Gazelle d’Artois and Keith Pough were honored this week by the MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) for their outstanding plays in games.

Outside hitter, Gazelle d’Artois, was named MEAC Player of the Week for the second straight week. D’Artois had 20 kills two weeks in a row and hit 34 percent from the floor in the Lady Bison’s 3-1 win over Winston-Salem State University. She also had a season-high of four aces and six digs.

Right-outside linebacker, Keith Pough, was honored with MEAC Rookie of the Week after his performance in Howard’s 7-3 win over the Winston-Salem State University Rams. Pough, who leads the team in tackles, had six solo tackles, four assists, two tackles for losses and two quarterback hurries. The Bison defense limited the Rams to 139 yards of total offense, to which Pough made a huge contribution.

- Compiled By Royce Strahan, Sports Editor

Richard Samuel McCroskey III, a rapper who goes by the name of Syko Sam from northern California has been arrested as the lead suspect in a quadru-ple murder case that took place in Farm-ville, Va.

McCroskey, was taken into custody for the murder of Mark Niederbrock, 50; his 16-year-old daughter, Emma Nieder-brock; 18 year old Melanie Wells; and Niederbrock’s estranged wife, Debra Kel-ley, 53.

McCroskey flew out to Virginia af-ter being invited by Emma Niederbrock, a Horrocore fan, in order to attend the Strictly for the Wicked Festival, which would take place in Michigan. The festi-val was in honor of Horrocore, an under-ground genre of music horror-themed in lyrical content and imagery.

The festival featured bands such as Dismembered Fetus and Phrozen Body Boy, according to a CNN report.

Another band that falls under this genre of music is Creation to Execution. The chorus to their song “Kill somebody” begins like this, “Get a knife and stab him; get a gun and blast him; take a pipe and crack him, randomly attack him. Get cre-ative with ‘em torture when you kill em’. Make them scream your name put ‘em pain make him a victim”

“Music has the power to insight emotions and feelings and people need to realize it’s so much more than entertain-ment. At the end of the day, music is an art form and art will always imitate life,” said Kayla Lindsey, an audio production major and on-air host for both WHBC

and WHUR radio stations. “Music is one of the

only things that has the power to relate and influ-ence people no matter the background, race, ethnicity, etc.”

As he was being tak-en into custody, McCroskey said to reporters, “Jesus told him to do it, ” in response to being arrested in connec-tion with all four murders previously mentioned.

Luther Glenn, a member of Walker’s Pres-byterian Church where Niederbrock was pastor,

shared with CNN that he took issue with McCroskey’s comment about Jesus telling him to act.

“I think it’s deeply rooted in Satan, if you want to know the truth,” Glenn said.

Melech Thomas, founder of the Do You Care? Campaign, an advocacy group on preventing gun violence and a senior communication and culture major, said, “We should not support any music artists who glorify and promote violence in their lyrics or lifestyle. Any person who exalts murder, rape and/or violence is not a friend of our community.”

In Uganda, child soldiers are an all too common reality, and Ini-tial Public Offering (IPO) Lifestyle Group aims to make it common knowledge.

The IPO Lifestyle Group will host “Black Thursday” on Oct. 15 inviting the Howard communi-ty to better the lives of war-ravaged Ugandan children and their fami-lies by bringing awareness to the

Invisible Children organization.Invisible Children is a non-

profit organization founded in 2003 to provide children in north-ern Uganda with better education.

In Uganda, the Human Rights Watch has estimated that approximately 30,000 children have been recruited by a group of radical Christian guerillas known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). LRA has been classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

“They’re kidnapping chil-dren from their home and turn-ing them into soldiers,” said Brian Louis, a senior finance major and founder of IPO. “My reason for starting this is to affect change… I want to make a difference in a child’s life in our homeland.”

Dr. Alem Hailu, a lecturer in Howard’s Department of Afri-can Studies, said non-profit orga-nizations like Invisible Children “pressure” the global community to act by “awakening the people’s

conscious.”“The UN, AU [the African

Union] and African governments should be ashamed of it,” Hailu said, “LRA and others use child soldiers because they don’t have to pay them… [Children] aren’t swayed by religious ideologies, and they’re fierce fighters because of their energy. They don’t know what they’re doing is wrong be-cause they’ve been brainwashed

THE HILLTOPVOLUME 93, NO.32 WWW.THEHILLTOPONLINE.COM

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

WEATHER7252

Tomorrow: 7156 The Daily Student Voice of Howard University

CAMPUS

PAGE 2

SPORTSPROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAMS FACE CRITICISM FOR THEIR USE OF RACIALLY SYMBOLIC MASCOTS.Notebook

Wednesday’s

1924Established

BY DERRICK I. HAYNESEditorial Assistant

PAGE 3

MR. AND MISS SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ARE CROWNED. FIND OUT THE MISHAP THAT OCCURRED DURING CROWNING.

> See THURSDAY, page 8

BREAKING NEWS THE NEW WINDOWS PHONE BRAND WILL INCLUDE THE WINDOWS MAR-KETPLACE, MICROSOFT’S ANSWER TO THE IPHONE’S APP STORE, ACCORD-ING TO CNN.COM

U.S. UNEQUALLY DISTRIBUTES WEALTH E&P PAGE 7

Black Thursday to Aid the Invisible

Rapper Arrested for Virginia Slayings

INDEX Campus 2 Sports 3 Life & Style 5 Nation & World 7 Editorials & Perspectives 9

Six of the 12 justice positions in the Howard Uni-versity Student Association (HUSA) Policy Board are un-usually vacant.

According to Policy Board Chairman Lloyd Tal-ley, it is customary to have all positions filled by May. “Three months into the school year is entirely too long,” he said.

The executive branch of HUSA is responsible for recommending students to fill the positions. After the execu-tive branch makes the recom-mendations, the legislative branch, General Assembly, approves the appointments.

The outgoing adminis-tration of HUSA is supposed to identify Policy Board mem-bers prior to leaving office, according to HUSA Execu-tive President Bryan Smart. He said because this did not happen, they are left trying to fill the vacancies.

