PAGE 1 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 Vol. 106, NO. 44 UATRAV.COM

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011VOL. 106, NO. 4410 PAGESUATRAV.COM

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! e economy is over-whelmingly the number one issue facing Arkansas this election. As an issue, the econ-omy has been on the rise since 2007, from a low point of less than 10 percent in 2003, ac-cording to the 2011 Arkansas Poll directed by a UA profes-sor.

“! e economy is so over-whelming of an issue,” said Ja-nine Parry, poll director and UA professor. “It’s not uncom-mon around the country and certainly not in Arkansas, but the magnitude is 70 percent.”

! e Gallup Poll also found that 68 percent of Americans think the economy is getting worse.

Also re" ected the in the Arkansas Poll’s newest edition is a shi# toward republican-ism, Parry said.

“! is year Republicans and Democrats are back to regular levels and independents are back to regular levels,” Parry said. “But independents are much more likely to lean to-

ward Republicans so that’s the signi$ cant thing.”

Other issues, like educa-tion and health care, are al-ways important, she said.

“In the past there’s really the big three: the economy, ed-ucation and health care,” Parry said. “It’s the same nationally as well. ! at’s moved around a little bit but those are always the big three.”

As a nation, 44 percent of Democrats are enthusiastic about voting while 58 percent of Republicans are. Democrat enthusiasm has reached a de-cade low, Gallup found.

Gauging UA voter excite-ment is a di% erent story. While the Arkansas Poll’s margin of error would not allow for an accurate estimation around the UA campus, Parry predicts voter turnout to be low among young voters.

“I wish I had a more en-couraging answer, but I think once again, much will be hoped for on college campuses but little will emerge,” she said.

Economy Top Issue in 2012by JACK SUNTRUP

Staff Writer

Poor planning and crowd-ed classrooms in the Arkansas Union delayed the opening of the University Recreation Fit-ness Center to early Spring 2012, UA o& cials said.

“Certain things come up in construction,” said Kristin

Durant, associate director of Fitness Facilities.

! e $ tness center was originally scheduled to open in early November, said Bob Beeler, director of design and construction services. But progress has been con-tinuously delayed because the construction crew cannot work during scheduled class

times.“We didn’t know that there

would be major classes in the Union,” Beeler said. “! e drilling noise and other things couldn’t be tolerated in con-struction.”

Both Don Pederson, vice chancellor for $ nance and ad-ministration, and Lynne Wil-liams, director of the student

union, said the delay isn’t ex-pected to cost the UA any more money.

! ere “would have to be extenuating circumstances” for the delay to cost extra, Pederson said.

! e contract for construc-tion sets a certain amount of money for the cost of the proj-ect.! e circumstances that

forced the delay did not break that contract, he said.

Construction planning un-derestimated how “massive” the project was, Pederson said. Construction crews did not know what to expect until they got into the project and got behind the walls, he said.

Every day, up to 2,000 peo-ple use the Donna Axum Fit-

ness Center in the HPER, Du-rant said. Record enrollment has pushed that facility to ca-pacity.

Students said that the new $ tness center needs to open soon.

Opening of Union Fitness Center Delayedby MEGAN HUCKABY

Staff Writer

Jason Blankenship, associ-ate director and academic ad-visor for the Fulbright Hon-ors College, spent his last day with the Honors College on Friday, Nov. 4. Blankenship will now be working in the O& ce of Nationally Competi-tive Awards.

His new job will consist of assisting students in ap-plying for scholarships and awards such as Rhodes, Mar-

shall, Truman, Goldwater, Udall and more, according to an email Blankenship sent to Fulbright Honors students.

Blankenship won the Uni-versity of Arkansas Outstand-ing Advisor award for Out-standing Professional Advisor in the 2010-2011 school year due to “overwhelming evi-dence of qualities and practic-es that distinguished them as outstanding advisors,” accord-ing to University Relations.

Many of the four-year hon-or students advised by Blan-

kenship said they were sorry to see him leave the honors college.

“I’m super disappointed,” said sophomore Shannon Harris, international relations and Spanish major and four-year honor student. “! is semester was actually the only semester I worked with him, but he de$ nitely went above and beyond just picking classes,” she said.

Academic Advisor Switches Jobs, Students Reactby JANNEE SULLIVAN

Staff Writer

Students Prepare for Taste of Africa

Eccomy the Top Issue in Arkansas

Increased Use ofScooters Leads toRise in Injuries

Ultra Studios: Don’tCall it a Boutique

Anderson Era Begins Following Kardashian Divorce, Lets Repriortize

! e African Student Or-ganization prepare for the annual Taste of Africa.

Page 3

! e Arkansas Poll has the economy as the top issue on the minds of Arkansans.

Page 1

As more students use mo-torized scooters, Pat Walker Health Center is seeing a jump in injuries.Page 5

Ultra Studios carries high fashion pieces created by local designers.

Page 5

Arkansas and new coach Mike Anderson start the 2011-12 season Friday.

Page 7

Americans cannot be angry with the Kardashian hoopla as long as the fascination with celebrities continues.

Page 4

News News Features Features Sports Opinion

In T

his I

ssue

:

Pep It Up to the 90’s

JACKI FROST STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERMembers of Pi Beta Phi rally for their favorite candidate in the homecoming pep rally.

Starting a new life is not al-ways an easy thing, but Casa-ndra Guarino was determined to do it; by herself.

She is from Kansas City, Mo., and her main goal since she moved to Fayetteville has been to graduate from medi-cal school.

But, there is one problem: she can’t a% ord to attend the UA.

Guarino attended the UA for one year before the walls came crashing down.

“My $ rst year I had all scholarships, but most of them were one-year scholarships, and I wasn’t aware of that at the time,” she said.

She had to pay for tuition almost entirely out-of-pock-et a# er her freshman scholar-ships expired.

Guarino does not have to pay full out-of-state tuition, because she is from a state contiguous to Arkansas.

! e price of tuition for stu-dents who live in contiguous states is more than $1,000 a year more than in-state tu-ition, said Steve Voorhies, manager of news and media relations.

During a four-year peri-od students from contiguous states could pay more than $4,000 in tuition.

Annual tuition cost in fall 2011 was $17,606 for out-of-state students and when room and board are added the total is more than $25,000 for one year at the UA, according to College Board.

In-state tuition, however, was $7,174 in the same year and when room and board are added the cost is a little more than $15,000.

! e di% erence between in-state cost and out-of-state cost can be about $10,000 for one year at the UA and dur-ing a four-year period the cost could be more than $40,000 di% erence.

Tuition also has increased with the student population since at least 2000, according to College Board.

by CHAD WOODARDAsst. News Editor

Non-Resident Tuition

Increases32 Percent

! e senate committee on state agencies and govern-mental a% airs in higher edu-cation discussed the enforce-ment of deadlines for univer-sity professors to make class book lists public, o& cials said.

Under Act 175 of 2007, which sets deadlines for text-

book adoption, UA professors are obligated to release infor-mation about required texts by Nov. 1 for the spring term and April 1 for summer and fall, according a message from Ali Sadeghi, bookstore direc-tor, posted on the UA book-store’s website.

Since 2009, 88 percent of UA professors were able to meet these deadlines, accord-

ing to information gathered by the Department of Higher Education.

Sen. Sue Madison, D-Ark., district 7 and committee chair, said that rate isn’t high enough.

“It obviously wasn’t very

State and Federal LegislatorsWork to Contain Textbook Costs

by LANDON REEVESStaff Writer

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NEWS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 PAGE 2

The women and men of the University of Arkansas Police Department, in partnership with the community, are committed to protecting the future of Arkansas by promot-ing a safe and secure environment.

The Transit and Parking office handles parking permits and passes and transit for students, including bus routes and GoLoco Ride Sharing. Students with parking violations can contact the office to appeal their citation.

NEED TICKETS? CALL 1-800-982-4647

NEED A RIDE AT NIGHT? CALL 575 - 7233

NEED EMERGENCY HELP? CALL UAPD 575-2222

HAVE A TICKET? CALL 575-7275 TO RESOLVE IT

Otherwise known as 575-SAFE, the mission of the Safe Ride program is to provide students with a safe means of transportation from any uncomfortable or inconvenient situation. Safe Ride brings you home safely.

Don’t forget to call early and reserve your student football tickets for the 2010-2011 season. The ticket office is located on Razorback Road next to Baum Stadium.

