By Jimmy SealsStaff Writerjjs9v@uvawise.edu

Alumni donations to the college fell for the third consecutive fiscal year in 2009-2010, but college officials say the drop has more to do with the school’s ongoing capi-tal campaign than the economic recession.

“UVa-Wise has ex-perienced a decrease in the percentage of alumni giving in the past couple of years,” said Tami Ely, vice chancellor for de-velopment and college relations. “The same holds true for our peers and colleges and universities nationwide.”

The average annual giving total is about $3.5 million, said Valerie Lawson, director of development.

Fiscal year 2009-2010 saw about $5 million in gifts; 2008-2009, about $8.1 million; and in 2007-2008, donations to-taled about $10.3 million.

“While the recession definitely has an impact on the success of our fundrais-ing efforts, it is doubtful that it is entirely responsible for the fluctuations in giving over the past three years,” Lawson said.

Instead, one of the main causes for the drop is that the school received sev-eral large donations for buildings like the Gilliam Center for the Arts and the Smith Dining Commons a few years ago, but has not taken in similar donations recently,

Tonight is the last chance to catch the college’s spring mu-sical, “The Secret Garden.” Watch the performance in the Gilliam Center for the Arts at 8 p.m.

Cavalier Volume 62, Issue 19February 25, 2011

The Official Student Newspaper of UVa-Wise

The Highland

Inside

news

et cetera

opinion

sports

Index

Upcoming

page 2

page 4

page 6

page 8

WeatherFriday

53°F / 32°FSaturday

57°F / 39°F

Weather courtesy of www.weather.com

Sunday

61°F / 53°F

uvawise.edu/highlandcavalier

Have you ever been to Boston in the fall? This October might be your chance to visit either Beantown or the coun-try of Ireland. Check it out on page 2.

The softball team split their home opener Wednesday afternoon. Read the story on page 8.

Miss UVa-Wise Pageant

Last “Secret Garden” performance

Ely

And the Academy Award goes to ... Ex-pand your knowledge of the Oscars before Sunday’s ceremony on page 4.

The Miss UVa-Wise scholarship pageant will be held tomorrow at 6 p.m. in the Greear Gym.

see Assault, page 3

Applications to be an expedition leader will be available in Cant-rell Hall beginning March 1.

Expedition leader applications available

Reported beating ‘did notwarrant campus notification’By Jordan FiferNews Editorjtf3u@uvawise.edu

College officials didn’t notify students of a Feb. 3 re-ported assault via e-mail or text message because officers didn’t feel there was a threat to the campus community, officials say.

Five freshmen are accused of beating a junior at an off-

campus apartment in a failed late-night burglary attempt. The students alleged to have assaulted the junior were de-tained and interviewed on cam-pus minutes after the attack, and were arrested days later.

The five students are due in Wise County General District Court on Tuesday.

The campus community was not made aware of the re-ported attack until news outlets

found out about three days lat-er, on Feb. 7.

“I feel that as students we should have the right to know about such incidents,” said sophomore biology and pre-veterinary major Jonathan Brooks.

Federal legislation signed into law in 1990 mandates just that, though experts say it’s gen-erally limited to incidents on or directly near campus, and ones

that present an ongoing danger to students and employees.

The Clery Act requires colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs to give “timely reports to the campus commu-nity on crimes considered to be a threat to other students and employees.”

College officials said they did not feel the incident repre-

Campus officials:

Having a ball

Freshman Attila Aliriza catches a Nerf football Wednesday evening while playing with friends on the Lawn by the Lake. Students took advantage of sunny days and warm temperatures during the past few weeks, until rain fell Thursday.

Photo by Jordan Fifer

Alumni gifts dip, but still above normal

see Donations, page 3 see Ray, page 4

Photo by Clifton Diaz

Members of Miss Joshua Patricia Ray, (from left) Collin Skeen, Spencer Adams, Josh Fleenor and Joel Sprinkle, perform in a concert Friday night with Florida-based The Starlight Getaway.

Student band debuts EP at Friday concertBy Stas JonesStaff Writerwas9v@uvawise.edu

Miss Joshua Patricia Ray, a rock band made up of four UVa-Wise stu-dents, performed an on-campus concert Friday night.

The Starlight Getaway, an alterna-tive/pop band from Florida, also per-

formed alongside the local band for their first on-campus concert. About 60 people turned out for the show.

“We’ve been compared to Weird Al and Flight of the Concords,” said senior English major Collin Skeen, Miss Joshua Patricia Ray’s bass player. “We’re more of a rock or post punk performance art

news Page 2The Highland Cavalier February 25, 2011

Continued from page 1

News BriefsCollege to hire counselor

The college is looking to hire a third counselor to supplement the current staff in the Center for Student De-velopment.

Two licensed counselors — Lelia Bradshaw and Ra-chel Rose — currently work in the center, located in the lower level of Cantrell Hall.

Bradshaw, the director of the center, and Jewell Wor-ley, dean of students, were not immediately available

for comment. Bradshaw has previously said she and Rose saw an increase this year in the number of counseling sessions they’ve scheduled.

Administrators are look-ing for an “energetic, stu-dent-centered, motivated and dedicated professional,” ac-cording to an online job post-ing.

The hire would make be-tween $28,882 and $50,554 a year, depending on experi-ence and education, the post-ing says.

By Allie RobinsonEditor-in-Chiefagr2q@uvawise.edu

If all goes as planned, the college will soon replace its antiquated voice mail sys-tem, and the rest of the nearly 40-year-old telephone system with a Voice over Internet Protocol system, college of-ficials say.

“The existing phone sys-tem is fairly old,” said Keith Fowlkes, vice chancellor for information technology. “Our voice mail was literally run-ning on a machine that’s run-ning DOS. It’s about to die.”

The current phone sys-tem was installed in the mid-1970s, according to the spring 2011 InfoLink Newsletter, a

publication of the Office of Information Technology.

Fowlkes said the current phone system’s underground copper wire is old and water is leaking into the wire “caus-ing lots of problems.”

The new VoIP phone sys-tems transmit voice data over the Web, rather than tradi-tional phone lines.

A federal grant will help replace office phones on campus, but Fowlkes said the phones in residence halls will remain on the old system until funds can be acquired to change those as well.

Though the upgrade has been in the works for more than a year, Fowlkes said he hopes to start installing the VoIP system in late May.

Phone system to be replaced

By Jordan FiferNews Editorjtf3u@uvawise.edu

A bill on its way to the governor’s desk would ensure that Virginia’s public col-leges and universities count American Sign Language as a foreign language for entrance requirements.

The measure, sponsored by Del. Dickie Bell, R-Staun-ton, would also require local school boards to grant for-eign language credit for ASL courses if they’re offered as electives in high school.

