JAN. 13, 2015 - JAN. 19, 2015 VOL. 82 | NO. 15

Opinions 7News 2DAILY NEWS AT WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

You may be paying less for your gas now, but the decreasing cost impacts more than your vehicle.

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Georgia State is giving you a break on your loan payment. Find out how they’re helping your money problems.

Back to reality

A&L | page 14

It’s time to wake up from holiday break. Here are some tips on how to adjust to your new schedule.

Arts & Living 10

After another long season on the gridiron, how can Georgia State football improve for 2015?

Sports | page 19

What’s next?

Sports 17

ILLUSTRATION BY MADDIE RICHARDSON | THE SIGNAL

MergeThe

Panthers, meet the Jaguars. Georgia State will be merging

with Georgia Perimeter College in Fall 2016. What’s to come now?

READ MORE: page 3 | News

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 20152 NEWS

blotterJan. 6Acting outLuckie Street A non-student or faculty

member was arrested for disorder-ly conduct by campus police while under the influence. The individu-al was then arrested, processed and transported to an Atlanta jail.

Jan. 7Can’t touch thisArts & Humanities Building

A report was filed for unlawful tam-pering and property damage after a Georgia State student said he discov-ered hinges broken on two wall lock-ers. The case is under investigation.

Gotcha!Edgewood AvenueCampus police arrested a suspect from the Dec. 1 in-cident in which a Georgia State student was robbed at

gunpoint by two unidentified black males next to Dee’s Market in the

Parking Co. of America lot. The sus-pects drove away in a black Mercedes Benz, but there were no injuries re-ported.

Jan. 8You can only get so farAuburn Avenue Northeast

A report was filed for agency assist after a campus police officer ob-served someone driving a BMW recklessly. A traffic stop was initiat-ed. The driver fled but collided with a pole. Officers then attempted to apprehend the two males who ex-ited the vehicle. Later information showed the individual fled from a campus patrol officer from East Point for auto theft. The case is now being handled by university police investigations for criminal charges.

It’s what’s on the outsideSunTrust BuildingA Georgia State staff member said she observed

exterior damage to the SunTrust building. A report was filed for criminal damage to property. The case is being handled by investigations.

PHOTO BY RALPH HERNANDEZ | THE SIGNALThe Panthers finished this year’s regular season Nov. 29 with an overall of 1 -11. They are now working off-season to improve for the next season.

Photo of the week

2.

4.

Theft

Intoxication

reckless driving

Property Damage

5.3.

1.1.

4.

3.

2.

5.

The Board of Regents (BOR) announced Georgia State will merge with Georgia

Perimeter College (GPC) on Jan 6. The consolidation will estab-

lish the largest university within the University System of Georgia (USG) with over 50,000 students. The merge will not be finalized until next year, according to board members during the meeting.

Details regarding the future of GPC campuses are still to be deter-mined. However, GPC’s campuses will be renamed as additional Georgia State campuses, according to USG BOR Chairman Neil Pruitt Jr.

“[President Becker] mentioned wanting to keep some form of the brand,” Pruitt said.

Pruitt also said GPC campuses will offer programs under the ban-ner of Georgia State.

“[Georgia Perimeter] won’t lose access to initiatives that are in place here,” he said.

Concerns and aspirations of combination

USG Chancellor Hank Huck-aby said there are concerns about the drop-out rate at GPC but is op-timistic about the merger’s effects on the retention rates of these stu-dents.

“We are very positive about the track record of Georgia State University in the way they ad-vise[,] monitor and support their students, and this will have a great impact on the students at Georgia Perimeter College,” Huckaby said.

GPC currently offers a Trans-fer Agreement Guarantee (TAG) for students who meet certain academic requirements. This al-lows students to transfer to more than 30 four-year institutions upon completion at the college, accord-ing to GPC’s website.

Huckaby said the options for GPC students such as TAG will not be affected because of the merge.

“The combining of a research university with essentially an ac-cess institution has been done and is being done in major large urban universities in other parts of the country,” he said. “We’re excited about this. We think it’s a win-win.”

Huckaby also said the South-ern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) will vote in Oc-tober 2015 to approve the merger. The USG BOR will meet again Jan-uary 2016 to finalize the decision.

The USG Board also final-ized the resolution today to make Southern Polytechnic State Uni-versity (SPSU) a part of Kennesaw State University (KSU).

SGA respondsGPC Newton campus president

of the Student Government Associ-ation (SGA), Sri Rajasekaran, said she is learning through the experi-ences of the SGA at KSU in dealing with their merger with SPSU.

“I’m friends with the Kennesaw State SGA president and they were telling me about the challenges they were facing with joining SPSU. Even though it’s exciting, it’s going to be a tough process,” Rajasekaran said.

Georgia State SGA President Lanier Henson said students should not feel anxious about the merger.

“Trust that the administration will be working through it and they’ll be fighting for our rights as students but that their voice [the students] is important just as ev-eryone else’s is,” he said.

Henson also said any students with concerns should voice their opinions officially to the SGA so accurate information can be passed along to the USG Board of Regents.

“We’ll be glad to listen and we can take that with us as proof of dissent or as proof of agreeance,” he said. “We can’t say we are speak-ing for the students unless we ac-tually have some proof that that’s what the students are saying. So if they come in, we can get it on pa-per, get it signed and we can have it all put together so we can really say what the students actually want.”

College presidents respond

President Becker said he be-lieves both colleges’ relationships will be transformed into something stronger and more formal as a re-sult of the merge for those who use GPC as a pipeline to attend Geor-gia State.

“Over the last four years alone Georgia Perimeter College had 5,900 students transfer to Georgia State,” he said. “The students who transferred to Georgia State from Georgia Perimeter College do as well academically as the students who start here as freshman in the beginning.”

Becker also said Georgia State’s progress and improvement with student success contributed to-wards the decision of the consoli-dation.

“Ten or 12 years ago only about a third of the students [who] start-ed at Georgia State graduated. Now that is comfortably over half and has been increasing every year,” he said. “We’ve learned a lot about how to... basically help students achieve their goals and ambitions. What we really believe — and what the chancellor spoke about when he made this proposal to the Board of Regents today — is that we can take all that we have learned in these last five to six years and apply it to the Georgia Perimeter College setting for students who are start-ing their education there to see the same type of improvements and success that the students have seen at Georgia State.”

GPC Interim President Rob Watts said the consolidation of both universities will provide the college’s students with additional resources for academic success.