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Opinions expressed in signed columns are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily refl ect the opinion of The Traveler. The editor makes all fi nal content decisions.

One copy of The Arkansas Traveler is free to every member of the UA commu-nity. Additional copies can be purchased for 50 cents each. Mail subscriptions for delivery within the continental United States can be purchased for $125.00 per se-mester. Contact the Traveler Business Manager to arrange.

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“We need a new center just because of the amount

of people that use the HPER,” said Sean Williams, a junior kinesiology major who uses the ! tness center daily. “Peo-ple can’t get a full workout in

without having to stop and wait on equipment.”

" e students being forced out of the HPER are ! nding alternatives.

“A lot of students are tak-ing their business to other gyms,” Williams said.

In 2000 tuition and fees were $4,778 for in-state stu-dents, $12,427 for out-of-state students with an undergradu-ate total of 12,501 students. In 2010 tuition and fees were $6,960 for in-state students and $16,455 for out-of-state students with an undergradu-ate total of 17,247, according to UA enrollment records and College Board.

" is was a more than 45 percent increase in tuition and fees for in-state students, a little more than 32 percent increase for out-of-state stu-dents and an increase of near-ly 40 percent in undergradu-ate student population.

Student loan debt has in-creased with tuition.

Student loan debt is more than $900 billion and will

continue to increase, accord-ing to ! naid.org.

However, President Obama made an attempt to help stu-dent borrowers.

In Obama’s plan, he an-nounced Oct. 25, new steps will be taken to make college more a# ordable and easier to pay back for students, accord-ing to the White House web-site.

Borrowers will be able to cap student loan payments at 10 percent of discretionary income. Obama plans to im-plement the changes in 2012, which could reduce monthly payments for more than 1.6 million students.

For example if a nurse earns $45,000 and has $60,000 in federal loans the repayment under the current plan would be $690, however, under the new plan the borrowers pay-ment would be $119, a sav-

ings of a little more than $450 a month, according to the website.

Average debt a$ er grad-uation at the UA is about $20,000, which is lower than the national average of $23,000, according to College Board and ! naid.org.

Guarino will exceed the average of $20,000, because she is an out-of-state student and will rely mostly on stu-dent loans to ! nish her un-dergraduate degree.

In fact, Gaurino will not be able to attend the UA un-til next year at the earliest, be-cause she is working to save money. She plans to save at least $1,000 before the spring semester.

Gaurino will have to attend Northwest Arkansas Commu-nity College where tuition is less expensive. NWACC tu-ition is $2,748 for full-time

in-state students and $5,598 for full-time out-of-state stu-dents for 2011 to 2012, ac-cording to College Board.

At those prices, an in-state student could save more than $2,000 and an out-of-state student could save nearly $7,000 by attending NWACC as opposed to the UA.

Guarino is facing di% cul-ties ! nancially, but this is not the ! rst time she has moti-vated herself to accomplish a goal, she said.

“I have done this on my own, my parents didn’t re-ally encourage me to go to college, they never said they would help me go to college,” she said.

Not only will Guarino be the ! rst doctor in her family, but she will also be the ! rst graduate from a four-year university in her family.

JACKI FROST STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERConstruction is still underway in the Union for the up and coming Fitness Center as of November 8.

FITNESSfrom page 1

TUITIONfrom page 1

NEWSPAGE 3 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011

Every year the African Stu-dents Organization has hosted its annual Taste of Africa Ban-quet, which provides lots of African food, dance and mu-sic. Students are to expect a variety of African dishes pre-pared by African people with-in the Northwest Arkansas Community.

“! is is our biggest event of the fall semester. We are hop-ing through our silent auction to raise money to support a charity organization based in Africa. We have no doubt it will be a success this year, we have a great team of executive o" cers and great active mem-bers” said Denis Rugira, presi-dent of African Student Orga-nization.

! e African Student Or-ganization is an International cultural student organization in the UA. It represents 54 na-tions of Africa, according to the website.

“As a member of the Af-

rican Student Organization, I love the fact that we have this event because it gives us an opportunity to share our culture with others. ! e main thing is the food, hence the taste in the name, so many people from various countries make so many di# erent types of food. I think its amazing that we have all these students working hard to provide the guests with some of the best meals from their respective countries of origin,” said Ade-olo Yusuf, junior in industrial engineering.

ASO strives to create awareness within the Univer-sity community, as well as the Northwest Arkansas region about the rich and diverse cul-tures of Africa and its people.

! e student organization is committed to the integration of African students at the UA, as well as showcasing the rich cultural diversity of Africa. ! e membership for the RSO is available and open to any-one interested in the country, according to the website.

“! e event provides such a wonderful experience and delicious food. It’s amazing how much one can say about someone’s culture with only their food”, said Juan Torres Goitia, civil engineering ma-jor.

! ere will be cultural dances, music, a poetry com-petition and a silent auction. African artifacts and cloth-ing will be auctioned o# at the event, Rugira said.

“All in all, I hope those that attend really enjoy the show and leave having had some of the best meals of their lives. Equally as important, I hope they leave feeling like they’ve acquired more knowledge about various African cul-tures. I strongly encourage ev-eryone to attend the Taste of Africa,” Yusuf said.

! e program is open for anyone who wishes to learn more about African culture. ! e event will take place Sunday November 20th at 6 p.m. at the Fayetteville Town Centre.

Students Prepare for the AnnualTaste of Africa Banquet

by MATILDE BONIFAZStaff Writer

“If you look at political par-ticipation, for most people, it’s a function of wealth and edu-cation, and most people on college campuses don’t have a whole lot of either yet.”

Across campus, students had a host of reasons for the decline in enthusiasm.

“! ere’s not as much hype this election,” said Adriel Par-adise, senior. “! is year’s vot-ing, it won’t be a ‘$ rst time in history’ election. ! ere’s not any female candidates out front.”

For Paradise, compared

to 2008, the biggest issue has changed.

Republicans and Demo-crats not being able to work together to solve tough prob-lems will not help with vot-er turnout, said senior Blake Rogers.

“A lot of what I’ve heard is frustration that both sides can’t work together,” he said. “I would hope people will try to get people in o" ce who agree with each other but I don’t know if people are go-ing to try to elect people who can work together or just split things again.”

However, interest in na-

tional politics this year has been high for a non-election year. ! ough only 14 percent of respondents aged 18-29 in a Gallup poll followed the news “very closely,” while 35 per-cent of the general public did. Gallup attributed the height-ened interest to the economy, unfavorable views of the di-rection of our country, and dissatisfaction with the way the country is being governed.

“I have all white friends and most of them are Repub-lican,” freshman Austin Booth said. “As soon as they start talking about politics I just tune-out.”

“He advised me on my study abroad program and possible internships. He’s def-initely one of the most knowl-edgeable people I’ve talked to at the University,” Harris said.

Grant Bodiford, a fresh-man honor student majoring in political science and pre-law, said Blankenship was a helpful advisor.

“It was a struggle to get advised because he was so busy. I tried for approximate-ly a month,” Bodiford said. “I’m sad that will be the only time I will ever be advised by Blankenship. He seemed re-ally knowledgeable and dedi-cated to his job. He came o# as very dedicated to the stu-dents, too.”

To express their grati-tude, students Suzanne Sche-newerk and Emily Chase be-gan a Facebook group dedi-cated to sending thank-you notes to Blakenship.

“For years he has answered our panicked emails, told us things we probably could have $ gured out if we looked them up on ISIS, told us things ISIS refused to tell us, listened to us complain about our classes and our majors and our requirements, given sensible advice, and worn re-ally, really nice out$ ts,” Sche-newerk said.

Some students said they were wary of possible chang-es in the honors program in Blankenship’s absence.

“I think the program is de$ nitely going to change without him. I’m not sure to

what extent though,” Harris said.

Future honor students may be missing out on the personal advising relation-ship Blankenship provided, Harris said.

Some students think the Honors Advising team will su# er from Blankenship’s de-parture.

“It seems like there already needs to be more faculty ad-vising in the Honors College,” Bodiford said, “! e Honors program will have lost a great advisor, and hopefully he is replaced by someone as pro-fessional and as caring and intelligent as he is.”