Bell, whose district in-cludes the state-funded Vir-ginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, said the legislation would help increase educa-tional opportunities, regard-less of whether a student is hearing-impaired or not.

“There have always been discussions about how to open up the deaf community to the hearing community,” Bell said. “I think that this just opens up a whole new field of opportunities.”

The bill passed 95-3 in the House and 32-6 in the Senate.

Sen. George Barker, D-Alexandria, was one of the six senators to vote against the bill.

His office did not return a request for comment, but the senator was quoted in The (Staunton) News Leader.

“I think the basic objec-tion is that colleges and uni-versities should be able to set their own provisions rather than us dictating from the state level,” he told the news-paper.

UVa-Wise does not use entrance requirements, said Narda Porter, the college’s

registrar. The school has in the

past accepted students with no foreign language credits at all, though admissions coun-selors typically recommend two years of foreign language study before applying, she said.

Currently, students here can take classes in Spanish, French and German.

The college has seen an anecdotal uptick in students requesting credit for ASL courses, said Rusty Neces-sary, vice chancellor for en-rollment management.

“Each year, we see more and more students who have taken ASL either in high school or at the community college,” Necessary said. “From time to time we also get calls asking if we accept credit, count ASL as fulfilling our language requirement, or offer any ASL courses on campus.”

The bill does not require schools to give credit for ASL courses as a foreign language requirement during college, though; the legislation only applies to requirements for being admitted to a school in the first place.

If passed, Bell said he hopes the legislation would encourage more colleges to accept ASL courses for their foreign language require-ments and even begin offer-ing ASL courses on campus.

Gov. Bob McDonnell has not yet reviewed the bill and has not taken a position on it, said Jeff Caldwell, the gover-nor’s press secretary, but Bell said he anticipates the gover-nor will approve.

If McDonnell signs the legislation, it will become law July 1.

Law would require credit for ASL Raising the roof

Contractors from Robbins Construction in Duffield install sheet metal roofing on the Townhouses Feb. 18. The steel, coated with aluminum and zinc, should provide better insulation for the building, said Joe Kiser, director of college services. “The roof was at the end of its life cycle,” he said. The project, which cost $32,180, also involved removing the building’s old gutters and replacing them with new ones.

Photo by Jordan Fifer

By Allie RobinsonEditor-in-Chiefagr2q@uvawise.edu

Island trips aren’t just for spring break. Students looking to dance with the lo-

cals, kiss a sacred stone and grab a pint of Guinness at a local pub will be able to in the fall, if they sign up this semester for Octo-ber’s trip to Ireland.

Students will earn general education credits on the trip, which is being planned by Cyndi Newlon, instructor in English, and Jes-sica Williams, instructor in Spanish.

“I have an affinity for Irish literature and its people,” said Newlon, who organized a trip to Ireland in 2009. “This time, we’re go-ing to be looking at musical connections, like ballads and their connection to history as a form of literature.”

Newlon said the group, which she hopes will include about 10 students, will seek out live musical performances as much as pos-sible while in Ireland.

“[The Irish] express almost everything through music,” she said.

The trip will count as credit for two class-es, English 3140 and Spanish 3950, which will be held completely online.

The Spanish credit comes because part of Ireland’s history includes its association with Celtic-Iberian connections, and Spain’s involvement in Ireland’s Nine Years’ War with England.

Newlon said the Celt-ic-Iberian link has pro-duced music with a “Celt-ic-Spanish flair.”

“It is an experience,” she said. “Immersion into another culture — even though they seemingly speak English their back-ground is so Irish. It seems like another place and even

another time, depending on where you go.”Although politics is an important part of

Irish culture, the trip will mostly focus on mu-sic and the country’s history, Newlon said.

“If you’re really into history and music, if you’re one of those people that really wants to see how people lived, you can really see that in Ireland,” Newlon said.

An interest meeting for the trip will be held March 2 at 1 p.m. in Zehmer 210, which is the foreign language lab. The total trip cost is $2,995 and must be paid in full by Aug. 24.

Although the trip isn’t until October, Newlon said she needs people to commit by April. Scholarships for the trip will not be available until July 1, since the online classes are offered next year.

For more information, contact Newlon or Williams. To sign up, see Witold Wolny, field director of international programs, in the International Programs office in Darden 105.

Fall trips planned

Newlon

By Allie MullinsStaff Writerakm8p@uvawise.edu

Students will have the opportunity to “appreciate history” on a trip to Boston this fall.

Cindy Wilkey, associate professor of his-tory, is planning a trip to the Massachusetts capital for the 2011 fall break.

“It’s great to travel overseas,” Wilkey said. “But a lot of people haven’t seen our own country.”

The trip, sponsored by the Department of History and Philosophy, is scheduled for Oct. 8 - 12 and is open to anyone interested. Participants will experience the historic city over the course of five days.

“I wanted to provide students with the op-portunity to appreciate history,” Wilkey said. “You get to learn about the Boston Massacre

[and] see things like the Freedom Trail.”“And, anyway, Boston is just a cool

city,” she said.Activities on the itinerary include walk-

ing tours of Boston, Lexington, and Concord, a visit to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, the New England Aquarium, the House of Seven Gables and the possibility of a ghost tour of the city.

The total fee for the trip, which is yet undecided, includes everything except lunch and shopping expenses.

The history department hopes to obtain funding through foundation money to help those students who need financial assistance, Wilkey said. Those who register by the end of March will get a $75 discount for early enrollment.

For more information, contact Wilkey at cw7f@uvawise.edu or visit her in Zehmer 221.

Fall break trip to Boston will showcase history

Culture, literature focus of October trip to Ireland

news Page 3The Highland Cavalier February 25, 2011

Continued from page 1

AssaultFive things you didn't know:

The Oscars

5.

1.

2.

3.

4.

The first Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929, when guest tickets cost $5. Today, you can only get in by invite or as a seat-filler, but you can pay thousands to sit outside on bleachers by the red carpet.

That first year, the winners had been announced three months before the ceremony. From 1930-1940, though, winners were sent to newspapers ahead of time but kept secret from the public. In 1940, the Los Angeles Times printed the winners on Oscar night — which prompted the Academy to use the sealed-enve-lope system familiar to us today. Way to go, L.A.

The awards weren’t broadcast on television until the 25th show in 1952. Depending on what side of the country you lived on, you could watch Bob Hope or Conrad Nagel host. This year, we all get to see the gorgeous James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

It wasn’t until 2001 that the Animated Feature Film category was added, and “Shrek” won. Disney’s work for all those years … unrecognized.

