the number of football scholarships from 63 to 85.

During the 2013-14 school year, App State foot-ball won’t be eligible to play in the FCS championship, and will not be able to of-ficially win the Southern Conference title because they would have to forfeit their automatic berth to the postseason that SoCon champion would receive.

However, football is the only sport that is subject to ineligibility.

All other sports, field hockey notwithstand-ing, will be “eligible to win [SoCon] championships and earn automatic bids to

NCAA Championships” in the 2013-14 seasons, ac-cording to a press release from the university athletics department.

The Sun Belt doesn’t offer field hockey, therefore it will remain in the NorPac Field Hockey Conference and is not affected by the move.

In 2014-15, all sports will be able to play on full Sun Belt schedules. Football is eligible to win the Sun Belt championship, but will not be able to play in postseason bowl games.

Men’s soccer and wres-tling are also not offered in the Sun Belt and are expect-ed to stay in the Southern Conference.

In 2015-16, all available

Appalachian State accepts invitation to join Sun Belt Conference

see FBS page 2

Assistant Athletic Direc-tor Mike Flynn (left) and Athletic Director Charlie Cobb (right) announce that Appalachian State accept-ed an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference at a press conference Wednes-day afternoon. Joey Johnson | The Appalachian

Photo GalleryCheck out the appalachainonline.com for a gallery of Spirit Family Reunion’ show at Legends Tuesday night.

2 | March 28, 2013 The Appalachian | TheAppalachianOnline.comNews

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as the Blue Light Safety app. It is composed of two parts, a pre-

set timer mode that will trigger the alarm and a monitoring mode that initiates a countdown the moment a person’s finger leaves the screen, ac-cording to the application’s website.

When crossing campus late at night, a student can turn on the ap-plication and put it on monitoring mode by holding their finger on the screen for the duration of their walk.

Once released, the countdown be-gins and at eight seconds, the dis-

tress alert is set off in order to scare away a potential attacker.

When the timer reaches 20 sec-onds, LifeLine’s 24/7 Response verification team will call the phone and, if necessary, contact the nearest 911 center with the person’s infor-mation and GPS coordinates.

If Appalachian were to incorpo-rate this application into the school’s systems, university police would also receive the phone’s GPS coordi-nates.

Detoria Rolle, the director of stu-dent affairs, said that Chancellor Kenneth Peacock wants to make this application happen on campus.

Jake Cox, the current SGA presi-dent, assigned Page with the job of

demoing the application and work-ing with the sales representative of LifeLine.

“The app demo has been work-ing phenomenally,” Page said. “The sales rep has been extremely helpful. Our next step is to have him explain to me the process that other uni-versities and student governments are doing to bring the app to their school.”

The LifeLine application is al-ready in use at Angelo State Univer-sity in Texas and receiving positive responses, according to the univer-sity’s police website.

Page plans to get Appalachian to implement the application in their systems.

AppContinued from page 1

arrival, with great pro-fessionalism and dedica-tion,” he said in the letter.

Peacock said that he and the provost remain committed to working on the areas of concern that faculty has identified and that there is always room for improvement.

“All of us in higher education are facing many challenges, with more likely in the days to come. The Provost and I are ready and willing to dig deep into the issues and engage in meaning-ful dialogue with our faculty about how we address them and move forward,” Peacock said.

Government and jus-tice studies professor Matthew Robinson re-sponded to the letter sent out by Peacock.

“The message to me is that for faculty, our voices really don’t matter, our signatures don’t mat-ter and our votes don’t matter,” Robinson said. “It appears that faculty

are expected to just for-get their legitimate com-plaints and serious con-cerns with no resolution to them and simultane-ously ‘unite and focus on our mission—to teach, research and serve’ in spite of the fact that we never actually stopped engaging in teaching, research and service all along.”

Provost Lori Gonzalez commented on the vote of no confidence that happened Monday.