“GPC has always had a close re-lationship with Georgia State Uni-versity. GPC is the main feeder col-lege for transfer students to GSU,” Watts said. “GPC students choose GSU for its outstanding academic programs… The consolidation will provide GPC students with more pathways for success in academics and in life.”

www.georgiastatesignal.com/news

NEWS

MATTHEW WOLFFStaff Reporter

GEORGIA

GEORGIA STATEUNIVERSITY

COLLEGEPERIMETER

GSU$6,029

31,533

52%

in state

students

tuition

admissionrate

GPC$2,025

25,113

64%

in state

students

tuition

admissionrate

We are very positive about the track record of Georgia State University in the way they advise[,] monitor and support their students and this will have a great impact on the students at Georgia Perimeter College.”

-Hank HuckabyUniversity System of Georgia Chancellor

“merges with

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$= $1000

$$$$$$$= $1000

= 10,000 people = 10,000 people

Enabling the access of marijuana has become the source of some congres-sional topics in Georgia.

Two medical marijuana bills and one recreational marijuana resolution will be heard in the 2015 - 2016 Georgia General Assembly session. The state’s assembly ses-sion began on Monday, Jan. 12.

House Bill 1 (HB1) and Senate Bill 7 (SB7) are the current medical marijuana bills to be heard during the legislative ses-sion. Recreational marijuana legislation Senate Resolution 6 (SR6) will also be heard, according to the Georgia General Assembly’s website.

HB 1: on regulated use of medical marijuana

HB 1, Haleigh’s Hope Act, calls for the regulated use of medical marijuana to treat health conditions and was prefiled by Allen Peake, a Republican congressman, according to the state assembly’s website.

In HB 1, smoking marijuana is not per-mitted. Instead, liquid, pill and injection deliveries are permitted, according to HB 1’s legislation.

Peake said smoking in general has been medically proven to be harmful to the lungs.

“We have also been concerned about the perception of approving a bill that legalized smoking marijuana,” he said.

Peake also said the main differences be-tween HB 1 and previous medical marijuana bills is how the substance is allowed to be grown.

“This bill will allow for growing, pro-cessing and dispensing of cannabis oil in a tightly restricted, very regulated infrastruc-ture with private businesses. Last year’s bill only allowed this growth at academic medi-cal centers,” he said.

SB 7: on allowed possession of medical marijuana

The Controlled Substances Therapeutic Relief Act (SB 7) allows patients to pos-

sess two ounces of usable marijuana. It was was prefiled by Curt Thompson, a

Democratic senator. Qualifying persons can also grow

marijuana plants, according to the General Assembly’s website.

Caregivers of the qualifying pa-tient must be at least 21 and would be allowed to possess two ounces of usable marijuana and grow the substance, according to SB7.

The main difference between both SB7 and HB 1 is that SB7 allows for medical marijuana to be distributed by a physician in various forms besides cannabis oil, according to Thompson.

“Marijuana has two basic properties that get used as far as treating serious illnesses. One is cannabinoids and the other is THC,” Thompson said. “What it leaves up to the physi-cian and the patient is the for-mat.”

Thompson said SB7 is re-introducing a bill he previously

introduced during the 2012-2014 session. He also said the bill was

based on the types of legislations other states have approved.

SR 6: on purchase and sales of recreational marijuana

SR 6 would allow people over 21 years old the ability to purchase limited amounts of marijuana. The resolution was also pre-filed by Thompson on Nov. 24, according to the Georgia General Assembly’s website.

The taxes and fees from the substance’s sales would go to education and transporta-tion infrastructure, according to SR 6.

Thompson said the passing of SR 6 is to

the discretion of Georgia’s voters. “If SR 6 passess there would be a referen-

dum probably in 2016 general election when folks are voting for president,” he said. “And then if it passed, there I guess it would take, just looking at what is happening in other states, about a year to actually ramp up by about 2017 if they choose to approve it.”

Students’ opinions of the legislations

Taylor Price, a sophomore sociology major at Georgia State, said her grand-mother suffers from cancer and doesn’t see a problem with medical marijuana legislation being implemented within the state.

Price said she supports SR 6 if DUI and regulatory laws are created for it. She also said it would be beneficial if taxes are gained from recreational mar-ijuana sales.

“Also, it would probably help give the police other things to focus on. But if you give someone an inch they’ll take a mile,” Price said. “I feel in the future people will start lobbying for more hardcore drugs if they pass it [SR 6].”

Georgia State sophomore student Christy Tarallo said she is familiar with HB 1 and SB 7 and does not like the idea of medicinal marijuana use.

“There are alternatives to the drug al-ready available on the market, but the appeal of using a once taboo and illegal substance is too great for ‘hipsters’ to pass up. Con-sidering some side effects such as impaired driving and use of machinery, it doesn’t dif-fer much from many prescribed drugs now. So in that regard there isn’t much of a dif-ference,” Tarallo said. “However, studies have shown that ‘Doobies Make Boobies.’ In other words, the condition known as ‘gynecomas-tia,’ female breast development in males, is common in users.”

Tarallo also said she strongly disapproves of recreational marijuana use.

“Recreational users are almost always lit-erally just looking for a high and in that case if SR 6 is passed, I sincerely hope they heavily tax marijuana and use that revenue to help college students pay for school,” she said.

Tarallo said if recreational marijuana be-comes legal she will not take part in it.

“But that doesn’t mean I won’t have to walk through puffs of that awful smell while walking through the plaza. And consider-ing the rudeness of cigarette smokers now who blow smoke in other people’s faces, I am dreading the day that marijuana may become legal,” she said.

She also said she predicts HB 1, SB 7 and SR 6 will not pass since Georgia’s House of Representatives and Senate is heavily popu-lated by Republican members.

“Georgia politicians still cling to their traditional ideals and though Allen Peake, a Republican from Macon, is the sponsor of HB 1, I believe that most Republicans in Georgia will be against the passage of the bill,” Tarallo said. “And if the GA House of Representatives and Senate happen to pass the bill, be assured that Nathan Deal will not even entertain the idea.”

NEWS TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 20154

LAUREN BOOKER Associate News Editor

Government

It’s not about smokingWhat’s being proposed in the new recreational and medical marijuana bills

8

Allen Peake, a Republican congressman, was a sponsor of the 2013-2014 session’s HB 885. The bill would amend the Con-trolled Substances Therapeutic Research Act to continue medical cannabis research as it relates to treating cancer and glaucoma.

The House voted in favor for the bill with 171 votes on March 3, 2014. The Senate also voted in favor of the bill with 54 votes and adopted it as a substitute on March 20, 2014, according to Georgia General Assembly’s website.

HB 885 eventually died in the state’s assembly after the Senate and House passed different ver-sions of the bill, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Democratic senator Curt Thompson also proposed SB 432, which would allow marijuana to be used for treating cancer and glaucoma. The bill was read in the Senate and referred on March 12, 2014, according to Georgia Gen-eral Assembly’s website.

