Volume 105, Issue 13 I January 20, 2011 MSU's Student Newspaper since 1895 (9- THE ASMSU EXPONENT I JANUARY 20, 2011 2 Bore your friends to death with baseball statistic>s Masthead MANAGEMENT EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OPINION EDITOR Eric Dietrich Brent Zundel PRODUCTION MANAGER NEWS EDITOR Claire Bi choff Joy Dale ADVISOR SPORTS EDITOR Bill Wilke Heather Kruger ART DEPARTMENT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR PHOTO EDITOR Sabre Moore COPY EDITOR Daniel Ca, sid)' GRAPHIC DESIGN Jill Searson Todd Schilling. Tina mith. Moriah CONTRIBUTORS Ellig, Emma Light. Tammi Heneveld Mike Tarrant. Pat He man. Matt Smith. Ann Staudinger. Adrian Lucas. ADVERTISING & BUSINESS Vane a aive. Ben Miller. Alicia AD SALES MANAGER Ex.le). ate Carrol. Garrett Smith. Kri Scare away t he cat John Langer Drummond, Michelle Thomas, with recaps of every AD SALES REPRESENTATIVES Michael Gro basket ball game Ryan BOY) BUSINESS MANAGER Contact Us: Ja)' Trotter Phone: 406-994-3976 The Exponent wants to hear your stuff. OFFICE MANAGER Email: [email protected] Tucker Hankinson Interested in being a sports writer? Email Web: exponent.montana.edu [email protected] THE ASMSU EXPONENT FOLLOW THE EXPONENT Stro id union Be, d119 Room 366 ON TWITTER Bozeman tV1T 59715 http://www.twitter.com/ #! / osmsuexponent 4 06 994 3976 Letters Policy: Advertising: Letters can be addressed to Ad space must be reserved by 5 p.m. [email protected] and the Friday prior to the Thursday publi­ should be kept under 300 words in cation date. The Exponent's ad soles length . Submissions should be signed staff can be contacted at and may be edited for AP Style, [email protected] grammar and length. or 406-994-261 1 LETTERS I Dear Exponent. Why Cut Physic ? \\hen I read 1he Dec. 9 column b) Ma) be this isn't the correct place to Mike Tarrant. it made me smile I am on ask this. but a fnend and l \\ere \\Onder­ the other end of the employment spectrum mg wh) so man) cuibacks have been '' ith .+5 years of" ork behmd me. Mike. made m the Ph) sics Department \\hen 1h1~ "hen you finall) graduate and enter 1he 1s upposed 10 be a school of engmeering': \\ ork force. ) ou can look forward to two Ho" can there be record enrollment at the weeks ( 10 days) \'acation per )ear for the school. mone) to build a football stadium first Ii\ e) ear.; of emplo)ment-full stop. and the College of Busme s recei' ing • .\ o spnng break. no Christmas break, no million in donations, and still monumenta long summer break. no option to k.ip ou1 cuts within the Physics Department? I just and ftoa1 the Madison or enjo) a perfect looked at the enrollment for fall ·IO. and powder ski da) - unless you surrender the College of Engmeenng has the mo'' ) our precious 'acation time 10 do it. ll 's students, except for Letters and Science. immoral for ure, but that is the American which is a reall) broad area of study. Thi· system. reall) bothers me: 1 came !O 1h1s school Enjo) the wonderful opportunity tha! becau e of the engineering. but hO\\ can you have to go to chool and learn! you have a good engineering chool and - Richard Gordon be culling back in the Physic Depart­ ment? It does no1 make sen e. - Derek T. THE ASMSU EXPONENT I JANUARY 20, 2011 3 From The Editor's Desk Help Wanted: Amateurs, Wanting to Learn If the headline wasn ·t are able to make of it. staff members with no interest in \\.rilino with the new semester: a giveaway, The That's especiall) true because MSU professionally put in tens of hours a we:k Brent Zundel - Opinion Editor Exponent is looking does not have a trad1t1onaJ journalism pro­ because they believe in our importance as Brent 1s a junior double majonng in to bring on a few new gram With the exception of a few graphic a focal point in MSU's campus culture. ~he bio-resources option of civil engineer­ staff members. Which. designers. almost none of us have any This is a publication where an en!!ineer­ ing and Hispanic studies. Apart from an­ if the reader would fonna1 training. instead, we've learned ing student, like myself. can serv; as the gering readers with his section, he enjo) s forgive me, provides how to produce this paper from what we ' editor-in-chief. fishing. hunting. backpacking and being an excuse to render Eric Dietrich can teach ourselves and each other, often I have my biases. of course. but I a gringo in Spanish-speaking countries. this column an exer­ through trial and error. Editor-ln{hief believe that's something speciaJ. And He can be reached at opinion@exponent. cise in self-promotion. That amateur spirit quite often