THE HILLTOPTheHilltopOnline.com The Daily Student Voice of Howard University Vol. 94 No. 4. .Est. 1924

D.C. residents, members of hu-man and civil rights organizations, and students gathered Saturday, Aug. 28, at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School to participate in the “Reclaim the Dream” march and rally.

The march and rally were or-ganized by Al Sharpton, president of National Action Network, to cel-ebrate the anniversary of the “I have a Dream Speech” given by Martin Luther King 47 years ago.

“They told me others would be at the mall and they would be stand-ing where Dr. King stood,” Sharp-ton said. “Well they may have the

mall but we have the message.” Sharpton told the crowd at the

“Reclaim the Dream” rally “they may have the platform, but we have the dream.”

There were some D.C. residents who chose not to participate because of the media controversy surround-ing the Tea Party rally “Restoring Honor,” and the “The Reclaim the Dream” march occurring on the same day.

Pier Parks, a resident of North-west D.C. and clinical analyst, was surprised to see the march passing through Chinatown in Downtown D.C., and it was a peaceful march. She decided not to participate out of fear of violence.

“Being afraid there would be vi-olence and controversy,” said Parks. “And people can be passionate about politics and race.” Parks says race is a very sensitive subject regardless of a persons ethnic background.

“I just didn’t want to get caught up in any situation that could harm me,” Parks said.

There were some people stand-ing at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – the first public high school in the U.S. for African Americans—who were not afraid. These students were from Dunbar High School and Howard University.

Corine Jackson, a sophomore chemical engineer major, said the march gave her chills.

“It gives me pride that I was able to stand for something,” Jackson said.

Organizations stood with signs raised for the L.G.B.T. community, statehood for D.C., jobs for the un-employed, and asking for the gov-ernment to bring the troops home.

Young girls dressed in black t-shirts with khakis chanted, “Black, Latinos, Asians, and Whites...We came to D.C. to show that we have a Dream.”

Jackson says she will reclaim the dream by using her education in engineering to help her community with mentoring and giving the youth inspiration.

by Jarondakie PatrickStaff Writer

Four Year HustleStudents face several chal-lenges in earning a degree in a four-year program. p.2

Down with the DMVDoes the ‘DMV’ nick-name suit the District of Columbia or are residents unhappy with the title? p.4

HBCU Football CompetitionWhy don’t HBCUs compete with traditionally white schools in football? p.9

NEWS.......................... p.3

SPORTS....................... p.9

OPINIONS................. p.10

INSIDE INDEX

See PUNCH OUT, p.2

WEATHERToday Tomorrow

High: 95Low: 70

High: 93Low: 70

Monday, August 30, 2010

iLab to Charge Printing Fee

The Howard University Infor-mation Lab is taking steps towards making the campus green by charg-ing students to print.

Universities across the nation and many others in the Washington, D.C. area allot students the privilege to print on a limited scale and have them pay after a certain number of pages have been used.

According to a survey done by Information Systems and Services (ISAS) in the Office of Academic Support, the average charge for stu-dents to print excess paper in the lo-cal area is 10 cents per page for black and white documents.

The iLab has decided to follow suit and charge students to print af-ter they have reached the newly es-tablished limit beginning this school year. The iLab plans on giving stu-dents that are full time, $12.50 worth of free print jobs per semester and

by Michael Tomlin-CrutchfieldContributing Writer

King’s Dream ReclaimedPhotos by Ryan C. Hamilton Staff Photographer

Rev. Al Sharpton introduces HUSA President Brandon Harris at the “Reclaim the Dream” rally, where a crowd gathered to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s teachings.

Punch Out Adds Pizzaz

If you have walked into the stu-dent eatery “The Punchout,” you might have noticed the two new restaurant choices, the animal skin seats, and former basketball super-star, Magic Johnson’s, signature on the bottom right-hand corner of the Punchout sign.

The Punchout, an eating al-ternative for students without meal plans, received a make-over during the summer of 2010. Its new look has provided healthier food choices, an Asian style eatery, and new seat-ing arrangements.

Some students feel the renova-tion gives the Punchout some piz-zazz.

“I like the new renovations, it looks a little more swagged out in here,” says Alvin Staley, a senior le-

by Alexandria HoltContributing Writer

See ILAB, p.2

Rev. Al Sharpton organizes a weekend rally to celebrate Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech”

More photos on p.7

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The Hilltop The Student Voice of Howard University.The Hilltop Newspaper

Aleesa Mann Editor-in-ChiefGenet Lakew

Managing EditorRiley Wilson

Managing Editor

Camille Augustin Campus EditorMaya Rhodan

Metro EditorTahirah Hairston Life & Style EditorCrystal CooperOpinions EditorAaron Randle

Special Issues Editor

Christina Downs Copy Chief

Dilane Mitchell Asst. Copy ChiefBriana Evans

Copy EditorMichele Steele

Copy EditorAlexa Murray

Copy EditorLauren Griggs

Copy Editor

Marquis H. Barnett Ombudsman

Ronesha Dennis Web Editor

Bree Gant Photo Editor

John F. KnightMultimedia Editor

Brittany J. Harris Business Manager

Jasmine D. Carpenter Asst. Business Manager

Arbie Mosley Local Ad Sales Manager

Kayla R. Brooks Operations Manager

Le’Dia J. Smith Marketing Manager

Erica HawkinsAd Design

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 to feedback@thehilltoponline.com.