  “Over the course of my career, I have been required to make hard decisions and deal with difficult circumstances,” Gonzalez said. “In the days ahead, issues remain that we need to address together with trust and collegiality.”

Gonzalez said that she looks forward to a discussion with Faculty Senate about their con-cerns.

“I have been over-whelmed with the out-pouring of support from faculty and staff across the campus over the past weeks,” Gonzalez said.

ResponseContinued from page 1

sports will become com-pletely eligible for all Sun Belt events.

Men’s basketball head coach Jason Capel said the thing that jumped off the page for him was that there were two Sun Belt teams in the NCAA tour-nament, but did not know how much of a difference the talent level was.

“I think we’re going to be able to compete in that level, in that league,” Ca-pel said. “First and fore-most, we want to compete and win next year in the Southern Conference, and then have a smooth transi-tion into the Sun Belt.”

On if the players are ready for the move, Capel said the biggest thing was their “maturation.”

“Kids have to grow up,” said Capel. “They have to understand the importance of hard work and the pro-cess it takes to ultimately be a champion. I think we all saw that throughout last season, especially to-ward the end of the season. I think we put everyone on notice [with the Davidson game] with what we’re ca-

pable of.” In March 2015, the Sun

Belt’s basketball tourna-ment will be held in New Orleans.

Women’s basketball head coach Darcie Vincent said she will miss playing the SoCon tournament in Asheville, but the new are-nas they will play in will be “so cool” and the competi-tion will be exciting.

“We have to double up our hard work and double up our effort,” Vincent said. “It’s a different type of animal, a different type of conference, but I get ex-cited about challenge and change.”

SGA President and Board of Trustees member Jake Cox said he thought this was a “phenomenal move.”

“This is absolutely a his-torical day for Appalachian State University,” Cox said. “Together, along with all the evidence on why we’re moving up, on why it’s such a great decision, just goes to show the kind of leadership we have at the university and why they are making such poignant moves putting us toward a direction of ensuring that our success continues, not only on one level, but on a higher level as well.”

FBSContinued from page 1

March 28, 2013 | 3The Appalachian | TheAppalachianOnline.comA&E

by LOVEY COOPERSenior A&E Reporter

Visiting artist Vic-tor Ekpuk will work in the Mayer Gallery of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts during public hours April 3-4 as a per-formance piece that goes through the artistic process of what he calls “Drawing Memory.”

The performance is both a promotion of and cre-ation for his upcoming ex-hibition of the same name that opens April 5.

Ekpuk, an established

Visiting artist uses the human condition for inspiration

Nigerian artist currently working out of Washing-ton, D.C., will also present “African Art Symposium: Symbol and Space” April 6 in the Turchin lecture hall, room 1102.

The Appalachian spoke with Ekpuk about his art, his personal history, and his upcoming exhibition.

The Appalachian: How would you describe your work?

Victor Ekpuk: “In a gen-eral sense, I would describe my work as abstraction.

Part of my visual vocab-

ulary is consciously or un-consciously derived from traditions of ideographic writing systems in Africa, where ideas and forms are reduced to their essence through graphic symbols. In my compositions, the use of these arcane signs and my invented ‘pseudo-writings’ often evoke an interplay of art and writing, where legibility and illeg-ibility are metaphors for contemporary expressions.”

TA: What is your artistic process like? What inspires you?

VE: “My process often starts with a pen or pencil in hand, and if an idea oc-curs to me, I may uncon-sciously draw on the near-est surface. These days, the drawing apps in my iPhone or iPad have become add-ed tools for beginning the process for documenting the myriad form floating around in my head. Many things can trigger my in-spiration, the human con-dition, forms in nature, a song, a poem and so on.”

TA: How did you get started as an artist?