limits us. something this campus should take pride montana.edu. In particular, we need wnters: stu­ More often than l care to admit, we make in. But. once again, we ·re limited by the Heather Kruger - Sports Editor dents who can e>,.plore and explain the mistakes that would be unheard of at our taJents that students can bring to the table. Heather Kruger is a senior majoring in inner \\Orkings of our campus, from our grad-student-staffed counterpart in Mis­ If you're interested in contributing--let English literature. In what little spare time student government to our administra­ soula, the Montana Kaiman. But it aJso us know, either through email at editor@ she has. she enjoys meeting new people tion. Students who can spur dialogue by provides this campus with an e>.traordi­ e:>.ponent.montana.edu or by stopping by and experiencing the world. She can be shanng their opinion on our community's nary opportunity. our office on the third floor of the SUB. reached at [email protected]. issues. Students who would like to help us This is a publication where a freshman New Faces engage our community through our enter­ with no experience can work-and thrive On a related note, we're lucky to have tainment and athletics coverage. -as a reporter. This is a publication where a pair of additions to our editorial staff We also need participants. Students-­ or others--who will take the Lime to write a letter to the editor, contribute a rant, or Correction: merely send us a homble joke to include July, Aug. and Sept. Ridership The article "City Funds Streamline for First Time"' in the on The Bo>.. Students who are willing to Dec. 9 edition incorrectl} labeled a table listing riderslup Service: 2009 2010 take the time to share their ideas, or their numbers for the Streamline bus system. The table should have Streamline: 38,009 42,517 constructi\e criticism appeared as follO\\ s: As our campus·s student newspaper. Saturday: 3,263 3,822 tlus publication 1s--and is onl)--what the Nightline: 1,775 2, 181 talents and interests of the student bod) Livingston: 1,241 1,950 iEDITORIAL State Legislators: Prioritize Education There 1s no question that Montana· s es. eight agricultural experiment stations. means Montana's students. who already university ·s abilit} to remam dynamic niversit} S}Stem is a vital part of our and statewide e>.tension offices contribute struggle to afford their education, could because the loss of discretionary spending tate's culture and econom}. Despite the over 13.500 jobs and SI billion to the see their bill rise b} as much as $870 a money would make 1t more difficult for tate ·s tight fiscal situation, the Legislature state's economy. Generating $253 million year. educators to respond to students· needs. hould heed the united front presented by in state ta:>. revenue, the university returns It's unfortunate that. over the past The university's ability and willingness to he students and educators who testified near!} $2.60 for every $ l of support it re­ half-centur). lawmakers have chosen to support community and student initia­ in Helena Jan.18 and do their utmost to ceives. As the state's land-grant university, shift the burden of university education ti\es, from the Local Government Center provide higher education with the funding MSU is an integral part of Montana. from the state's shoulders to the students. to Towne's Harvest Gardens, were 1-ey it needs to continue to serve the state. Funding cuts to the higher education In 1988. slate contributions made up 74 to its recent recognition for community Delegates from MSU"s four campuses budget would translate into a combina­ percent of the universit) system's budget; involvement by the Carnegie Foundation. n Bozeman, Billings. Great FaJls and tion of program cuts and tuition increases. in 2010. the) amounted to a paltry 41 lt would be a shame if austerit) measures HaHe, aJong with Montana business both of which would ha\·e dire impacts percent strangle that t} pe of effort in the future. leaders and representatrves from \anous on the uni\'ersit) S) stem ·s abilit) to sene With the average MSU student accu­ It's often been said that the bulk of the xtension agencies presented a unified students and the state. mulating appro\imatel) $24.000 in loans, state's budget serves to educate. incarcer­ ate and medicate. In choosing which to essage: The return pro\ ided on the One member of the Jo10t Appropria­ the Legislature would be ill-ad\ i. ed to ·tate's investment 10 the universit} system tions Subcommittee on Education. Sen. increa'e this financial burden.