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part time students $6.50 worth of free print jobs at 5 cents per black and white page, half the 10 cents charge that other universities in the area charges their students.

Some students believe the iLab’s new plans are not fair and do stu-dents a disservice.

“We pay a lot of money to go to Howard and we shouldn’t have to pay for mistakes that they make,” said Audra Pettus, senior broadcast journalism major. ”There are oth-ers ways the administration can cut back without making us pay.”

By reducing paper waste and partnering with Océ North Amer-ica, a printing equipment services company, the iLab will monitor car-bon production from equipment and offset the carbon footprint by plant-ing trees.

In a statement by the Office of ISAS, paper waste has been a huge issue for the center and since Octo-ber 2009, to the iLab has recycled an average of 1,043.5 pounds of paper per month, equivalent to about 52

boxes of paper. This amounts to ap-proximately $21,914 dollars annu-ally and 106 trees.

Although some students may find the new policy an issue, some believe it’s a step in the right direc-tion.

“Every time I go to the iLab, I see people printing out things mul-tiple times and things that aren’t re-lated to anything productive,” said Tiffany Luse, senior international business major. “If you want to waste paper then you should pay for it, not the school.”

Other services that the universi-ty plans to fully integrate this school year include allowing students to print remotely from personal lap-tops and pick up their documents from the iLab, Blackburn commut-er lab printers and the newly reno-vated Resnet Collaborative Learn-ing centers in residence halls within 24 hours.

In addition to more printing abilities, there is a new print shop inside the iLab that will provide bulk printing service to students, espe-cially graduate students who at times

are required to submit several copies of their work.

Color copies, binding and a lim-ited selection of cover pages and more will be available for additional

charge. Graduating seniors and those applying for jobs will be able to have their resumes printed on spe-cial paper of their choice for a frac-tion of the cost at Kinko’s.

ILAB continued from Front

Naomie Payen Staff Photographer

Students will be charged a 5 or 10 cent fee per page to print in the iLab once they have exceeded the $12.50 limit of free printing.

gal communications major. “I like the addition of the Sub Connection and the Asian eatery; it gives a di-verse selection to choose from.”

According to Eric Brown, a So-dexho Inc. general manager, the company distributed student surveys in the previous school year to de-termine student’s food preferences. With the influx of responses from the student surveys, it was deter-

mined that the students wanted to see a more diverse food selection by adding an Asian style eatery, and a sub sandwich eatery concept.

“After reviewing the surveys, we wanted to make sure the students got what they wanted, so we reached into our resources,” said Brown.

SodexhoMagic is the partnership that Sodexho Inc. has with Magic Johnson Enterprises. The new Mag-ic Johnson Sub Connection provides healthier choices of subs, wraps, sal-ads, and a bonus of Magic Johnson’s

smiling face. The Charlie Chiang’s Kwai

eatery is also a new addition to the Punchout, which serves traditional choices of lo mein, General Tso’s chicken, rice and vegetables.

With its new tables, booths, and entrance sign, Sodexho also wanted to make the Punchout more com-fortable and spacious for students to enjoy. However, some students have mixed feelings about the new reno-vations.

Tierra White, a senior marketing

major, said she prefers the old seat-ing arrangement. “Although the ani-mal skin on the new booths is nice, I feel that the booths from last year, instead of the tables, created more seating space for the students.”

Jimmy Cox, a sophomore tele-communications management ma-jor, said the Punchout last year had more of a familiar atmosphere.

“The vibe is different, I felt it had more charisma last year,” said Cox. “I do like the addition of the Sub Connection, but I would rather have the pasta line from Pandini’s over the Asian eatery.”

Sodexho worker, Brandon Jiles, said he likes the new renovations of the Punchout, but has been receiv-ing many questions and complaints from different students.

“A lot of students miss the Philly cheese steaks and the burgers, how-ever, the new stations provide us with less cleaning during closing,” said Jiles. “I want the students to be pleased; hopefully they will get ad-justed as the year goes on.”

According to Brown, the Pun-chout will receive another eatery in the future, similar to the previous restaurant of the Sky Ranch Grill, although he is not sure of when exactly that will be. He said more student surveys will be distributed to make sure the students have input.

“We don’t do anything without student feedback, what students want is what we give,” said Brown.

PUNCH OUT continued from Front

Bree Gant Photo Editor

Magic Johnson’s Subconnection is one of two new restaurants in The Punch Out, along with Charlie Chiang’s Kwai eatery.

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News. . . .

As the 2010-2011 school year kicks off, many students have found themselves returning to Howard without some of their closest class-mates. The reason: money.

This year, the estimated cost of attendance has been raised to well over $25,000. Add in room and board, and some students could see that number rise to as much as $40,000.

Due to this increase in manda-tory fees, including tuition, and room and board, some students have found it difficult to remain at Howard, especially those without scholarships, or those in fear of los-ing their scholarships.

“I was pretty nervous last year about coming back to Howard,” said Joseph Ignatius, a junior com-puter engineering major and legacy scholarship student. “CEACS is a hard college and there were times I thought I would lose my scholar-ship. But I didn’t and by God’s grace, I’m still here today.”