VE: “My recollection of my artistic talents was from very early in my childhood when I could draw realistic representations of people and objects before I learned to write the alphabet in el-ementary school. Encour-aged by my mother, at age of 8, I won first prize in a statewide art competition. All through high school, art was the one subject I was most interested in. My love for drawing was such that every school notebook and textbook became a sketchbook. Studying art in the university and opting to become a professional artist was an obvious choice.”

TA: What of your work is represented in “Draw-ing Memories”? Is there a common theme in this col-lection?

VE: “The drawing per-formance piece that will be executed from April 3-4 best represents ‘Draw-ing Memory.’ This piece is an example of work where the human condition is the main inspiration. Memory to me is a metaphysical space where our sense of self resides. My observation is that this sense of self is acquired through family, ethnic, racial relationships. Life circumstances can cause memories to change, shift, evolve or even trans-form. The act of ‘Drawing Memory,’ which will even-tually be wiped off to make room for another experi-ence, is perhaps pondering the notion of memory, the experiences that give us our sense of self or identity, as ephemeral conditions.”

TA: How is this similar or different to your work overall?

VE: “This piece contin-ues the idea in other works where I ponder the human condition. The difference here is in its ephemerality.”

TA: Do you have any ex-pectations about the open-ing or your time here in Boone?

VE: “I have never been to the Appalachian Moun-tains or North Carolina, I hope to have fun and good conversations with the peo-ple of Boone.”

Visiting artist Victor Ekpuk works through the artistic process he calls ‘Drawing Memory.’ Ekpuk will be working in the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts Mayer Gallery April 3-4 promoting his gallery opening April 5.

Victor Ehikhamenor | Courtesy Photo

by CHELLA MCLELLANDIntern A&E Reporter

The Boone area metal and hard rock band Raimee is not only composed primarily of Appala-chian State University students, but is also fronted by an Appala-chian residence director.

The band, which signed with Crushing Skulls Records earlier this year, is currently in the process of recording an original album that will release later this spring.

Vocalist and primary songwriter Rei Haycraft earned a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and me-dia production and is now work-ing on her master’s in educational media production.

She is employed as an RD with the university and spends most her time writing songs and creating art. She is also working on a graphic novel project called “Revenant Aidenn,” which is the inspiration for many of the band’s songs.

Haycraft said it can be difficult to balance school with the busy life of being in a band.

“[We’re] constantly record-ing, practicing and traveling to shows,” Haycraft said, “We have

met the most amazing people and have had the most wonderful ex-periences. It’s challenging, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Guitarist Brandon Mullin has been playing and writing music for about eight years. He is now

a senior studying recording and engineering in the music industry studies program, and aspires to be a music producer.

“We’re always really busy,” Mul-lin said. “Rei’s got a full-time job in addition to being a full-time

graduate student. My classes take up a lot of my time. Bennie [Mi-chael] has a full-time job and usu-ally works nights. It can be really difficult at times to balance such an active band with work and being full-time students, but it’s completely worth it.”

Bassist Daniel Baldwin began his music career two years ago when he purchased his first guitar. Since then, he has been playing constantly.

“Outside of music, I don’t know what I would want to do,” Bald-win said. “Music is my life, and it brings me so much passion and joy that I don’t know what else I could ever do that would make me feel this way.”

Drummer Bennie Michael is an N.C. State graduate with a degree in science. He has been playing music his entire life, is completely self-taught and has been drum-ming since he was in high school.

The band has no immedi-ate plans after all of its mem-bers complete school and will continue writing, recording and performing new material. Raimee’s next Boone perfor-mance is April 26 at Doughton Pit.

Appalachian State students form hard-rock band Raimee

by EMMA SPECKMANA&E Reporter

A group of Appala-chian musicians played instruments

and told stories about their lives and crafts at the an-nual Cece Conway’s Black Banjo Roots Concert held Tuesday in the Great Hall of the Living Learning Center.

A professor of Appa-lachian literature in the English department, Con-way’s primary goal was to educate those who don’t know much about Appa-lachian music history in a fun and entertaining way.