Since SB 432 was filed after the Crossover Day, it died for the 2013-2014 session, according to Georgia Care Project.

Crossover Day refers to the 30th day of a state’s 40-day ses-sion. On that day, legislations unable to get through Georgia’s House or Senate die.

Let’s Compare

©HB 1

©SB 7

©SR 6

Introduced by a Republican congressman

Allows pill, injection and liquid use of medical marijuana

Distribution would be in highly-regulated settings

Introduced by a Democratic senator

Allows usable medical marijuana possession up to 2 ounces

Allows distribution by physicians in forms other than cannibis oil

Introduced by a Democratic senator

Allows purchasing of recreational marijuana for those ages 21 and up

Taxes on marijuana would go toward education and transportation

Medical Conditions covered in

HB 1 and SB 7

© HB 1

ALS, MS, Crohn’s disease, cancer, glaucoma, autism, Alzheimer’s and AIDS*

*According to Congressman

Allen Peake

© SB 7

Cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis characteristics

*According to the SB7’s legislation

Did you know?

NEWS TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015 5

PHOTO BY NADIA DELJOU | THE SIGNAL In the upcoming months Georgia State will also start renovations on the Olympia Building with a few others in the area.

university

Georgia State will revitalize a three-story building near Woodruff Park into a media

production center for media arts in the fall of 2016. The plan is part of a new initiative called the Creative Media In-dustries Institute (CMII), according to the school’s website.

Andrea Jones, vice president of public relations and marketing com-munications, said CMII will strength-en the university’s media productions, music management and digital pub-lishing department by preparing stu-dents for careers surpassing traditional degree programs.

“The new media production center will be a great addition to the university because it will boost the number of stu-dents majoring in film, graphic design, creative writing and music,” she said.

CMII has three focus areas in-cluding: arts entrepreneurship train-ing, media production and academic research related to creative industries. All three areas will heavily emphasize interdisciplinary work among students in different majors, according to Jones.

Jones also said the center could benefit Georgia’s fast-growing film in-dustry.

“As we all know over the past few years, Georgia entertainment industry has grown dramatically and has been the destination for a lot of tv shows and films,” she said. “I think the media pro-duction center will help the state attract more motion-picture companies to do even more production here.”

She also said there will be 20 faculty members leading the CMII initiative once the center is operational.

“Once the creative media indus-tries institute is ready, it will be lead by new employees, current university professors in the arts and sciences de-partment and former industry profes-sionals,” Jones said.

The production center will be funded by a $22.8 million donation from the Robert W. Woodruff Foun-dation. This charitable donation is the largest in school history, according to the school’s website.

The Robert W. Woodruff founda-tion is an independent private founda-tion seeking to improve the quality of life in Georgia by investing in educa-tion, economic opportunity and com-munity vitality, according to the foun-dation’s website.

“The Foundation seeks to improve the quality of life in Georgia by making grants to well-established institutions and projects with strong leadership and a broad base of support,” P. Russell Har-din, President of the Woodruff Foun-dation said, according to the website.

President Mark Becker said the do-nation will also help pay for streetscape upgrades and would assist in reshaping the area east of Woodruff Park, accord-ing to Georgia State’s website.

Becker also said the donation is a generous gift to the media and creative arts programs and will be a step for-ward with the Woodruff Park District Plan.

A.J. Robison, president of Central Atlanta Progress, said the investments by Georgia State and the Woodruff Foundation will continue to boost the area around Woodruff Park, according

to the Saporta Report website. “We are excited that Georgia State

University and the Woodruff Founda-tion are investing again on the east side of Woodruff Park in a major way,” he said, according to the website. “Devel-opment around the park is at an all-time high because of the new renova-tions.”

The media center is a part of the university’s master campus plan and will be accompanied by new facilities for its business, public policy and law schools in that area, according to Jones.

“Along with the new media cen-ter, the university has other plans for it’s revitalization of the campus. There are plans to construct a new law build-ing, turn the Flatiron Building into a startup hub and renovate the Olympia Building,” she said.

Jones also said Mayor Kasim Reed plans to convert Underground Atlanta into mixed-use development with a grocery store and above-ground apart-ments.

Junior psychology major Luvert Allen said the media production center will be beneficial to students majoring in media arts.

“I think it’s great that Georgia State is adding this to the campus because most people I know at the school want to pursue something in the en-tertainment industry,” he said. “Hope-fully this media center will create more programs for music degrees because I want to be a music therapist.”

President and CEO of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Michael Cas-sidy said a commitment from the GRA will also help pay for the new equip-ment for the institute.

“As an organization that supports and advocates growing industries, we saw a great opportunity to aid Geor-gia State by providing opportunities for research and preparing the future workforce with newer technologies and equipment,” he said.

The Georgia Research Alliance is an independent nonprofit organization aligned with Georgia’s Department of Economic Development. It also works with Georgia universities to expand re-search and commercialization capacity to create jobs, according to the organi-zation’s website.

Cassidy said the GRA is proud to support the Creative Industries Insti-tute at Georgia State.

“As a regular contributor to the Digital Arts and Entertainment Labo-ratory, we have seen substantial strides and potential from Georgia State’s digi-tal and film programs. We believe the Creative Media Industries Institute will be a major step forward in supporting the rapidly growing media industry,” he said.

There are hopes of the center’s completion by the fall of 2016 along with additional projects, according to Jones.

“The media production center is scheduled to be finish in August 2016 along with other projects around the campus such as the greenway, but that could be postponed due to possible scheduling conflicts,” she said.

Jones also said she is excited about the opportunities that the center pres-ents.

“This center will offer new pro-grams focused on music, arts and film. Students will have more choices to ex-plore their artistic vision and be a part of a creative culture,” she said.

Georgia State planning renovation for new media production centerRICO JOHNSON

Staff Reporter

PHOTO CREDIT: GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITYWhen renovations are finally finished the media production center will have a fresh new look. Pictured above is a rasterization of the planned result.

NEWS TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 20156

Georgia State’s financial aid office is offering a new method of payment

known as the Georgia State Pay-ment Plan for the 2015 spring se-mester.

The plan will give students the option to delay payment for a maximum of 50 percent of the term’s tuition and mandatory fees or 50 percent of their account bal-ance, according to the Student Financial Services website. The first installment for the deferred payment is due Feb. 5, 2015 and the sec-

ond is due March 2, 2015. Students can enroll in the

Georgia State Payment plan using Pan-therPay through PAWS. Enroll-

ment for the plan opened Dec. 3, 2014 and will close Jan. 23, 2015, accord-ing to the web-site.

“The de-ferrable balance

is calculated af-ter all estimated financial aid is applied to the

student account,” the website states.

Director of Stu-dent Accounts Char-maine Daniels said the plan was designed to fit within the boundaries of state law.