The Oscar dude is actually supposed to be a knight standing on a reel of film gripping a sword. He’s 13.5 inches tall and weighs 8.5 pounds. The story is that Oscar got his name because upon seeing the statuette for the first time, the Academy librarian (later, execu-tive director) said it reminded her of her Uncle Oscar. Now he’s the most reproduced uncle in the world.

Compiled by Allie Robinson, Editor-in-Chief

sented a danger to the cam-pus community.

“Campus police, in their professional opinion, did not feel that the young men posed a threat to those on campus, so the situation did not warrant a campus notification,” said Kathy Still, the college’s director of news and media rela-tions.

The five men were banned from campus hours after the alleged attack, not because they posed a dan-ger, but because they were being charged with serious crimes, she said.

The issue of whether or not to notify students and employees of a poten-tially dangerous situation was the focus of several investigations following the April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.

Tech officials did not notify students and em-ployees for nearly two hours after the first shoot-ings were reported in an on-campus residence hall. Campus police officials there said they originally thought the incident was a “domestic dispute” isolat-ed in one dormitory.

But they were wrong. Thirty-two people were killed and 25 were injured before the gunman shot and killed himself.

The Feb. 3 incident near UVa-Wise did not hap-pen on campus, though, and the suspects were stopped, questioned and barred from campus shortly after the re-ported crime.

“Legally, the Clery Act doesn’t require institu-tions to issue warnings for crimes that happen wholly off-campus, as opposed to, say, on the sidewalk across the street from campus ... or a Greek house, which is considered ‘non-campus’ property,” said Daniel Carter, director of pub-lic policy for Security On Campus, Inc., a nonprofit organization that advocates for campus safety.

Still said police were confident the men posed no danger to the campus com-munity.

“Since the young men were detained immediately when they arrived on cam-

pus, there was simply no ongoing threat,” Still said.

Campus police knew where the suspects were after speaking with them, she said.

That means the situa-tion was likely handled ap-propriately, Carter said.

“If an institution actu-ally makes a determination that there isn’t an ongo-ing threat — as opposed to failing to fully assess this — then there is no re-quirement that they issue a warning,” Carter said.

College officials at UVa’s main campus in Charlottesville often send out e-mail notifications about crimes on or near campus, but they tend to be for more serious offens-es, said Michael Gibson, UVa’s chief of police.

“The purpose is to make people aware of a crime that has occurred and give people tips to prevent themselves from falling victim to a similar fate,” he said.

The n o t i f i -cations o f t e n include prac t i -cal ad-vice on how to prevent f u t u r e

crime.UVa’s campus, though,

doesn’t always have a clear boundary. Crimes that hap-pen near campus, even when they don’t involve students, may trigger an alert.

Gibson said he con-siders three criteria before sending out a campus noti-fication: the type and sever-ity of the crime, how close it was to campus, and if it’s likely to happen again.

“If we have an inci-dent occur and the assail-ant is unknown to us and is at large, we would put out a notice, because it is possible that it could occur again,” he said. “If some-one is in custody, it makes no sense to send out that e-mail.”

UVa officials also consider alternate ways to share information — like

news releases or blog posts — when they feel a re-ported crime is worth not-ing, but is not considered a threat to the campus, Gib-son said.

UVa-Wise officials re-cently tested the college’s emergency communication systems, which range from relatively minor alerts like text messages and e-mails to more noticeable warn-ings like outdoor sirens and alarms.

Still said the college has sent e-mail alerts out in the past, like when gas shortages and price goug-ing threatened students’ travel plans one weekend last year.

But sending out too many messages can water down the system and do a disservice, Still said.

Brooks, the UVa-Wise sophomore, said he would have wanted to know any-way.

“It’s important to know these types of things, because it gives students a warning that things like this can happen to anyone,” he said. “Just because our campus is small, doesn’t mean these types of things won’t or can’t happen.”

UVa-Wise senior government major Brad Graboyes agreed, saying it was a “safety issue.”

“I would have wanted to be informed that there was an alleged assault by campus students or on the campus in general,” Graboyes said.

Those feelings are shared by many students in Charlottesville, something Gibson said is a product of today’s Web 2.0 culture.

“We live in a society where people expect to know things instantly,” he said. “I want folks to have that information too ... but you don’t want to send too many e-mails too often.”

Still said UVa-Wise officials take each incident on a case-by-case basis.

“Each situation is unique,” she said. “If a situation arises that would threaten the safety of our students, faculty and staff, we would not hesitate to send a campus notifica-tion.”

Lawson said.From July 1, 2010 to Jan. 31,

2011, gifts to the college have actually increased by 21 percent, she said.

“We are seeing larger gifts from fewer people,” Ely said. “There has been a slight decrease over the past three years; how-ever, what is interesting is that [the] average gift given has in-creased.”

The college is looking to at-tract gifts by providing alumni

with the ability to donate to a specific area they are passionate about, such as the arts or athletic departments.

One of the obstacles of solic-iting funds from alumni is keep-ing up with phone numbers, as many people ditch land line num-bers for cell phones, Ely said.

Instead, alumni officials are exploring social networking op-portunities in an effort to better reach recent graduates, she said.

Continued from page 1

Donations

Study finds fewer alcohol-related student traffic deaths

Gibson

UVa-Wise maintenance workers install one of the two new flashing beacon posts Feb. 18 at the Darden Drive crosswalk just off campus near Alumni Hall.

Photo by Jordan Fifer

Safety on the rise By Allie Robinson

Editor-in-Chiefagr2q@uvawise.edu

Fewer college students drink and drive to their deaths than previously thought, according to a new study con-ducted by faculty and staff at the Uni-versity of Virginia.

James Turner, the executive direc-tor of the UVa Elson Student Health Center and the study’s lead author, surveyed students from 16 Virginia colleges.

According to Turner, the previ-ous statistics available were based on faulty assumptions.

“Previous estimates merely in-volved the comparison of national traffic accident reports and college enrollment as a proportion of census data,” he said in a UVa news release. “It’s quite a leap to assume that college student health and behavior is the same as the general public.”

The study, published in this quar-

ter’s issue of the Journal of American College Health, found between 1.7 and 4.3 deaths per 100,000 students, while other estimates ranged from 14.1 to 15.2 deaths per 100,000 students.

Turner said the results of his study suggest that “college students in Vir-ginia suffer far fewer alcohol-related traffic deaths than the general popula-tion.”

He said a number of factors likely contribute to the study’s findings, and he hopes to explore these issues further in a nationwide study to build on his Virginia results.

“It’s important to better under-stand what factors contribute to the benefit and protection afforded by al-cohol education and/or the campus en-vironment,” he said.

UVa-Wise Campus Police Sgt. Ronnie Shortt said he thinks the results of the study are accurate.

“I think college students use des-ignated drivers more than the general public does,” he said.

