the vanderbilt hustler 3-18-15

vanderbilthustlerWWW.VANDERBILTHUSTLER.COM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015 VOL. 127, ISS. 10

BCC joins Office of the Dean of StudentsCAMPUS

Following increased student activism, the administration restructures and engages student leaders as part of ongoing diversity efforts

PAGE 6Black and Gold Spring GameSPORTS

The sports staff takes a look at some fresh faces on the football roster and coaching staff prior to the annual spring scrimmage

PAGE 14VSG responds to criticismSTUDENT GOVERNMENT

In an effort to address concerns raised about transparency, the Execu-tive Board provides a guest column and an annotated budget PAGES 4, 12

BOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

FITNESS FANATICS?An investigation into the core of campus workout culture

PAGE 10

campus QUOTE OF THE DAY“If students didn’t feel comfortable talking about race before this semester, they’ve definitely been forced into awkward posi-

tions to where they’ve had to say a little something about race.” BREANNA MOORE, BLACK STUDENT ASSOCIATION VICE PRESIDENT

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ZACH BERKOWITZZOE SHANCERKATHY ZHOUHAN DEWANAADITI NAIKCHRISTOPH SPROULSHARON SIBRIANNA GALGANOASHLEY KATZENSTEIN

DESIGNERS

TYLER BISHOP EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ALEXIS BANKSANDREA BLATTRACHAEL GRAHAM WESLEY LINKATHY YUAN

COPY EDITORSKELLY HALOM — CO-NEWS EDITORALLIE GROSS — CO-NEWS EDITORPRIYANKA ARIBINDI — LIFE EDITOR MOLLY CORN — OPINION EDITORALLISON MAST — SPORTS EDITOR

SAARA ASIKAINEN — MANAGING EDITORKARA SHERRER — WEB EDITORSOPHIE TO — CHIEF COPY EDITOR

BOSLEY JARRETT — PHOTO DIRECTORJENNA WENGLER — ART DIRECTORPHIL DANTA — CHIEF WEB DEVELOPERMADDIE HUGHES — FEATURES EDITOR ANGELICA LASALA — SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTORBEN WEINRIB — ASST. SPORTS EDITORKAREN CHAN — ASST. ART DIRECTORQUEEN STEVENSON — ASST. OPINION EDITORZIYI LIU— ASST. PHOTO DIRECTORKATHY YUAN — ASST. PHOTO DIRECTOR

Theta first sorority to require 6-hour Green Dot training for all membersOther sororities encouraged to follow lead in mandating bystander intervention training

By ALLIE GROSSCo-news editor--------------------

This Sunday, Kappa Alpha Theta became the first Panhellenic sorority to have all of its members undergo the full six-hour Green Dot bystander intervention certification program.

Theta CEO Carly Rotter approached Proj-ect Safe Director Cara Tuttle Bell about host-ing a training session for Theta after learning at February’s Greek Officer Roundup that IFC voted to require all fraternity new mem-bers to participate.

“I found it interesting that they were only training boys and not girls,” Rotter said. “It seemed kind of counterproductive to me, because I think to tackle sexual assault the girls need to be just as aware going into situ-ations as the boys do.”

Rotter said 101 out of 117 members at-tended the training — some had excused absences. Tuttle Bell said she was “thrilled” with Theta’s decision.

“Obviously women are bystanders too, and there’s a real opportunity to take care of one another that is part of Green Dot that makes sense for an organization like a soror-ity to build upon what they’re already about and take care of one another, but also work to combat the larger problem of sexual vio-lence on college campuses,” Tuttle Bell said.

Rotter said the interactive nature of the training was effective, and added that devot-ing six hours to thinking about the issue of sexual assault was meaningful in itself.

“Just thinking about that for six hours, for a serious chunk of time, just really clears things up for you,” Rotter said. “A lot of girls said their takeaway was that they now know they would take action if they saw a potentially dangerous situation happening, whereas before they might not know if they were going to get involved or not. But now that they’ve had six hours to think about it,

they would definitely get involved and pre-vent a friend from a harmful situation.”

Several members of Theta agreed that the training gave them renewed confidence on how to act in “red dot” risk situations.

“At first it’s daunting to sit there for six hours and people don’t know what to expect, and it’s a heavy subject matter,” said junior Hilary Hyman. “But I think once the six hours is over and you realize how much ground you covered, it’s really helpful to see the impact you can make on campus without having to be a direct interference in a really scary situation. These are small steps you can take to be an active member of campus and look out for other people.”

According to Rotter, Green Dot training is important for all women on campus, but it’s easier to work with already established groups, such as a sorority.

Sophomore Hannah Bush said she ap-preciated the opportunity to go through Green Dot training with sisters and couldn’t imagine doing the session with strangers.

“It was great to be there with other Thetas and be in that same room and share that space,” she said. “You do talk about kind of personal things if you want to so it was kind of a bonding experience for us as well and we were all proud to be there and proud to be doing it together.”

Panhellenic President Jen Warner identi-fied driving change on the issue of sexual assault as a priority for the Panhellenic and Greek communities, and commended Theta for taking this step. She said Panhellenic never took an official vote on whether they would require Green Dot training for all members or new members — as IFC enacted this fall — and that such a bylaw has not been proposed.

“The reason why we haven’t specifi-cally look(ed) at that as the one solution is because a lot of times people do prevention and education on a chapter-wide basis, and formalizing it and having everyone Greek go

get Green Dot trained would be awesome,” Warner said. “It’s just not something we’ve done yet and it hasn’t been specifically part of our new member training at this point.”