“I’m happy for him if he’s going to a better job,” Harris said. “But I’m really disap-pointed I won’t get to work with him again."

well enforced. Bookstores told me some faculty were chroni-cally late adopting in August every year,” Madison said. “It’s meaningless to pass a law if there is not some kind of en-forcement mechanism.”

! e goal of the act is save students money by putting more used books into the market, Madison said.

“If [bookstores] know a book is going to be used again, they will give more for it when students go to sell their book back,” Madison said.

Rep. Johnnie Roebuck D-

Ark, and co-committee chair, said legislators have worked to lower textbook costs for the past two terms.

“Textbook costs have es-calated so out of control that it makes it una# ordable to at-tend a university or college,” Roebuck said.

! e act does nothing to regulate the frequency of change for textbooks or pro-hibit the selling of sample books, which are o% en pro-vided to faculty to help them shop around, he said.

Several members of the subcommittee agreed that it was unethical to make a prof-it from these gratis samples.

One UA Fort Smith policy re-quires all textbooks to be used for a minimum of three years, and another prohibits the sale of sample books, said Mark Horn, vice chancellor for Uni-versity Relations for UA Fort Smith.

“I think most of the insti-tutions are taking [Act 175] seriously,” said Shane Broad-way, interim director of the Department of Higher Edu-cation.

! ere is no penalty for missing deadline, nor is there a designated o" cial to con-stantly monitor compliance, Broadway said.

LEGISLATORSfrom page 1

ELECTIONfrom page 1

BLANKENSHIPfrom page 1

EDITOR: SABA NASEEM MANAGING EDITOR: MATTIE QUINN

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on uatrav.comTHE ARKANSAS TRAVELER

OPINION

Nothing brings me joy quite like when the entire so-cial media universe comes to-gether to talk about one thing. In the past year, I will admit to being glued to my phone or computer reading updates from my friends, relatives and favorite celebrities for their take on huge stories. ! ese sto-ries include the assassination of Osama bin Laden, the not-guilty verdict of Casey Antho-ny and…..Kim Kardashian’s surprise divorce.

During the course of the day, the only thing that was getting me to crack a smile in an otherwise arduous day were people poking fun at the fact that a marriage that was

so highly publicized was over in 72 days. #! ingsLonger-! anKimsMarriage was easily one of funniest trending top-ics I’ve seen in a while. ! ese “roasts” on the celebrity went on for about a day, and then just like that, the tides turned. Kim Kardashian is the reason marriage isn’t sacred anymore. She planned this out just so she could receive millions of dol-lars from the E! Television net-work. If we were still burning people at the stake, I am pretty sure Kim Kardashian would be a convicted witch.

While I am troubled by the fact that a woman received $18 million to seemingly just stand around looking pretty while cameras followed her, the out-cry from her divorce was more puzzling to me. Reuters re-ported that 4.4 million people watched the two-hour “fairy tale” wedding. Her wedding album is one of People maga-zine’s highest bought issues, right behind the royal wed-ding issue earlier this year. Her “marriage” would undoubtedly be less disgusting had we not paid so much attention. While we are quick to be angry about the situation, we don’t realize

that the American public does care, at least at this current moment in time, about the girl.

America is in a huge tran-sitional period. A movement is building across the nation with no real insight into what it will become, but it is not slowing down. ! is time next year, we might have a completely new president. ! e economy re-mains as bleak as ever. We are using this socialite as a way to forget about our own problems for a little bit, unbeknownst to ourselves and probably un-beknownst to her. We are not getting angry for the right rea-sons. Is it unfair that a girl with no discernible talent is a top story on CNN.com? Yes. But instead of getting angry about that, let’s start having a real discussion about what is going on in America, and why we are so obsessed. As long as we con-tinue to let ourselves “Keep Up with the Kardashians,” we can-not get angry when a celebri-ty divorce is a more read news story than a real pressing news story.

Mattie Quinn is the 2011-2012 managing editor of ! e Traveler.

! e Arkansas Traveler welcomes letters to the editor from all interested readers. Letters should be at most 300 words and should include your name, student clas-si" cation and major or title with the university and a day-time telephone number for veri" cation. Letters should be sent to traveler@uark.edu.

EDITORIAL BOARDEDITOR

MANAGING EDITOROPINION EDITOR

ENTERPRISE EDITOR

Saba NaseemMattie QuinnJordain CarneySamantha Williams

MCT CAMPUS

Following Kardashian Divorce, Lets Reprioritize

From the Managing Editor

by MATTIE QUINNTraveler Managing Editor

trvmgr@uark.edu

Traveler Quote of the Day

“We didn’t know that there would be major classes in the union. ”

- Bob Beeler, director of design and construction services “Opening of Union Fitness Center Delayed,”

page one

FROM THE BOARD

More Consistency Needed for Game Day Bicycling Rules

I am an alumnus of the UA, and employee of the Athletic Department.

I just wanted to describe the events that took place Sat-urday that lead to a confron-tation with the game-day po-lice while I attempted to ride my bike to work. Hopefully talking about my experience with the Athletic Department, the university and the Traveler can start a dialogue to estab-lish the rights of bicyclists on campus.

While traveling west on Maple Street, I attempted to make a le# -hand turn on Razorback Road, and was stopped by police. Police in-formed me that I am not al-lowed down Razorback Road heading south on a bike. I ask if I may join the pedestrians walking south while walk-ing my bicycle, police said no and o$ ered no explanation. I tried to " nd out how to get to work but was threatened that I wouldn’t like it if I asked any more questions.

Continued west on Maple Street past Hembree Alum-ni House. Traveled through neighborhoods west of Ra-zorback Road. I dismounted from bicycle and tried to cross Razorback Road at Markham to enter stadium at ramp. Po-lice refused and informed me

that I am not allowed on Ra-zorback Road. I attempted to ask o% cer a better route to get to work. He got frustrated with me and told me to leave and go up the hill with my bi-cycle.

I went back up the hill on Markham and traveled fur-ther south through parking lots where tailgating was go-ing on. I was still dismounted from my bike when I joined foot tra% c on the east side of Razorback Road by crossing at the crosswalk near the HPER. As I walked north on sidewalk with bicycle the same o% cer as before approached me and was obviously upset that I was walking with my bicycle . I was legally detained, asked for my id, threatened with a tick-et , my bike being impounded and eventually arrest. ! e o% -cer was not with UAPD. Dur-ing the detention I tried ( in what I thought was a reason-able and respectful manner) to attain information as to how to get to work. Each at-tempt I made to ask a question was met with hostility and eventually I was told that if I “say one more word and you are going to jail.”

Before the situation es-calated any further Lt. Gary Crain from UAPD came by to see what was going on. Crain informed me that bikes were not allowed in the stadium pe-rimeter or the area surround-

ing. He informed me that from Cleveland Street to Sixth Street no bicycles were al-lowed. I thanked Crain for his patience in helping me get to work I le# to lock my bike up outside of the area described.

! e confusing part of this ordeal was the non-consisten-cy of information I got from each di$ erent o% cer. To my understanding what I was " rst informed was that I was not allowed to ride down Razor-back, then I was informed I was not allowed on Razorback Road with my bicycle regard-less, then I was told I cannot walk up the side walk along Razorback Road with my bi-cycle. Finally I was informed that bicycles were not allowed within a certain proximity of the stadium.

! is is my " #h year at the Athletic Department and I have consistently ridden my bike to work , parking at Gate A for all " ve years. I have nev-er had this problem and was unaware that such a policy ex-isted. Further the attitude of police towards me le# some-thing to be desired from a per-son that is espoused to be a civil servant. I do not believe I violated any state, city , or fed-eral law in my actions and yet was threatened with arrest for trying to obtain information from police in how I could go to work.

! anks for your time.

Apparently, my last col-umn regarding school spirit hit a nerve with some people. ! e headline might as well have been “UA student hates the UA.”

If my prior experience had been at one of the other 1,598 colleges, I do not think there would be this kind of vitriol spewing on the comments sec-tion for my Monday column on the Traveler website. I used my personal experiences as a frame of reference. Occasionally I see schools from California to North Carolina represented on campus. ! is is a good thing.

To clarify: For the most part, my experiences here have been positive and I have enjoyed my interactions with my professors and fellow students. I have made friends, even wearing my hat.

People who were so upset by my column, which was about expansive thinking and over-coming silly prejudices, have made my point with their per-sonal attacks.