“Most people are un-aware that the banjo origi-nally came to this country from Africa,” Conway said.

Conway was able to hold the event through a two-year grant she re-ceived from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Rick Ward, Herb Key, Wayne Henderson - with his daughter Jane - and

Musicians and craftsmen of the high country tell stories, share music at banjo event

Hubby Jenkins of the Grammy award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops performed at the event.

Ward began the panel by talking about his family and playing a few songs on his banjo.

“My father and grand-father made banjos, dul-cimers and guitars,” Rick Ward said. “They taught me the art.”

Rick Ward’s grand-father was Tab Ward, a semi-famous bluegrass musician, whose collec-tions are currently housed in the Appalachian State and East Tennessee Uni-versity libraries, as well as the Smithsonian. On his mother’s side, Rick Ward is related to the legendary ballad singer and jack-tale storyteller Lee Monroe Presnell.

Wayne Henderson also grew up around instru-ment makers. Since he began more than 30 years ago, Wayne Henderson has made more than 580 guitars, nearly 200 mando-

lins, several dulcimers and four fiddles.

“You get that good wood and that whittler’s knife, and you cut out everything that don’t look like a gui-tar,” Henderson told the audience.

Wayne Henderson taught his daughter Jane Henderson, a former law student, how to make gui-tars, which she now does full time. To combine her passion for woodworking with her love of the envi-ronment, Jane Henderson has turned her focus to making instruments out of locally procured woods. Most recently, she made a ukulele for a friend out of sassafras.

Review:

4 out of 4 starsRating:

by EMMA SPECKMANA&E Reporter

Editor’s Note: The following reflects the opinions of the au-thor.

Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience” is a nearly flawless album, from the first bars of “Pusher Lover Girl” to the end of the uncharac-teristically melancholy, but still wonderful, “Blue Ocean Floor.”

It is clear that Timberlake and his team took great care with each song on “20/20” – the shortest piece on the album lasts just under five minutes, and the longest is more than eight minutes.

Standouts on the album include dance hit “Suit and Tie,” which features Jay-Z, and the eight-minute-long pop/ballad/R&B/perfection song “Mirrors,” which will probably become this sum-mer’s can’t-get-it-out-of-my-head rekindling of the hit “Sexy Back.”

But it feels like many of the songs on the album run unnecessarily long.

“Pusher Lover Girl” has the making of a great three-minute pop hit, but it clocks in at around eight minutes, which seems excessive. Though it’s a fun song, the magic was lost around min-ute four.

The same thing happens with “Spaceship Couple” and “Don’t Hold the Wall,” though the latter still has staying power as a hit song.

The two songs on “20/20” that will definitely prove they have staying power are “Suit and Tie” and “Mirrors,” the golden song of “20/20.”

“Mirrors” is kind of a bal-lad, if ballads can be highly synthesized and make you want to dance.

“Blue Ocean Floor” is the most interesting song on the album. Whether or not it is the best one depends on your taste, but it certainly takes a different turn for the pop singer and shows real vocal talent.

Smooth R&B beats and crooning vocals show Tim-berlake’s audience a side of the pop idol they’ve never seen before – a side that maybe shouldn’t have taken the entire album to get to. But hey, it was still a great dance album to listen to while we waited.

As the Renaissance Man of 21st century pop music, Timberlake has done what very few former boy-banders have managed to do: evolve into an artist that isn’t em-barrassing to admit you like.

Yes, his music is silly and shallow, and lyrics like “Baby please don’t change nothing/ because your fla-vor’s so original” from the song “Strawberry Bubble-gum” kind of venture a little too far into the Ke$ha and Britney Spears realm of ter-rible grammar and candy love metaphors. But pop in “The 20/20 Experience,” and you’re guaranteed to get your groove on.