Forty-eighth HUSA Administration Vice President Kellen Moore said it is diffi-cult to fill all the positions in the Policy Board and assumes Smart is having the same dif-ficulties filling the positions.

“We’re into this se-mester; it shouldn’t be at this point,” Smart said. “We’re working as fast as we can.”

The six justices cur-rently on the Board were appointed before the end of last semester through a com-bined effort of the 48th and 49th administrations. How-ever, Talley said there is not much they can do as a Board

Policy Board Positions VacantBY JESSICA LEWISCampus Editor

BY MILAN KUNINEditorial Assistant

Farmville Police Department & Myspace.com

Richard McCroskey III, also known as Syko Sam is under investigation for the killings of four people.

Howard Players Recognized by MEAC

The latest opening skit on “Saturday Night Live” poked fun at President Barack Obama’s presumed lack of action on a range of campaign promises; from his unsuccessful attempt to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago, to his lack of ac-tion on climate change and the fading prospect of closing Guantánamo Bay by mid-January 2010.

In true “SNL” fashion, the claims were more fact than fiction, shedding light on the reality that there has not been any real progress toward closing Guantánamo Bay but also there has been no agreement on where to house inmates and how to fund such a transfer.

On Jan. 22, 2009, the Obama Adminis-tration self-imposed a deadline to close the Guan-tánamo Bay Prison Facility within a year and issued an executive order suspending the proceedings of the Guantánamo military commission for 120 days.

On Monday, White House Press Secre-tary Robert Gibbs said the administration is con-tinuing to work hard towards realizing Obama’s campaign promise to shut down the prison, but has downplayed the significance of meeting the dead-line.

Obama May Miss Deadlines

BY OLLIE MONTGOMERYStaff Writer

> See BAY, page 7

Syko Sam is a suspect in a case of quadruple murders

Photo courtesy of HU Sports Information

> See BOARD, page 8

2 CAMPUS October 7, 2009

THE HILLTOP

It’s “Red October” for How-ard University’s WHBC radio sta-tion.

According to WHBC Gen-eral Manager Jammel Davis, the student-run radio station has a plan to do a number of events this month to bring attention to the sta-tion.

“People have always known about us, but haven’t actually been listening,” Davis said.

To remedy the situation, Logosou Kuvayah, assistant pro-motions director, said the station plans to bring different artists to Howard’s campus. He said it start-ed already with Raekwon and 9th Wonder, a hip-hop producer.

Even before 9th Wonder, however, WHBC is ranked No. 10 in terms of college radio stations by the Princeton Review. Kuvayah said they are only seeking to im-prove this year.

To foster that desired im-provement, WHBC plans to re-lease a series of mixtapes titled “Howard’s Hottest” featuring up-coming Howard musical artists. This mixtape will help the station stay relevant on Howard’s campus by providing sounds students can-not find anywhere else.

The first two tapes are near completion, but they are currently looking for new artists to feature.

To showcase the talents on the mixtape, there will be a series of talent shows. The first “How-ard’s Hottest” Talent Showcase will take place on Oct. 13 and will feature eight DJs from Howard and the Washington, D.C. area.

According to Davis, he plans to focus on two goals this school year: increasing listeners and mak-ing sure that everyone at WHBC feels included.

“We get to play a lot of dif-ferent music, but everything else we do is like a commercial station,” Davis said.

To attract different types of listeners and widen their mar-ket appeal, WHBC broadcasts on channel 51 in all Howard dorms and streams online. They also have

a new Web site in development.“We have a lot of talent, and

all of us together will make WHBC great,” Davis said.

BY MICHAEL WATERSContributing Writer

WHBC Expands Commercial AppealUnderGradTransition

My Secret Shame

This semester, I did something that I never did in my four years of under-grad; I visited the Library of Congress, and I checked out a book from the stacks in Founders.

Please do not judge me. I read a lot in undergrad and spent my refund check in the bookstore. However, I never had a need to check out a book from Founders. I either bought the books I needed or went to the MLK Library.

I blame this oversight on myself, but also on my professors who seldom chal-lenged me to read texts that would require me to check out a book.

I heard the horror sto-ries of misplaced text books in the stacks, but I had no trouble finding the books that I needed. I could not check out the books in the Library of Congress, so Nicholas Owens, a colleague of mine in grad school, and I sat in the reading room until it closed, catching up on our required reading assignments together.

Technology has af-forded us the opportunity to find our required reading on-line or place a reserve on the Internet, but I fear a world where our young people will not know the beauty of look-ing for a book among droves of texts on a library shelf.

The Library of Con-gress is the most beautiful li-brary I have ever seen, and I am proud to own my own re-search card. The architecture and artwork are gorgeous, but the fact that I can find any book I desire on its shelves is a book-lover’s dream.

Founders Library is a historic place and an under-appreciated jewel in the land-scape of the nation’s capital. It was on its third floor where Thurgood Marshall and his contemporaries would lay out their argument for Brown v. Board of Education.

In spite of its history, Founders library has a long way to go to be equivalent to some of our neighboring uni-versities’ libraries.

I have also realized that the definition of a library is changing in this new techno-logically driven world. Most of the journals that graduate students need for research can be found on Howard’s online library database. Most refer-ence books are also available on the Internet.

When I was a little girl, I could be found checking out 15 library books at a time, devouring the knowledge in each one and feeding my intellectual curiosity. Due to technology, I could just read the Cliffnotes or find a dis-cussion board online discuss-ing the major points. Eventu-ally, any book that one wants to read will be found online.

I say all of this to en-courage undergrads not to make the same mistake that I did. Visit the Library of Congress and really go to the stacks and check out a book. In the next decade, true li-braries may be a thing of the past.

For more of graduate student Vic-toria Kirby’s columns, visit the-hilltoponline.com and click on the “Voices on Campus blog” tab at the top.

BY VICTORIA KIRBYContributing Columnist

Senior business management major, Julius Trimble, featured his sequel to a self-written, self-pro-duced and self-directed short film titled “Ask About Me Two” to ap-proximately 100 students, faculty and Howard University alumni.

The theme of Trimble’s film is minority issues plaguing the black community today. He said he tries to highlight this theme through comedy and drama.