An extension of the nar-row-mindedness has been the emphasis in the commentary on old sports rivalries, which misses the point of my column entirely. Students seem upset by football games that happened in a conference that was dissolved before most of them were even born. Get over it, already—life is too short.

Most disturbing is the lack of argumentative ability some people who responded to my column exhibited in their com-ments. Rather than formulating cogent arguments, some chose to jeer and call me names, re-sorting to the ad hominem fal-lacy that ancient rhetoricians cautioned Western philoso-phers to avoid. It is incredibly disappointing to see people who are supposedly seeking a high-er degree of education resort to such simplistic and juvenile measures.

In the spirit in which I have been attacked, I assume that Razorback students, fans and alumni, upon arriving at the doorstep of any another col-lege campus, should immedi-ately perform the following acts of absolution. ! ey should re-move their Razorback license plate, tear o$ their Razorback decals and right there on the side of the road set " re to all other Razorback paraphernalia. ! en they should immediately run to the nearest campus store and buy products that represent the school that they are about to enter. You certainly do not want to stand out by being proud of your alma mater.

I am not a chameleon who changes colors at every state line.

Emily Hilley-Sierzchula is majoring in journalism. She is a Traveler columnist. Her column appears bimonthly, every other Monday.

by DANIEL BLACKGuest Columnist

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Monday Column

ResponseRemember To Thank A VeteranVeteran’s Day is Friday.To lead up to the national holiday, UA organizations have been

holding events throughout the week, as part of the UA’s " rst Veteran’s Week.

! ough some of might think of the word “veterans” and think of our grandparents or older family relatives, with the U.S. military involved with wars on two fronts and recruiting starting as early as high school—and the maximum enlistment age being 42— the title of “veterans” belongs to students that we see every day across campus.

! e UA administration has a Veteran’s Center to help student vet-erans readjust to campus life, but the UA administration should do everything it can to help student veterans who have given everything they can to help defend our country.

Almost 4,500 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq War, according to the Associated Press. More than 1,000 members of the U.S. military have died in the con& ict in Afghanistan.

In a time when it is all too easy to forget things that the media doesn’t constantly put in our face—thanks information overload— including that every day men and women are risking their lives for our country. We should never forget to remember those who make our way of life possible. Take time on Veteran’s Day to thank a vet-eran; it might be as easy as turning to the person sitting next to you in class.

Thanks for the DetailsChancellor G. David Gearhart spoke to members of the Associated

Student Government Senate members Tuesday night. We were glad to hear speci" c thing that the UA o% cials are looking at

to help students, faculty and sta$ to deal with the student increase. UA o% cials are thinking about adding another academic building or

residence hall. What worried us though, was the idea that we might void our 25,000

student population limit that administrators have been discussing, and in-clude possibly as many as 28,000 students on campus.

Given the current campus crunch, we couldn’t imagine increasing our student cap without having some of the expansions Gearhart spoke about.

Also, we commend Gearhart for continuously supporting the DREAM Act despite its unpopularity across the state

PAGE 4 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011

THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER

FEATURES PAGE 5 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 FEATURES EDITOR: LAUREN LEATHERBY ASST. FEATURES EDITOR: KELSI FORD

Scan here to go tothe Features section

on uatrav.com:

Increased Use of Scooters Leads to Rise in Injuries

! ey are not as big as cars, not as threatening as motor-cycles, but faster than bicycles.! e scooter has gained massive popularity on the UA campus, but at what expense? Pat Walker Health Center had about three to four scooter-related injuries a day in the " rst four weeks of school, and the injuries keep coming.

“! ese are bright, sharp and great people, but they are mak-ing unwise safety decisions while on scooters,” said Mary Alice Sera" ni, executive director of Pat Walker Health Center.

! e increase in students at the UA has put more tra# c on cam-pus roads. In addition, scooter dealers are now o$ ering a deal in which they will buy back scooters a% er the school year for a large portion of the original cost, which has boosted scooter popularity across campus, Se-ra" ni said.

In Arkansas, everyone under the age of 21 is required to wear a helmet and protective eye gear on a scooter.

“We rarely see anyone with a helmet,” said Lyn Edington, nurse manager at the Pat Walk-er Health Center. “We’ve already sent three or four students to the hospital to get CT scans of their heads a% er falling o$ without a

helmet.” By wearing a helmet, scoot-

er riders increase their surviv-al rate in a crash by 37 percent and by refraining from wearing a helmet, riders increase their chance of mortality by 40 per-cent, according to the National Highway Tra# c Safety Admin-istration.

Helmets also decrease wind noise and the chance of getting debris in a rider’s face or eyes.

Riders want to make sure that helmets have an authentic De-partment of Transportation sticker. ! at means the helmet was originally designed to meet the department and standards, according to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF).

It’s not rare to drive down ma-ple and see three or four people shoved onto a scooter, barely holding on, and racing down the road. Arkansas Law states that scooters are only allowed to have one additional passenger besides the driver.

“I am very pleased to see so many of them wearing head and eye protection, but I am equally concerned when I see load issues associated with carrying one or more passengers on a scoot-er,” said Danny Pugh, vice pro-vost of student a$ airs. “Clearly, scooters are not designed to ride three people. Just because the seat holds three smaller folks doesn’t mean you should do it.

It might seem expedient at the time, but the risks far outweigh the convenience.”

! e extra weight on the scoot-er will a$ ect its handling. If a scooter is equipped to handle another passenger, tire pressure and suspension should be ad-justed to account for the other person’s added weight.

Although slipping on a pair of & ip-& ops might seem like quick and easy way to run to class, wearing them while rid-ing a scooter can cause serious injuries.

“One student who came into the o# ce knew he was going to wreck and put his feet down on the pavement,” Edington said. “He was wearing & ip-& ops and they fell o$ . When he got to Pat Walker he didn’t have any skin on the bottom of his feet.”

! e MSF recommends boots because they come up higher on the leg, they can protect riders from lower leg abrasions. ! ey also suggest avoiding shoes with slippery soles and heading straight for rubber soles instead. ! at way, if students do have to stop quickly, they can avoid any injury or embarrassment.

A lot of wrecks have also been caused because of lack of educa-tion on how to ride a scooter.

“We have a lot of students who come in here and say ‘Oh I just didn’t know what I was doing,’” Sera" ni said.

People only have to be 14 years old in the state of Arkansas to obtain a motorcycle license, which could imply to students that it is easier than operating a car. Unfortunately, this lack of knowledge about the dangers of riding a scooter is what is lead-ing to many of the accidents around campus.

“Riding on two wheels is not as simple as people believe,” Pugh said. “I myself ride a Har-ley Davidson and take riding safety very seriously. ! e Motor-cycle Safety Foundation does a phenomenal job in rider educa-tion, including scooters. I am a strong proponent for greater ed-ucation for those who ride.”

Check your owner’s manual; not all scooters are exactly alike. ! ere are large scooters (en-gine displacements of 650cc and over), small scooters (50cc) and all sizes in between. ! e scooter owner’s manual gives many spe-ci" cs that are helpful in under-standing and maintaining your scooter, according to the MSF

Across Northwest Arkansas, there are several scooter training courses that specialize in teach-ing riders the basic mechan-ics of their vehicle and how to properly maintain, operate and drive their scooters. By taking an hour-long course or reading up on scooter safety, a rider can save themselves money in dam-age costs or even their life.

by SHELBY GILLStaff Writer

Local Group Creates Network for Artists

For a few years now, I’ve al-ways driven by a little store on South School Avenue while on

my way to various destinations. ! e sign reading “Ultra Stu-dios” looked bright and invit-ing, but I never took the plunge and check it out. But a% er walking in, looking around and

meeting owner and designer, Brooke Benham, I would never regret it.

Ultra Studios is a clothing shop, hair and make-up salon and fabric store rolled up in one. Benham originally opened the store in 2008 as a way to sell her custom designs and jewelry as well as the designs of other local artists. Ultra Studios is all about embracing the local & a-vor of Fayetteville and all it has to o$ er.

“I aspired to help other de-signers. I wanted to have a lo-cal community store,” Benham said. With the beautiful custom designs and services that Ultra Studios has to o$ er, Benham is well on her way to accomplish-ing that.

As I walked around the store I became more impressed by the minute. ! ere are some piec-es that come from market and others that Brooke has made herself, including jewelry. Piec-es in the store include funky, fu-turistic tops with vivid colors and unique patterns and trendy sweaters and tunics that would make any girl feel fabulous.