Warner cited chapter discussions about sexual issues surrounding fraternity for-mals as an example of individual chapter initiatives. She also said Panhellenic-wide efforts are underway, including participa-tion in April’s Sexual Assault Week, which is co-sponsored by various organizations on campus.

Greek Life Director Kristin Torrey said she thinks it’s fantastic that Theta took the step to get trained.

“All students have a role and responsibility to prevent issues of sexual violence in our community. The Greek community can be a leader in creating safe spaces and providing

educational experiences for members re-garding sexual assault, healthy relationships and decision making,” Torrey said.

Tuttle Bell agreed. “Greek organizations have amazing potential to create change on campus, so we’re always happy to partner with them. Any group that’s organizing social activities on a regular basis can benefit from having Green Dot training,” she said.

Tuttle Bell said all Panhellenic chapters will have completed at least the overview by the end of this year, and said she hoped other sororities will follow Theta’s lead. “I do hope that the other sororities see what Theta has decided to do and we would encourage them to do the same,” she added.

“I’d love to see a day on this campus when everyone had Green Dot training,” Warner said.


Sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta were certified in the Green Dot bystander intervention program. Theta CEO Carly Rotter said training was “interactive,” including videos and small group presentations.

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Last week, some students expressed concerns about VSG’s transparency. VSG provided The Hustler an annotated version of its budget. The budget is also available on its Anchor Link page

Student government

—PROVIDED BY VANDERBILT STUDENT GOVERNMENT

The Vanderbilt administration is re-evaluating multi-cultural programs and restructuring its offices “with an eye to better meeting the diversity and inclusion needs of our campus” — a result of conversations initiated in the last year by student activists, according to Dean of Students Mark Bandas.

Effective July 1, 2015, the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center (BCC) will join the Office of the Dean of Students. Bandas said the move will unite key multicul-tural offices into one team.

A number of protests that took place on campus last December sought to bring to light the prevalence of both hidden and overt forms of racial prejudice on Vanderbilt’s campus.

Third-year Divinity student Asher Kolieboi, who has been active in these protests, said he has had multiple “unsavory exchanges” with police as a black student on Vanderbilt’s campus. During spring break last year, having forgotten his student ID when attempting to return a li-brary book, and wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, he was questioned by a suspicious security guard after pulling at

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Student activism spurs admin restructuringBCC joins Dean of Students office as part of ongoing effort to better meet diversity needs, student activists reflect on relationship with administration

By SAARA ASIKAINENManaging editor

--------------------

Following events in Ferguson, Missouri, students gather for an on-campus protest and march against police brutality on Dec. 4, 2014.BLAKE DOVER / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER u WWW.VANDERBILTHUSTLER.COM WEDNESDAY,MARCH 18, 2015 7CAMPUS

Student activism spurs admin restructuring the library doors — something he attributed to his appear-ance.

“There are some people who are perceived as not being part of the community because they don’t look like they’re part of the community,” Kolieboi said.

After the nonindictment of police officer Darren Wilson for the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a group of students formed Vander-bilt Students in Solidarity (VSS). The group hoped to bring activism seen in Ferguson to Vanderbilt to combat experi-ences similar to Kolieboi’s, as well as highlight institutional discrimination. VSS planned a week of programming in December that culminated in students marching through campus and down West End Avenue.

Kolieboi credits the movement with bringing diversity and inclusion to the forefront of campus conversation. The movement also seemed to intensify dialogue among the ad-ministration. Dean Bandas and several faculty members are currently engaged in a “listening tour” of student groups to hear their concerns about issues regarding race and inclusiv-ity on campus.

Cynthia Cyrus, vice provost for Learning and Residential Affairs; Frank Dobson, director of the BCC; Tina Smith, as-sistant dean of students, Kehsi Wilson, program coordinator; and Bandas have met with multiple student groups, includ-ing Vanderbilt Student Government, the Student Leadership Summit, the Multicultural Leadership Council Executive Board and the Interfaith Council.

The group plans to schedule further meetings with leaders of international student organizations and groups affiliated with the BCC, as well as explore the needs and concerns of graduate and professional students.

While the protests in the fall semester impacted admin-istrators’ conversations, VSS has taken a less active role in organizing efforts against racial injustices on campus since

their protests in December. Rather, according to senior and former Vanderbilt NAACP President Akailah Jenkins, who is involved with VSS, the coalition is working to support and bring together various student groups to continue combat-ing human rights issues on campus. However, she added that some students participating in the movement plan to restart more active efforts soon.

According to junior and Vice President of the Black Stu-dent Association Breanna Moore, administration has been responsive to student feedback and open to collaboration, especially when it comes from student organizations that it perceives as having authority over a certain demographic of the student population.

Moore said she has been “proactive” in seeking out ad-ministration, mainly through the BCC, to address issues of racial sensitivity on campus.

“I’d say schedule a meeting first to figure out what is going on and how they need help, but from there it’s really what you want to do and how you see yourself helping them,” she said.

For effectiveness, Moore finds it crucial that addressing ra-cial discrimination is done through institutionally supported programming that forces students to engage with the issues, although she thinks it is too soon to say whether change has taken place.

“If students didn’t feel comfortable talking about race before this semester, they’ve definitely been forced into awk-ward positions to where they’ve had to say a little something about race,” Moore said.

Jenkins has not been involved in administrative efforts to address racial issues on the part of the university. She said she has seen little by the way of change from an administra-tion that she describes as white and coming from a position of privilege, although she recognizes that change is not going to take place overnight.

Jenkins thinks that change hinges on a more active admin-istration, and feels they still have “a long way to go.”

“The dialogue is happening and that’s great, but there’s still so many people who don’t understand ... because issues are being talked about in the wrong way,” said Jenkins, who thinks that minority students and staff members should be included more in planning programming.