“The state of Geor-gia and the Board of Re-gents have a policy that prevents us from pro-viding credit or provid-ing a gratuity, basically giving a service without receiving payment be-forehand,” Daniels said. “I worked with Georgia tech to devise a plan that would fit within the pe-rimeters of the state law and the Board of Re-gents policy.”

Origins of the payment plan Daniels also said the

payment plan was intro-duced at Georgia State after a pioneer launch at

the neighboring college Georgia Tech.

“The Board of Regents ap-proved last fall 2013 for Georgia Tech to implement the pilot of this installment plan option, and ear-lier in 2014 — spring 2014 — they approved Georgia State to also use the same plan,” she said.

A down payment is required for each term a student enrolls in the Georgia State Payment plan along with an additional $50 fee, according to the website.

To be eligible for the plan students must have a balance of at least $300 remaining after all financial aid payments have been applied to their account, accord-ing to the website.

Georgia State graduate assis-tants that qualify for the Graduate Assistant Payroll Deduction Plan are not eligible for the Georgia State Payment Plan, according to the website.

Daniels said the Georgia State Payment Plan is intended to give students a more flexible payment option.

“I really wanted to be able to provide students some more flex-ibility and there are all different kinds of circumstances where students would have to pay out of pocket or wouldn’t have enough financial aid to cover their bal-ance so we wanted to give them an option. Also we have a lot of working students who are paying for their tuition as they get paid,” she said.

Response to the payment plan

As of Jan. 7 approximately 490 students signed up for the Georgia State Payment Plan, according to Daniels.

“It seems to be well-received. We haven’t t really done any ad-vertising besides putting the in-formation on our website. We plan on doing the full marketing, rollout campaign for fall 2016. It has been well received very quick-ly,” she said.

Georgia State student Joseph Wilson said he was not aware of the plan’s existence until recently.

“I had no idea about this plan, which is kind of a problem. There are so many assistive programs that are offered that many stu-dents are unaware of. Even so, it could be a great option for some students. It gives students time to gather up funds that they don’t have on hand at the moment,” he said.

Antoinette Mussa, a manage-rial science and hospitality major, said she believes the new payment plan is a rational option for work-ing students.

“GSU is pretty non-traditional in the sense that many students are already working, living on their own and paying their own bills,” Mussa said. “With so many other finances to take care of, it seems practical that the school would offer a payment plan to make it easier on those students.”

However, Mussa also said she didn’t think she would use the plan unless it was necessary.

“I think it’s a good idea, but I would rather not use it until it becomes a last resort,” she said. “It seems much more practical to just make one payment [that I’ve saved up for throughout the semester] rather than split it into two. That way I don’t have to worry about meeting another payment dead-line.”

University

Georgia State installs new Spring 2015 payment plan

JOSH RUBYStaff Reporter

last weekLocalAtlanta demonstrators appear in court

Dozens of Atlanta protest-ers were arrested on Nov. 24 after the Ferguson grand jury decision, according to NBC 11 Alive. They were released and appeared in an Atlanta City courtroom on Jan. 6. Those arrested were charged with either disorderly conduct or ob-struction of a walkway. Thirty At-lanta lawyers have come together to volunteer and represent the demonstrators. The legal team in-sists several of the accused were only walking down the street. Judge Herman Sloan dismissed charges against several individu-als and reset the court date of 15 others to Jan. 21.

NationalTeen refuses chemo

A prior ruling by the Con-necticut Supreme Court stating that 17 year-old Hodgkins lym-phoma patient, Cassandra Cal-lender, cannot refuse chemother-apy was upheld on Jan. 8, accord-ing to Fox News. Callender was diagnosed in September 2014 and went missing in November after two treatments. The teen re-turned home and refused further treatment with support of her mother Jackie Fortin. The family now argues the girl believes che-motherapy will harm her body more than the cancer. The hospi-tal reported Fortin and the Con-necticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) took tempo-rary custody of the girl. The state then argued the teen didn’t un-derstand the seriousness of her diagnosis and lacked the compe-tence to make a mature decision.

GlobalBlogger punished for insulting Islam

Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for a reported cybercrime and insulting Islam, according to BBC News. On Jan. 9, Badawi re-ceived the first 50 lashes on his back publicly in the city Jeddah. Additional flogging will occur weekly. The blogger was previ-ously cleared of charges claiming he had renounced Islam, which may resulted in the death penalty. Badawi is the co-founder of the Liberal Saudi Network, a website that is now banned. Islamic law is strictly enforced in Saudi Arabia and political dissent is not tolerat-ed. A spokeswoman from the U.S. state department has reached out asking Saudi Arabia to cancel his punishment and review his case.

More than 450 Students have signed up for university’s new initiative delaying tuition payment

I had no idea about this plan, which is kind of a problem. There are so many assistive programs that are offered that many students are unaware of. Even so, it could be a great option for some students. It gives students time to gather up funds that they don’t have on hand at the moment.”

-Joseph Wilson Georgia State Student

“G

INSTALLMENT DUE DATESFirst installment

Feb. 5, 2015

Second Installment March 2, 2015

HOW TO ENROLL IN THE GSU

PAYMENT PLAN

1. Go to Paws

2. View pay account

3. Select payment

plans in Pantherpay

4. Click Enroll now

5. Select

appropriate term

6. Provide a

payment method

7. Agree to terms

and conditions

THE LAST DAY TO APPLY FOR THE SPRING TERM IS

JAN. 23, 2015

On Monday, Jan. 5 at 9:28 p.m., President Mark Becker sent

out a campus-wide e-mail informing students that the concept of a merger with Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) would be placed in front of the Board of Re-gents at a meeting on Jan. 6, thus giving students no time whatsoever to voice their concerns and opinions re-garding the idea.

On the morning of Jan. 6, the decision was approved, and at 4:07 p.m., an email was sent out informing stu-dents that “The University System of Georgia Board of Regents today voted to con-solidate Georgia State Uni-versity and Georgia Perim-eter College.”

This came on the heels of winter break just as ev-eryone was out for their last huzzah before classes begin once more. Simon Phillips, a sophomore computer sci-ence major, said he was sur-prised when he saw the news on Facebook.

“I check my GSU email regularly during the se-mester, but over the break people don’t usually keep up with their student email ac-counts,” Phillips said. “The merger was totally out of the blue. I have no idea how this is going to affect my degree and my competition in the job marketplace.”

A GPC student who asked to remain unnamed said, “I’m sure that the merg-er will bring about changes at GPC, but there are just so many things wrong with the school. Based on my experi-ence with the administration there, any changes are either going to exacerbate or com-pletely ignore the issues that currently exist.”

She went on to say that previously she wanted to study at Georgia State, but due to the merger she will not apply.