! e hand-cra% ed jewelry made of stone, the hand-wo-ven bags made from recycled duvet, the designer denims of Jennings Jeans and the several other fashionable items bring nothing short of a breath of fresh-fashion air to the south

side of Fayetteville. ! e aesthetic feel of Ultra Stu-

dios stands out as well. Hand painted, abstract murals dress the walls of the shop and small pieces of Razorback-themed artwork adorn the brightly painted walls, all of which make for eclecticism beyond the Fay-etteville norm.

Although impressed with the clothes and store design, the best surprise was yet to come. I then discovered the back room, a huge space " lled with discounted items, fabric, cra% items like belt buckles, metal for jewelry making and pletho-ra of other things.

Benham makes all of her de-signs in house. I rounded the curtain to the le% of the room and that’s when I saw the fab-ric tables, the sewing machines and the mannequins - all of it, right there. ! e raw materials, ready to be used to make some-thing beautiful.

Brooke Benham spoke on her other inspiration, her Kiowa heritage Tuesday, Nov. 8, at the 18th annual Native American Symposium held in Gi$ els Au-ditorium. Members of the UA Native American Student As-sociation modeled her designs.

With its personally cra% -ed clothes and Native Ameri-can in& uences, Ultra Studios separates itself from any oth-er shop in Fayetteville because

of the originality and person-ality it has to o$ er. Ultra Stu-dios is truly a place where a girl can come and get dressed from head to toe in unique, local de-signs.

Benham speci" cally noted that she wanted customers of Ultra Studios to come in and be able to embrace their individu-al sense of style freely with no con" nement of trendiness.

! ough this is her main goal, she admits “I have to tone it down a bit. If the clothes are too out there, they won’t sell.”

Despite this fact, Brooke is determined to never lose sight

of her inspiration for her fash-ion and Ultra Studios.

“We want to be a fashion store. Not a style store. ! ere is a di$ erence,” Benham said.

It is rare to have something so particular and customized as a shop that caters to the individu-alism of its market—at least not to this extent.

So, Fayetteville, I challenge you to tap into your inner-ar-tiste, step into Ultra Studios and immerse yourself in the spunk and funk that this fashion oa-sis brings you. ! ere is nothing to lose, and incredible things to " nd.

MELEAH GROSS STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERAn original design is displayed on a mannequin in Ultra Studios, a local design house located in south Fayetteville.

by ROSALYN TAYLORStaff Writer

Artists are arguably among the more misunderstood, underpaid and underappreciated members of a community. In a society of-ten focused on business and eco-nomics, art and its creators can be all but shoved to the side in favor of professions and projects considered to be more practical.

! e city of Fayetteville, how-ever, is not one of the places that has fallen prey to this idea. ! e Fayetteville Forward Creative Economy Action Group, or FF-CEAC, is dedicated to promot-ing artistic creativity through-out the city. “Our main goal is to work towards creating eco-nomic opportunities for creative people throughout Fayetteville,” said Christopher Spencer, group coordinator. “We participate in and create a number of projects throughout the city to do just that and to promote artistic involve-ment within the community.”

“To join FFCEAC, we don’t re-quire any membership forms or dues. ! e only thing we want out of people is the determination necessary to make Fayetteville a community that can be creative, vibrant, and artistic,” Spencer said.

According the group’s web-site, it is involved in many activi-ties and projects, including Last Night Fayetteville, a New Year’s Eve celebration held at the city square, ! at Fayetteville Sound, a program working to give greater access to local music in collabo-ration with the Fayetteville Pub-lic Library, and a type of local en-cyclopedia known as ! e Arts

Guide, a print guide catalogu-ing all public art and art galleries within the community.

“I’m not necessarily an artist myself, but I appreciate its beau-ty, especially when created by people right here in Fayetteville. I have been to a few events put on by the FFCEAC, and it’s been so inspiring to see the breathtak-ing art that people from our own community have created,” said Jack Rothwell, a junior. “It makes me so glad for them that they have the chance for their talents

to really be appreciated by those who they see and interact with everyday.”

In addition to promoting ar-tistic creativity through and for its members, FFCEAC also has a strong online base for members to connect and network with others interested in promoting their artistic talents.

! e site currently has 71 active members who share events, ad-vice or their own work with the fellow artists. ! e site features a blog on which users give feed-back, and it also contains a fo-rum in which the artists can di-rectly interact with one another and communicate about their art. ! e site also provides a way for outside organizations inter-ested in helping artists or needing them to help with a project can " nd willing volunteers, which can aid many artists in gaining experience or even job opportu-nities.

“I started using the site just for fun mostly, to see if I could " nd any cool art events or pieces of art that people had posted, since that interests me as an art major. I never expected to actually " nd opportunities for me to promote my own art and get awesome feedback from people who know my " eld and goals of my art as well as I do,” said Mariah Tasker, a sophomore. “! e FFCEAC re-ally helped me get out there and into the local artistic community, something I probably could nev-er have done otherwise.”

! e group formed in 2009, emerging from the Fayetteville Forward Initiative begun by May-or Lionel Jordan in the same year,

and it has been active ever since. Meetings are at 6 p.m. on the sec-ond ! ursday of every month at the New Design School in Fay-etteville, where the group is also headquartered.

A% er the regular monthly meet-ing, a Creative Spirits social meet-ing providing food and drink is o% en held to encourage discus-sion of fresh, new ideas within the community. ! e meetings are not private, so anyone from the com-munity can attend.

by ZACH WILSONStaff Writer

“Our main goal is to work towards creating economic opportunities for

creative people throughout Fayetteville”-Christopher Spencer, FFCEAC Group Coordinator

CHAD WOODARD ASST. NEWS EDITORScooters outside of Brough Commons as seen through the mirror of another scooter. The scooter parking area outside of Brough Commons is a popular place for students to park their scooters during the day.

MELEAH GROSS STAFF PHOTOGRAPHEROwner Brooke Benham works with some fabrics in the back of Ultra Studios, where she does a lot of her designing. She spends a lot of time perfecting her designs before they go into the store.

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

TODAY’S SOLUTION

SOLUTION

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Q: Why didn’t Count Dracula get married?A: He wanted to remain a bat-chelor.

Q: Where is tennis mentioned in the Bible?A: When Joseph served in Pharaoh’s court.

ACROSS1 When repeated, a ! sh2 Name on an airport shuttle3 British tavern4 Service reward5 Priest in I Samuel6 Garage container7 Cockney greeting8 WWII command9 More evasive10 Spotlit solo11 Teasing12 Omaha chief who was an ally of the U.S. in the War of 181213 1950s bombs18 Conclude with19 “I haven’t the foggiest!”24 Open, in a way25 Simpson judge26 Bow28 Mom’s skill, brie" y29 Flying pre! x30 “On the Record” host Van Susteren31 Key with no sharps or " ats35 Whopper juniors?37 Famished38 Ending for lime39 __ in Quebec41 Screenwriter Ephron42 Big spender’s o# er43 Held on44 Qty.45 Anglican priests46 Wine city north of Lisbon47 Surgeon’s tool48 Common Jesuit school name53 Semi-serious “I see”54 One of the Sox, e.g.56 Silo contents: Abbr.57 Latin 101 verb59 Acne treatment brand60 You may be told to shut yours61 “Out of Sight” co-star, famil-iarly

DOWN

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1 Photo ! nish6 Turned right10 Caen cleric14 Meet the need15 Chorus girl16 Catch with the goods, maybe17 Digs20 Amateur ending21 Sgt. maj., e.g.22 Uncle Sam feature23 “A Dog of Flanders” author26 Trading place27 Angled joint28 Digs32 Textbook unit33 “Air Music” composer34 Alberta native35 Limited number, with “the”36 Mosul’s land40 Not hide43 Country with six time zones45 Digs49 Syst. of sound syllables50 Mil. ranks51 Very peculiar52 1997 Nicolas Cage hair-raiser54 First name in objectiv-ism55 Overseas denial58 Digs62 Bus sched. data63 Leap for Scott Hamilton64 Reunion group65 __ speak66 Banks on the tube67 Rapper’s crew

Di! culty:

PAGE 6 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 Comics, Games, & Much Much More!

THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER

DOWNTIMELAUGH IT UP

THAT MONKEY TUNE Michael A. Kandalaft

BREWSTER ROCKIT Tim Rickard CALAMITIES OF NATURE Tony Piro

WELCOME TO FALLING ROCK Josh Shalek BLISS Harry Bliss

The red SUV pulled inconspicuously into in the War Memorial Stadium parking lot in Little Rock on a warm, sunny September af-ternoon.

Mike Anderson opened the door and stepped out.

It didn’t take long for the crowd to gather.

First it was a few fans.

Then it was a mob.Everyone wanted a hand-

shake from or picture with Arkansas’ new basketball coach. He couldn’t walk 10 feet without being stopped.

Eventually, Anderson made it to a tailgate and lat-er the stadium to watch the football Razorbacks disman-tle New Mexico.

Being greeted by swarms of fans while touring the state for speaking engage-

ments became the norm dur-ing the summer and early fall for Anderson, a Nolan Rich-ardson assistant during the program’s glory years.

“I know they are hun-gry,” Anderson said. “Coach Richardson said he created a monster.! Well, the monster is hungry and hopefully we can create a product that helps feed that.! I sense around the state that people are excited and there’s hope again.”

Anderson is tasked with rebuilding what he helped build – a once proud, nation-ally elite program that has just one NCAA Tournament win in the nine years since he left for the head coaching job at Alabama-Birmingham fol-lowing Richardson’s firing.

The level Anderson is try-ing to raise the program back up to is a lofty one.

The Hogs won 390 games in 17 seasons under Richard-

son, with Anderson also on the bench for each season.

The tenure included a stretch of three Final Fours and back-to-back national championship game appear-ances in a five-year span, including Arkansas’ only national title in 1994. The Razorbacks were the win-ningest program in college basketball for the first half of the 1990s.

The Hogs have fallen

from the ranks of the bas-ketball elite, though. Arkan-sas hasn’t won the SEC West since 1995.

Anderson turned around struggling programs at UAB and Missouri. Now he’s charged with making the Razorbacks a winner once again.

“What took place here the last few years - that happened,”

PAGE 7 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 SPORTS EDITOR: JIMMY CARTER ASST. SPORTS EDITOR: ZACH TURNER

Scan here to go tothe Sports section

on uatrav.com:THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER

SPORTS

season,” Powell said. “I wasn’t. My play showed it, my attitude showed it and everything. It wasn’t one of my best years. I hate to look back on it to be honest.”

With coach Mike Anderson entering his " rst season at Arkan-sas, a new system and style di# er-ent from former coach John Pel-phrey is being implemented.

Anderson is known for his up-tempo o# ense and pressure defense from his days as an assis-tant for former Razorback coach Nolan Richardson and as a head coach at UAB and Missouri.

“I think Marshawn can be a tough matchup,” Anderson said. “He’s got his weight down and this can be his coming out party again. He is in the best shape he has ever been in. He hasn’t com-plained about anything and he is doing well.”

Powell played last season at a weight of 245 pounds, but is down to 219. Powell played at 230 pounds during his freshman sea-son when he was named SEC All-Freshman team, but said he pre-fers his current weight.

“Especially in the system I am

in now,” Powell said. “I get to run and take the ball o# the rim and push it if I want. I can’t do that if I am too big.”

Part of those o# season work-outs included running up the famed Cleveland Hill.

Running the steep hill located near the campus of Arkansas was part of the workout regimen Rich-ardson used for his teams during his tenure, while becoming the all-time winningest coach in school history.

“It is Cleveland Hill man, it is hard,” Powell said. “It is possi-bly the hardest thing I have ever done since I have been in college. I feel like I achieved a lot making it through that.”

Powell is an undersized power forward and is part of an Arkansas team lacking a true center. Ander-son’s teams at UAB and Missouri had success – reaching the NCAA Tournament six of nine seasons, including an Elite Eight appear-ance in 2009 with the Tigers.

“We are going to be a lot

by JIMMY CARTERSports Editor

Forgetting the HypeJunior Marshawn Powell is getting back to basics.

Marshawn Powell entered last season with high expectations and a lot of hype.

$ e junior forward struggled to live up to the preseason " rst-team All-Southeastern Confer-ence accolades he earned.

“One thing I have learned from last season is to never hype myself up,” Powell said. “Never ex-pect a lot from a lot of people. To be honest, all of last season was a learning experience. I took it all as a learning experience.”

Powell managed to " nish sec-ond on the team in scoring and rebounding last season, averaging 10.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. $ e Newport News, Va., native got o# to a slow start for the 18-13 Razorbacks, though, miss-ing the " rst two games of the sea-son, while recovering from a bro-ken foot.

He played in 28 games with 18 starts, but said he was never at 100 percent health last year.

“I can’t even sit here and lie to you and say I was well the whole

see POWELLon page 8

Hogs Like MikeFans, state enthused for Anderson’s return.

LOGAN WEBSTER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERArkansas junior forward Marshawn Powell is looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2010-2011 season in which he saw both his points and rebound totals decrease from his freshman year.

see ANDERSONon page 10

by ZACH TURNERAsst. Sports Editor

Team image and graphic– Logan Webster, Mike Anderson image– UA Media Relations

SPORTS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 PAGE 8

Arkansas coach Mike An-derson hasn’t sat on the home bench in Bud Walton Arena for a real game since 2002.

He hasn’t coached a Hog re-cruiting class as highly-rated as his current group of freshmen since helping sign a 1995 class rated the No. 1 group in the na-tion by most publications.

He will have to rely heavily on his ! rst-year players in his ! rst season back in Bud Wal-ton Arena. " e four-man 2011 class, ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation, make up almost half of his 10 scholarship players.

“" ose guys potentially bring some things to the table, but what they did was in high school,” Anderson said. “Now I am anxious to see what can take place at this level.”

However Anderson puts his ! rst team together, the fresh-men will have to play a large role. Junior forward Marshawn Powell is Arkansas’ only re-turning starter.

" e class was a consensus top-10 group in the nation, though Little Rock forward Aaron Ross failed to qualify and is attending prep school in Wisconsin.

" e four players that made it to campus all have big cre-dentials.

St. Louis guard BJ Young is just the second ! ve-star pros-pect – forward Olu Famutimi was the other in 2003 – to sign with the Razorbacks in the last decade.

Lepanto, Ark., guard Ky Madden was the top in-state player in the class and a con-sensus top-35 player nationally.

Jonesboro, Ark., forward

Hunter Mickelson was a top-55 player in the country and developed a reputation as one of the top shot blockers in the nation.

Seagoville, Texas, forward Devonta Abron was a third-team Parade All-American.

“We’ve got some big time guys, man,” Powell said. “Big, bigtime guys. B.J. Young, Ky Madden, Devonta Abron and Hunter Mickelson. " ose guys are going to come in and help a whole lot. We don’t have a lot of bodies returning, so we’re looking for them to develop and play good.”

Young and Madden will compete for playing time in the backcourt. " e duo, standing 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-5, respec-tively, give the Hogs length at guard.

Young was ranked as high as the No. 16 player in the na-tion by ESPN. He averaged 30.9 points while shooting better than 70 percent from the ! eld as a high school senior.

“He has a tremendous ! rst step, really, really quick,” An-derson said. “He can score and of course he scored a ton in high school. It remains to be seen can he do those things at this level? We’ll know more, but the thing is I think he can be a very good defensive player.

“He is 6-4 and pretty ath-letic. He is one of those high-# ying guys.”

He was rated by most scout-ing services as a point guard, but has worked mainly o$ the ball in halfcourt sets in exhibi-tion games.

“I just want to do everything I can to win games, whether that calls for me cheering o$ the bench or me getting out here on the court diving for the

GARETH PATTERSON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERArkansas freshmen guards Ky Madden (left) and BJ Young (right) were the Razorbacks’ two highest-rated recruits in its four-player, 2011 recruiting class. Hog fans have high expectations for the consensus top-10 classranked as high as No. 6 inthe nation by Scout.com.

by JIMMY CARTERSports Editor

Fab Four?Arkansas will count on freshmen

to make an impact early

ball,” Young said. “Anything. Anything I can do to help the team, that’s what I want to do.”

Madden showcased his smooth, well-rounded game in Arkansas’ 97-80 win over Texas A&M-Commerce in the exhibition opener, scoring 18 points, dishing six assists and grabbing four rebounds.