Gibran Mills, a senior busi-ness management major, plays the main character in the recent film. Mills’ character is a confidant and mentor to Trimble’s charac-ter “Juelz,” which Mills said is the same relationship he shares with Trimble in reality.

“I was just helping out a friend. I believe in the work he creates, and I want to be a part of the foundation and the outcome,” Mills said.

Trimble’s friends are the foundation holding his business up and supporting him throughout his film career.

Allan Daley, an internation-al business major who has known Trimble since his freshman year, played the supporting role and friend “Uncle A” in “Ask About Me Two.”

“He has always been profes-sional and on time concerning the projects he’s produced and was al-ways prepared in front of the cam-era and behind it,” Daley said. “He was up sometimes day and night working on plans for current proj-ects and exerts himself efficiently in all the work he does.”

Trimble is not only a business management major and filmmak-er, but an entrepreneur. He is cur-rently president of H.T. Holdings, L.L.C. created July 2009, which is an umbrella company for his two other businesses: Hard Times Film Production Co. and Trimble Real Estate.

Trimble said the various tal-ents he holds are diverged through-out his family and hopes to follow their footsteps. However, School of Communications Professor Idit Dvir said it is hard for minorities in the film industry.

“The question is who will make it, with the odds being dispa-rate. There are few slots available, when trying to make it to the top [and] turn around is huge concern-ing management in the interwork-ing of film and production admin-istration. It is like a revolving door. Job stability is scant,” Dvir said.

Despite the odds, Trimble’s friends believe in his skills. Mills said Trimble has many diverse talents, distinctly in the art of film-making, that make him on the rise in this industry.

Trimble said his aspirations are driven by his desire to give back to his hometown community of Cleveland and to attempt to orga-nize revitalization efforts to bring back growth and development to the city.

Students ‘Ask About Me Two’

BY SABRINA MICHELLE CIRE’ Contributing Writer

For years, students have complained about the lack of service received in the Adminis-tration building.

“[Howard] has yet to transfer my credits from Lander University, and I have been at Howard for three years,” said Aarika Puckett, a junior architec-ture major.

Besides not having the credits needed to graduate, Puck-ett said the core of her problems is the lack of attention the ad-ministration gives students.

President Sidney A. Ri-beau said he is working on deal-ing with the issues of the Admin-istration building.

Ribeau said he is trying to create an open dialogue with students and faculty so that issues can be addressed proactively.

He acknowledged the lack of time efficiency with the finan-cial aid process. This year, an online system was created to help

cut back on the time students spend waiting in line.

The waiting area of prob-lems with administration does not stop at Howard. Eliza Saun-ders, a sophomore at Hampton University, said the staff and the administration are rude at her in-stitution.

“They can use some tips in courtesy,” Saunders said.

She said the system Hamp-ton utilizes is very old, which leads to slow processing of stu-dents’ financial material and en-rollment.

However, not all university students experience these prob-lems. Sophomore pre-medicine major at New York Univer-sity (NYU), George Ulloa, said NYU’s administration is fair, listens to students and takes ac-tion. He is proud of the admin-istrative services he receives, even though sometimes the services fall short.

“NYU has high standards, but at times this may not reflect on the administration,” Ulloa

said. “The administration is slow, but I feel that is because they are so tedious with students’ infor-mation.”

ReDonah Anderson, a sophomore print journalism ma-jor, said she feels administrations are only ineffective at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Anderson said that ev-ery HBCU will give one the run around. “I transferred from Winston-Salem State University and the administration was just as bad as Howard’s,” Anderson said.

According to Anderson, she tried to register for classes, but was unable, due to a medical hold. She said there was no medi-cal hold listed on her BisonWeb account.

“I didn’t have classes to go to the first week of school, and I ended up registering the follow-ing week,” Anderson said. “It was just a very bad experience being a transfer student.”

Students Call Administration Effectiveness Into Question

BY CAMILLE AUGUSTINStaff Writer

Crown Gets Schooled

The new Mr. and Miss School of Education, Irvin Shan-non and Lindsey Rutledge, were ushered in on uncertain grounds as the wrong queen was announced at the School of Education pageant.

The announcement was made that contestant number one, Adwoa Dwamena, was Miss School of Education, but the

crown was quickly taken back as the coordinator ran to the stage to announce that the wrong person had been crowned. Dwamena had an expression of surprise on her face but bowed out graciously as contestant number five, Rutledge, took the stage and the crown. The audience booed as the crown was taken away.

Junior human development major, Rutledge, danced her way to the throne with the platform “Heart 2 Heart.”

Senior human development major, Shannon, will implement the platform “I.M.A.G.E.,” which means “I am a Man Affecting Growth in Every Endeavor.” With his platform, Shannon wants to uplift the black men in the commu-nity. To uplift the crowd, Shannon delivered poetic justice through a piece about success during the tal-ent portion.

Both winners will compete for Mr. and Miss Howard Univer-

sity in the spring.

BY LAUREN GASPARDStaff Writer

Photo Courtesy of WHBC

WHBC is making plans to increase their number of listeners. They plan to release mixtapes featuring Howard students who are artists.

Even in the 21st century, America is plagued with racial sym-bolism which is in politics, sports and entertainment. Even though progress has been made, some be-lieve our country is far from being a post-racial society.

In the sports world, racial symbolism can be seen in the mas-cots of professional and college lev-el sports teams. The race most often represented in sports, in a negative way, is Native Americans. One of the teams that has a Native Ameri-can as their mascot and logo is the Washington Redskins. The term “Redskin” was used to describe Native Americans when Europe colonized America, and many Na-tive Americans are offended by the term.

“These teams don’t have the right to name another group of people,” Afro-American stud-ies professor Gregory Carr, Ph.D. said. “It’s not their culture. They’re not celebrating Native Americans; they’re mocking them.”

Other teams that participate in racial symbolism include the At-lanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Florida State Seminoles and Kansas City Chiefs. The offensive nature of these mascots can be seen in the treatment of Native Americans.

There are several reasons why professional and college teams would be reluctant to change their mascots. They may not want to ad-mit they offended a group of people or the financial interests of the or-ganizations outweigh the racial is-sues in the minds of the executives.