Some professors fear los-ing their job. Others are con-cerned about the access of higher education available to students.

A calculus professor from Georgia Perimeter College who wished to remain anon-ymous told The Signal, “Fac-ulty layoffs are a very real possibility … To be frank, I seriously fear for my job. [I] might have to start looking elsewhere.”

GPC English Professor Joseph Corin worries about what this means for the availability of higher educa-tion to students.

“My main concern about the merger is that it will hike tuition past the point of affordability for many students, even if the tuition becomes two-tiered. One of GPC’s best features has been its accessibility regardless of financial class and it would be a shame for that to go away,” he said.

Georgia Perimeter, for all its faults including its multi-million-dollar deficit, has an organizational culture that “fits” its faculty, staff and students. And that organiza-tional culture, you can bet, is probably a damn sight dif-ferent than what we have at Georgia State.

I’ve talked to some of our faculty and their opinion is that the GPC folks (especial-ly the students) will be most-ly excited to have “Georgia State University” on their diplomas.

However, whereas we already have a mechanism in many of our academic departments to preside over 1000 and 2000-level (i.e. “core course”) classes, I think that some faculty here may worry that since all of GPC’s courses are 1000 and 2000-level-type stuff, then will they just add all of that administrative responsibility onto our existing functions without any increase in the budgets for those functions?

That would be a way to realize the potential cost sav-ings, but it would mean a lot more work for those of us who work within those func-tions.

This whole thing is scary to a lot of people because, I think, they don’t know 1) who will lose their jobs or 2) which of the above-men-tioned eventualities will happen.

Shortly after releasing the decision, the University re-leased a Q&A with President Mark Becker in which the president stated that a “simi-

lar example, though a non-public model, is Oxford Col-lege of Emory University.”

It seems that “Georgia State will continue to admit students into its bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral pro-grams by the highly selec-tive standards of a top-tier national research university,” while GPC will retain its cur-rent admission standards.

On Jan. 6, Becker told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that “We do not at this point intend to bring associates de-grees downtown. We intend to keep the associates de-grees on what would be con-sidered satellite campuses, the campuses of perimeter college of Georgia State.”

However, the most con-cerning of statements re-leased is that from the USG Board of Regents who ap-proved this, claiming that “Reducing administrative costs and functions … will take at least 12 to 18 months to implement the consolida-tion of the individual institu-tions and to properly calcu-late savings attained by the action.”

For me, this begs the question, ‘What was the pur-pose of this merger if not to save money? Is it a smart idea to go ahead and imple-ment such a large decision as this without knowing how much is going to be saved?’

According to the Q&A, the Board states that “A de-crease in the number of jobs will likely occur, but until de-tails are worked out it is not possible to know how many or which ones.” This fuels the unfortunate concepts men-tioned by Professor Joseph Corin in that quiet layoffs might be the alternative to the less politically appealing idea of budget cuts.

OPINIONSwww.georgiastatesignal.com/opinions

The rise of the new college empire

Nicole is a double major in biology and English. When she’s not writing, she enjoys listening to musical theater and watching British TV with her family.

Tweet at her@SignalOpinions

NICOLE MOTAHARI Opinions Editor

The Georgia State and Georgia Perimeter merge from the school community’s perspective

Whathappened?

What dostudents say?

Professorssay:

Administrativestatements

What canyou do?

Georgia State SGA President Lanier Henson told The Signal, “Any students with concerns should voice their opinions officially to the SGA so accurate information can be passed along to the USG Board of Regents.”

Henson said by receiving students’ opinion on paper, they could show feedback to the board.

Furthermore, on Jan. 13 President Mark Becker will hold a town hall meeting regarding the Georgia State/Georgia Perimeter College consolidation at 3:30 p.m. The meeting will be held in the Speakers Auditorium in the Student Center.

Rob Watts, the interim president of Georgia Perimeter College, and Shelley Nickel, the vice chancellor for planning and implementation at the University System, will also be in attendance to answer questions that Georgia State students and staff may have.

Find yourself with a problem you can’t figure out? Lackluster love life? Fidgety friendship? Parental problems? Write anonymously to our new Dear Signal column and submit your letters to signalopinions@gmail.com or drop them off in our office at 200 University Center!

You’ve got the opinion.We’ve got the soapbox.

Now hiring columnists

To be a guest columnist, send in your thoughts to signalopinions@gmail.com. To be a (paid) staff columnist, download an application from georgiastatesignal.com/employment and turn it in to Dr. Bryce McNeil at 405 University Center.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 20158 OPINIONS

is looking good already. Why? Gas prices are low! It’s all you hear about, it’s probably all your dad talks about and lo-cal news stations seem to love doing stories on it.

So everything is awesome and low gas prices are great, right? Why are they low? Who cares! What, you’re say-ing foreign oil producers are aggressively trying to price American oil out of their in-dustry? Sorry, I can’t hear you over all of this cheap gas I’m pumping into my car.

All kidding aside, and without even getting into the why of cheap gas, the steady decline of crude oil prices over the past few months should be very unnerving for those of us with an eye on foreign economies as well as energy investments domesti-cally.

But the average consum-er doesn’t care about that, right? Maybe they should, but there’s no need to rain on this cheap gas parade — people love it when gas costs less and less. Gas is the cheapest it has been since before the reces-sion in 2009!

CNN Money contributor Chris Isidore, in a recent re-port, found that you can get gas for under $2 per gallon at over 40 percent of gas stations in the US. Not only that, but many analysts see the lower-ing of gas prices to be the eco-nomic push we need to see unprecedented growth in the country. This could be just the thing we need to get us firmly past our country’s economic

decline that started back with the housing crash of 2007.

What concerns me is how the American consumer re-acts to gas prices in the short run as well as what the global impact is on countries who rely on crude oil exports.

Michal Sivak, director of ‘Sustainable Transportation Research’ at the University of Michigan, has been close-ly following the car markets since August.

“Consumers react very quickly to changes in gas prices, especially if those changes are relatively rapid,” Sivak said in a recent inter-view with Bloomberg.

In terms of gas prices, the changes have been quite rapid.

So rapid that demand for SUVs and light trucks is al-ready increasing across the country. The average MPG (mile per gallon, a common way to quantify fuel effi-ciency) rating on all vehicles driving has actually increased since August. This basically means there is more demand for low MPG cars than previ-ously seen.

That demand might con-tinue well into 2015. Accord-ing to a Bankrate analysis of government petroleum sta-tistics, each American driver can expect to save about $452 on gasoline in 2015. This is huge for an ailing economy. This increase is basically like the Bush stimulus packages back in 2008. What’s different here is that the government isn’t going into debt for it to happen!