Jenkins feels that marginalized students shouldn’t be left to approach the administration.

“It has to be understood that to proclaim that ‘black lives matter’ means to meet them where they are and not wait for them to come to you,” she said.

FERGUSON UPDATE

The U.S. Justice Department, which launched an investigation after Brown’s shooting, found pervasive racial bias in Ferguson’s policing and municipal court practices. Its police force is mostly white and two-thirds of residents are black. Six Ferguson officials have resigned or been fired since the report was re-leased. The most recent high-profile resignation was that of Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson last week. The current mayor, James Knowles III, has denied that Ferguson has a history of racial tension even af-ter the release of the 102-page report. Most recently, 20-year-old Jeffrey L. Williams was charged Sunday with shooting two police officers during a protest outside Police Headquarters on Thursday, March 12. Law enforcement officials said Williams claimed to have been targeting someone other than the officers and shot them by accident from inside a car.

The Vanderbilt Hustler: So how did you get into triathlons?Cole McKenna: I was actually out for a walk with my family after dinner one night in our subdivision. Our dad had done a couple beforehand, and we ran into our neighbor. She said, “Hey, I was gonna run this triathlon on Sunday with my friend, but she got sick and can’t do it. Does Cole want to take her spot?” I ran cross coun-try and things, so I was like, “Sure, why not? I’ll give it a try!” So it was kind of on a whim that I did my fi rst one. And this was I think in eighth grade … and then I did them all through high school. We used to have a sizable triathlon club on campus (at Vanderbilt), and it had died out by the time I got here. I did some investigating and then sophomore year I kind of restarted the club with a friend and it’s been going ever since.

VH: Are you training for a specifi c triathlon right now?CM: Yeah, we have three (coming up). It’s kind of hard because the race season is basically late spring to early fall, so it’s when we’re not in school. So we have a few right at the beginning of the fall, and our fi rst one is April 4 this year, just under a month away.

VH: When did you all start training for that?CM: We train pretty much year-round. The club is pretty small, so more people start coming when it gets closer to race season. In the winter people usually die off, but I just enjoy working out, so I

pretty much work out year-round. I would say that spring is when we really ramp up for the spring and summer race season.

VH: What does a typical week look like for you?CM: I do probably fi ve days a week for an hour, an hour and a half or so. And that’ll be a mix of mostly cardio stuff, so I’ll mostly do swimming, biking and running, and then I might do some fl exibility with yoga or I might do a little strength circuit as well. In triathlons, big muscles are not particularly helpful — it’s more you’ve got to drag through the water and up the mountain — so it’s much more cardio-focused.

VH: How long does it take to run a triathlon?CM: It depends on the distance. Most of them are sprint triathlons, so that’s going to be about a quarter-mile swim, about a 12-mile bike and then a 5K run. For the average person, that’s probably around an hour and a half, hour and 20 minutes or so. And then there’s an Olympic distance, which we only do one of those a year. The National Championship is actually Olympic distance, and that’ll take you closer to three, three and half hours, and there’s even longer distances after that. But with school and everything, the sprints and Olympics are really all we have time to train for.

VH: What are your personal motivations for working out and training for a triathlon?CM: I think for me, it’s very much long-term health-based. It’s also just kind of fun and enjoyment … Cardio especially is really good for longevity, so I think that’s an important factor for me. It’s mostly health-driven, and I think I use triathlons as a fun outlet to do the working out to stay healthy. The end goal is health, and then it’s just fi nding what type of exercise gets you motivated to get up and do that.


GO DO

THISCafe con Leche 2015 7 p.m. Saturday, March 21, SLC

Cole McKenna

4 reasons you need to try the new Rec climbing wallAfter months of being closed o� for renovations, the Rec Center’s new rock climbing wall opened earlier this semester. Here are four reasons you should chalk your hands up one of these days to try it out By Anna Butrico, Life reporter

Cafe con Leche is an annual showcase put on by the Vanderbilt Association of Hispanic Students, celebrating the roots of Iberoamerican cultures through music and dance performances including salsa, bachata, samba, merengue, paso doble and more. Tickets for dinner and the show are available at Sarratt Box O� ce and at the wall for $10.

It’s a fun alternative workout. Running on the treadmill and curling dumbbells can get old, so mix things up with a climb. “It’s

funny,” said Steve Rubin, the activities coordinator for Outdoor Recreation. “You see guys that are all built coming to work out in the Rec Center. They come over to give (the rock wall) a try, and they are struggling. (Climbing) uses a whole di� erent set of muscles … It uses a lot of grip strength and a lot of forearm strength, which is typicall y not what you get from other sports.”

There’s no shame in being a beginner. Let’s face it: The Rec can be a scary place if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s hard to get

the ball rolling in the gym as a beginner and even if you’re not, trying something new in front of every-one doesn’t always go smoothly. The good news is that those burly guys are struggling, too! There’s no fear of inadequacy here.

You can pick the di� culty of your climb. The Rec’s new wall is covered in di� erent-col-ored tape corresponding to varying climbing

di� culties, following the Yosemite Decimal System that standardizes di� culty for all climbs. “If you start from the bottom and go to the top using the handholds of one color on the wall, then you’re doing a path,” Rubin said. So you’re not just going in blind reaching for any old rock on the wall. There are paths you can follow, and you can work your way up on the scale as you get better.