Source: oscar.go.com

CavalierThe Highland

ClarificationCollege officials have been working on a textbook rental program since June 2010. The Feb. 18 article "Former Hibbett manager takes over bookstore" implied otherwise. We regret the error.

et cetera Page 4The Highland Cavalier February 25, 2011

Continued from page 1

Ray

Payless Shopping Center301 Church St.

M-F: 9 - 6Sat: 9 - 2

Cavalier Pharmacy

328-9141

So much snow

Average

4’ 3”(51 in.)

‘10-‘11winterso far

5’ 10.4”(70.4 in.)

‘09-‘10winter

6’ 7.8”(79.8 in.)

Josh Jordan6’ 7”

(79 in.)

Note: This season’s winter data (2010-2011) includes totals for Wise from November 2010 through January 2011. Last year’s data (2009-2010) includes totals from November 2009 through March 2010.

Photo and graphic by Jordan Fifer

How does this season’s snowfall measure up to Josh Jordan, UVa-Wise’s tallest basketball player? The Highland Cavalier crunched the numbers.

Sources: National Weather Service, uvawisecavs.com

Campus BulletinUpcoming:

Open Mic Night: Do you sing? Dance? Have a great stand-up routine? Come show off your talent at Open Mic Night — Feb. 28 in Papa Joe’s at 8 p.m.

Study Abroad: It’s time to sign up for fall study abroad trips. Stop by the International Programs office in Darden 105 for more in-formation.

Weekly:

The Wise Environmental Club: The environ-mental club meets on Mondays at 6 p.m. in the Henson classroom. Contact Jennifer Fulton at jnf7a@uvawise.edu or Spencer Adams at sta9a@uvawise.edu for more information.

Wesley Fellowship: Wesley Fellowship serves free homestyle dinners on Tuesday nights at 6 p.m. at the Wesley Foundation by Alumni Hall.

SAB: Student Activities Board meetings are held Wednesdays at 5 p.m. in the Honor Court room on the third floor of the Slemp Student Center. Contact Josh Justice for more informa-tion.

BCM: Baptist Collegiate Ministries serves free meals on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. at the BCM.

Tupos: Tupos services are held Wednesdays at 9 p.m. in the Chapel of All Faiths.

The Highland Cavalier: The student news-paper holds weekly meetings on Fridays at 1 p.m. in the third floor Honor Court Room in the Slemp Student Center.

SGA: The Student Government Association meets weekly on Fridays at 1 p.m. in the fifth floor Rhododendron Room in the Slemp Stu-dent Center.

Poodlz in college

Em & Kay

Dear Em & Kay,I’m starting to stress re-

ally bad about an upcoming midterm. I tried to talk to my professor about it during and after class but he doesn’t ever stop to help. I’m start-ing to get a little lost with the class and notes but I don’t know what to do and how to study for it.

- Stressed Freshman

Stressed Freshman,

We recommend making an appointment with your pro-fessor. Each faculty member has office hours where they make themselves available to students. It might help to shoot him an e-mail to make sure he’ll be there when you stop by. He’ll be able to give you the one-on-one attention you want and will be able to answer any questions you have about the midterm and the class. You could also ask him for a study guide for the exam.

Also, talk to your class-mates. They might be feel-ing lost as well. Get together with them and study for the midterm. The important thing is not to stress. Good luck!

Love,

Em & Kay

Emily and Karrye — that’s us at the top of the page — are here to answer your questions. Nothing is off limits. Send any question or problem, big or small, to the e-mail

addresses below.If your question isn’t answered the week you send it, we might

be saving it for an upcoming week, so don’t get discouraged. We’ll be here for you no matter what! If you don’t want your name printed in the newspaper, sign it

with an anonymous name like the ones below. Good luck!

Love,

Em & Kay

Dear Em & Kay,I have a HUGE problem!

My girlfriend wants my password for my e-mail, Fa-cebook, Twitter, etc. I kinda feel like she doesn’t trust me. I’ve never cheated on her and don’t hide anything but she won’t let up. Are all girls like this or did I just pick a crazy?

- On Lockdown

On Lockdown,

Sit and talk to her about why she wants your pass-words. Maybe she’s hearing gossip about you. Maybe she just thinks you two aren’t spending enough time together. We don’t recom-mend giving her your pass-words. At all. There’s a dif-ference between being open and being monitored.

If she keeps insisting, maybe you should try to sit with her and show her you aren’t hiding anything.

To fix this, it might be as simple as just telling her that you aren’t hiding things and she should trust you. If she doesn’t, you might reevalu-ate the relationship. Good luck!

Love,

Em & KayE-mail Emily Baxter or Karrye Ormaner at

enb5u@uvawise.edu or kso9c@uvawise.edu.

Cartoonist Joanna Lewis is a senior computer science major.

The Highland Cavalier.

Free. Every Friday.

www.uvawise.edu/highlandcavalierhighlandcavalier@uvawise.edu

The editorial staff of The Highland Cavalier decided to republish this graphic because the numerical values were unclear last week.

band.”Senior biochemistry major

Spencer Adams said it wasn’t the first time the two groups played a concert together.

“No one left without receiv-ing the full Miss Joshua Patricia Ray experience,” he said. “The Starlight Getaway was awe-some, as well.”

Joining Skeen and Adams in the band are fellow students senior English Joel Sprinkle and senior psychology major Josh Fleenor.

“We’re all theater people, so we play characters whenever we put on a performance,” said Skeen, who began playing bass guitar just five months ago.

Friday night was the release of the band’s first EP, “French Toast Sticks,” which was sold at the concert.

The band recorded the EP in the college’s art center using GarageBand software, a Rock Band video game microphone and an improvised drum set.

“‘Unique’ would probably be the best way to describe it,” Skeen said.

The show’s $2 cover charge will help the band pay for drums, band members say.

As for the band’s name, it, too, has unique origins, band members said, having been in-spired by a Family Guy refer-ence to “Mr. Conway Twitty.”

The band’s first full album is set to be released in April.

Miss Joshua Patricia Ray will also perform at Open Mic Night, which will be held at in Papa Joe’s on Monday at 8 p.m.

Online editor Clifton Diaz contributed to this report.

opinion Page 6The Highland Cavalier February 25, 2011

The Highland Cavalier is the official student newspaper of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise. The newspaper is published weekly on Fridays. It func-tions to inform, educate and entertain readers accurately and responsibly. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the college’s administration, faculty or staff. Also, the opinions expressed on the Opinion Page are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of newspaper editors and staff members. The Highland Cavalier welcomes all contributions, which can be delivered to the Editor-in-Chief Allie Robinson in person (317 Slemp Student Center); by standard mail (Campus Box 4682, The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, 1 College Avenue, Wise, VA 24293); by phone (328-0170); or via e-mail (highlandcavalier@uvawise.edu). Letters to the editor can also be e-mailed to Opinion Editor Matthew Barnette (highlandcavalier@uvawise.edu). All letters to the editor must be signed—including the writer’s department or major, address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for length, grammar, clarity and libel.