So who is paying the bill, then? You guessed it, the Middle East’s oil-producing

nations, Russia and other en-ergy exporters. While it’s a win-win for American con-sumers and the government, the same can’t be said for in-ternational markets. Because it relies so heavily on the price of crude oil, Russia is facing a weakening Ruble and eco-nomic unrest because of the dropping price.

Most people are only in-terested in the gas prices be-cause it directly affects them on a weekly basis. The intri-cacies of Russia’s economy and its energy export indus-tries? Not so much. So who’s to blame them when the demand for SUVs and light trucks goes up when gas is low?

But as I stated earlier, the savings will be around $500. Is that really enough to make people want to buy big-ger cars? It all comes down to perception. Consumers perceive that they are saving more money than they actu-ally are. Further, they assume gas prices will continue to de-

crease. This double whammy of blissful ignorance could be harmful to the strides being made in alternative fuel and the popularity of electric hy-brid vehicles.

This short-sighted outlook of the average consumer can often hurt progress in the en-ergy industry when it needs it most in the decades to come. Just when the Nissan Leaf is finally making sense to the consumer, people are starting to demand bigger, less fuel-efficient vehicles while gas is cheaper. Consumers think it’s too drastic a leap from gas to electric now- especially while the gravy train of cheap gas is rolling. In reality though we will all be better off in the long-run using electricity to fuel our cars.

Think of it like this: Every electric car bought makes a difference in helping lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Every mid-sized SUV or truck is contributing to our dependence on foreign oil.

So which camp are you

in? Are you excited for cheap gas and planning on driving more, driving bigger or just saving a little cash? Or are you more focused on the long term energy situation and ready to invest in an electric car? Neither option is exactly wrong, nor is it 100 percent right. Eventually markets will settle and gas will be back on the rise.

My money is on alternate energy like electric cars and geothermal energy sources. Since oil reserves will be de-pleted in our lifetime any-ways, there’s no use in getting too attached to the good old ‘black gold’ much longer.

So there you have it. Whether gas is $2 per gallon or $20 per gallon, it will both be arbitrary in 20 years when crude oil will be considered as outdated as whale oil to fuel our world. Until then, we can at least help the economy by spending a little of the money we’re saving on gas to help boost the country back to economic prosperity.

2015 CNN Money contributor Chris Isidore, in a recent report, found that you can get [gas] for under $2 per gallon at over 40 percent of gas stations in the US.

!Mitch is a senior finance major and student financial advisor. “My goal is to have more college students financially literate.” Leave your questions for him online at georgiastatesignal.com

Follow him @madmoneyATL

MITCHELL OLIVERColumnist

How gas prices are impacting your wallet this year

Start your engines!Dollars and sense with Mitch

By now a lot of us have heard about the “Free The Nipple” campaign

circulating the Internet. For the few who don’t know, the movement (and film) sup-ports equality by fighting for it to be legal for women to be topless in public.

According to freethe-nipple.com, the mission is to address “equal rights for men and women, a more balanced system of censorship and le-gal rights for all women to breastfeed in public.” But why should it be limited to breastfeeding?

The campaign boasts some pretty big-name sup-porters, but it wasn’t until Instagram began censoring Chelsea Handler’s topless posts that it caught my at-tention. There are constantly photos of topless guys being posted. Why can’t there be a topless girl? This is a ques-tion I’ve been wondering for a while — not just concern-ing social media.

Some people struggle with the common idea of a female’s boobs being sexual icons. As I’m sure most will

agree: The more people are exposed to something, the more they become used to it and less shocked by it. At least, based on my own ex-perience, I can attest to this. I would have jumped at the chance to see a real-life na-ked boob before, but if I see it now, I could simply ap-preciate (or ignore) a finely-shaped figure.

If women were just ca-sually shirtless more often, would it be so taboo? Some people might still find their jaws dropping here and there, but tell me many peo-ple don’t do the same over a finely shaped masculine body.

But, I’m still reminded of some people’s odd obses-sion with the subject — I realize their obsession with them and what that means. The main reason boobs are so heavily sexualized, and in response hidden, is because they’re so heavily sexualized in the first place.

I remember riding in the car with my family when I was younger. I looked out the window and saw this huge sunburnt shirtless guy outside. It all hit me at once: Why do guys get to be shirt-less and girls don’t? Espe-

cially if guys like him can be shirtless.

‘Cause let’s be honest, lots of guys have boobs too. But the simple question was, why does it matter? So I asked my parents. “Well... because it’s just not appropriate. Girls should cover up.”

Granted, that’s not ver-batim, but that was the gist of it. Either way, I was not satisfied. It just didn’t seem fair that men could enjoy a certain freedom that women could not because women are perceived to be too sex-ual if they are topless.

My argument is not in support of going topless in public, but it is for equality. There are very few excuses for women or men to be shirtless in public. Most es-tablishments actually reject the business of shirtless in-dividuals. Equal amount of covering should be required of both men and women in any situation.

So since there doesn’t seem to be much of a push to ban all people being top-less in public, then it should be legal for all people to be topless in public. All nipples might not be created equal, but they should all enjoy the same freedoms.

Rise up and set them free!

ANTONIO GARCIAColumnist

Letter to the Editor

This letter was a response to a broadcast email sent by President Mark P. Becker announcing Chan-cellor Hank Huckaby’s recommen-dation to merge Georgia State University and Georgia Perimeter College (see below). The Signal Editor-in-Chief was copied on this email.

President Becker:Upon the recommendation of

consolidating Georgia State Uni-versity and Georgia Perimeter College, I contend this potential decision to be unsound. This de-cision may be one that is detri-mental to Georgia State in that this is not within GSU’s Strategic Plan, nor would a merger with a 2-year institution increase the value of a Georgia State degree or the research aspirations of the university.

As an alumnus working to-ward improving my alma mater post-matriculation, I look for-ward to sharing my opinion on the future of Georgia State Uni-versity going forward.

Chris A. Evans,Georgia State University | J. Mack Robinson College of BusinessBachelor of Business Administration | Accounting | Finance | 2014

President Becker’s broadcast, sent on Jan. 5, 2015 at 9:20 p.m.:

I am extremely pleased to share with you news of an im-pending historic decision that holds great promise for Georgia State University. At the Univer-sity System of Georgia Board of Regents meeting tomorrow (Jan. 6), Chancellor Hank Huckaby is expected to present a recommen-dation to the Board to consoli-date Georgia State and Georgia Perimeter College, a move that would create the largest univer-sity in the state and one of the largest in the nation. The con-solidation would greatly improve opportunities for students and expand Georgia State’s reach and impact across the metro-Atlanta area and the state.

Should the board approve this consolidation, we will have much work to do in the coming months in partnership with our colleagues at Georgia Perimeter.

I will keep you informed as we move forward.