Ignatius, who is on scholarship through the university isn’t alone when it comes to doing all it takes academically to make sure scholar-ship money will be renewed.

Michael Roy, a junior legal communications major is on scholarship from an extra-curricular activity.

“I love being a part of the Howard University Mock Trial team,” said Roy. “Wanting to one day practice law, it gives me great real-life practice in the field I want to pursue. Not to mention a scholar-ship ever year.”

For Roy, he must participate on the team year-round to maintain

his scholarship. Not only must he participate, but he must also prove himself worthy of maintaining his scholarship in his competition and performance.

“I don’t consider [mock trial] an extra-curricular anymore,” Roy said. “It’s become part of my cur-riculum and part of what I have to do as a student to stay at Howard.”

The scholarship grind isn’t only affecting upperclassmen, however. Even new students to the university find themselves raising their personal antes to ensure their matriculation in a time when fees are only rising.

Lisa Lockman, a freshman accounting major and capstone scholarship recipient, worked diligently through high school to receive scholarships, so that money wouldn’t be a problem when try-ing to make it to her number one school: Howard University.

“Once I got the capstone scholarship, which covers tuition and room and board, I knew I was coming to Howard,” said Lockman. “But I continued to work hard and apply to more scholarships, and as a result, I haven’t had to come out of pocket at all, and have extra money to use at my leisure.”

While only a freshman, with a scholarship, Lockman must main-tain a 3.3 cumulative grade point average—something she is sure she can do.

For students who have not re-ceived either university scholarships, or a scholarship, hope is still alive.

According to the Office of Student Financial Services, “Donor Scholarships will be awarded in October. Awarded students will receive a notice of their award via e-mail and BisonWeb.

Senioritis is the fabled “disease” that infects students everywhere when graduation is lurking around the corner. However, for some students, when senioritis is com-bined with a heavy course load in an attempt to finish all of those last credits, it can become difficult to manage.

The maximum number of credits that students can take each semester without paying extra is 18. But when it comes to seniors, some push the limit and take as many as they can in order to graduate on time.

In addition to heavy course loads, many students have to work, prepare for life after graduation, which includes applying to graduate schools, law schools or both.

“The key is time management, really. I made my schedule so that I can study for the LSAT and do work study during breaks,” said

Brittany White, senior legal com-munications major. “Organization also plays a big role. I take all my class notes on my computer so I have time to review them at night.”

White, who is carrying 20 credits this semester, is not alone. Students schedules also become packed due to course requirements outside of their major.

Senior biology major, Monee Mickins, said her heavy course load is not due to her major or minor classes, but courses she has to take to reach her minimum credit requirement.

“I’m frustrated because the re-quirements for my major and minor are mostly fulfilled. However, my heavy course load is due to having to take unnecessary courses to ob-tain 127 credits and fulfill division-als,” said Mickins.

Courses that are outside of a student’s major or minor are placed on the scheme to make students well-rounded and to ensure that they receive the optimum educa-

tional experience before leaving the university. However, those classes can still can be a pain when stu-dents are trying to enjoy their time with friends and social activities.

“I usually take 18 credits each semester, but I decided to drop my elective class and only take 15,” said Kiara McCoy, senior hospitality management major.

Most students want to enjoy their senior year, but often find it challenging to effectively balance their academic and social lives.

“Since I’m taking 18 credits, I will just have to balance my studies and my fun a little bit differently,” said Chanel Oldham , senior ac-counting major. “I still have time to go out and have fun with friends; I just know that I’ll have to spend that much more time in the books.”

The old saying, “work hard, play hard” seems to be the rule that prospective graduates have followed for years and the class of 2011 and beyond will be no different.

by Gerron JordanStaff Writer

Scholarship Grind Heavy Course Loads Weighs Down Studentsby Jarondakie Patrick

Staff Writer

Bree Gant Photo Editor

Students take on a large course load and extracurricular activities in order to graduate on time.

ABC News Arrives to School of CommunicationHoward University will be the

sixth school to participate in ABC News on Campus.

The program, started in 2008, creates bureaus at top journalism schools around the country and is constructed to educate and mentor promising journalism students.

Through the program stu-dents are given the opportunity to work with experienced ABC News producers and report on local sto-ries, some of which may be featured across ABC News platforms.

Five journalism students cur-rently staff the bureau: Senior Can-dace Smith, serves as bureau chief, and juniors Seth Lemon and Sand-ile Ashford and seniors Lynee Coan and Kyla Grant are the representa-tives for the university.

“I feel so humbled to have this opportunity to work with ABC and such a wonderful group of people,” said Smith. “Being the first black bu-reau chief is a mantle not to be taken lightly and I just hope that I, along with my colleagues, can leave a lega-

cy for future generations of journal-ism students here at Howard.”

Smith expressed her drive for the program as not only being for self-benefit, but for the benefit of the Howard community as a whole.

“We’ll put out excellent mate-rial, not just because that’s the stan-dard we’ve set for ourselves, but also because our performance this year determines whether or not future Bison will have the opportunity we had,” said Smith.

Smith admitted that Howard received this opportunity because it was taken away from another school, but “that won’t happen to us,” she said.

The appointed faculty advisor for the bureau is journalism professor Valerie Cummings. Cummings’ role in the program is to simply supervise the students, listen to story pitches and help make story selections in bi-weekly board meetings.