When Europe colonized America, Native Americans were killed off and robbed of their land. Since the founding of the United States, Native Americans have been continuously discriminated against and have dealt with racial stereo-types, which some believe makes these mascots so offensive. Despite lawsuits and petitions filed by Na-tive Americans and human rights groups, many of these mascots are still being used.

Usually when a term or sym-bol is deemed offensive or political-ly incorrect by a group of people, changes are considered, but when it comes to mascots portraying Native Americans change has been hard to come by. Professional teams have been more reluctant to change their mascot than college teams.

“If a mascot has a deroga-tory history, it shouldn’t be used at all,” said Daniel Henderson, a se-nior business major said. “Native Americans have been suing these teams because they are offended.”

After facing intense pres-sure, several college teams agreed

to change their ethnic names. For instance, the Stanford Indians be-came the Stanford Cardinals, and the Marquette Warriors changed their name to the Marquette Gold-en Eagles, but virtually all profes-sional teams portraying Native Americans have refused to change their mascots and logos.

Years ago, there was a legal battle surrounding the Washington Redskins. In 2003, seven Native Americans filed an appeal to can-cel the trademark of the Redskins. They said the mascot was “scandal-ous” and put many Native Ameri-cans in contempt. The federal court ruled in favor of the NFL, and the Washington Redskins maintained their trademark logo. The judge said their claims were not protected under law because they waited too long to appeal.

“There’s so much history behind that word (Redskins),” Hen-derson said. “Redskin was origi-nally a derogatory term for Native Americans.”

In 2005, the American Psy-chological Association adopted a resolution for the removal of all mascots, symbols and personalities that represent Native Americans. They cited racism and the crippling effect it has on cultures, but their resolution was ignored and none of the proposed changes were made.

“Many Native Americans

feel objectified and dehumanized when they see these mascots,” Carr said. “You can’t atone for a crime

by removing a symbol, but you can express regret by removing that symbol.”

SPORTS 3

THE HILLTOP

BY JUSTIN AMEYContributing Writer

Sports Trivia!Who were the first two African-

American coaches to make it to the Super Bowl?

Find answer in the Nation & World section.

October 7, 1984Walter Payton passes Jim Brown as NFL’s

career rushing leader

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

The Cleveland Indians logo has caused controversy among Native Americans who see the image as being offensive.

Racial Symbolism Puts Many Teams In the Red

THE HILLTOP

4 ADVERTISEMENT October 7, 2009

THE HILLTOP

It has music, style, edge and a little bit of heaven. It’s MESH, a lifestyle blog created by three of Howard University’s very own that has grown from a hobby to a recognized and award-winning en-tity in the blogosphere. Junior print journalism major Aaron Randle, junior print journalism major (who also writes for The Hilltop) Aisha Johnson and junior television pro-duction major CJ Trahan are the brains behind the operation that has in nine months become home to more than 600 posts. The Hill-top sat down with the creators of MESH to see how they are on the come up.

The Hilltop: What inspired you to create MESH?

Aaron: I really like VIBE magazine, especially their 20 Ques-tions segment so one day, about a year ago I did a 20 question seg-ment “Howard Style” and CJ hit me and was like, ‘Aaron I had an epiphany, let’s start a blog.’ And I was down for it. I always wanted to do one about music, fashion and lifestyle and so we just started then. And we had gotten into [it] for about three weeks and then I told Aisha, like “I started a blog with CJ from my step team. And she was like ‘What, I wanted to start a blog with you too. I was going to ask you like...next week.’

Aisha: I really was!TH: Where do you get your

ideas from ?Aisha: We all have very

eclectic interests. We’re into ev-erything fashion, music, entertain-ment; anything that catches our

eye or that we hear about that we think the public will enjoy and put it up there for them. It’s our way of spreading our inner thoughts.

CJ: And the good thing about it is it’s not just our brain-child, our baby, our blog. It’s my fav blog to read because I can see what Aaron and Aisha have to post and I get excited about that too. It’s just a lot about us bringing forth and posting what we feel is exciting.

TH: So who reads your blog?

Aisha: Our readership is very …

CJ: Broad.Aisha: Yeah, it’s very broad.

We don’t really target to a certain demo. We have Howard students, we have people from all over; there were people from Japan?

CJ: It was France.Aaron: Yeah, we had people

commenting in French, [and] there was one lady and I swear she was like 50 years old. Her picture was like her with her little cat and she was commenting on one of her posts. And like my sister’s friends in high school, she’s a freshman, stop by a lot of the time. I think it re-ally speaks to our content because we can have a 50 year old white woman as well as a 16-year-old black girl.

CJ: Or you can have mem-bers of like Electrik Red come and view the blog . It’s a cool thing, es-pecially now, where the people we actually post about are starting to view it and it’s more exciting. They get to see what we’re writing about and our opinions about them.

TH: Who are some of your favorite people to feature on the blog?

Aisha: [laughs] Well I love to put Trey Songz on there. I love me some Trey Songz and I hope that he reads MESH someday. No, but seriously, Trey Songz, Beyonce. I love the walking fashion closet Rihanna, [and] Chris Brown. I’m really the “celeb girl.”

CJ: She is the “celeb girl.” I love to post things that people may never see if I don’t happen to post it or if the reader doesn’t go to a site where they can see something similar. Like art and photography, I love posting eclectic things like vid-eos that are not hiphop, not R&B, [but] some indie, some alternative. I like to make it broader for the au-dience.

Aaron: I post fashion. It’s not that I know more about fashion than they do, they know as much if not more about fashion than me, but I like to post fashion that’s af-fordable. I don’t like the fact that a lot of blogs, especially ones made by young urban people are what I like to call “window shopping blogs” because they’ll post a jacket that’s $5,000 and their demographic is supposedly college students.

TH: I read on your blog that you won the Black Weblog of the Year for 2009 for Best Group Blog. How does that feel?

Aisha: It was really cool. We were nominated for three categories and I’m glad we got to take home one and it was by popular vote. It showed the amount of support we have. It’s from all over. A teacher came up to CJ and told him that they read the blog. It helped to get our name out there, see the compe-tition, but also build confidence.