Mark P. Becker

President

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015 9OPINIONS

If topless nudity is OK for men, it should be OK for women too

MOSHI MOSHI NEW ATLANTA BOUTIQUE FUSES FASHION, ART AND CULTURE

The store was founded by Georgia State alumni Vince Wynn and Ryan Parker. Located in Old Fourth Ward on Edgewood Av-enue, Moshi Moshi is an up-and-coming Atlanta boutique that de-sires to set itself apart from other stores in the city. They aim to do this by not carrying predictable, conventional American clothing styles. The loft-style interior with exposed brick wall gives off a SoHo, New York vibe that invites customers to explore the impres-sive clothing collection.

Wynn said they received much of their inspiration from Japanese culture, which he further elabo-rates on in his interview (see next page). There are an array of brands featured from across the world including: Matiere, Just Female, Komono, May The Label and Publish Brand.

Moshi Moshi is more than a fashion boutique. It is at the cen-ter of the buzzing community in the historic Old Fourth Ward that is on the rise once again. Eclectic

graffiti is displayed on the sides of buildings add to the area’s unique culture.

Moshi Moshi is set in a loca-tion that receives a high traf-fic volume where many curious commuters can stop by to look. The store is also walking distance from the Georgia State campus. It has even easier access now thanks to the Atlanta Streetcar.

Moshi Moshi is also heavily involved in the social scene of Atlanta. Trinidad James hosted an event called “Camo James” to donate shoes to those in need re-cently at the boutique.

Moshi Moshi primarily uses social media to showcase the lat-est trends in the store especially using Instagram. Models are shot in outfits sold at the store around the city to depict the lifestyle that goes along with the clothing. Photos uploaded on Instagram are realistic because the models are not just wearing the clothes. They’re living in them.

The vision

FashionArt Culture

Good vibes flow freely in the stylish boutique

nestled in the heart of Edgewood. It is Moshi Moshi’s opening night. The city’s fashionable t w e n t y - s o m e t h i n g s dress in trendy all-black ensembles as they sway to the music of the in-house deejay.

Local Atlanta artist Paper Frank creates a live sketch as surround-ing guests peep over his shoulder to view his lat-

est masterpiece. Right in the middle of all the hype of the party, models wearing fishnet masks strut the impromptu catwalk to showcase the store’s latest designs.

Moshi Moshi wants to make an unforget-table first impression; they succeeded. Aside from opening night, the store does not need grand gestures to spark up conversation because Moshi Moshi speaks for itself.

The threads

ARTS & LIVINGwww.georgiastatesignal.com/artsandliving

Written by Morayo Oyewole, Staff Reporter

The fashion at Moshi Moshi is tar-geted towards guys and girls with an appeal to alternative clothing.

For the gentlemen

The store offers structured pieces such as a hooded canvas vest and pat-terned pullovers to have more variety in a guy’s wardrobe.

Wynn and Parker choose warm and neutral colors for the guy’s cloth-ing to fit various skin tones.

The formal choices including but-ton-ups and Cheap Monday jeans are intertwined with laid back street styles such as jogger pants and hoodies.

Moshi Moshi utilizies much of the layering trend for the winter collec-tion. They are transitioning to a more minimalistic style for the spring.

It is a good place to shop for any fashion-savvy guy in Atlanta or guys who like to stick to the basics.

The main brands for men the store carries at the moment are Pub-lish Brand, Altru Apparel and Ucon-Acrobatics.

For the ladiesMoshi Moshi caters to diverse

types of girls. They focus on mixing patterns with shapely pieces while still maintaining a feminine, fun and sexy look. Structured skirts with patterned zipper detail blend perfectly with soft knitted crop tops in black or white.

The store also carries flowing t-shirt dresses that are essential for day-time wearing.

For the nightlife, they have body-con two piece outfits in muted colors. A black maxi dress with a deep slit on the side covered in a warm colored floral print can be dressed up or down depending on shoes and accessories; the outfit easily transitions from day to night.

For spring, Moshi Moshi is con-centrating on vibrant florals with an edgy twist.

Just Female, May the Label and UNIF are dominating the women’s racks at the boutique for spring.

PHOTOS BY RUTH PANNILL | THE SIGNALMoshi Moshi, a boutique located near the corner of Boulevard and Edgewood Avenue, provides a small yet stylish selection encompassing Atlanta’s simple southern charm.

What is the meaning behind the name “Moshi Moshi” and how does it represent the clothes you sell?

Well the world of style is hardly American, so I tried to keep that in mind for our online presence and I have always been a huge fan of Japanese culture and the bold style that is continuously coming from people like Katsuya Suzuki or Motofumi Kugi (I’ll be the first to say we are no way on their level

but you can’t help where inspira-tion comes from). So I wanted to choose a name that had that “in-ternational” feel. Moshi Moshi just stuck with me. In Japanese, it’s con-versational for “hello,” but it’s also used to grab someone’s attention if they are spacing out. So yeah, Moshi Moshi.

How are you trying to set the boutique apart from other clothing stores in Atlanta?

As far as other notable bou-tiques in Atlanta, I feel they are definitely more centered around streetwear, menswear, and a higher price point. However, we are try-ing to fight in the that middle area with price and style. We have cho-sen brands for men and women

that are considered more on the contemporary side as well as more street-wear oriented brands. We believe that Atlanta truly is an in-credibly diverse city and we would like to be be on the forefront of showing the different aspects of culture here.

What is your inspiration for choosing clothes to sell in the store?

As far as buying for the store, we really tried to pick brands that fit with our aesthetic. We were guys that were raised in the hard-core/metal music scene but were interested all kinds of other mu-sic genres. So naturally, as stylish

guys we ended up incorporating elements from punk rock to hip-hop culture. We currently carry brands such as UNIF, Motel, Pub-lish, Ucon-Acrobatics and May the label. All of which could be geared towards a different type of person.

Who is your target clientele in Atlanta?

I would like to think we fit a younger clientele interested in a more alternative style. We are focused on the fashion-forward, free-thinking girl or guy. So we

try to draw from elements of contemporary wear and street wear to find the most affordable high quality brands in today’s trends.

What tactics are you using to get Georgia State students interested in the store since Moshi Moshi is so close to campus?

With four members of Moshi being GSU alum, we always knew we wanted to do something to sup-

port GSU students. So we offer a 10 percent student discount to GSU students with student ID.

Contact

Location:

Located at 451 Edgewood

Avenue

To see what clothes the

boutique offers, check

out:

Website: moshimoshiatl.com

OR

Instagram: @moshimoshiatl

Pay A Visit

Today!PAGE DESIGN BY TAMMY

HUYNH | THE SIGNAL

The story

Vince Wynn, one of the owners of the boutique, sat down with The Signal to explain origin of the store and how he wants to set Moshi Moshi apart from other Atlanta stores with its style, personality and unique culture.