It can prepare you for a real climbing trip. The Rec Center facilitates climbing trips around Tennessee and Illinois, and the wall

serves as perfect training for any potential intrepid explorer. Take advantage of the super-cool harness and colored hand-holds inside the Rec Center before you “rock” some real outdoor climbing.



life President of the Vanderbilt Triathlon Club Cole McKenna tells The Hustler what it takes to train for the three-part races By Kara Sherrer, Web editor

Talking triathlons

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WHY WE WORK OUTThe Hustler sat down with 17 of Vanderbilt’s most avid fi tness fanatics to get to the core of our workout culture By Kara Sherrer, Web editor

Ask anyone to describe the stereotypical Vanderbilt student, and they’ll probably include words like “fi t,” “healthy” and “thin.” The Rec Center always seems to be full, and runners constantly circle the Vandy loop. But are we — and our fellow students — actually working out as much as we think we do? And if so, why are we so committed to fi tness?

A culture of competitionWith only one or two exceptions, almost everyone we

spoke with agreed that there is indeed a culture of fi tness at Vanderbilt, and that many students here do work out or participate in some sort of physical activity.

“I knew everyone would be studying, but I didn’t expect everyone to be working out as much as they do,” said fi rst-year Hannah Cutshall, who is part of Vanderbilt Running Club and currently training for a full marathon.

Senior Madeline Tague, a running and yoga enthusiast who also runs a healthy vegan blog, Mad About Food, went even further: “I think that Vanderbilt’s (culture) is kind of extreme as far as fi tness, appearance, health.”

Many students cited Vanderbilt’s overall competitive-ness and emphasis on excellence as reasons for people’s devotion to working out, and the personal trainers at the Rec Center agreed. Johnny Pryor, who has worked at numerous fi tness clubs, said, “I wouldn’t use the term ‘Type A’ (to describe Vanderbilt students). I prefer to use the term ‘driven’ or ‘goal-driven.’ They are no-excuse winners in my book.”

Trainer Alyson Dickson, who teaches the popular Hardcore and Hardbody workout classes and is a grad student at Vanderbilt, further elaborated on the com-petitive edge here. “Almost by the nature of the kind of student that is competitive enough to get into (Vander-bilt), you have this kind of perfectionist tendency among a lot of the students, and a competitiveness,” she said. “(College is) a really tough time in life, especially for the undergrads. I think the graduate students are struggling a little bit less with that competitiveness and more with just stress.”

Alex Pedchenko, a fi fth-year candidate in the Depart-ment of Mechanical Engineering, agreed that stress is certainly one of the reasons that “probably 80 percent” of his department works out on a regular basis, and that exercise is a “nice way to get those endorphins pumping and feel a little bit better about the day.” However, he thinks that grad students have reasons for working out that go beyond academic stress relief. ‘’I think that grad students have a mentality that you have to better your-self as much as you possibly can … With undergrads, I think that (working out) is more of a check-it-off-your-list type of thing.”

Why exactly do we work out?There’s no denying that Vanderbilt students stay pretty

active. Many admit that there is an appearance com-ponent in their motivation to exercise: “I think for the greater majority of my friends, it’s defi nitely image,” said senior Sam Fisher, president of Powerlifting Club.

Many students can often be seen crowding the free weights room and fi lling spots in group exercise classes around certain times of the year. “For me, my workout patterns are pretty much consistent, but I notice an increase before spring break or before fall break . . . some people ramp it up if there’s an event,” said senior Berkley Sullivan.

However, Fisher was quick to note that this isn’t neces-sarily a negative. “Even if (appearance is) your reason

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for going (to the gym), you’re getting a lot out of it that you’re not intending … whatever gets you in the door is fantastic.”

As sophomore Barbara Puzanovova pointed out, you’ll actually discover other benefi ts before you see a drastic improvement in appearance. “After one workout, you will feel better. That’s guaranteed,” she said. “It’s not guaranteed that you will look better. Give it a couple weeks or a couple months or a couple years.”

Almost everyone also mentioned stress relief as a ma-jor motivation for working out. “It’s a good outlet when there’s a lot of stuff going in your life and you’re really overwhelmed to deal with that in a healthy way,” said senior Serena Dugan. Linked to stress relief is the feeling of personal control that exercise gives to busy students who are constantly overwhelmed with various commit-ments, both inside and outside the classroom. “(Working out) helps me feel like I have agency in my own life,” said senior Ashley Saulsberry, who added that she appreci-ates how exercise lets her be an active participant in taking care of herself

And of course, both health and performance are major motivations for workout enthusiasts to continue pursuing fi tness. As senior Abbie Tolon put it, “My body is really important to me, and making sure that it’s properly functioning and that I’m not getting illnesses or diseases that I have the power to prevent — that’s defi -nitely important to me.” Senior Cole McKenna, president of Triathlon Club, said that concerns with long-term health are the reason behind his cardio-heavy routine. “I’ve never had the ripped body that everybody looks for, the six-pack or anything. For me, it’s all about my heart and my lungs. Sure, I’d like to look better on the beach (by lifting), but it’s not going to help me four years down the road.”

Getting hooked on fi tnessMany of Vanderbilt’s fi tness fanatics got started on

being active quite young, often through organized sports like basketball, football, lacrosse, rugby, track and cross country. For some, this athletic commitment in high school translated to running, lifting or other “tradi-tional” workouts once they came to college. Sullivan, who ran track before coming to Vanderbilt, said that “how I exercised in high school is really similar to how I exercise now” even though she no longer participates in competitive running.

However, others continued to pursue physical fi t-ness through the club and intramural sports offered at Vanderbilt, such as Andrew Kress, a junior on the varsity men’s rowing team. The team practices four hours a day, six days a week, and also travels often on the weekends to compete in regattas. While he acknowledged that 25-plus hours a week is a huge commitment, he believes that “you perform the way you practice,” and said that the camaraderie of the team has been worth the sacrifi ce for him.