‘The 20/20 Experience’

deserves a 20/20

Boone area band Raimee will release their first album this spring.Amy Mesher | Courtesy Photo

Nicole Debartolo | The Appalachian

Hubby Jenkins of the Carolina Chocolate Drops performed Tuesday night at the Living Learning Center Great Hall. Jenkins played the banjo, guitar, sang and told stories about the music that inspired him to start playing.

4 | March 28, 2013 The Appalachian | TheAppalachianOnline.comAdvertisement

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The Appalachian welcomes Letters to the Editor. Letters should be 250 words or less and include the author’s name, ASU Box, phone number, classification and campus affiliation, if any. The Appalachian reserves the right to decline publication of any letter and to edit letters for the purpose of clarity and space. Although we are unable to acknowledge those letters we cannot publish, we appreciate the interest and value the views of those who take the time to send us their comments. Letters should be submitted electronically via our Web site or e-mail. Letters may also be mailed to “Letter to the Editor,” The Appalachian, ASU Box 9025, Boone, N.C. 28608. Letters may also be brought to the newsroom, located on the second floor of Plemmons Student Union.

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March 28, 2013 | 5The Appalachian | TheAppalachianOnline.comOPINION

EDITORIAL CARTOON

STAFF OPINION

THE APPALACHIAN

R. SCOTT MORRISA&E Editor

MICHAEL BRAGGEditor-in-Chief

CHELSEY FISHERManaging Editor

LIBBY DALLISVideo Editor

JOSHUA FARMERNews Editor

PAUL HECKERTPhoto Editor

MALIK RAHILIGraphics Editor

ABBI PITTMANCopy Editor

KEVIN GRIFFINOpinion Editor

Your student newspaper since 1934

ANDREW CLAUSENSports Editor

I’ve never taken out a loan in my life, but I’m already in $53,000 of debt.

Thanks to excess government spending, every man, woman and child in the United States currently has a share of $53,000 of our $16 trillion national debt, according to the U.S. Treasury.

If we wanted to pay off our national debt today, then you, me and every other legal citi-zen in this country would have to pay the government $53,000. But by tomorrow, our govern-ment would already have a new national debt of almost $3 bil-lion.

The United States has the world’s largest economy, larger than the second, China, and third, Japan, largest economies combined. Yet we spend $1 tril-lion more than we take in in tax revenue.

Our government had annual tax revenue of $2.5 trillion last year. That’s greater than or equal to the Gross Domestic Product of every other single nation in the world except China, Japan, Germany and France.

The reason that the U.S. can rack up so much debt is because the U.S. dollar is the reserve cur-rency of the world, basically the

Tipping the scale: Should the US balance the budget?

world’s most desirable currency. As long as we issue debt in

dollars, everything will be fine, because we’re the ones who print the dollars. This means that we always have the ability to pay off our debts, theoretically.

The problem is that the dollar is very close to losing its status as the world’s reserve currency, mainly because of our debt. If this happens, nations won’t want their debts to be paid in U.S. dollars and we’ll lose the theoretical ability to pay off our debts.

This will cause a flood of dol-lars held by foreign countries to pour back into the U.S., as these nations demand their debts to be paid in the world’s new re-serve currency.

The flow of so many dollars into the U.S. system will cause the value of one dollar to plum-met.

There is a way to remedy this problem, and it starts with bal-ancing the budget. Before we can begin to pay off our debts, we need to stop the flood of new debt coming in at about $1 tril-lion a year.

Balancing the budget within the next 10 years is a good place to start. This will require a com-bination of slashing foreign aid and pork barrel spending, re-forming Medicaid and Social Security, making small defense cuts and growing the economy through tax cuts.

Spaugh, a freshman accounting major from Winston-Salem, is an opinion writer.

Balanced budget is needed to put U.S. economy on right track

Not what our nation needs right now

TYLERSPAUGH The United States has a lot of

debt – this is indisputable. But, the apocalyptic tenor of

the conversation regarding debt is unwarranted fear mongering which could only have disastrous consequences if acted upon.

