www.thedavidsonian.com DAVI D SON COLLEGE WE D NES D AY , FEBRUARY 9, 2011 VOLUME 102, NUMBER 15 “Dash for Davidson” Meets Success Chambers Bell KATIE LOVETT Staff Writier Chimes Again The “Dash for Davidson” campaign re- ceived a much-anticipated victory Monday night as Gerard Dash ’12 was named the Student Government Association’s (SGA) President for the 2011-2012 academic year. Yet, long before this year’s initial interest meeting for Category II Elections on January 25th, Dash had been committed to making his mark upon the Davidson community. Dash dedicated the first three years of his Davidson career to service for the SGA. His past positions include Freshman Class Senator ERI C SA W YER (2008-2009), Council Chairman (2009-2010) Staff Writer and Student Body Vice President alongside President Kevin Hubbard (2010-2011). In ad- Last week the Chambers bell stopped dition to these roles, he served on official col- ringing, and members of the Physical Plant lege committees, such as the Strategic Plan corrected the problem in several days. The Implementation Team, Council for Campus bell has been inoperative in the past for vary- and Religious Life (CCRL), National Pan- ing lengths of time. It was donated to the col- Hellenic Council Expansion Committee and lege in 1922 to replace its predecessor, which Public Safety Committee, while also holding was destroyed when the old Chambers build- the position of Union Board Treasurer from ing burned down in 1921. 2009 to 2010. “All mechanical equipment will fail from The recently elected president’s experi- time to time,” said Jerry Archer, Physical ence can be seen in the many changes he has Plant. “In this case, the main chain sprocket brought to the Davidson College commu- came loose and fell off of the drive motor. nity. Under former SGA President Meikaela After learning that the bell wasn’t ringing, Zwierynski ’10, Dash served on the Student Jimmy Freeze made repairs and returned the Life Committee and sought to best represent bell to service.” the needs of the entire student body. Addition- Though the current bell dates back to ally, Dash has consistently remained commit- to provide food and study space for students SGA Vice President involved collaborating 1922, the ringer assembly is much newer. It ted to diminishing the “up the hill-down the during exams, took part in the creation of a to bring about the SGA Buses to Charlotte was “purchased in 2002 and is in good condi- hill” dichotomy which many students claim transcript cover letter, contributed to the new Program, which allows students without cars tion,” Archer said. “Because of this and our exists at Davidson. Dash was instrumental Multicultural Center, and worked with Union on campus to experience the many opportu- good preventative maintenance on this sys- in planning Fall Block Party as well as Win- Board to manage Spring Frolics in 2010 and nities that North Carolina’s largest city has tem, the ringer rarely fails.” terfest in conjunction with Patterson Court other major campus wide social events such to offer, such as basketball games, plays and The bell’s mechanical ringer is connected Council (PCC) and Union Board. He also or- as Spring Concert and After Midnight. One concerts. to the campus clock system, which coordi- ganized Finals Feast during the fall of 2010 of Dash’s main projects during his time as See Dash, page 4 See Chambers, page 3 Davidson Students Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit with ACAA photo by Jordan Luebkemann ‘13 photo by Jordan Luebkemann ‘13 photo by Jordan Luebkemann ‘13 CLAIRE ITTNER Staff Writer this was even bigger than the Superbowl— chance to take part in festivities on Sunday Chinese as the “Spring Festival,” marks the the Lunar New Year, an official holiday in evening in the Union 900 Room at the Lunar first day of the first month of the lunisolar This week saw one of the year’s largest over nine countries and celebrated in dozens New Year party hosted by the Asian Cultural calendar, used in many Asian countries. The annual celebrations, with millions of partici- more, began on last Thursday, Feb. 3. David- Awareness Association (ACAA). pants in dozens of countries. No, sports fans, son students and community members had a The Lunar New Year, also known in See Lunar New Year, page 3 Mur Muchane, Exec- “Trust Us, We’re Doc- Since the January 29th utive Director of ITS tors” entertained fans game against College of explains the dangers with a raucous show Charlestown, the Da- of illegally download- last Thursday. The vidson men’s basketball ing here at Davidson. band is composed of team has been on a tear. After just two weeks Dean Williams, Daniel Davidson achieved a 62- into the semester, ITS Bernstaein, Scott 