Professor Cummings said that the primary goal of the program is to “nurture the development of digital journalists.” Cummings elaborated on this statement by explaining that the program was strictly designed

for outstanding digital journalists, crafted to hone their talents and give them a leg up on the competition prior to entering the work force.

“These students went through a pretty competitive selection pro-cess,” said Cummings. Part of the process included a written test,and a submission of a portfolio. The field was then narrowed down to eight students who were interviewed by ABC executives, with five students selected for this opportunity.

When asked how long the program would be here on campus, Cummings replied that the hope is for it to be ongoing.

“The initial agreement is for one year, but hopefully we can keep the program running for as long as ABC is willing,” said Cummings. “We want to give more journalism students at Howard this same great opportunity.”

Cummings said that any stu-dent could be a contributing reporter for the program by simply pitching a story idea to either her or Smith for review.

John Green, ABC News Exec-utive Producer of Special Program-

ming and Development, supervises and manages the ABC News on Campus program.

“ABC News recruiters have had a long-standing relationship with Howard. Many Howard grad-uates already work here, but we wanted to formalize the relationship even further by offering the students a chance to work with ABC News before they graduate,” said Green, when asked how Howard was cho-sen for the program.

“The dean and faculty in Howard’s journalism department were enthusiastic about our opening an ABC News on Campus Bureau at Howard, and when we were on cam-pus talking to the students we knew we had made the right decision,” said Green.

“What an amazing group of young journalists.”

Green said that they hoped to give the students involved first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to work in a network news environment and give them opportunities to develop their stories and have them show-cased.

The network’s ultimate goal is

to mold students into skilled journal-ists so that they will be prepared to work for major news affiliates such as ABC.

“Hopefully, many of the stu-dents who participate in the pro-gram will eventually come work for ABC News after they graduate,” Green voiced.

When asked how it felt to head the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) of the program, Smith said while they recognize being the first HBCU, that is not how they chose to view them-selves.

“We don’t want them to say ‘They’re producing some great stuff for an HBCU’-we want them to say that we’re the best bureau they’ve ever had. Excellence is colorblind,” said Smith.

Howard is to join Syracuse University, Arizona State University, the University of Florida, the Uni-versity of Nebraska, and the Univer-sity of Texas in the launching of this program.

by Whitney AndersonStaff Writer

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The Hilltop The Student Voice of Howard University.

Catty, elite, dramatic, social queens and money driven women are just a few of the descriptions critics use to refer to the women of The Real Housewives of Orange County, Atlanta, New York, and New Jersey. The hit Bravo reality show is surrounded with drama as self-proclaimed housewives of major cities flaunt their excessive lifestyles in front of cameras 24/7.

This season, Bravo is coming to Washington as Mary Schmidt Amons, Lynda Erkiletian, Cath-erine Ommanney, Michaele Salahi, and Stacie Scott Turner became the first “Real Housewives of D.C.”

But how does the district feel about these so-called ‘real house-wives,’ and who are these women set to represent the metro area every week on television?

Maggie Canon, a waitress from Arlington, Va. said the “Real Housewives” has become her real-ity television addiction.

“I’m addicted to all house-wives,” Canon said.

Canon said she is in withdrawal from other seasons ending such as “Real Housewives of New York” and “Real Housewives of New Jer-sey,” and has no other choice but to watch “Real Housewives of D.C.” until the other seasons return.

The housewives have careers ranging from philanthropy to real estate and live everywhere from the district to Virginia Wine County. Housewife Stacie Scott Turner, is a Howard University alumna with a Master’s degree from Harvard, while Salahi and her husband are the infamous White House party crashers.

From the first show, viewers were thrust into the high-school drama that surrounds the social lives of these middle-aged women. They tossed around accusations of one of the wives having an eat-ing disorder, criticized President

Barack Obama and Tyra Banks, and entertained guests at dinner outings, birthday parties and social gatherings.

These women are described as affluent, educated women, social climbers interacting with friends and family by the unwritten social rules of Washington. According to Bravo, these women are going to combine the nexus of politics, society, and race.

Sophomore hospitality major Rachel Starkey, having watched only one episode, says Turner is her favorite character who has proven to be educated by the way she handles situations.

“My mother actually went to undergrad with Turner,” Starkey said. Her mom described Turner as having the same characteristics she exemplifies on the show from undergrad. Starkey says as an African-American woman, Turner is not feeding into the drama and is breaking reality television’s stereo-typical view of African-American women.

Students and residents, how-ever, have not played in the popu-larity of this show because of the portrayal of the diversity. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2009 reports show that Washington D.C. is 54 percent black, 40.6 percent white, and 8.8 percent Hispanic.

A cast made up of three white women, one black woman, and one European woman does not reflect the diverse population of Wash-ington.

Canon does not believe the housewives represent enough of the area and considers the women to only have huge egos, which she thinks is the show’s biggest downfall.

“You have a lot of wealthy people, but not a lot of profes-sional representation on the show,” Canon said.

by Jarondakie PatrickStaff Writer

Real Housewives Reality Series Makes its Way to the District

This summer, the Metrorail system has under-gone fare changes, which are continuing with the addition of new “peak-of-the-peak” fares to go in effect from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Sept. 30, 2010. This morning rush-hour increase adds $.20 to every weekday trip taken between the given hours.