Others, such as fi rst-year Jesse Benedict, started working out in order to lose weight. He had a physical between his junior and senior year of high school, and weighed in at 208 pounds. “The doctors were like, ‘Yeah, you should probably change that,’” he said. Benedict joined the track team his senior year and begin lifting weights, and eventually lost 40 pounds.

After coming to college, he joined Vanderbilt Running Club, and planned to run the Country Music Half Mara-thon since he had never competed in one before. The fi rst week of training he ran 13 miles without a problem

(a half marathon is 13.1), and decided to train for the full race. “I don’t want to go back to how I used to be … Why not try something I’ve never done before, or do some-thing I never thought I could do?” he said.

When exercise becomes overexerciseExercising is not exclusively positive, however, and

it can occasionally cross the line into overexercising. While there’s no specifi c “exercise addiction” diagnosis, compulsive or excessive exercise can fall under the wider umbrella of obsessive behaviors.

According to Dr. David Sacks, associate director of the Psychological and Counseling Center, “If someone has an inability to function unless they exercise a particular amount in a particular way, or if they miss a workout, or don’t complete their workout as they expected, that it throws them off and they can’t function — that might lead to a diagnosis, but the diagnostic label would not be ‘exercise addiction.’”

Overexercising is often coupled with eating disorders, body dysmorphia or other issues related to body image. In fact, excessive exercise is often part of the binge-purge cycle of bulimia, and some may try to “purge” food through excessive exercise in addition to induced vomit-ing or the use of laxatives.

However, Dr. Sacks cautioned that overexercising oc-curs in only a small amount of the population that works out regularly. “I don’t want to overpathologize exercise. In the range of ways that we at the PCC observe coping strategies, exercise is one of the healthier ones. It’s part of a healthy life,” he said. “You don’t want to label some-one as ‘disordered’ simply from the number of hours that they’re putting in. You look at their motivations for doing so.”

Even if working out never tips over into obsessive or compulsive tendencies, there are still purely physical consequences to overtraining. If you wear your body down without letting it rest properly, you become more prone to injury, which can in turn develop into serious chronic issues without taking time off to recover. “If you get run down — if you’re up, you have tests, you’re doing things, you’re getting three hours of sleep — you do that for a week or two weeks, and you get sick, because your body has no recovery time and you break down. Muscles are the same way,” said Jasper Richardson, an athletic trainer and the manager of the Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Institute Fitness Center.

Some students saw this happen in their own lives when they accidentally overtrained. For example, senior Brendan McNamara developed cartilage problems in his hips from squatting too much before he realized the negative effects of overtraining. “It’s kind of part of the culture, part of our understanding that the more you work out, the more healthy (you are). And that’s not necessarily true,” he said.

As Tague noted, it’s important to make sure that you’re not being too hard on yourself. “I make sure that if I go a couple days without working out … or I go away for spring break and eat poorly the whole week, I don’t beat myself up about it, because I think that’s how bad things start to happen.”

Dickson agreed that being kind to yourself is of the ut-most importance when it comes to the pursuit of fi tness. “It’s about how you feel about yourself . . . and not treat-ing exercise as a burden to get done,” she said. “We tend to be pretty harsh critics of ourselves in this perfectionist environment.”

How many times on average do you work out per week?

EXERCISE BY THE NUMBERS

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—Gianna Strand, Life reporter, contributed to this report

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The Vanderbilt Hustler is a division of Vanderbilt Student Communications, Inc. Copyright © 2014 Vanderbilt Student Communications.

Frank Underwood stares solemnly at a trapped insect, sighing as he turns to you. “There’s a value in having secrets … After all, we are noth-

ing more or less than what we choose to reveal.” The political drama “House of Cards” follows a maniacal politician’s subversive attempts to deceive and con-trol everyone in his pursuit for power. If you’ve been following recent headlines, you might be inclined to believe that this drama has been playing out in the halls of Vanderbilt Student Government. As lead-ers of the organization, we felt that this was a prime opportunity to pause Netflix, remove from popular discourse the lens of this unrealistic look at govern-ment, and clear the air of any concerns you may have about VSG.

For many of us in the organization, VSG is home. We feel the same way about it as you may feel about your service club, performance group or cultural organization. We care about our members and we are proud of the tight family our organization has become. Although this may sometimes look like a “pervasive clique,” VSG changes every year. Elections and appointments (open to everyone in the student body with a 2.75 GPA) change the face of the organi-zation every year. VSG is an organization of “mov-ers and shakers,” so it’s not surprising that some of Vanderbilt’s best and brightest leaders stay with the organization from year to year.

As our organization grows to more than 180 mem-bers spanning every class, school and residential area, we wanted to consider how to best train our new members in their new positions. This year’s retreat, held at Bridgestone Arena, pushed VSG members to brainstorm with administrators on key issues and prepare initiatives for the coming year. Originally budgeted at $7,000, this event cost more than we expected — tallying in at about $8,000. Split among the 150 members who could attend, that’s about $50 per student for the venue, transportation, training materials and food for a five-hour training session. This was more costly than we expected, but mak-ing the event more professional has paid dividends with member productivity. In the past, VSG has held

retreats both on and off campus. After consulting with past administrations and with our advisers, we believe that member productivity and tangible takeaways increase through having our retreat at an off-campus venue. While this is a major expense, our only goal is to increase VSG’s responsiveness to the student body, which we believe has been dramatically improved compared to past years.