Staff Writers

Matthew BarbourMarcus BrattonDavid CartyRobert DavisRichard Dicks, Jr.Sydney GilbertThomas GrantJames Haley

editorial Board

allie robinsonCameron ParsonsJordan Fiferlauren MillerMatthew BarnetteClifton Diaz, Jr.

Michael McGill

Editor-in-ChiefSports EditorNews EditorCopy Editor

Opinion EditorOnline Editor

Faculty Adviser

Robert HatchHenry HolmesAdam HoodJessica HughesJosh JordanJohn MathisAllie MullinsJimmy Seals

By Robert M. DavisGuest Writerrmd5q@uvawise.edu

“Donation for a carnation! Make a donation and get a pretty flower for a pretty lady on a pretty day!”

You may have heard this phrase uttered a few times on Valentine’s Day on the first floor of the stu-dent center as you passed through on your way to and from class.

The brothers of Pi Kappa Phi Epsilon Epsilon chapter gathered in unison to promote a special cause on the most “love-filled” holiday of the year.

Carnations of all colors were sold during the day with all of the proceeds going to Push America, the national philanthropy of Pi Kappa Phi.

Once a year, the brothers of Pi Kappa Phi come together to host the annual event, “Donations for Car-nations,” where hundreds of carnations are ordered, prepared and handed out. (Full disclosure: I’m a Pi Kappa Phi brother.)

This year we also set up shop at the Walmart in Norton, braving the cold weather and making many

women smile with glee.The donations for the flowers raised more than

$500 over the two days of the fundraiser. Valentine’s Day alone accounted for well over $200 of that total. In addition, many individuals simply gave a dona-tion and did not take a flower.

The great part is that all of the money raised goes to Push America, which works to improve quality of life for people with disabilities. The money raised by Pi Kappa Phi through Push comes back to benefit our local organizations.

This past fall semester we were able to cut a check for $500 to the special education department of Wise County Public Schools.

This drive represents the efforts of not only the brothers of Pi Kappa Phi, but the efforts of all who donated.

Your donations are what make the difference.As a representative for Pi Kappa Phi Epsilon

Epsilon, I want to thank all those who came by and donated.

You have made “Donations for Carnations” an-other success.

The future value of your degree from this public institution and from any other such in-stitutions in this state is in the process of being assassinated. The state legislature has taken up several bills that were “recommended by the Governor’s Commission on Higher Edu-cation Reform, Innovation and Investment.” The House bill is HB2510 and the senate’s is SB1459. These bills focus on investing in a reformed higher education system through the innovation of set graduation rates, retention rates and number of degrees bestowed by each institution. In short, only schools that bestow enough degrees to satisfy political needs will be rewarded with funding by the state.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia already uses the faulty measurement of graduation and retention rates to assess state institutions, and such requirements have been levied at the secondary level for years, under the guise of the No Child Left Behind Act. The only kind of reform this will yield, or has ever yielded, is a negative one.

The upper and lower houses, spurred on by a newly elected governor, have taken a look at some compelling numbers. Research shows that every dollar invested in a degree earns the economy about thirteen more. Obviously we need more degree holders.

The problem is the machinery that gener-ates the value added to the economy doesn’t always do so efficiently. The academic ma-chine takes in willing participants, gives them the opportunity to advance in their studies, and awards successful effort and proven intellect with a degree. This degree means you have earned and proven your knowledge — giving you a positive distinction over those who fail to graduate or even attend. If, as is now planned, we force higher inputs into the system and de-mand greater yields from degree holders, the only way to afford it would be to bypass the current academic system and lower our stan-dards such that the natural distinction between graduate and non-graduate will diminish or even disappear entirely.

It is already in a college or university’s best interest to bestow earned degrees at as high a rate as possible. Nevertheless, gaining expertise is not a spectator sport. It is the obli-gation of the student to earn a degree. The only mandates or incentives that might be helpful in furthering higher education are those aimed at students, not the institutions that serve them.

A degree is not what increases your salary. The assumed expertise associated with it gets you more money and can only be earned, never given. Benjamin Franklin is credited as saying, “When the people find they can vote them-selves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” When the people discover they can vote themselves degrees, that will herald the end of publicly funded education, with which goes the republic.

The scarcity of degrees is not the issue. There is no set rate at which our institution would be able to confer them. The only pos-sible issue is a lack of persons willing to earn them. If that number is too low to suit politi-cians, then artificially forcing institutions to produce more degree-holding individuals, re-gardless of whether they are actually earning them, doesn’t solve the problem.

Instead, it dilutes the meaning of a degree and potentially creates two different degree systems — the publicly funded degrees, which are awarded at an unnaturally high, artificially set rate, and the much more expensive privately funded degree that is given only to those who earn it.

So, if you have a degree from a public institution hanging on your wall (as I do), or if you become part of publicly funded higher education (as I am), these and any other politi-cally driven mandates concern you greatly.

I urge you to get informed. Read the bills online. Contact your representatives to tell them not to assassinate your degree and render meaningless all the hard work you’ve done to earn your education.

Daniel Ray is an assistant professor of computer science.

By Matthew BarnetteOpinion Editormwb8q@uvawise.edu

Sometimes it only takes one person to cause worldwide scru-tiny to center on a country and its people.

Recently, the world has been focused on Libya and the uprising happening there.

The nation’s current leader, Moammar Gadhafi, has been at-tempting to quell the unrest by having his supporters and remain-ing loyal military attack protest-ers, often leading to further vio-lence as the protesters retaliate.

As this happens, more and more world leaders have heard of these acts and support inter-national action to help settle the conflict.

Proposals include the Euro-pean Union cutting economic ties with Libya and declaring Libyan air space a no-fly zone.

Yet none of this would be necessary if not for Gadhafi and his recent declaration that he will fight to the death and die a martyr, bringing cheers of “long live Gad-hafi” from the gathered.

The obvious problem with Gadhafi’s statement is that he’s not doing any of the fighting; he’s using his supporters as soldiers and hiding in his fortified resi-

dence in Tripoli, Libya’s capital. I have not heard of Gadhafi leaving that residence for anything but a speech.

The other obvious mistake is that he could not be considered a martyr. He wouldn’t be dying for his religious views; he would be dying for being an oppressive leader. His religion has nothing to do with the uprising. Martyrs do not often declare themselves as such; they are given that distinc-tion post-mortem. I doubt many Libyans would believe that Gad-hafi deserves such a title.