At the end of June, an 18 percent fare hike was implemented as a part of WMATA’s two-part fare adjustment to help account for the $189 million shortfall it faced this past fiscal year.

On Aug. 1, the second phase began as a $0.20 charge was added to every trip taken between 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; peak hours of travel for D.C. residents and Howard students traveling between school, work and home.

According to the WMATA Web site, the peak hour fare increase will make up for approximately $108 million.

This fare increase proves inconvenient to students who travel via metro to their homes and

jobs every day. Jasmin Thomas, a junior broadcast journalism major, travels to campus from West Hyattsville, Md. and said the trip costs her about $7.45 everyday.

“The prices are ridiculous and inconvenient to college students,” said Thomas. “I guess this was the only way they could have [fixed the budget]. There really was no other solution. I just hate that the decision made affects me and my wallet so drastically, as an everyday college student.”

The fare increases also affect those buying paper metro cards when traveling. The paper cards cost commuters an extra $0.25 at every purchase, to encourage patrons to use the SmartTrip card system.

-compiled by Maya Rhodan, Metro Editor

Metro Fare Hikes Hurt Students’ WalletsBree Gant Photo Editor

Tianny Sims, a graduating senior math major from New Or-leans, said the August 29th anniver-sary could be viewed as a triumph for survivors.

“It was definitely a low in a lot of people’s lives, but a lot of people have bounced back including the city,” Sims said.

But Sims pointed out that every city has not received as much atten-tion from recovery efforts, specifi-cally the Ninth Ward in East New Orleans.

Rashida Moore, a junior Eng-lish major and Alternative Spring Break (ASB) participant, echoed Sims’ opinion.

Moore said when traveling around New Orleans rebuilding homes and painting walls the Ninth

Ward seemed untouched. Entire neighborhoods empty and aban-doned like ghost towns.

According to NASA’s Katrina retrospective, 80 percent of New Orleans was underwater and the storm eventually resulted in the loss of 1,800 lives in La., Alabama, and Mississippi.

The wreckage of the level-three hurricane was exacerbated by the failure of the levee system built by the Army Corps of Engineers, which flooded New Orleans.

In September 2009, the Army Corps of Engineers was found liable for flooding damages. Judge Stanwood Duval of the Eastern District of Louisiana wrote in his ruling “the negligence of the Corps, in this instance by failing to main-tain the MRGO [Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal] properly, was not policy, but insouciance, myopia and short-sightedness.”

“They really owe people a lot,” Sims said. “They should issue a public state of apology.”

“Everyone needs to be held ac-countable,” Moore said.

Tyra Flotti, a senior music edu-cation major, remembered Katrina as a turning point in her life.

“It’s the anniversary of when my life turned around,” Flotti said.

Flotti left Louisiana after the storm struck and relocated to Chi-cago with her family.

Flotti ultimately stayed in Chi-cago for a year. She said that her time in Chicago was the chance of a lifetime. After her sophomore year in college, her Chicago aunt passed away.

“If I hadn’t spent that year in Chicago, I wouldn’t have seen her,” Flotti said.

While Flotti believes the state government is trying to rebuild, the schools continue to struggle to recover.

“The schools that I’ve known before have gone downhill,” Flotti said, “But I see them trying so hard to bring things back.”

Coming back has been hard for some La. natives. Sims said close friends hesitated to come back since they found a “fresh start” in the cit-ies they relocated to.

“It’s never going to be the same,” Sims said before adding, “But it can get back to being good.”

by Derrick HaynesStaff Writer

Remembering KatrinaFive years after Hurricane Katrina landed in the Gulf region students from La. and a recovery volunteer reflect on the efforts to rebuild.

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Nicknames are popular among many cultures. This is true when it comes to giving a nickname to a toddler, best friend or shortening a difficult name to pronounce.

The Washington Metropolitan Area, known to many young profes-sionals and college students as the D.M.V. may adopt that abbreviation as the official nickname of the area.

D.M.V. may be a catchy nick-name; however, many residents of the Washington Metropolitan Area don’t find it to be a fitting name for the area.

“At first I thought they were talking about the Department of Motor Vehicles when I first heard D.M.V.,” said Roger Jackson, a 35-year-old music teacher from Silver Spring, Md. Jackson said he of-ficially heard the name three weeks ago and had to ask himself what the company was advertising.

The D.M.V.’s origin is a refut-able subject, with some crediting the hip-hop community of the District, Maryland, and Virginia area, ac-cording to The Washington Post.

Sidney Thomas, the author of “Diamonds in the Raw,” a book on the history of the local rap scene in the Washington Metropolitan Area, shed light on three possible theories on the origin of the nickname within The Washington Post article.

Local rapper Bello, 20, claims he started a website incorporating the initials. Club promoter “Dre All Day in the Paint,” claims he made it

popular in 1995 utilizing DJs, while rap group “Target Squad” claims it came from the title of their DMV Mixtape, which came out before the term was popular outside of the underground hip-hop scene.

However, even before the “D.M.V.” hip-hop scene emerged, Washington’s Channel 9 was known as WDMV-TV, which stood for the District, Maryland, and Virginia, creating yet another possible origin of the newly recognized epithet.