Our debt, at its current level, is sustainable for the near future. Alan Blinder, a professor of eco-nomics at Princeton University, said that despite our large debt, the U.S. has had absolutely no problems borrowing money in the short-term, and nations are actually willing to let the United States borrow money at “nega-tive real interest rates” – basically paying us to borrow money from them, according to an article in the Atlantic.

There is no evidence that in-vestors will cease lending us money.

Because of our solid his-tory of making debt payments, most countries aren’t too wor-ried about debts, which are put in terms of dollars, losing value. Given that trust in the dollar, it is unlikely that the U.S. will lose its status as the world’s reserve currency.

But, even if we did, it wouldn’t be doomsday.

Plenty of countries whose cur-rencies are not the reserve issue debt in their own euros, yuans, pesos and pounds. Furthermore, losing reserve status would not affect getting our debts paid

back in dollars, said economist Brad DeLong in his blog.

While it is helpful that the dollar is the world’s reserve cur-rency, losing that wouldn’t mean that other nations would sud-denly cease to find any confi-dence or value in the dollar, or that we wouldn’t be able to pay off current debts in dollars.

Right now, having a large debt is necessary for our nation. Be-cause we are still barely recover-ing from a recession, our nation cannot afford the economic pen-alty that comes with cutting the deficit. Government spending in the form of public-sector jobs stimulates the economy, and cut-ting it will only make a recession worse.

The business-news publisher Kiplinger reports that the only way to balance the budget com-pletely is with extreme cuts to defense spending, entitlements, jobless benefits and really ev-erything the federal government spends money on. The deficit cannot be cut without pain.

There is plenty of evidence that a balanced budget amend-ment would have negative effects on the economy by eliminating needed stimulus. A study con-ducted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that it would cause the economy to shrink by about 17 percent and double unemployment.

Attempting to cut the deficit down to nothing is misguided and dangerous. Since the debt poses no current problem, there is no reason for immediate aus-terity measures that would hurt both the economy and individu-als.

Vashaw, a sophomore math-ematics and creative writing major from Apex, is an opinion writer.

KENTVASHAW

Andrew Cox | The Appalachian

STAFF LIST

Senior ReportersStephanie Sansoucy

Lovey CooperKaitlyn Thruston

Senior PhotographersOlivia Wilkes

Courtney RoskosA&E Reporters

Colin MooreEmma Speckman

Sports ReportersJesse Ware

Jordan DavisJames Ashley

Matt SmithOpinion Writers

Austin MannKent VashawTyler Spaugh

Editorial CartoonistAndrew Cox

PhotographersJoey JohnsonAneisy CardoJustin Perry

Amy KwiatkowskiVideographerJackson Helms

Graphic DesignersAshley SpencerErin Gallahorn

Intern ReportersNina Mastandrea

Nolen NychayChella McLelland

Krista LoomerJessica LyonsHannah MagillJordan Miller

Michelle PierceJess Lyons

Natasha BostokMultimedia Interns

Matt AbeleAllison ClarkBowen JonesMark Kenna

Nicole DebartoloMaggy Boutwell

Andre Trowell

Last week, the N.C. Senate elected eight new members to the Board of Governors.

The board is in charge of “the general determina-tion, control, supervision, management and gover-nance of all affairs of the

constituent institutions,” according to the UNC website. It controls college campuses across the state, including our own.

The Board of Gover-nors is responsible for ap-pointing members to Ap-palachian State’s Board of Trustees, defining its pow-ers and duties, appoint-ing and compensating our chancellor, vice chancel-lors, administrative officers and more.

The Board of Governors is a very powerful force be-cause it has a large degree of control over not only Appalachian, but other

college campuses, too. It is very important who is on the board, and for the majority of its history both parties have had a say.

But with the recent elec-tion, the Republicans now have a majority on the board.

It bothers me that peo-ple in the state government who would rather privatize education than make it free. They would rather ac-cept $135 million budget cuts than fight back.