Aaron: I was at VIBE in-terning, stressed and CJ told me

someone had nominated us for the Black Weblog Awards and I read who else was nominated and there were like big names in the blog world mentioned. I thought to myself like ‘Oh so we’re gonna get nominated but we’re not gonna make it to the next round.’ And then we did, and I thought it was crazy that people think we are one of the best blogs in the country; well really the world. Winning that helped me realized that MESH is something serious.

TH: I get the style, the music, the edge but what is the heaven?

CJ: When you put the right music, with the right edge and great style all together it gives you heaven. And when you’re able to incorporate all of those into your life appropriately, it’s heaven. We like to think MESH is bliss for our readers.

TH: Where do you see the blog going in the future?

Aisha: We see it as more

than a blog. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a movement. People visit it daily, we had a party and we’re really work-ing on getting the name out there and getting people into the MESH lifestyle. Getting people on their grind, working hard for their goals by any means necessary.

Aaron: I’m not a skeptical person, but it’s hard thinking about yourself as being able to make it to the upper echelon when you’re in-volved with something like this. Es-pecially here at Howard. CJ used to say he wanted people to be able to recognize us by this time and it’s crazy that it actually happened. People I don’t know actually do know who I am, because of this blog. It is mind blowing; MESH is only nine months old.

CJ: But we don’t even do it for the viewers. We do it for fun.

LIFE & STYLE 5

THE HILLTOP

Who: Jummy Obayanju, Stone Mountain, Ga., junior, public relations major

Caught: Outside School of Social Work

What are you wearing?Leather Jacket, H&MLavender Polo, Mom got it in Florence, ItalyTan Skinny Jeans, MarshallsBlack Skippers, DoMaro Uniform (in Ga.)Gold Earrings, Ashley Stewart

Why do you love the leather jacket? I like that they are not too heavy and not too light. They are made perfectly for the Fall, and if you take good care of them, they can last a long time. They’re easy to throw on with anything and you can easily make any jacket your own.

The buttons are a nice touch, what made you put them on the jacket?I like buttons, pins, clips, anything that can define who I am. Here I have a Jimi Hendrix pin, an “All For One” Pepsi pin and a “Students First” cam-paign pin; each representing my love of all types of music, togetherness, and my commitment to Howard and support of Ribeau’s efforts to assist students.

Who in your opinion has best rocked the leather jacket?Diddy of course!

Is the leather jacket a piece of clothing or an accessory?My leather jacket is an article of clothing. Most people wear leather jackets as a fashion statement or fashion accessory. For me, the leather jacket is necessity, not an accessory. Plus, it’s a really handy item with all the pockets!

-Compiled by Aaron Randle, Staff Writer

Who: Ashley Jones, Brooklyn, N.Y., junior, public relations major

Caught: Outside Blackburn

What are you wearing?Glasses, Juicy CoutureWhite Leather Blazer, Thrift StoreLace Onesie, Thrift StoreBlue Jeans, H&MHeels, DSWCognac Bag, APC

What inspired your jacket purchase?Its beauty. When I bought it, I wasn’t sure how I would incorporate it, but, just seeing its beauty, I knew I would eventually use it in some way.

What is the most important decision that goes into your deciding what to wear?I first think ‘is it practical?’ ‘Am I really going to get good usage out of this buy?’ I don’t want to buy anything I can’t use in multiple ways.

Is the leather jacket an accessory or a piece of clothing?An accessory because I put it on with so many dif-ferent things to work as a complimentary piece and a piece meant to enhance an outfit; to make it better.

Who do you think best rocks the leather jacket?Rihanna or Kate Moss. They can throw a leather jacket on with anything and make it look amazing.

Whose fashion inspires you?Kate Moss. She just really makes me happy. Her look is so effortless, and always looks perfect.

Who: Lindsey Cooper, Newport News, Va., sophomore, legal communications major

Caught: Outside Douglass Hall

What are you wearing?Black Leather Bomber, Up Against the WallSilver and Black Striped Shirt & Necklace, AldoBlack Jeans, AldoHeels, Aldo

Why the leather jacket?I adore the piece that is the leather jacket because it reminds me so much of my favorite era: the 80’s. It represents the flourishing of hip-hop culture and people daring to be “bad” and different.

Who in your opinion has best rocked the leather jacket?It has to be Michael Jackson. When he wore the red jacket in the “Thriller” video and the black jacket in the “Bad” video, he had pop culture accept the jacket as great fashion without riding a Harley Davidson.

What goes through your mind when getting dressed each day? First its the weather; I can’t wear a leather jacket if it’s 90 degrees. Equally important is how I’m feel-ing. If I feel relaxed, then my clothing will reflect that; if I’m feeling goal-oriented, I might wear a business suit. I’m in no way a fashion icon, I just do what most students do: wear what feels comfort-able while being cognizant of my surroundings.

How do you make your leather jacket stand out? I just have to remember that ‘I wear the jacket, the jacket doesn’t wear me.’ My confidence and per-sonality is what accentuates the jacket. The jacket is great because I make it great. I make what I wear beautiful because I believe that I am beautiful.

“I make what I wear beautiful be-cause I believe that I am beautiful.”

“For me, the leather jacket is a ne-cessity, not an accesory.”“I don’t want to buy anything I can’t

use in multiple ways”

Caught In Style Laced In Leather

BY MAYA RHODANStaff Writer

Photo Courtesy of Aaron Randle

CJ Trahan, Aisha Johnson and Aaron Randle are the authors of MESH blog.

Web site:www.themeshlife.com

THE HILLTOP

6 ADVERTISEMENT October 7, 2009

In a video response regard-ing her alleged hospitalization, au-thor and poet Maya Angelou set the record straight. On Saturday, vari-ous news sources and blogs, such as TMZ, were reporting that Angelou was supposed to be honored at the BraveHeart Awards but had been hospitalized prior to arrival.

According to TMZ and their photographers, “Maya Angelou was taken to the hospital early Saturday evening [and] would not be [at the event] because she was taken to the hospital.” Initially, the posting was said to have infor-mation stating that Angelou had passed away.

Writer, autobiographer, speaker and poet, Angelou has been a literary icon since the 1970s when she wrote the internationally recognized book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Angelou was active during the Civil Rights movement, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and was recognized for having the longest running re-cord on the New York Times Pa-perback Nonfiction Bestseller List.