Gadhafi is just the latest in a growing line of corrupt rulers to be on the receiving end of civil unrest.

Just a short time ago, Egypt had a similar uprising with the ul-timate result being Hosni Muba-rak resigning as president.

Other countries in the Middle East and North Africa are show-ing signs of similar uprisings, most notably Yemen, Tunisia and Bahrain. Each seems to be wait-ing to see how the Libyan upris-ing ends and before throwing their own into full swing.

Protesters in these countries are still holding smaller rallies, but they are not making any major gains.

However, these groups are unorganized and have yet to gain

a solid singular voice on major is-sues.

I would hope these rulers could learn that oppression and corruption are causing the people of their respective countries to de-velop a unity of purpose.

Were they to take steps to bring about reforms in their countries to make them more democratic, the people would have a reason to see what the reforms do before they continue their protests

Instead these rulers appear content with absolute and corrupt power in place of a populace that would praise them even after they were gone.

Even if they didn’t care for their own country’s people, they should fear the influence other na-tions have as a collective. Trade could be halted and United Nation forces could enter the country and support protesters, making it im-possible for the country to func-tion for very long without the con-sent of its people.

No matter the reason the people are protesting, they have a common goal: getting rid of the corruption in their government.

I would like to see the protests succeed and some order return to the regions.

With the history these coun-tries have, though, I doubt that or-der will last.

Photo obtained from kansascity.com

Corrupt rulers, government to blame for civil unrest in Libya

Pi Kapp fundraiser a success thanks to college supportBills would

make degrees worthless

Letter to the Editor

sports Page 7The Highland Cavalier February 25, 2011

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Sports Scoreboard MEN’S

BASKETBALL

WoMEN’SBASKETBALL

Game of the WeekBy Cameron Parsons, Sports Editor

When Kentucky and Florida meet tomorrow night, prepare to witness a battle of the conference’s best teams.

Florida is the best team in the Southeastern Con-ference this season, and if they win out, they will win the conference.

The key to the Gators’ success this season is their balance. The Gators average 71 points per game on of-fense and allow 62 points per game on defense.

The Gators defeated the Wildcats 70-68 earlier in the season on Feb. 5.

Head coach Billy Donovan only lost two players from last year’s 21-13 team, and this year’s Gators team might be the best one since Florida won the national championship in 2007.

This year’s team is led by senior forward Chandler Parsons, who averages 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists per game and junior guard Erving Walker, who averages 15 points and three assists per game.

Donovan, Walker and Parsons will face one of their toughest tests of the season when they travel to Ken-tucky tomorrow.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari lost five play-

ers — John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton — to the NBA draft last season. Led by that talented group, the Wildcats made it to the Elite Eight.

After last season’s 35-3 campaign, the Wildcats have spent the year in rebuilding mode.

Although the offense hasn’t missed much, they average 78 points per game, but the wins have slowly slipped away. The big difference between last year’s team and this year’s team is that these Wildcats have been unable to win games on the road.

Kentucky has fallen to Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida, Vanderbilt, North Carolina and UConn this sea-son. In fact, all of Kentucky’s losses have come on the road.

The team is led by the nation’s most talented fresh-man, forward Terrence Jones. Jones nearly averages a double-double per game, with 18 points and nine re-bounds.

If the Wildcats want any chance of winning a regu-lar season SEC championship, they will have to beat Florida. Luckily for Kentucky, this game is in Lexington.

The game will air tomorrow at 4 p.m. on ESPN2.

#13 Florida @ #22 Kentucky

By Adam HoodStaff Writerarh4d@uvawise.edu

The baseball team was able to win one game against Berry Col-lege on Feb. 18 before losing a doubleheader on Feb. 19 that saw the Cavs commit 11 errors.

The team committed 18 total errors and left many runners on base in the three games.

Pitching seemed to be the team’s only strong point as the veteran staff gave up just seven earned runs through 23 innings.

Assistant coach Eric Lemley said the team’s youth and inex-perience is showing early in the 2011 season.

“We are playing a lot of fresh-men and sophomores this season,” Lemley said. “The players we have brought in are exceptional players. They just lack the experi-ence needed right now.”

In the team’s first game, se-nior shortstop Louis Roa hit a homerun in the first inning to give the Cavs an early 2-0 lead.

Junior pitcher Cody Bentley was haunted, though, by defen-sive struggles in his outing.

Bentley gave up four runs in the first inning; none of the runs

were earned. Berry scored another run in the second to increase the lead to 5-2.

The Cavs rallied and scored eight runs in the next five innings, taking the lead 10-6.

The team scored one more run and wrapped up the win with an 11-6 score.

L e m l e y said the team played a good

game other than defensive mis-cues.

“We pitched well and we had some timely hits as well,” Lemley said. “Other than the early defen-sive errors, I thought we played a well-rounded game.”

In the team’s first game of the doubleheader on Saturday, they fell victim to defensive miscues and quiet bats.

Berry got off to a quick start scoring four runs in the bottom of the fifth, as the team committed three errors.

The Cavs tried to mount a comeback in the sixth inning as sophomore catcher Kirby Bush doubled and later scored on a sac-rifice fly by sophomore first base-man Kirk Jennings.

Berry answered back by scor-ing a run of their own in the bot-tom of the sixth inning. The Vi-kings were able to shut the Cavs out in the seventh inning by secur-ing the final three outs of the game and tying the series at one game apiece.

Senior pitcher Josh Joseph said timely errors were the main cause of the team’s loss.

“I thought we played well at times in the game,” Joseph said. “The errors and not being able to get hits seemed to hit us at the worst time possible.”

In the second game, the defen-sive miscues once again proved to be the difference.

The team committed eight er-rors in the team’s 5-1 loss.

After two scoreless innings, sophomore infielder Chaz Hall scored on a RBI double by sopho-more catcher Tommy Meir.

Berry went on to score five unanswered runs.

Lemley said the team is just going to keep practicing and con-tinue to get better.

“We are going to keep hitting ground balls and continue getting outside and practicing,” Lemley said. “We have to get our young guys as much experience as pos-sible.”

Mid-South Conference Standings (as of Feb. 24)

1.) Georgetown (24-4, 13-3)2.) St. Catharine (18-7, 12-4)3.) Cumberlands (16-9, 12-4)4.) Pikeville (23-6, 12-5)5.)Lindsey Wilson (19-8,10-6)6.) Campbell (15-13, 8-8)7.) WVa Tech (12-14, 7-9)8.) UVa-Wise (10-16, 4-13)9.) Shawnee State (8-19,3-13)10.) Rio Grande (5-23, 0-16)

Feb. 12Campbellsville def. UVa-Wise

70-58

UVa-Wise (9-15, 3-12) — Darius Smith 12 points, 8 assists; Travis Berry 27 points, 8 rebounds; Nor-ris Gaskins 11 points; Josh Jordan 16 points, 8 rebounds.