“Ky has a very high basket-

ball IQ,” Anderson said a% er the game. “He’s very smooth. He’s very versatile. He didn’t try to go get the game. He let it come to him.”

Madden is the Razor-backs’ highest-rated in-state since Fayetteville star Ronnie Brewer inked with the Hogs in 2003.

“People think that we can come in and be a savior, but we’re just here to help,” Mad-den said. “Michael Sanchez, Ju(lysses Nobles) and them, they been here. We’re here to help them out so we can be a better team.”

Madden played with Mick-elson and Ross on the AAU national champion Arkansas Wings.

Mickelson provided shot blocking and o$ ense for the Wings, while averaging 22 points, 12 rebounds and seven

blocks per game as a senior for Westside High School. He has gained 30 pounds since arriv-ing on campus in July and now weighs 234.

“Coming up here to the SEC, being 210, that’s not go-ing to get you very far playing on the inside,” Mickelson said. “I had to put on weight just to be able to compete.”

At 6-foot-8, 250 pounds, Abron is the most physically imposing post player on the roster. Arkansas will need him to help in its thin frontcourt immediately.

“Right now he is proud of his body because when he came he was a little pudgy dude, but now he has kind of tone it up and he walks around and he has those little Span-dex shirts on really tight,” An-derson said. “" e thing I like about him is he don’t mind the

physical part of the game.”" e new Razorbacks won’t

have much time to get accli-mated to college basketball be-fore being tested.

" e Hogs’ nonconference schedule includes home tests against Oakland and No. 18 Michigan, with road games at Oklahoma and No. 4 UConn, the defending national cham-pions.

“" e nonconference sched-ule is pretty rough this year,” Young said. “When I saw UConn on it, I just lit up like, ‘Wow.’ It’s pretty nice to have some teams like Michigan come in here and play, then go up to UConn and be bat-tle tested by the time SEC play starts. I’m glad Coach Ander-son set up the schedule like that to test us and see where we’re at.”

di$ erent than what we were last season,” Powell said. “We don’t have any back-to-the-basket big guys so that is going to be an ad-vantage, but sometimes a disad-vantage probably. We are going to hang our hat thought mostly on our defense.”

Anderson has pegged Powell as a potential leader for this young Razorback squad, primarily be-cause of his experience during his ! rst two seasons in Fayetteville.

“He’s been through the wars

and he’s got to be one of those vocal guys,” Anderson said. “He started for the most part all last year and his role expands.”

Powell’s teammates have no-ticed a di$ erence in his attitude and approach toward the upcom-ing season.

“I am going to tell you what I have seen out of Marshawn,” Wade said. “He has gotten hungry, he has lost a lot of weight and turned into muscle, his footwork has got-ten better, he has been leaping and # ying up and down this court. His leadership has stepped up too. He don’t say too much now where he

used to mouth o$ a lot. “He is a leader now and has

taken these young kids by their hands. He has pulled them to the side and told them what you do and don’t do. I am really proud of Marshawn.”

His renewed optimism for the upcoming season has come from the hiring of Anderson and the attitude he brings for the game of basketball.

“We appreciate coach and the time he spends working with us,” Powell said. “He has given us time to adjust to his system. I just can’t wait. I am excited and I am ready.”

from POWELLon page 7

D. Abron F 6-8 255 Fr. Dallas, TexasK. Haydar G 5-10 165 So. Fayetteville, Ark.R. Madden G 6-5 175 Fr. Lepanto, Ark.H. Mickelson F 6-10 236 Fr. Jonesburo. Ark.J. Nobles G 6-1 174 Jr. Jackson, Miss.M. Powell F 6-7 219 Jr. Newport News, Va.M. Sanchez F 6-8 236 Sr. Springdale, Ark.R. Scott G 6-3 202 So. Irving, TexasM. Wade G 6-2 175 So. Memphis, Tenn.M. Waithe F 6-9 216 Sr. Toronto, CanadaB.J. Young G 6-3 175 Fr. St. Louis, Mo. Mike Anderson Head Coach Melvin Watkins Asst. Coach T.J. Cleveland Asst. Coach Matt Zimmerman Asst. Coach

2011-12 ARKANSAS BASKETBALL ROSTERPlayer Pos. Ht. Wt. Year Hometown

SPORTSPAGE 9 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011

Mardracus Wade and Rickey Scott’s friendship extends beyond the basket-ball court.

The two go almost ev-erywhere together.

Whether dining togeth-er at Brough Commons, at-tending other Razorback athletic events together or hanging out with girls, the two sophomore guards have become close roommates.

“Rickey is like my little brother man,” Wade said. “We are always hanging out on the weekends and al-ways in the gym together. That has been my bro since day one when we first got here.”

Wade, who stands 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds, is just six months older than the guy, Scott, who he calls his little brother. The only two sophomore scholarship players on the roster were both part of former coach John Pelphrey’s 2010 re-cruiting class.

“He is my roommate, so of course we are real cool,” Scott said. “We go eat, talk to girls, go see movies and stuff like that.”

Discussing the upcom-ing season has been a main topic of conversation.

“We always talk a lot about the season and how excited we are,” Wade said. “The opportunity that we have and the talents that we get to show the fans. We are excited and ready to go.”

Scott is excited for the fans to get to see Wade’s improvement in his leaping ability.

“We are ready to throw (alley) oops to each other,” Scott said. “He used to have no bounce, but he has some bounce this year so I might lob it to him. He has really worked hard in the weight room.”

Although the two have a very strong friendship, they didn’t meet face-to-face until arriving on campus during the summer of 2010. Before meeting in person, they stayed in contact with

one another through the in-ternet.

“Before we got to school we communicated with each other through Face-book,” Wade said. “Once I found out he committed I sent him a message and we talked back and forth about how excited we were to get here. It just took off from there and we got to campus together and it has been a good relationship ever since.”

Wade attended his final season of prep school bas-ketball at Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy, where he was named to the All-Prep Team and led Har-grave to the Prep Tourna-ment Final Four.

In his freshman season as a Razorback, he played in all 31 with three starts and averaged four points while also being tied for second on the team in steals with 25. Wade was arguably the team’s best on-ball defend-er as well.

“Growing up I was nev-er the most skilled guy on my team,” Wade said. “I was never the best ball han-dler or I was never the best shooter so I always had to do something else that could keep me in the game. To me stealing the ball, if it helps us come out with a win then I am fine with that.”

Scott missed over half of his freshman season be-cause of a stress fracture in his foot. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound guard averaged just 3.3 points and 1.1 re-bounds while appearing in just 13 games for the Ra-zorbacks

“I learned when I get hurt to go see the trainer,” Scott said about last season. “That is part of why I got hurt too because I didn’t go see the trainer because I thought it was something small and I didn’t want to go get an MRI or nothing. I got real sad last year and I didn’t want to do anything.”

The duo has learned what makes each other tick.

“He is a leader low-key, but no one really knows

GARETH PATTERSON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Rickey Scott (left) and Mardracus Wade (right) were the only two members of Arkansas’ 2010 recruiting class. Since arriving on campus in the summer of 2010 the two sopho-mores have become best friends as well as roommates.

by ZACH TURNERAsst Sports Editor

A Bond That Extends BeyondRickey Scott and Mardracus Wade’s relationship reaches farther than the hardwood.

because he is quiet,” Scott said. “He just doesn’t like to talk much all the time.”

Wade agreed with Scott’s assessment of his off-court personality and said his

teammate’s attitude isn’t much different.

“He is very quiet, I will tell you that,” Wade said. “Sometimes you have to get him going a little bit. You

have to talk to him for a lit-tle bit. Rickey is a good guy and like everyone else, but he just likes to stay to him-self most of the time. If you can get him going he will

get going.”Scott said there is anoth-

er side to himself, though.“Rickey Scott is a quiet

person, but he will kill. I will say that.”