Many new, and young, residents to the area only know to identify the District, Maryland, and Virginia area as the D.M.V. Older residents, however, don’t see any use for it.

Wilma Harvey, a retired D.C. resident who has lived in North-west D.C. for the past 35 years, says she has never heard the term mentioned, and does not like the nickname.

“I’m greatly opposed to the nickname because I live in the Dis-trict of Columbia,” Harvey said. “It is a District and not a state and we are the nation’s capital.”

Harvey says this is something Maryland and Virginia can never say.

Jackson describes Washington’s structure as a box much different to the states of Maryland and Vir-ginia. He says it is the history which actually separates Washington from Maryland and Virginia.

“Almost on every other block you can read something about his-tory or see history,” Jackson said.

While Washington may have a history, Marcelis Muriel, a freshman

chemical engineering major, says his hometown Norfolk, Va. has its own culture and nicknames.

“The D.M.V. applies to a lot of counties close to the metropolis area,” Muriel said. He says the nickname does not account for all the people of Virginia.

“757” or “Seven Cities” is how north and western Virginia’s smaller cities refer to itself.

Out-of-state students like Joshua Moore, a sophomore political science major; however, said nicknames may not explain the relationship between the culture

of a large city and its surrounding neighborhoods.

“I tell people I am from Chi-cago all the time,” Moore said. “Then they ask what part and I refer to Oak Park and they tell me I am not from Chicago I am from the suburbs.”

by Jarondakie PatrickStaff Writer

D.C. Finally Getting Down with the ‘DMV’

Ryan McCaulsky Layout Editor

The DMV is the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area composed of parts of Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

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A Dream Reclaimed

Scenes from the March at Dunbar High School to the site of the future Martin Luther King Memorial

Photos by Ryan C. Hamilton Staff Photographer

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Karim Alammuri Sports Editor sports@thehilltoponline.com

Sports. .

The Hilltop 9

by Karim AlammuriSports Editor

by Deontay MorrisKellen Sims

Contributing Columnists

Before racial integration, black athletes were rarely recruited by predominantly white institutions so. They had little option but to enroll and play at HBCUs. Then in Sep-tember 1970, Sam Cunningham’s historical performance against the University of Alabama changed college football recruiting forever.

Soon after that, many predomi-nately white schools began recruit-ing black players heavily. University of Alabama offered a scholarship to Wilbur Jackson, the first African American in Tide history to receive a scholarship.

Predominantly white institutions are able to pamper their recruits with state of the art facilities, dormitories, the opportunity to play in a huge football stadium and nationwide exposure to NFL scouts. HBCUs have struggled to sign the best recruits because they lack in these categories and many of their schools football programs are not funded as much as schools like the University of Florida or University of Southern California.

The main difference when com-paring football programs such as Howard’s and University of Florida is that one is a private institution and the other is public.

“The obvious difference be-tween HBCUs and PWIs, is they have a a considerable amount more scholarships to give out, which natu-rally adds more depth which makes it hard for HBCU’s to compete because it’s a numbers game,” said Donald Ware, who hosts the nation-ally syndicated sports show “From the Press Box to Press Row.”

Public universities receive mil-lions of dollars in funding from the state for their football program and other aspects of their school. They apply this money towards physical facilities, academics, better dorms and classrooms and quality labs. Also, the alumni base between a private and public institution varies A private institution is not as large so, its disposable income for giving back is not as high.

“The financial support is almost non-existent compared to the other large division-1 schools in the athletics field; it’s unfortunate we don’t get the same opportunity as

those other athletes that attend the neighboring schools,” said Chatman Young, senior right guard.

PWIs offer more seats for fans and onlookers than other schools. The biggest football stadium for an HBCU belongs to Norfolk State University, which can seat up to 30,000 people. The University of Michigan stadium can seat up to 109,000 people. Howard’s Greene Stadium can only seat up to 10,000 people per game.

“Overall, the HBCU does not have financial resources that predominantly white institutions have because the HBCU funding has been put into the physical plant of the university, to renovate dorms, class rooms and laboratories, as opposed to the emphasis in athletic venues,” said Newton Jackson, PhD, former athletic director at Florida A&M University.

Although Cunningham’s perfor-mance will forever be remembered as the day that broke segregation among college football, it was also the day that HBCUs lost key recruits and the ability to compete with predominantly white institu-tions.

Last week we began to explain the power of sports. We understand that this topic is so broad and impor-tant that an entire book can be dedi-cated to it. So this week we decided to explain how the power of sports directly affects Howard University (HU) and colleges across the coun-try.

It can be hard to understand the power of sports on a collegiate level because at HU athletics takes a back seat to almost everything. But at almost all other schools the school revolves around athletics.

At Ohio State University the students there spend the majority of Saturday’s either at the game or tailgating for the game and then, of course, partying afterwards. There are a couple major reasons for this, the first being that the athletic teams at OSU are outstanding and then also because these sports brings in millions of dollars to the school. This revenue stream correlates with the facilities that the school has, sports and academic alike.

According to figures released from the U.S. Department of Educa-tion’s Equity in Athletics during the 2008-2009 school year the University of Texas’ football program turned a $65 million profit. The University of Georgia racked in $45 million, and the University of Florida brought in a $43 million profit. Imagine how different Howard University would be if our athletic programs turned half of those profits.

Simply put, with the excep-tion of Ivy League schools, the schools with better athletics tend to look better. The money that football and basketball teams bring in allows the schools to build state of the art research facilities and buildings that make the school far more attractive. Not to mention great sports pro-grams bring more television expo-sure to those schools, which in turn

attracts the best and the brightest students from across the country. All in all, it means more money.

We are more than sure that HU President Dr. Sidney Ribeau understands the power of sports. In 2001 while he was President of Bowl-ing Green University Urban Meyer was hired as head football coach. Meyer has excelled everywhere he has coached since. He has won two national championships and has the highest winning percentage of any Division I college coach.

There should be a better tran-sition here. Something that draws the connection between Ribeau’s experience and our athletic situation at Howard. It needs to make sense why you chose to mention this.

Howard University has the unique opportunity to be able to re-cruit nationally using a completely different formula than most major programs. It has a brand that allows the school to distinguish itself from many other schools because it is the top HBCU with the best academic curriculum, who also competes on the Division I level. Why not use the power that our school has in the African-American community to support athletics and at least try and compete on national level?

Our athletic department has begun to try to turn things around. Bison alum and Indianapolis Colts safety Antoine Bethea recently do-nated $25,000 of a pledge to give $100,000. Banners have gone up on the side of Burr Gymnasium and on the side of Cramton Auditorium be-hind Greene Stadium to try to foster more school spirit. The biggest news is that a committee has begun a na-tional search for an Athletic Direc-tor. Hopefully this search will bring a great leader and a visionary who’s willing to change things like Dr. Ri-beau.

Deontay Morris and Kellen Sims share their views at sports3-6-5.blogspot.com

Courtesy of ThatsHowIRoll

PWIs, especially Big Ten Universities, spend hundreds of millions of dollars on state of the art athletic facilities, like “The Big House,” University of Michigan’s football stadium.

HBCUs Struggle to Compete Nationally

SPORTS 3-6-5The Power of Sports,Part II

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Crystal Cooper Opinions Editor opinions@thehilltoponline.com

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by Marquis H. BarnettOmbudsman

Students shuffling to class sporting t-shirts, backpacks, and other paraphernalia imprinted with logos of past years, reminds us that the four-year graduation plan isn’t feasible for everyone. Fret not fellow Bison; Howard is among universities na-tionwide representing the five to six year graduation trend.

A June 2009 report published by USA Today revealed that, on average, 53 percent of students at four year schools gradu-ate in six years.

According to search results at www.collegeresults.org, 65 percent of Howard students graduated with-in six years in 2008. This places us between Hampton, which graduated 51 percent in six years and a soaring 81 percent at the nearby University of Maryland College Park.

It turns out that the reasons for the extended stay are just as var-

ied as the statistics for each school. Universal causes include the

economic downturn and credit crunch, making loans harder to ob-tain, and students’ personal lack of

responsibility through excessive par-tying and slacking off. Unique situa-tions such as studying abroad or be-ing unable to use transfer credits can also hinder a student’s progression.

However, any expectation to reduce Howard’s statistics requires us to examine the structure of the administration and individual col-leges and universities.

Rigid schemes and require-ments, such as the mandatory four physical education classes, make it difficult to fulfill other avenues: in-ternships, extra-curricular activities

and volunteer work. We are also faced

with red tape concerning prerequisites and double enrollment in mandatory courses. Every semester begins with student com-plaints about receiving the run-around, in which we have to track down multiple administrators and fill out a host of forms to solidify our

schedules. It never fails. Perhaps President Ribeau’s

PCAR initiative (Presidential Com-mission on Academic Renewal), which calls for the reallocation of re-sources, will improve these statistics over time. Until then, no matter if obtained in four years or six years, a degree is a degree, nonetheless.

The Six-Year TrendSTAFF EDITORIAL

OUR VIEW“The stigma associated with ‘su-per senior status’ has lessened in

recent years.”

Unbought, Unbossed,Unbaised

Richard Montgomery Cartoonist

Aug. 28, 2010 was the day when thousands of people, and I, stood for justice! We marched in a movement lead by Al Sharpton. It was a sweltering day out; how-ever, that did not hinder anyone. As a Howard University student I marched with my fellow classmates chanting “HU! You Know!” along with singing hymns and chanting phrases such as “No Justice, No Peace!”

So many different organiza-tions were represented at the “Re-claim the Dream” march. The event was amazing and will surely

be marked as a significant event in history.

The movement started at Dunbar High School, the first black public high school in the United States. For two hours there were three-minute speeches from various leaders from all walks of life, includ-ing the president of Morehouse Col-lege, the Black Farmers Association, the National Urban League and no-table radio host Tom Joyner.

Although it was a hot day, the audience was lively and responded in true call-and-response fashion, yelling “Yes!” “Well!” and “Preach!”

The speakers made notable state-ments such as “history without des-tiny leads to apathy,” and honored activists such as Dorothy Heights, James Farmer and Rosa Parks. They inspired and moved everyone in at-tendance.

The time to take action is now, and as a young person I realize how important it is to be involved and ensure that my voice is heard. My fellow classmates and I are the future and as Malcolm X said, “if you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.”

When the March began the

chants for hope continued. It was amazing seeing these various people stand up for a unified cause “We might have come here on a different ship, but we are all in the same boat” stated a speaker.