Because she continues to have such a huge impact on Ameri-can and international cultures, her reported sickness and passing trig-gered a huge uproar and concern.

According to sources, she was never supposed to attend the event and sent a taped acceptance speech instead. Soon after this posting of information, Angelou said she was bombarded with numerous phone calls, e-mails, and concerned fan mail about her health and the rea-son for her sudden visit to the hos-pital. It was said that people from all across the world, Africa and Eu-rope included, were trying to find out the truth behind the reports. Angelou denied ever going to the

hospital and in a video response posted yesterday, Angelou set the record straight for any misleading information.

“It’s been a burden—I have family here and family of friends all over the country who called me responding to an erroneous ac-count that I was sick and maybe even dying,” Angelou said. She re-frained from specifying any media sources that initiated the false in-formation but still managed to shed light on what she thought about the situation and the news sources that publicized it. “I feel sorry for a per-son who only has that much of life. Life is for the living and life loves the liver of it. You should be trying to live your own life, not trying to talk about somebody else’s death—that’s stupid.”

Celebrity gossip sites, TMZ.com and PerezHilton.com, receive more than 600,000 viewers a day. The issue many are finding with these sites is that people rely on them as their primary source of in-formation in the world.

“I think people rely on them too much. I know people who go to those sites faithfully. Celebri-ties can’t blow their nose without paparazzi,” said Brittany Long, a junior television production ma-jor. “How are you just going to say Maya Angelou died?”

Since the posting, TMZ.com has revised the information and added that Angelou is “alive and well.”

On April 4, Maya Angelou celebrated her 81st birthday. Cur-rently, is still touring around the country and has an upcoming event in Riverside, Calif. With ev-ery year, Angelou may age but she still attests that working is inevita-ble with her. “I work all the time. I don’t know how not to work. I’m not complaining. I play hard too,” Angelou said in an interview with

USA Today.Angelou’s next event is

scheduled in Riverside, Calif. on Oct. 22, and is titled “An Evening With Maya Angelou.” On Tuesday, President

Obama met at the White House with top congressional leaders from both parties in the House and Sen-ate to discuss the War in Afghani-stan.

Lawmakers of both parties assured him that they will rally be-hind whatever decision he makes on Afghanistan

During the meeting that took place af-ter the Obama administration’s comprehensive review of the U.S. strategy in A fghan i s t an , Obama told lawmakers that he will be “rig-orous and de-liberate in his review of Afghanistan, but under-stands the urgency of righting the flagging war.”

An administration official also said that Obama briefed lead-ers from both parties on progress in targeting al-Qaida and working with the Pakistani government to disman-tle terrorists’ safe havens there.

“The president is going to make a decision—popular or un-popular—based on what he thinks is in the best interests of the country,” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Monday.

Earlier this week, Secre-tary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates met at George Washington University for a CNN interview, and insisted that Obama’s deliberate approach to set the right objectives and poli-cies for Afghanistan was necessary and proper.

“We’re going to come up

with what we think is the best ap-proach, but the goal remains the same,” Clinton said.

Despite Obama’s decision on immediate troop levels, Gates made it clear that the United States will remain in Afghanistan to con-tinue efforts to dismantle terrorist or-ganizations and help with economic development and nation building.

“We’re not leaving Afghan-istan,” Gates said. “There should be no uncertainty in terms of our de-termination to remain in Afghani-

stan and to continue to build a relation-ship of partnership and trust with the Pakistanis. That’s long term. That’s a strategic objective of the United States.”

Jun io r biology major Alycia Gardner disagrees with Gates, and feels

that the United States should imme-diately pull out of Afghanistan.

“With siblings in the mili-tary and with them being deported before to Afghanistan and Iraq, I believe they should pull out of Af-ghanistan,” Gardner said.

“The lives of sons, daugh-ters, and wives are being put in jeop-ardy, and sadly, we are losing the war,” she said.

Obama says he will not base his decisions on “the mood of congressmen or the eroding pub-lic support of the war,” despite the White House declaring on Monday that he will not walk away from the flagging war in Afghanistan.

Several top military lead-ers and opposition Republicans are pressing Obama to act quickly to add an additional 40,000 troops to the 68,000 troops currently there. It may take weeks for Obama to make the decision.

“We’re not focused on whether or not the deadline will or won’t be met on a particular day,” said Gibbs at his daily press brief-ing. “We’re focused on ensuring that the facility is closed and doing all that has to be done between now and the 22 of Jan. to make the most progress that we can that’s pos-sible.”

The facility was set up as a detention center at the U.S. Guan-tánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba in Oct. 2001 to house suspects and people of interest in the then newly-launched War on Terror.

Most of the detainees there have not been charged for any specific crime or action, since they do not have access to due process proceed-ings found in U.S. Civilian Courts or the proceedings of U.S. Military Courts.

This is because inmates at Guantánamo Bay are viewed as enemy combatants by the United States, a term coined by the Bush Administration. This means they are still considered a threat to the country and fall into a unique legal, if not unconstitutional, position.

Thus, the controversial nature of the prison, combined with allegations of torture and prisoner abuse and its contribution

to a negative image of Americans abroad has led to Obama’s deci-sion.

Nine months after Presi-dent Obama’s executive order and continued rhetoric against the facil-ity, progress on the issue has failed to materialize and new efforts by Congress could make this more of an uphill battle than previously re-alized.

Rather than transfer the inmates to another foreign prison, which could pose questionable se-curity, ethical and policy problems, the President has strongly pushed to hold the 223 inmates in one or two prisons in the United States, such as the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks

at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. or the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility in Michigan.

However, in a bipartisan show of defiance, the United States House of Representatives voted 258-263 Thursday to prevent the administration from transferring inmates to the United States. These actions follow other bipartisan ef-forts in May, where the U.S. Sen-ate voted 90-6 to block funding to close Guantánamo Bay. The Senate argued it would not supply funding unless a more specific and accept-able plan to close the prison is un-veiled.