A number of students have come to us with con-cerns about the size of VSG’s budget. Contrary to what you may have heard, VSG doesn’t have a budget of $1 million, nor do we collect thousands per student in student activity fees. Our total budget actually amounts to $107,000. The dean of students allocates $35,500 to VSG, and this is where any internal spend-ing comes from. The other $71,500? That comes from you — student housing fees around $6 a person per semester. This may have impacted you if, for ex-ample, you’ve ever picked up a Chick-fil-A sandwich during finals, watched a VSG movie in Sarratt Cinema, attended one of the 53 VSG co-sponsored events this year or ridden a shuttle to the airport. Not one dollar of your money has paid for a retreat or dinner for a VSG member.

Another concern has been voiced about the activity of the VSG Senate this past semester, in particular with its decision to suspend the rules regarding notification of resolutions for the presentation of two resolutions on Feb. 11 and 25. Firstly, the senate is a body that functions under Robert’s Rules of Order. Ar-ticle IV, Section 22 of Robert’s Rules clearly delineates that any legislative body has the right to suspend the rules by consent of the chair if it chooses to do so. However, for the sake of transparency, Speaker of the Senate Jackson Vaught conducted formal votes to suspend the rules, both of which were passed unanimously to present resolutions that were focused solely on internal governance. In neither of these instances were the rules suspended in an attempt to hide activity from our fellow students — instead, these resolutions were presented to improve the ef-ficiency of our governance and passed so that they could go into effect immediately, rather than waiting at least two weeks until the next senate session to be presented.

For all of our clarifying points, we admit that we do face shortcomings from time to time. It’s true that we’ve had a problem with uploading minutes this year. There’s no dancing around that fact: We screwed up. When judicial cases were brought against the organization, the judicial branch rectified the situ-ation and our document-uploading procedure has been running at full steam. We don’t have anything to hide in VSG. Like you, we’re college kids getting way too little sleep, studying for way too many exams and trying to enjoy college while we can. Sometimes posting minutes gets lost in the mix, and for that we sincerely apologize. In the future, if there are ever any documents missing that you want to see, just reach out to a member of VSG. We don’t bite. Plus, you’ll get your documents much faster than if you lead off with a lawsuit.

Vanderbilt Student Government, contrary to what is fun or imaginative to believe, is not a fraternity. It is not an insiders’ club, nor is it an unnecessary student organization for the sole purpose of padding the resumes of its members. VSG is a student resource that seeks to continually advocate on the behalf of students. While discourse such as this is healthy and often needed, we must not lose sight of the fact that in order to do our jobs, we must have the input, suggestions and complaints from students brought forward in a constructive manner. Our senate ses-sions are not only open to the student body, but also have a section of every meeting reserved for students who choose to come and voice their questions and concerns. Additionally, each executive board member holds office hours every week and is willing to speak with any member of the student body at any time.

While it is understandable in this day and age, given our media and popular culture, that any form of government is likely to be viewed as secretive and corrupt, we promise that this is not the case with your student government. We’re students, too, and we care about Vanderbilt University. Before basing opinions off of Hustler opinion pieces or Yik Yak, come by our office and tell us your concerns or ideas. We promise that our campus will be better off if we work together.

Student government has been, is, and always will be yours.

VSG exec board responds to criticism

Student government is yours

QUOTE OF THE DAY“Some student activist groups have chosen to conduct their business off Vanderbilt’s

server to avoid being stifled by the university’s surveillance.”JOSHUA EVERETT

THE VSG EXECUTIVE BOARDis composed of the Student Body President, the Executive Vice President, the Speaker of the Senate and the Chief of Staff. The current members are Tanner Owen, Fletcher Young, Jackson Vaught and Mark Herzog, respectively. Questions can be directed to [email protected].

GUEST COLUMN


JOSHUA EVERETTis a senior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at [email protected].

Over the past year, Vanderbilt has seen a ground-swell of student activism. Vanderbilt’s response to this activism has been conditional at best.

The university’s support for any issue only goes so far as their ability to control the outcome. Anything that requires them to acknowledge or rectify their own injustices tends to be resisted. This unspoken Vander-bilt policy manifests itself in various tactics that work to suppress and/or limit the effectiveness of student activism.

One way in which Vanderbilt looks to suppress student activism is through the control of their email servers. Last Spring semester, Justice Clarence Thomas was invited to speak at the Law School. Students concerned about his regressive record on voting rights and affirmative action looked to plan a demonstra-tion in response. One of the students helping plan the protest was discussing it over email with a fellow student. Suddenly, the email chain was interrupted by a faculty member (who was not in the original thread) saying that the university administration demanded to know about any protest happening in order to discuss “reasonable boundaries.” This meddling in the lives of students who are legally allowed to protest illustrates the administration’s interest in intimidating students. To blatantly interrupt personal emails is a Big Brother tactic, telling students that Vanderbilt can see, hear and read their every interaction.

The protest went on as scheduled, but the student organizer contacted chose to drop their participation because they believed their law school aspirations could be jeopardized. Tactics like this are not unusual. During the Living Wage campaign in 2006 and the planning of the student trip to Ferguson in October, students were blocked from using university Listservs

to disseminate information. Some student activist groups have chosen to conduct their business off Vanderbilt’s server to avoid being stifled by the uni-versity’s surveillance. The use of institutional power to curb student protest reflects a moral insecurity driven by the university’s inability and unwillingness to con-front its own shortcomings.

This insecurity was on display toward the end of last February. In November 2013, the VSG Senate managed to pass a resolution in support of summer employ-ment for dining workers. Then-VSG President Isaac Escamilla waited three months to respond to the bill. During that time he spoke with Vanderbilt administra-tors, who predictably disputed the factuality of the bill. Instead of reaching out to the workers’ union or students who had worked on the issue previously, Escamilla vetoed the bill based solely on the word of the administration. This is the same administration that has fought tooth and nail against every campaign for economic justice on campus. Yet Escamilla called the administration “the core partnership” of VSG. If this is true, how can we ever expect to use VSG as a tool for meaningful reform? Even if a cause like eco-nomic justice for dining workers is backed by popular student support, VSG won’t budge without approval from Vanderbilt administration. The largest student organization on campus shouldn’t be rendered docile by the threat of administrative coercion.