Those causes that attracted thousands of people together in-cluded eliminating tax breaks for the wealthy, preventing laws like the Arizona Immigration law, improving education for inner city youth and getting Washington, D.C. admitted to the union as the 51st state.

This march was essential, as it continued to press the issues of

social and economic equality, and made it known that it is time to right the wrongs in the nation’s capital. Although there was a rally going on across the city that countered what we, and Martin Luther King Jr., stood for, we marched with pride and dignity to not only commemo-rate Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington that occurred 47 years ago but, to continue this great man’s dream.

“The people united will never be divided!”

Alicia Glenn, SophomorePublic Relations Major

PERSPECTIVE: I Stood For Justice

10

I was contacted by a 1972 alumna who expressed her gratitude for The Hilltop giving alumni “...the opportunity to share online my ap-preciation to all The Hilltop staff for keeping us all connected through print.” That outreach meant a great deal, as most of the paper’s on-line readers are alumni all over the world.

However, not all correspon-dence I received was in the best of lights. One concerned alumnus was displeased that, after claiming to be a 24-hour, daily publication, there was little-to-no visible content changes on the Web site, for what seemed like days. I cannot say that I completely disagree with this alum-nus, who offered his words with the utmost care.

As I glanced at the Web site, I thought to what The Hilltop is sup-posed to be—the daily student voice of Howard University. Being that the paper is only printing on Mon-days and Thursdays, it is necessary that the online version of the paper is updated just as though it were still running daily in print. That is what The Hilltop staff is paid to do, and that is what needs to happen.

I’m sure that a number of things could have contributed to the lack of online publication, including late stories, insufficient staff etc. But, simply put, the show must go on. I do not agree with the latter of the alumni when he mentioned the no-tion that “The Hilltop has bitten off

too much.” I believe that The Hilltop, hav-

ing prepared for this major change since the new staff was chosen, is ready to converge to online media just like most publications in the world.

I also believe that The Hilltop staff is comprised of dedicated and knowledgeable pre-professionals, but if the staff continues to fall short on what they promised their readership, then it will be a sad day in Hilltop History.

I would like to commend the staff on the noticeable decline in spelling and typographical errors, but I would still like to point out a few things that should not have made it to print. Last Thursday’s paper included the headline “Securing the Campus.” I thought the headline could have been much better, and it proves that there is still some work to be done.

Also, when an entire succes-sion of editorial members can miss the fact that a large quote, in the middle of the page, is attributed to “Keith Burnett,” when he has al-ready been attributed as “Kenneth Burnett” (his actual name), is an issue. This person is an elected stu-dent leader, and The Hilltop should have read just a little more carefully before moving forward to publica-tion.

Let’s move on. For the past week, there has

been a survey posted on www.the-hilltoponline.com to see what you all thought about the paper. At the end of the survey, 63 percent of the peo-ple said that The Hilltop was fancy, meaning that they were in favor of the changes. 25 percent said that the changes were okay. 8 percent asked “what changes?” 3 percent chose none of the options offered, while 1 percent said that they really didn’t care.

So we have a majority of those surveyed saying that they are in favor of The Hilltop’s new changes. That means that the staff is doing some-thing correct, they just have to keep moving forward to the goal they set for themselves just a few weeks ago.

So there you have it.

Voice your opinion of The Hilltop to MHBarnett@thehillto-ponline.com

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by Dexter WilliamsContributing Columnist

THE BISON FIXThe Time to Unite is Now

Historically Black Colleges and Universities are a family, the root of black intelligence, a haven from educational oppression and they produce renowned scholars that have a positive impact around the globe. So, my question is, why are HBCUs divided? Why do we at-tempt to out-maneuver each other? You would think that after a number of hardships that HBCUs have un-dergone, we would be a united front. Right? Great!

We have a tendency to com-pete with each other. At some point,

this buffoonery has to stop. Think about it. Every time we fellowship with one another the conversation always morphs into a debate about who has the better science program, who has the highest ranking on “U.S. News & World Report’s Best Col-leges,” who has the largest student population and my favorite, who has the better King and Queen.

Have you ever wondered why we behave this way? Well, it goes back to slavery. During the days of physi-

cal slavery we were unconsciously taught to hate each other and be against one another. Now, our his-torical training has carried over into the constant “wars” between black colleges and universities.

Black institutions must be united. All of us are under the same umbrella. We are going through the same struggle and yes, most of us have issues with residential visitation rights. It’s one thing to attack anoth-er school’s sports program (for which predominantly white institutions are known), but when we attack our fel-

low HBCU’s educational system, we are striking at the cornerstone of all education. There’s a striking differ-ence between the two cases. Major-ity institutions may have issues with their counterparts, but they never undermine or question the aca-demic strength of the other majority schools.

The way we achieve our goal of unity is by taking the necessary steps in building a strong relation-ship with one another. Everyone has to put aside pride, ego and petty dif-ferences. Secondly, we need to actu-ally begin the process of laying the groundwork of harmony. Let’s have a Black College Agreement Initiative that is based on the idea that we will no longer engage in belittlement of our sister colleges and universities, but rather we will uplift each other and seek means to come together as one family.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best when he said, “We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.”

Dexter Williams is a junior health admin-istration major from Washington, D.C.

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