With such setbacks and growing public and congressional

anxiety, President Obama now finds himself in a tough position on the issue. However, sophomore civil engineering major, Jordan Rivers thinks the president can meet the deadline.

Rivers said closing the fa-cility will improve the international perception of the United States and will end the problem of incarcerat-ing individuals without charges. He views this as one of the more seri-ous ideals the U.S. should gather from this, and hopes it will sway some undecided congressmen. “It is downright un-American and, more importantly, inhumane to put these people in prison without any offense,” Rivers said.

NATION & WORLD 7

THE HILLTOP

BY Le’DIA J. SMITHStaff Writer

Obama Scrutinized For Failure To Actwww.wikipedia.org

Guantánamo Bay is used to detain people suspected and/or convicted of terrorist plots against the United States. President Obama’s efforts to close Guantánamo Bay are slow in coming to fruition.

continued from FRONT, BAY

Many citizens feel that President Obama is not following through on promises made on the campaign trail

Are you a political mind, searching for a release?Got a story idea?

E-mail hilltopnw@gmail.com

Sports TriviaAnswer:

Lovie Smith and

Tony Dungy

Smith, of the Chi-cago Bears and Dungy, of the

Indianapolis Colts went head-to-

head as coaches in 2007’s Superbowl

41.

The Colts were walked away the

bowl with a 29-17 victory and Super-

bowl Rings.

Maya Angelou Speaks Out About False Death Claims

Obama Administration Faces Tough Afghanistan Decisions

BY RILEY WILSONStaff Writer

“The lives of sons, daughters, and wives are being put in jeopardy, and sadly, we are losing the

war.”-Alycia Gardner,

junior biology major

because they do not represent the views of the entire student popula-tion.

“It’s detrimental for the campus for us to make decisions right now,” Talley said. “We really don’t have the ability to represent the entire campus.”

The job of the Policy Board is to act as the judicial branch of HUSA and to interpret the HUSA Constitution. Last year, Policy Board was responsible for the re-moval of several General Assem-bly representatives due to failing to uphold the rules in the constitution

and by-laws.To help mitigate the vacan-

cies, Smart said they plan to issue an Executive Order to make tem-porary appointments to fill the po-sitions until suitable candidates can be identified. Those in temporary positions can apply to be appointed by General Assembly. In order to be appointed, two committees and the assembly must review candi-dates.

The exact details of the or-der are still being negotiated to de-termine the voting power of those placed temporarily, term period and the need for the initial involve-ment of the legislative branch.

THE HILLTOP

continued from FRONT, BOARD

8 NEWS

Positions to be Filled On Policy Board

October 7, 2009

and brutalized.” Louis said the purpose of

the campaign is to provide school-ing, scholarships and therapy to the “war-torn area of Uganda” and not only awareness. He said it is our job to help.

“Kids in Uganda are dy-ing….killing their brothers and sisters because they’ve been brain-washed by tyrants. We want to

give back and help improve their education opportunities,” Louis said.

Louis said IPO wants to “black-out” the entire campus and will be producing shirts to sell to promote the “All Black Ev-erything” campaign. Profits from T-shirt sales will be donated to Invisible Children.

Randall Jones, a senior advertising major and IPO’s art director, did not reveal the ex-act design of the T-shirt, but she hinted at it.

“It’s not going to be a plain black T-shirt,” Jones said. “It will directly relate to the Howard community and D.C. at the mo-ment.”

Wesley Jackson, a junior international business major and

IPO’s creative director, reiterated that raising awareness for Invis-ible Children and the plight of Uganda were the goals of “Black Thursday.”

“At the end of the day, it’s about the kids. We want to sup-port this cause because everybody needs to know about it,” Jackson said. “We, as black people, need to be informed about our family across the world. When our peo-ple are hurting, we’re hurting.”

“Black Thursday” officially launches on Oct. 15, 2009, with a tentative rally scheduled in the Armour J. Blackburn Center. T-shirts will also be available for purchase at the rally.

Organization Helps Ugandans

continued from FRONT, THURSDAY

Black T-shirts will be worn to help Ugandan children, combat of recruitment to LRA

WWW.THEHILLTOPONLINE.COM

Capitalism. Marked by private ownership of re-sources, free wage earnings, and division of labor, it is often regarded as the ideal economic system, employed by our ideal American soci-ety.

Supporters of capitalism cite the sys-tem as refreshing and innovative, allowing Americans the means to improve their standard of living and accumu-late personal wealth. However, contrary to popular belief, this ide-alistically laissez-faire society virtually never results in the equal distribu-tion of wealth among the social classes.

The success of the American capitalist society only benefits a startling one percent of the nation’s gen-eral population, and surpris-ingly the acquisition of that wealth is pretty limited to that meager percentage.

Unfortunately, it

seems as if the majority of the public doesn’t seem to care-or rather understand, how they fit into the greater picture of America’s capital-ist economy. The only time America’s imbalanced eco-

nomic system seems to be on the mind of the public is in the face of some catastrophic incident-for example, a stock market crash or market de-pressing recessions.

Controversial Ameri-can filmmaker Michael Moore’s documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which opened in theatres last week, aims to reveal the ugly

truth behind America’s “ide-al” economic system, de-manding answers from the highest levels of corporate America and even federal government. With a touch of humor, Moore attacks the

unfair and rigid nature of the system, antago-nizing the culprits with impromptu, filmed interrogations, and standing up in inter-est of an uninformed public.

Americans, especially within the A f r i c a n - A m e r i c a n community, need to be knowledgeable and in-

formed about the economic machine with which they involuntary participate, and are essentially predestined to be a part of. Knowledge is necessary in order to flourish in such an illusory economic system where contrary to popular belief; attaining the “American dream” in the land of opportunity isn’t al-ways so easy.

EDITORIALS & PERSPECTIVES 9

THE HILLTOP

America’s blind love affair with capitalism

D a i l y S u d o k uDirections: Each row, each column and each 3x3 box must contain each and every digit 1-9 exactly once.

Graphic courtesy of capitalismalovestory.com

Our View:America’s laissez-faire economy doesn’t equal

fair distribution of wealth in society.