Institutions like Vanderbilt often oppose student activism that it can’t control. However, they will not hesitate to co-opt the legacy of protest politics for their advantage. This can be seen whenever we have lectures or commemorative events that are meant to celebrate the tradition of democratic resistance. The university seeks to control the rhetoric of these events

as much as possible through methods like systemati-cally filtered Q and A sessions or program formats which limit the ability of our guests to speak freely. Campus activism is rarely discussed, which makes many of these events feel more like a grandstanding facade than a genuine dialogue. During this past MLK Day Lecture, themed “Dismantling Segregation: Race, Poverty and Privilege,” students protested briefly dur-ing Zeppos’ introduction because of the university’s role in perpetuating poverty. This move was met with some harsh criticism due to its disruptive nature. The irony of this criticism is that Dr. King dedicated his life to disrupting status quos that willfully perpetuated injustice. However, Vanderbilt only appears interested in justice as a topic of intellectual curiosity and not as the duty to abide by the principles of fairness and equity.

Whether it’s email servers, selective censorship or bending the ears of student leaders, the university will use all tools at its disposal to control the status quo. This means the university is often resistant to change, even when that change is progressive. However, phi-losopher Niccolo Machiavelli reminds us, “Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.” Students who are pursuing social justice campaigns share the goal of improving the university, even if that means resisting the administra-tion. Administrative efforts to stymie activism not only flout democratic principles but are ultimately a disser-vice to Vanderbilt.

Editor’s note: The referenced email intervention was confirmed by the editorial staff and is in line with Vanderbilt University’s Acceptable Use Policy.

Faculty interference waylays student activism

Censoring democracy

CHRISTOPH SPROULis a junior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at [email protected].

CARTOON


sports THE BIG STATNumber of last season’s starters who will be graduating this May:

C Joe Townsend, FB Kellen Williams, DT Vince Taylor, DE Kyle Woestmann and SN Andrew East 5Next men up The Mason Era continues to take shape as new players and

coaches hit the fi eld for the annual Black and Gold Game

SophomoreHeight: 6-5, Weight: 272

After enrolling early in 2013 as an o� ensive lineman, Dowling will o� cially be changing to tight end this season, where he will be used in multi-tight end sets as a de facto sixth o� ensive lineman. Since the start of last season, Dowling has dropped from 288 to 272 lbs so he will be more mobile in passing plays.

Sean Dowling - TE


Herndon saw playing time in all 12 games as a true freshman last year and has impressed in practice as a reserve defensive back. With Darrius Sims making the transition away from defen-sive back to running back-wide receiver, Herndon could be a breakout player in the secondary next season, in addition to the return game.

Tre Herndon - CB


Marcus was used spar-ingly last season as the team’s second tight end but emerged as a red zone target once he earned play-ing time in the second half of the season. At 6-foot-5, 240 pounds, Marcus has a great size and could be a big player in Andy Ludwig’s of-fense next year as he fi lls out his frame even more.

Nathan Marcus - TE


One of the top recruits in Derek Mason’s fi rst re-cruiting class, Smith could challenge for a lot of playing time this season thanks to his outstanding athleticism. The Murfreesboro native is very big for a safety at 6-foot-2, 224 pounds — the same size as his brother Josh, a linebacker who is an incoming four-star recruit.

Emmanuel Smith - S

Redshirt freshmanHeight: 6-2, Weight: 197

The one quarterback who didn’t see any playing time in the fall, Stankavage will be seen by the public for the fi rst time at the Spring Game. Similarly to Pat-ton Robinette, Stakavage is a mobile quarterback, although he’s two to three inches shorter than the other three quarterbacks.

Shawn Stankavage - QB

Featuring 53 letterwinners and 15 redshirt freshmen, the Black and Gold Game is set to showcase both familiar faces and young talent. In addition to seeing new players, football fans will have an opportunity to get to know Off ensive Coordinator Andy Ludwig and his playbook. Alongside Head Coach Derek Mason, who is taking full control over the defense, the team is looking to move on from a disappointing 4-8 sea-son. Kicko� is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday. Here are fi ve players to watch during the spring scrimmage.

By Ben Weinrib, Asst. sports editorBOSLEY JARRETT / THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER

PHOTOS BY JOHN RUSSELL / VUCOMMODORES

SPORTS 16 WEDNESDAY,MARCH 18, 2015 THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER ◆ WWW.VANDERBILTHUSTLER.COM

O� ensive CoordinatorAndy Ludwig

Ludwig looks to build o� of playerstrengths, enforce ‘repetitive accuracy’

After one unsuccessful year with Karl Dorrell at offensive coordinator, Vanderbilt made a splash by hiring former Wisconsin Offensive Coordinator Andy Ludwig.

In his two years with the Badgers, he helped lead the team to two of their highest offensive outputs in school history. Led by Heisman fi nalist Melvin Gordon III, Wisconsin was third in the na-tion in rushing yards.

But Ludwig hasn’t always been running-heavy. When he ran Utah’s No. 2 ranked 2009 team that beat Alabama, his offensive was spread out and more pass-heavy. Moreover, Ludwig adjusts his scheme to the players on his team.