Feb. 17W.Va. Tech def. UVa-Wise

97-88 OT

UVa-Wise (9-16, 3-13) — Josh Jordan 15 points, 5 rebounds; Norris Gaskins 11 points, 4 re-bounds; Sam Eligwe 11 points.

Feb. 19UVa-Wise def. Rio Grande

82-74

UVa-Wise (10-16, -13) — Travis Berry 22 points, 6 assists; Kevin Perry 10 points, 6 rebounds; Mark Phillips 12 points; Josh Jor-dan 17 points.

Mid-South Conference Standings (as of Feb. 24)

1.) Campbell (21-3, 14-1)2.)Lindsey Wilson (19-6,10-4)3.) Shawnee State (19-7, 10-4)4.) Cumberlands (15-11, 9-5)5.) Rio Grande (16-10, 7-7)6.) Pikeville (17-9, 7-8)7.) St. Catharine (11-16, 6-9)8.) Georgetown (9-16, 5-9)9.) UVa-Wise (10-14, 3-12)10.) WVa Tech (4-20, 1-13)

Jan. 15UVa-Wise def. KCU

83-63

UVa-Wise (10-14, 3-12) — Kris-tin Mullins 29 points, 9 rebounds; Hannah Powers 10 points, 10 re-bounds; Amber Carter 16 points, 6 assists.

Feb. 12Campbellsville def. UVa-Wise

100-67

UVa-Wise (9-14, 3-12) — Kris-tin Mullins 10 points, 9 rebounds; Adrienne Womack 11 points; Megan Rutherford 18 points, 6 rebounds.

Jan. 19Rio Grande def. UVa-Wise

76-62

UVa-Wise (10-14, 3-12) — Kris-tin Mullins 8 points, 6 rebounds; Hannah Powers 10 points, 5 re-bounds; Amber Carter 13 points, 5 assists.

SoFTBALL

BASEBALL

Mid-South Conference Standings (as of Feb. 24)

1.) Cumberlands (8-3, 0-0)2.) Lindsey Wilson (5-2, 0-0)3.) Georgetown (5-5, 0-0)4.) St. Catharine (5-7-1, 0-0)5.) Shawnee State (4-5, 0-0)6.) WVa Tech (2-1, 0-0)7.) UVa-Wise (2-3, 0-0)8.) Pikeville (2-8-1, 0-0)9.) Rio Grande (1-8, 0-0)10.) Campbell (0-4, 0-0)

Mid-South Conference Standings (as of Feb. 24)

1.) Lindsey Wilson (4-0, 0-0)2.) UVa-Wise (2-4, 0-0)3.) Cumberlands (1-3, 0-0)4.) Campbell (1-6, 0-0)5.) WVa Tech (0-2, 0-0)6.) Shawnee State (0-0, 0-0)7.) Rio Grande (0-0, 0-0)

Feb. 19Emmanuel 10, UVa-Wise 1

R H EUVa-Wise 100 00- 1 2 2Emmanuel 370 00- 10 5 2

W — Hallman (1-0). L — Chel-sea Booth (0-1).

Feb. 23UVa-Wise 4, Milligan 0

R H EUVa-Wise 000 101 0 4 4 0Milligan 000 000 0 0 3 0

W — McCoy (2-0). L — Burns (0-1).

Feb. 23Milligan 5, UVa-Wise 4

R H EUVa-Wise 000 013 0 4 8 4Milligan 001 022 0 5 9 3

W — Connaster (1-0). L — Hold-way (0-1).

Feb. 12UVa-Wise 11, Berry 6

R H EUVa-Wise 201 113 301 — 11 18 7Berry 410 000 000 — 6 10 2

W — Josh Joseph (1-0). L — Re-ese (0-1). S — Josh Guizar (1).

Feb. 12UVa-Wise 7, Shorter 2

R H EUVa-Wise 410 100 1 7 7 0Emmanuel 000 001 1 2 6 2

W — Cody Bentley (1-0). L — Hodges (0-1).

Feb. 9Shorter 11, UVa-Wise 5

R H EUVa-Wise 100 000 0 1 2 2Emmanuel 033 122 X 10 5 2

W — Doty (1-0). L — Scott Cole (0-1).

Baseball wins one, drops two

Bentley

sports Page 8The Highland Cavalier February 25, 2011

The State of Sports

Cameron ParsonsSports Editor

clp7m@uvawise.edu

By Sydney GilbertStaff Writersbg3v@uvawise.edu

The Cavs defeated Kentucky Christian University 83-63 on Feb. 16, finishing up the week 2-1.

The win protected the Cavs’ legacy, as it was in the last game to ever be played in Greear Gym-nasium.

The team shot 80 percent from the free throw line, going 16-of-20.

Head coach Doug Carter said the free throws had a big impact to the outcome of the game.

Carter said the “aggressive-ness to get the basket” got the team free, uncontested points.

Leaving Greear with a win in the record books was a great feel-ing, he said.

“It was the last competitive game to be played here, so it was great to go out on a win,” Carter said. “And, it was good to beat a team that has a very good pro-gram.”

Junior guard Kristen Mullins saved her best for last, posting 29 points and nine rebounds.

So did junior point guard Am-ber Carter, who added 16 points and nine assists.

The Cavs then traveled to West Virginia Tech Feb. 17, where they fell short 75-72.

The game was close through-out, and the Cavs had a chance to win the game.

The team missed 12 layups in the second half, six coming at a point that would have tied the game late.

With only four seconds left on the clock, the Cavs were down by three points.

J u n i o r guard Han-nah Powers took the fi-nal shot from half court, only miss-ing by a few

inches to the left.“I shot it with my left hand

because I had defense on my right side,” Powers said. “For a minute I thought it was going to bank it in, but it was a little right.”

Though the team lost the game, Carter blames it on the re-bounding.

The Cavs were out-rebound-ed 61-34, with 26 of the Bears re-bounds coming on offense.

“The rebounding is an ongo-ing problem,” Carter said. “And they wanted it more than we did; they wanted the ball more.

Two days later, the Cavs lost to the University of Rio Grande 62-76 on the road Feb. 19.

The team settled for too many outside shots in the game, con-necting on just 2-of-22 from the three point line, a lowly 9.1 per-cent for the game.

Carter said the team did a good job defensively, but they settled for some tough jump shots late in the game.

“We just sat back and settled for jump shots,” Carter said. “We just did not attack or get to the free-throw line.”

In the game, Amber Carter posted 13 points and five assists for the Cavs.