Correction: “Making Healthy Choices in Unhealthy Places,” published yesterday, was written by Killian Lewis.Correction: “Cougars on the Hunt: Is He Prey?” published yes-terday, was written by Tiffany Briggs.Correction: “Grad Student Promotes Overseas Travels,” pub-lished yesterday, was written by Aurora Ellis.

Tomorrowbelongs to those who prepare

for it today.

- Malcolm X

Send your perspectives to HilltopEditorials@gmail.com

Speak up.

THE HILLTOPThe Nation’s Only Black Daily Collegiate Newspaper

Brittany HarrisAsst. Business Manager

The Hilltop encourages its readers to share their opinions with the newspaper through letters to the editor or perspectives. All letters should include a complete address and telephone number and should be sent electronically on to hilltopeic@gmail.com.

Any inquiries for advertisements should be sent directly to The Hilltop Business Office at campusadvertising@thehilltoponline.com

THE HILLTOP2251 Sherman Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20001(202) 806-4724 (Editorial)(202) 806-4749 (Business)

businessoffice@thehilltoponline.com Now in its 85th year, The Hilltop is published Monday through Friday by Howard University students. With a readership of 7,000, The Hilltop is the largest black collegiate newspaper in the nation. The opinions expressed on the Editorial & Perspectives page are the views of the The Hilltop Editorial Board and those of the authors and do not necessarily represent Howard University or its administration. The Hilltop reserves the right to edit letters for space and grammatical errors and any inappropriate, libelous or defamatory content. All letters must be submitted a week prior to publication.

India ClarkBusiness Manager

Crystal J. AllenEditor-In-Chief

Jada F. SmithManaging Editor

Traver RigginsManaging EditorDeontay Morris

Deputy Managing Editor

Charles Metze IIINicolette McClendon

Cartoonists

Eboni FarmerOnline Editor

Alexis K. BarnesBusiness & Technology Editor

Cierra Jones Life & Style Editor

Anastacia MebaneCopy Chief

Genet LakewMetro Editor

Bree GantSean Robinson

Oluyomi Sodunke

Jasmine CarpenterBrittany CliftonMacy FreemanMichele Steele

Copy Editors

Ryan HamiltonAdvertising Layout Manager

Royce StrahanSports Editor

Photographers

Jessica LewisTahirah Hairston

Campus EditorsRyan Foster

Editorials & Perspectives Editor

Faraday OkoroZelena Williams

Co-Photo Editors

Marquis H. BarnettNation & World Editor

Erica HawkinsGraphics Editor

Courtney ColaLocal Advertising Manager

Jenise CameronAsst. Copy Chief

Jenerra AlbertOperations Manager

Want to write for The Hilltop?

Come grab a story at our next budget meeting.

Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Howard Plaza Towers West

Izunna EnyinnuhMultimedia Editor

10 HILLTOPICS October 7, 2009

THE HILLTOP

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and .25 for each

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Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc, Alpha Chapter

presents…Sigma Week

2009: Fade to Blue: The State of the Howard

CommunityOct 4th-10th

Wednesday Oct 7th : Meet the BrothersLocation: Blackburn

Digital Auditorium

Attire: Business Time: 7:14pm

Thursday Oct 8th:

“Speak Your Mind Pt. 2”

Location: TBA Attire: Casual Time: 7:14pm

Friday Oct 9th:

“BLU Cheese and Wings with

the MAB”Location: Meet

at the Tree/ESPN Zone

Attire: Casual Time: 6:30pm

Sat Oct 10th:

Community S∑rvic∑

Location: Meet at the Tree/Soup

Kitchen Attire: Casual Time: 10am

HUSA & Ubiquty,

Inc. Presents...

“Thankstaking:

Exposing the

Truth about

Columbus Day”

Thursday, Oct. 8,

2009

7:00pm

Blackburn Digital

Auditorium

You dont want to

miss this panel

discussion!

The School of

Communica-

tions

Student

Council needs

volunteers for

the

Mid-Atlantic

Pre-Law

Conference.

If interested,

please attend

the meeting

on

Thursday,

October 8,

2009 in C.B.

Powell Room

211

National Council of

Negro Women

invites you to our 2nd

Annual Health Week:

Wed.: Drug and Alcohol

Abuse, 7 pm Location

TBA

Thurs.: Obesity,

7pm, Founders Browsing

Room

All are welcome!!!

Membership dues and

applications accepted all

week!!!

The Ladies of

Alpha Chapter,

Delta Sigma Theta

Sorority, Inc.

Cordially Invite

The Classes of 2012 and 2013 to……“Discover-

ing Strength

and Tenacity: Standing Firm in

Your Ideals” Saturday, October 10, 2009 2:00pm- 3:30pm Annex

Seminar Room

The Ladies of Alpha

ChapterDelta Sigma

Theta Sorority, Inc

Present:A Woman’s

Demarcation: The

Dividing Line Between

Pro-Life and Pro-ChoiceOctober 7,

2009Engineering Auditorium

7:00pm

The College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Health

Sciences Presents:

The Cotton Club Revue

Location: Blackburn BallroomTime: 7pm

sharpPrice: FREE

Come witness GREATNESS as we crown

our NEW Mr. & Miss!!!

***Its a BLUES Affair***

The JHJ School of

Communi-cations Student Council

Presents...

“Return to the Savoy: The Mr. &

Miss School of Commu-

nications Pageant”

Tonight @ 7pm in Blackburn Ballroom.

Doors open @ 6:50pm

Sitters

Wanted

$12 or

more per

hour.

Register

free for

jobs near

campus

or home.

www.student-sitters.com

WHY WE MUST

MARCH FOR

LGBT CIVIL

RIGHTS

FEATURING

CLEVE JONES

Thursday, 10/8

HU Rankin

Chapel, 7pm

Join

veteran

activist

CLEVE JONES

(as portrayed by

Emile Hirsch in

the

Oscar-winning

movie Milk) on

why we must

MARCH ON

WASHINGTON

on

OCTOBER 11

for full

federal

equality for

everyone.

BECAUSE

SEPARATE IS

NEVER EQUAL!

SPONSORS:

CASCADE,

OUTlaw-HUSL.

MORE

INFORMATION:

cascadehu@

gmail.com,

www.nation-

alequality-

march.com.