Democrats would prob-ably endorse cuts as well, although perhaps not as big. Does it matter that

we have Democrats on the board? Also, the Board of Governors has no real power to object to budget cuts. The problem with the Board of Governors is that it is not responsible to a constituency, but to the state administration.

“The Republicans won the election,” Rep. Edgar Starnes, a Hickory Repub-lican, said in the News & Observer. “We are in con-trol. We intend to elect Republicans and appoint Republicans, and we make no apology for it.”

Communities are sub-ject to the whims of poli-

ticians like Starnes whose only interest is in spread-ing a pro-market agenda.

The Board of Gover-nors is a tool of the state administration, not the people.

But I see a bright fu-ture ahead. Students across North Carolina are aware of the things that affect them, and tomorrow I hope to see communities running their own educa-tion systems.

Mann, a freshman com-puter science major from Raleigh, is an opinion writ-er.

Board of Governors must work with education, not against

AUSTINMANN

Saturday March 30

March 28, 2013 | 6The Appalachian | TheAppalachianOnline.comSPORTS

There’s strong. Then there’s Army Strong. Manyexecutives became leaders by enrolling in ArmyROTC. So can you. Join Army ROTC at AppalachianState to move ahead after college and beyond. ArmyROTC offers scholarships up to full-tuition and amonthly stipend to help pay for your education. Toget started visit us online today atwww.goarmy.com/rotc/ms15

ATTENTION SOPHOMORES!!!Gain the knowledge and leadership skills needed to enhance your career and professional development

by contacting your local school ROTC representative or visit www.goarym.com/rotc/ms15 

Live closer. Sleep Longer.

go to asurentals.com or call 828.262.1571

Find us on

Men’s Tennis (H)Opponent: UNCG Time: 2 p.m.Softball (H)Opponent: College of CharlestonTime: 4 p.m.

Men’s and Women’s Golf University Cupat Morganton, N.C.Time: All Day

Women’s and Men’s Track & Field (H)Beaches v. MountainsTime: All DayBaseball (H)Opponent: WoffordTime: 3 p.m.

Sunday March 31

Friday March 29

Thursday March 28

Baseball (H)Opponent: WoffordTime: 1 p.m.

Information compiled from goasu.com

UpcomingGames

by JESS LYONSIntern Sports Reporter

With the Southern Con-ference heating up, Appala-chian State’s softball team is ready to step up to the plate.

The team’s Southern Con-ference record is 6-3 while

App State softball improves to 12-11 over-all, looks to continue this weekend

Senior outfielder Allie Cashion stands ready to bat in a game against Samford ear-lier this season. The team’s next home game is Friday at 4 p.m. against College of Charleston.

their overall record is cur-rently 12-11.

After winning at Chat-tanooga this past weekend, the team is ready to face off against the College of Charleston Friday and Sat-urday.

App State is showing a

formidable conference record so far for in the current sea-son with a young roster.

“I don’t think having a young team hinders us at all,” said Meghan Smith, one of the team captains and second basemen. “Our pitchers are young, but they’re talented.”

Having that talent has benefited them on the field, but it also has helped them off the field. Their motivation is clear.

“We don’t pay attention to the team name on the front of the jersey,” said assistant coach Roman Foore. “We play the team at hand.”

Senior Allie Cashion, an-other captain of the team, expressed confidence in her team’s newcomers for this season as well as seasons to come.

“The girls on our team play hard no matter how long  they’ve  been here, so I don’t think it hinders us,” Cashion said. “We’re batting better, pitching faster and working well as a team.”

The team may be inconsis-tent at times during the sea-son, ranging all the way from a five-game winning streak to a four-game losing streak.

But Foore expressed his belief that as the team chem-istry grows, they will become more consistent.

“During the season the girls have really meshed to-gether well as a team,” Foore said. “I’m really proud to be coaching them.”

App State Athletics | Courtesy Photo