Powers also played an all-around game, scoring 10 points, and recording seven steals, five rebounds and three assists.

On the season, the Cavs have fallen to 10-16 overall, and 3-14 in the conference.

The Cavs will travel to Pikev-ille College tomorrow for the final game of the season.

The game is set to tip off at 5:45 p.m.

On Feb. 22, the California Institute of Tech-nology men’s basketball team ended one of the longest losing streaks in collegiate athletics.

During their last game of the season, the Caltech Beavers defeated the Occidental College Tigers 46-45.

This situation begins to take on a new aspect when the entire story is told.

The Bears had been a member of the NCAA Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference since 1915 when the organi-zation formed.

The SCIAC might not sound like a power-house today, but during the 1920s and 1930s, the league hosted schools like UCLA and San Diego State.

Unlike the SCIAC, Caltech has continued its historic traditions since the institution opened.

Caltech has an enrollment of 967 undergrad-uate students and sits on 124 acres in downtown Pasadena.

Though the institution is smaller than UVa-Wise, 31 of the school’s faculty or alumni have won the Nobel Prize.

This small school is not facing a budget cri-sis; Caltech operates on a budget of more than $1.5 billion.

But athletics are the real story here.Some sports fans might remember the Bea-

vers for a 2007 win against Bard College that ended the worst losing streak in collegiate athlet-ics history, at 207 games.

The win against Occidental on Feb. 22 was the school’s first conference win since the Reagan administration, on Jan. 23, 1985.

The losing streak lasted for 26 years and 310 games.

The team’s current record is 5-20, and with the win, the Beavers just tied their best record since 1995.

Without a doubt, the Beavers basketball team is a record-setting group.

The women’s team has also joined the festivi-ties, dropping their final game of the season 82-35 to Occidental on Feb. 22. This loss puts them at 0-25 for the year.

Despite the poor performances in the past, students still show up to home games and were out in full force during the men’s win.

The measure of a true fan is how excited they can be for each and every game their team plays, win, lose or draw.

We can all take a lesson from the fans at the California Institute of Technology.

No matter what happens, stay loyal to your team and never give up.

Things will get better, and when they do, you will always know who you can trust to be a true friend.

Softball team wins first home game

Photo by Jordan Fifer

Freshman second baseman Megan Dillion (left) turns a double play dur-ing the Cavs’ 2-0 victory over Milligan College on Feb. 23 in the Cavs’ first home game of the season. The team will travel to Shorter University in Rome, Ga. on Feb. 25 to play in a two day-long tournament. The Cavs will face Emmanuel College, Montreat College and Bryan College.

Small college sports still matter to some people

By Josh JordanStaff Writerjjj5d@uvawise.edu

The softball team split a double-header with the Milligan College Buf-faloes in the Cavs first home game of the season on Feb. 23, winning game one 2-0 then falling 6-4 in game two.

In the first game, senior pitcher Megan McCoy improved to 2-0 on the season and extended her scoreless in-ning streak to 20 innings without sur-rendering a run.

Her performance gave the Cava-liers the advantage in the game.

“Even though we are young, our team is very talented and I know we are going to start doing a lot better,” Mc-Coy said. “I feel like I’ve started my senior year really strong and I’m a lot more confident in myself this year.”

The Cavs scored their first run of the game in the fourth inning when freshman rightfielder Charity Lawson hit an RBI single, sending freshman second baseman Alyssa Zebrowski across home plate.

The Cavs extended their lead af-ter junior first baseman Ashlee Wash-burn’s sacrifice fly brought Zebrowski across home plate again in the sixth in-ning, giving the Cavs their 2-0 lead.

The Buffs turned the tide on the Cavs in the second game, taking advan-tage of the Cavs’ four errors through

the first five innings, giving Milligan a 5-1 lead.

In the sixth, the Cavs attempted to mount a comeback as freshman left-fielder Sarah Witshire’s single allowed Lawson to score.

Two pitches later, Witshire stole her first base of the season, advancing to second.

With two runners on base, junior centerfielder Maddi Ridenour scored both runners, but the Cavs still trailed 5-4.

Unfortunately, the rally fell short and the Buffs walked away with a vic-tory.

Head coach Tori Raby said it was the costly errors from her young team that made the difference between a win and a loss in the second game.

“We’re maturing; we start six to seven freshmen,” Raby said. “We are just a big pitch or a big hit away from winning these games.”

The Cavs are looking ahead to this weekend as they are scheduled to play a total of five games starting today, when they take on Shorter University at 4 p.m. in Rome, Ga.

Following that game, the Cavs go head-to-head with Emmanuel College at 6 p.m.

On Saturday, the Cavs have a triple-header against Montreat at 12 p.m., Reinhardt at 4 p.m., and Bryan College at 6 p.m.

Men’s basketball splits two games last week

Carter

By Cameron ParsonsSports Editorclp7m@uvawise.edu

The Cavs fell 97-88 to the West Virginia Tech Golden Bears in overtime on Feb. 17.

The game saw six lead chang-es and 11 ties, but the score was tied 43-43 at halftime.

West Virginia Tech took the lead late in the game, but junior guard Travis Berry hit a three-point shot to tie the game at 81 near the end of regulation.

In overtime, the Cavs could not keep up with the Golden Bears and were outscored 16-7 to end the game.

Berry scored a career-high 28 points to go along with his eight rebounds in the loss.

Junior forward Norris Gaskins and senior forward Mark Phillips

both scored 11 points.Senior forward Josh Jordan

and freshman guard Darius Smith both fell short of a double-dou-ble.

Jordan scored 16 points and had eight rebounds, while Smith added 11 points and eight assists.

Three Golden Bears — senior guard Nicholas Kjaerholt, junior center Josh Proctor and junior forward Donald Robinson — each scored 12 points.

Junior forward Josh Arnold led his team with 17 points off the bench, while junior guard Rashon Tabb added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

With the loss, the Cavs in-creased their losing streak to eight in a row.

Two days later, the Cavs fi-nally turned things around.

The Cavs defeated the Uni-

versity of Rio Grande 82-74 on Feb. 19.

The Cavs took the lead early and never looked back, thanks in part to Berry, who scored 22 points and had six assists in the win.

Senior forward Kevin Perry scored 10 points and had six re-bounds. Jordan scored 17 points, while Phillips added 12 points.

The Red Storm was led by junior forward Shaun Gunnell’s double-double — 17 points and 11 rebounds — and senior guard Doug Campbell’s 18 points.

With the win, the Cavs im-prove to 10-16 overall and 4-13 in the conference.

The team is set to play their final game of the season tomor-row at Pikeville College at 8 p.m.

The Cavs lost 96-81 to the Bears earlier in the year on Jan. 22.

Women’s basketball drops two conference games