49 victory over Samford, has received numer- Schreiber, and Taylor and a 73-59 victory over ous notices of illegal Gault. Chattanooga . downloading. see NEWS, page 2 see ARTS, page 5 see SPORTS, page 12 2 THE DAVI D SONIAN WE D NES D AY , FEBRUARY 9, 2011 NEWS Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself “We have to work together to keep ourselves protected.” –Mur Muchane SARAH WELTY If the RIAA legally pursues the matter fur- Staff Writer ther they can subpoena the school for the name and information of the user who violated copy- Shockwaves rippled through the student right. body upon receiving an email from ITS two “Only then would we reveal a student’s weeks ago. information,” said Muchane. “But we’ve been “The spring semester is two weeks old,” lucky. We’ve never been subpoenaed. We’re began the email from Mur Muchane, Executive not in the business of revealing student infor- Director of ITS. “And Davidson has already re- mation.” ceived a number notices of claimed copyright Muchane sent out the email because the infringement from the recording industry. ITS was receiving an “above-average” number “The Recording Industry Association of of these notifications from the RIAA. America (RIAA) and other copyright holders “In recent years, we’ve received half a doz- are aggressively initiating legal actions against en to a dozen at most in an entire year,” he said. individuals who engage in illegal peer-to-peer “But this semester we were already encroach- file sharing (music, videos, etc.),” his email ing on that number in the first two weeks.” continued. “Personal computers used on the This number, Muchane added, is still mi- campus network to illegally download media croscopic compared to many schools. are not anonymous and can be identified by “Most schools receive hundreds of these copyright holders in order to pursue legal ac- notifications every year,” he said. “We’re very tion. The potential civil and criminal penalties lucky.” are as follows: ‘Penalties for proven copyright “We’re working together to keep us all pro- infringement are no less than $750 and no more tected. That’s part of what the email was about,” than $30,000 per work. Willful infringement Muchane noted. He also warned that Davidson may be punishable up to $150,000 per work.’” will now be drawing student attention to copy- The notice may have alarmed students right law several times per year. but Muchane explained that the school copy- In fact, Muchane explained that students right policy is not designed to conduct an ille- who are violating copyright often didn’t know gal downloading witchhunt among the student what they were doing was illegal. body. “You open up programs like Limewire and “We’re alerting students to a change in you’re sharing your whole library illegally,” legislation,” Muchane said. “Under the 2008 he said. “It’s this peer-to-peer sharing. People Higher Education Opportunity Act, which took sometimes have no idea. effect in July, every college must either have “But there has been a little bit of confusion installed software to block illegal file-sharing as to what’s a legal site and what’s not,” he con- or have created some other procedure for pre- tinued. “Sites like Pandora are legal. Sometimes venting it.” artists share their new songs on their website. Currently Davidson’s process for dealing These things are legal. We don’t want to alarm with illegal downloads is as follows: students unnecessarily, but we have to be care- First, ITS is notified by the RIAA that a user ful. These companies really do target universi- with a Davidson IP address has illegally down- photo by Jordan Luebkemann ‘13 ties in the U.S. Students who come back from loaded a copyright work. The RIAA is notified abroad or from home are surprised, you know. of this activity by using peer-to-peer connec- can be sharing their entire library and have no After positively identifying the user, ITS ‘But I do this all the time at home.’ They target tions set up to catch copyright infringement. idea.” sends a notice to Dean of Students Tom Shand- copyright infringement at universities. We have ITS then immediately disables that com- Following this action, ITS locates the spe- ley. He then meets with the student, who is re- to work together to stay protected.” puter’s network access “for the protection of cific user of that IP address, which is “a time- quired to sign a document promising to remove Davidson’s copyright infringement policy the student,” Muchane said. “Because a user consuming process,” Muchane said. the offensive material. is available at www.davidson.edu/student tech. The Student Government Scoop FRE D IRVING Board members also being able to belong to a derrepresented student groups a voice.