2010-11 ARKANSAS BASKETBALL STATSPlayer gp-gs mpg fg-fga fg % 3fg-fga 3fg % ft-fta ft % rpg ppg

2011-12 ARKANSAS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE11/4 Texas A&M-Comm. (exh.) W, 97-8011/8 Christian Brothers (exh.)11/11 USC-Upstate11/16 Oakland11/18 Houston (N. Little Rock)11/22 Utah Valley11/26 Grambling State11/30 Mississippi Valley State12/3 UConn (Hartford, Conn.)12/10 at Oklahoma12/17 Southeastern Louisiana12/20 Eastern Kentucky

12/22 Lousiana Tech12/28 Charlotte12/30 Texas Southern1/3 Savannah State1/7 Mississippi State1/11 at Ole Miss1/14 LSU1/17 at Kentucky1/21 Michigan1/25 Auburn1/28 at Alabama1/31 Vanderbilt

2/4 at LSU2/8 at Georgia2/11 South Carolina2/15 at Tennessee2/18 Florida2/23 Alabama2/25 at Auburn2/28 Ole Miss3/3 at Mississippi State3/8 SEC Tournament (New Orleans)through3/11 SEC Tournament (New Orleans)

R. Clarke 31-31 31.8 144-328 .439 91-107 .438 92-107 .86 3.0 15.2M. Powell 28-18 22.4 117-251 .466 7-28 .250 62-94 .660 4.5 10.8D. Johnson 31-31 28.3 111-204 .544 0-0 .000 75-126 .595 7.2 9.6J. Nobles 31-12 24.8 80-208 .385 29-69 .420 72-102 .706 2.8 8.4J. Peterson 29-23 21.8 66-169 .391 19-55 .345 32-48 .667 2.2 6.3M. Britt 30-16 19.0 56-136 .412 31-78 .397 16-18 .889 2.1 5.3G. Bryant 31-7 12.9 49-97 .505 2-14 .143 27-42 .643 3.0 4.1M. Wade 31-3 17.2 37-98 .378 9-44 .205 41-47 .872 1.2 4.0M. Waithe 23-5 11.4 28-70 .400 7-33 .212 19-33 .576 3.3 3.6M. Sanchez 20-1 14.0 23-56 .411 0-0 .000 24-41 .585 2.4 3.5R. Scott 13-5 12.4 17-45 .378 1-8 .125 8-12 .667 1.1 3.3J. Farmer 18-3 9.6 23-56 .411 5-18 .278 4-9 .444 1.1 3.1K. Haydar 9-0 2.7 5-15 .333 3-8 .375 3-4 .750 0.4 1.8N. Mason 4-0 2.0 0-1 .000 0-0 .000 0-0 .000 0.30 0.0

Date Opponent Score Date Opponent Score Date Opponent Score

SPORTS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 PAGE 10

Anderson said. “Now we are at another point in Razor-back basketball history. My goal is to take it to the top. We have an excellent staff, guys on the same page. I think our guys are going to see those guys work together to get Razorback basketball to the top.”

His first season won’t be easy.

The Hogs have just 10 scholarship players and just one player – junior forward Marshawn Powell – started at least half of the games on an 18-13 team that missed the postseason last year.

“I’ve always said, I don’t worry about what I don’t have,” Anderson said. “We are going to work with the players that we do have and we are going to work to field a team that is going to be competitive.! They are going to leave it on the floor each and every night.

“With that being said, there is a process. There are a lot of question marks but hopefully as the season pro-gresses we will answer some of those questions pertaining to this basketball team.”

Anderson managed to re-tain a consensus top-10 re-cruiting class signed by for-mer coach John Pelphrey, but is wary on relying too heavily on the new group.

“Those guys are freshmen and haven’t played a single second of college basketball,” Anderson said.! “So I think it’s going to start with the guys that are here.”

The players, like Powell, that were already on campus when Anderson was hired March 26 have seen the pro-gram transform.

“Right away you’re around a winner,” Powell said. “Right away you’re around some-body who knows how to win and you’re around somebody that has that experience. It’s excellent for everybody to be around him and know-ing what he brings to the ta-ble. Right away and what he taught everybody is listening to every single word. We pick

up everything so fast. The level of respect that you have for somebody that’s been there before is huge.”

It didn’t take long for the current players to get a taste of the conditioning the championship teams from the 90s went through.

Rather than having his players run bleachers, do suicides or run laps, Ander-son summoned them to the base of Cleveland Hill at 6:30 a.m. in early October.

They ran up the steep, half-mile stretch of road six times.

“They told us the cham-pions ran it, so I was giving my best effort,” freshman guard BJ Young said. “After the third time I was about to pass out, but we ran it six times. I feel like if we can make it through that, then the games will be a whole lot easier.”

The current team might not have the same talent of the teams in Richardson and Anderson’s heyday, but the players handled the chal-lenge of Cleveland Hill simi-larly.

“The thing about it that’s amazing is they are no differ-ent than the guys that played for us before – Corliss Wll-liamson, Scotty Thurman, Lee Mayberry and those guys,” Anderson said. “They used to complain about it. ‘Aw, man we have got! to do this here.’ It’s amazing when they get up that fifth time and sixth time and then they sit there for two or three minutes and recover. There is a sense of triumph. Like, ‘Yeah, we got it! We got you, Coach! We got you!’

“That’s part of that pro-cess.”

Arkansas was picked to finish sixth overall in the SEC this season. The pro-gram is far removed from competing with Kentucky for conference titles when Rich-ardson and Anderson had the program at its apex.

The lack of success has affected the once-rabid fan base in Bud Walton Arena.

In the arena’s first nine seasons, the last nine of the Richardson era, sellouts were

the norm and a there was a waiting list in the thousands for season tickets in the 19,200-seat venue.

In the nine seasons since, attendance has slipped. The Razorbacks had never ranked lower than No. 14 in the nation in attendance, but fell to No. 25 in 2010, then No. 29 last season, averaging just 12,022 fans.

Five of the six least-at-tended games in Bud Walton history came last year, in-cluding the record-low 5,121 against Florida A&M in Feb-ruary.

Anderson’s hire has sparked a fan base that had begun to grow dormant. Around 6,000 fans showed up to Bud Walton for his introductory press confer-ence and have sold almost 300 more season tickets for the 2011-12 season than last year, said Kevin Trainor, UA Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations.

More fans in the stands and a new coaching staff on the bench won’t be the only thing different about Bud Walton this season.

Since Anderson’s hire, the arena has undergone reno-vation and remodeling. The court was repainted.

The coaches’ offices were redone. Fresh coats of paint were applied to the walls on the ground floor as recently as media day in mid-Octo-ber.

“As you come into the arena you can smell the paint and see guys are working,” Anderson said. “My theme is going to be we are remodel-ing. We are remodeling some of the offices. We are going to remodel the mindset of our players and at the same time remodel our fans and get them engaged.! Our fans have always been a part of Razorback basketball. A lot of places you go to, some fans wait for the team to get them going.! Well, I know for a fact the people here, the true Ra-zorback fans, they know how to get their team going.

“It’s something I am look-ing forward to seeing.”

from ANDERSONon page 7

Are you excited about Coach Anderson coming back to coaching at Arkansas?Coach Anderson has a good style of basketball, you know, the “Fastest 40 Minutes.” Everybodyloves to play that style.

Is he going to make you guys play that way?Oh yeah, for sure.

Are you looking forward to that?I’m looking forward to giving the fans what they were used to seeing back in the day.

Do you think the team has hype to live up to now that Coach Anderson is back?Yeah, I think so because you know when he was here he won a championship and the fans wantto see that again. Hopefully we can do it.

What are you looking forward to most this sea-son?Getting out there and playing. Showing the fans a good time.

Do you think you have a chance to make a run in the SEC?I think the way the way we play and the way we get out the gate, I think we do.

Do you think Arkansas can make it to the tour-nament?I think so right now. Hopefully we will. " e way we work, we should make it.

Do you plan on being a leader of this team?Yes, I do plan on being a leader.

How do you feel about the NBA lockout?It’s tough. I don’t like it, but you know it is life. " ey won’t take pay cuts, but if I was a player Iwouldn’t take one either.

Do you think there will be an NBA season?Probably so. I don’t think they can lockout that long. I think there will be one.

What do you like most about going to school in Arkansas?" e fans, my teammates. It’s a good state.

If you didn’t play basketball, what sport would you play?Probably football.

Did you used to play football, like in high school?I did play, but I stopped before I got to high school.

If you were on Sportscenter’s top ten plays, what would you want to be doing?Dunking on somebody.

Anybody speci! cally that is in the pros right now that you would want to dunk on?No, just anybody.

JulyssesNobles

Guard6-foot-1

174 poundsJunior

Jackson, Miss.

by MONICA CHAPMANStaff Writer

GARETH PATTERSON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER