February 6, 2014
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Serving James Madison University Since 1922 BreezeJMU.org Mostly cloudy n 40°/ 24° Vol. 92, No. 34 chance of precipitation: 0% Thursday, February 6, 2014 Drugs Changes to course seized reviews Saturday Professor evaluations will soon be replaced Five charged in weekend by online format drug bust; four individuals By MADI PRICE listed as JMU students contributing writer At the end of classes, students are required to fill out course evaluations for their professors and classes; how- ever, JMU has recently introduced the idea of online evaluations as a way to improve the system. Last semester, some professors had volunteered to test out a new software called “Blue” which allows them to have students evaluate them and their class online. LAUREN GORDON / THE BREEZE The course evaluation committee Head coach Everett Withers speaks with the media about his first recruiting class as JMU’s head football coach. that made the decision to put their evaluations online was composed of volunteers from the departments of biology, history, philosophy and reli- james CHUNG / THE BREEZE gion, writing rhetorical and technical Police seized drug paraphernalia at a communication and the College of South View apartment on Saturday. Window to the future Education. From there, professors could go online and see the anonymous results By IJ CHAN Coach Everett Withers introduces 14 new additions to of their evaluations. Eventually, the The Breeze online evaluations will be able to be JMU football program on National Signing Day filled out through MyMadison, so stu- Five men are being charged in con- dents can fill out all their evaluations in nection with a drug raid that occurred the same place. over the weekend. Four of the five men By WAYNE EPPS JR. 50 percent of our class from in-state,” With- “The new software is really cool are JMU students. The Breeze ers said. “And that’ll vary from year-to-year because it allows instructors to add According to police records, at depending on the talent level in this state. their own specific questions to the approximately 4:32 a.m. on Satur- With National Signing Day comes head We’re not going to take a bad player in the course evaluation, as well as the stan- day an officer from the Harrisonburg coach Everett Withers’ first concrete mark state just to fill a quota.” dard questions,” said Carol Hurney, one Police Department was patrolling the on the JMU football program. The Dukes The rest of the class includes three play- of the faculty members involved with area near the 1000 block of Lois Lane announced their 14 signees for this year’s ers from North Carolina, three from South the new program. in the South View Apartments complex. recruiting class yesterday. Carolina, and one each from Florida and Hurney is the executive director for The officer witnessed several people A highlight of the class is Georgia Tech New Jersey. Withers has connections to the the Center for Faculty Innovation and jumping on a car and went to investi- transfer, redshirt junior quarterback Vad Lee. Carolinas going back to his four years at an associate professor of biology. gate. When the officer approached the Also added to the quarterback mix is fresh- the University of North Carolina at Chapel Switching to online evaluations individuals, they ran into an apart- man Rob Nittolo from Hillsborough High Hill from 2008-11. One of those connections allows for easier recordkeeping of stu- ment. The officer followed and was School in New Jersey, who enrolled at JMU helped bring Lee on board. dents’ results and would also prevent allowed into the apartment by one this semester to participate in spring drills. “We’ll try to get the best players up and professors from having to give out the of the residents, Dylan Morra, 19, of Overall, the majority of the class (eight) is down the Eastern seaboard,” Withers said. evaluations during class. Students who Harrisonburg. slated for the defensive side of the ball. There “Obviously there are some ties to the state of had classes participating in the online Upon entering the apartment, the are three linebackers, two defensive backs, North Carolina — my ties to the state of North course evaluation received emails to a officer saw drug paraphernalia in plain one defensive tackle, one defensive end and Carolina and some other coaches on our staff. link that led to the online course evalu- view, including a clear glass smoking one defensive end/linebacker hybrid. But yeah, we want to make sure we do a good ation website. device and a jar containing a leafy But according to Withers, the positions job in Virginia first.” Hurney notes that the CFI is slowly green substance he believed to be aren’t as important as the overall quality of After getting a late start in early January, adding this software, and for good rea- marijuana. the players. this year’s recruiting period was obviously son. “We want to make sure we do this After further investigation, police “What we thought more than anything else very condensed compared to the typical situ- right and work out all the problems found other paraphernalia, including was to find the best athlete and the best foot- ation. There wasn’t a whole lot of time to really before we send it out to all the class- multiple glass smoking devices, herb ball player. We have an objective in finding get to know each player. But Withers and his rooms,” Hurney said. grinders, digital scales, wax paper con- young men,” he said. “Obviously, toughness staff made up for that by seeking out the peo- While the CFI is pushing for online taining homemade chocolate, money is important, whether he’s an offensive guy ple in each player’s life that have the biggest evaluations, some critics feel that mov- stored in a safe and butane fuel. There or a defensive guy. He’s got to have football insight into who they are. ing course evaluations online would were also other items in the apartment instincts.” Withers and staff also had names in mind cause student response rates to drop that had marijuana residue on them. Six of the recruits are from Virginia. There ahead of time and took advantage of those from the near perfect rates in-class Police charged Morra, along with are two from the central Virginia area, two prior connections. surveys yield. Maxwell Cotton, Evan James Delany, from the Northern Virginia area and one “I think the biggest thing is our coaches “I wouldn’t go online to fill out course Anthony Tanner and Eric Zirnheld in from the Virginia Beach region. As a new staff, did an unbelievable job of digging and find- evaluations because it would be way connection to the incident. establishing contacts in-state is going to be an ing what we call the ‘champion,’” Withers said. easier to just do them in class,” fresh- All of the individuals except Zirn- ongoing process. “The ‘champion’ is that person in that kid’s life man health sciences major Samantha held are listed as students in the JMU “We want to continue to grow the rela- that is going to help him make that decision.” Campbell said. tionship in the state with this staff and the Campbell thinks that students will see DRUGS, page A4 coaches ... We try to have somewhere around see FOOTBALL, page B5 not want to take time out of their busy workdays to fill out course evaluations, especially during finals week. Contrary to that belief, Hurney stated that this past semester she received a 93 percent response rate from her online course evaluations. Freshman marketing major Hayley Sunderman believes that complet- ing them online would allow for more Getting out of the game in-class time during finals week for reviewing. Professor overcomes dark past, authors a book to inspire others to do the same “I think that fewer students would probably fill out the surveys, but if they were made mandatory to pass the class By MEGAN O’BRIEN are on a first name basis with contributing writer their professor. After the class seeL EVA , page A4 bombarded him with anonymous Hospitality management pro- questions about his life, her first fessor James Williams has the thought was, “This man has noth- practiced manner of a motiva- ing to hide.” tional speaker. He foots all of his But this wasn’t always the case. emails with the philosopher Sun “I don’t even think I’m sup- 2/6 INSIDE Tzu’s quote, “Know thyself, know posed to be here,” Williams thy enemy; a thousand battles, a admits. NEWS thousand victories.” But what sets His story starts in Fall River, A3 Finding their niche the stocky, former football player Mass., in an impoverished neigh- Lack of diversity said apart from other JMU professors is borhood where schooling was to hurt students’ that he used to be a thug. ignored and fighting was the real learning experience. His memoir, “From Thug to education. Scholar: An Odyssey to Unmask The family of five lived in an OPINION my True Potential,” retraces the apartment with “maybe two A5 Shameful selfies? struggles he has overcome to get rooms” where the heat didn’t A new poster on campus is to where he is today. The book can always work and government-pro- shaming students for taking be bought on Amazon and at the vided food was sometimes dinner. pictures of themselves. JMU Bookstore. His book is ranked His parents always taught their on Amazon’s best-seller list. boys to follow God, to make good LIFE Anna Comer, a senior hospi- grades and wise decisions.