To get to know the new offensive coordinator better, here are eight questions heading into the Spring Game:

The Vanderbilt Hustler: Spring practice started earlier than normal this spring. Do you think that early start helps build that rapport and helps them learn the new playbook?Andy Ludwig: Yeah, I think so. It’s one thing to talk to a coach, but you really get to know them

through interactions on the fi eld, so that has bro-ken down a lot of barriers that would have existed a little longer had we not started earlier, so I think there are a lot of positives to the early start. I’m glad things are moving right along.

VH: Your play calling appears to have changed over the years depending on who your play-ers are, but do you have an overall scheme you prefer to run?AL: No, it’s such a player’s game, and you try to identify the strengths of the players in the system and build a system around those strengths, and I take a lot of pride in that as an offensive coordi-nator. What the quarterback does well, what the supporting cast does well, and go on from there — as opposed to coming in and saying, “Hey, we’re going to run this style of offense because it worked for me at this school.” I prefer to kind of morph it into one because I’m not a purist. I just want to put the guys in a position to be success-ful.

VH: Do you have any characteristics or values that you look for primarily in quarterbacks?AL: Mental toughness is an absolute. And consis-tency. Be the same guy every day; be the same guy every play. We use the term “repetitive accuracy”:

By BEN WEINRIB Asst. sports editor

--------------------

STEVE GREEN / VUCOMMODORES

SPORTS THE VANDERBILT HUSTLER ◆ WWW.VANDERBILTHUSTLER.COM WEDNESDAY,MARCH 18, 2015 17

Can you throw the 10-yard hook if it’s open? Can you complete 10 out of 10? That’s the guy we need. It’s such a demanding position on the fi eld from the outside in the whole way through. The mental toughness and the approach to the game is just a huge factor for a quarter-back’s success. Again, I like our room, we got good quar-terbacks in the program. It’s just a matter of narrowing the fi eld and getting the best one on the fi eld for us.

VH: One of the interesting things about last year’s team was that almost all the skill position players were freshmen. What are some of the challenges and ben-efi ts of playing with such a young team that’s growing together?AL: It’s untapped potential. They’re pretty much a blank slate. The best thing about playing with so many fresh-men is the future. Usually at the time you’re doing it, it can be pretty exciting because some wild things happen. But there’s nothing that replaces the experiences that those young guys getting on the fi eld Saturdays last fall. That’s going to have lasting positive ramifi cations for the program and for them the next three years. But as we know, it can be a little rough playing that many young guys.

VH: Have you seen any guys who you already think will be the cornerstones of the offense to build around?AL: Ralph Webb is a proven commodity, and I like his production throughout the course of the spring. A really good player. I think there are some young wideouts in the program that have show great development through the course of the spring. I liked them on fi lm when I saw them last year, liked their potential, some of that poten-tial rising up. I like the athleticism up front at the tight end position, has a good solid skill set. I feel real good working hard to develop the quarterback position.

VH: Obviously quarterback is a big question mark heading into the year. Do you have a timetable of when you’d like to narrow that competition down to four, three, two or one names?AL: That process has begun, and we’re not really making public announcements about that. Everybody’s still getting reps. It’s spring practice. Everybody needs to de-velop. We need every player on the roster to develop re-gardless of position, so there’s no public announcement about who’s one and who’s two, but we are narrowing our focus down trying to get two guys ready to compete for the starting job and get number three and four in a position to develop. VH: You’ve coached in several different conferences throughout your career. What are some of the big dif-ferences between playing in the Big 10 and SEC from what you’ve seen on tape.AL: I couldn’t tell you until you go through a full season. I think I’ve called plays against six SEC teams in my career, I’ve got great respect for the schools and coaches in the conference, but until you go through it for a full season, it would be all speculative.

VH: So in the Spring Game are you hoping to build on what you were doing in spring practice, or are you looking more for results at that point?AL: It’s a results-driven game, but the message is that we’ve got to play harder longer. The techniques and schemes, the players are doing a nice job learning those, and that has improved from day one to two and 11 to 12, so I’m very encouraged with that. But you’re looking for Saturday in the Spring Game a very clean, well-played, up-tempo game.

Spring Game primer

Format: O� ense vs. DefenseO� ense will wear gold helmets and

white jerseys.Defense will wear black helmets and

gold jerseysAll possessions will start on the 35-yard

line. The play clock will not be enforced.

When: Saturday, March 21Kicko� at 1 p.m.

Scoring system:O� ense: Touchdown — 6 points Field goal — 3 points Extra point — 1 point Two-point conversion — 2 pointsPlay for 15 yards or more — 1 point

Defense: Defensive touchdown — 12 points Interception — 6 points Fumble recovery — 6 points Quarterback sack — 2 points Missed fi eld goal — 3 points Unsuccessful two-point conversion — 2 pointsThree-and-out possession — 1 point


Leadership in Media: Apply NowVanderbilt Student Media offers students unique opportunities to develop leadership skills while gaining valuable experience working in media production. Positions are available leading one of our 16 media divisions or joining our Board of Directors.

Division Head Positions: Apply by noon on March 22

The Vanderbilt Hustler student newspaperVanderbilt Television student TV stationWRVU student radio streaming stationVandyRadio campus community streaming stationRVU Records recording studio and distributionVUFinder student filmmakingVanderbilt Review literary and arts journalThe Slant humor and satire publicationThe Torch libertarian and conservative publicationOrbis environmental issues publicationHerCampus online community for college womenLiberator magazine serving the African American community Vanderbilt Political Review nonpartisan political journalSpoon University everyday food resourceVandy Interactive digital and interactive mediaGlobalVU international political review publication

Board of Directors Positions: Apply by March 29

The five student members of Vanderbilt Student Communications’ Board of Directors help guide the organization and its operations. Joining the board gives students the opportunity to gain experience in management, budgetary oversight, student leader selection, media operations and more.

*For more information and to apply, email [email protected].


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