ARTS & LIVING12 TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015

On the corner of Luckie street lies a building that is covered in aged red bricks.

From this building comes stories of insane musical memories and art-ists who have created shows living on in the eyes of those who bore witness.

The Tabernacle first opened in 1910 and was originally called the Broughton Tabernacle. Dr. Leonard Gaston Broughton was a pastor and physician. He created this building as a Baptist church, a clear indica-tion seen when viewing the stain glass windows inside the building.

The building eventually became a House of Blues in 1996 during the 1996 Olympics and had artists like Johnny Cash and James Brown per-form there and then finally in 1998 the venue became the place we en-joy today, The Tabernacle.

It is currently owned by Live Na-tion who have produced tours for the biggest name in music like The Rolling Stones, Madonna, U2 and Coldplay. Their mission, as stated on The Tabernacle website, “is to in-spire passion for live music around the world.” They also produce, pro-mote and host motor sports and other live entertainment events.

This venue has been home to many big name artists over the past years like Ed Sheeran, The 1975, Jason Derulo and Weezer. In the past, the popular artists of that gen-eration also made an appearance at the classic spot. Guns N’ Roses, Bob Dylan, The Black Crowes and Prince are just some of the epic mu-sical geniuses that made their mark on The Tabernacle stage.

“The building started out as a Baptist church and then was con-verted to a House of Blues and I think this history gives it a unique feeling,” said Molly Sandman, mar-keting manager for The Tabernacle. “The energy in the building during most shows is incredible. It is why artists continually want to play here and why we are often on national lists of best venues in the country. That is another reason why the Tab-ernacle is such an exciting treasure.”

Unlike other big venues such as the Philips Arena, The Tabernacle brings something new to the table. Since it is a place with such close quarters, the shows are generally more intimate and personal, mean-ing you are able to connect with the artist more and fellow audience members as well.

No where else would you be guaranteed to meet the artist you just saw on stage on the side of the building.

The Tabernacle isn’t just a home for music, it also hosts various acts and comedy shows. It has even had Conan O’brien host a week of “Conan” shows. They also have You-tuber tours, Digitours and host pri-vate performances.

“We host many comedians. Some that have performed are Dave Chappelle, Bill Maher, Daniel Tosh and Brian Regan. It was during the Final 4 when Conan O’brien shot his show here for a week and that was pretty exciting,” Sandman said.

This upcoming month, the ven-ue will be filled with artists like Ben Howard, Billy Idol and Topp Dogg. They will have comedians John Mu-laney and Patton Oswalt also and will host Digitour 2015. This new year will be filled with countless acts that will draw crowds from all around. And if wanting a private party/show for yourself is in the cards, The Tabernacle will deliver on that as well.

Once one is inside, The Taber-nacle becomes a foggy, loud won-derland that captivates its visitors; it is no wonder that on occasion hun-dreds of people will line up outside, waiting for the arrival of the artist they obsess over. If a trip to this marvelous live music box hasn’t oc-curred yet, then pass through those large arched doorways and enjoy the cultural ride.

INGA MASICStaff Reporter

Radiating music throughout Atlanta

PHOTOS BY MARC VALLE | THE SIGNALThe Tabernacle, popular for hosting concerts, comedy shows, and various other acts, holds a rich history and is located in the center of Atlanta.

THE TABERNACLE:

ARTS & LIVING 13TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015

In Georgia, ice can be a friend and an enemy. Icy roads ef-fectively shut down Atlanta al-

most a year ago, stranding folks on the highway. This is a situation in which ice is the bad guy and inno-cent, unsuspecting southerners are the damsels in distress. However, Atlanta hasn’t abandoned ice and won’t as long as it’s lucrative.

In Centennial Olympic Park, an ice skating rink attracts thousands of Atlantans and people from else-where. An all-encompassing roof protects skaters from the elements; it can’t, however, protect them from gravity.

Morgan Smith Williams, public relations specialist at the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, says the rink is yet to witness a seri-ous injury this year.

“There haven’t been any acci-dents or broken bones this year,” Williams said. “Sometimes people will be on their phones while ice skating — it isn’t the safest thing to do. There are four corners of the rink set aside for people using their phone so they aren’t a hazard to the main traffic.”

Williams described the origin of the rink, recounting its gen-esis. The rink has roots older than many Georgia State Students. Stu-dents born in 1996 may not realize that that year brought the Summer

Olympic Games to Atlanta, catalyz-ing the construction of Centennial Olympic Park.

“It has been a seasonal event since 1986,” Williams said. “The rink is now operated by a third party, which operated an ice skat-ing rink at the World of Coca-Cola and, in 1998, began operating the rink in Centennial Olympic Park. It seems to be a popular attraction every winter.”

Despite the rink’s cinematic lighting and holiday-themed mu-sic, some are hesitant to throw themselves onto the ice. Williams said that the rink is perfectly safe, despite the mandatory paperwork. She remembered her personal ex-perience on the ice.

“It was really fun. It’s great for beginners — I like to call it a family-oriented rink. Most nights, kids and their families are the ones on the ice. However, there is a college discount on Mondays and Tuesdays. We see a lot of college students here on those nights — the rink has a little bit of a different feel.”

As Williams described, the rink uses real ice. She said that many hockey players favor the ice in the rink due to its thickness.

“At any one place in the rink, the ice is 1/16 of an inch thick. I talked to a former professional hockey player and he said this is the preferred size for many hockey players.”

The rink is sponsored in part by The Coca-Cola Company. Williams

explained how contributions work. She also described the relationship between the Georgia World Con-gress Center Authority and the State of Georgia.

“Coca-Cola is a sponsor of the rink, but there are other sponsors as well such as Stouffer’s,” Williams said. “They make a yearly contribu-tion that is used to fund events or-ganized by the park which is run by the Georgia World Congress Cen-ter Authority. The Authority also maintains and operates the Georgia Dome as well as the Georgia World Congress Center. It was created by the Georgia General Assembly to spearhead the creation and opera-tion of these large ventures.”

Considering the popularity of the rink, it generates substantial revenue. Williams attributes the flow of cash from the hands of ticket buyers to the park management.

“The revenue is used for operat-ing the park,” Williams explained. “It is also used to fund general programming that the park does throughout the year, such as the music festival in the summer.”

In the midst of Centennial Olympic Park, the rink is lovely to behold. At night, the lights from the SkyView Ferris Wheel across the street can distract. However, from a distance, the ice skating rink and its surroundings don’t compete for attention. They stand in astonish-ing solidarity — a testament to the cultural and commercial mecca in which they were created.

In the scope of the rink’s sur-roundings, the individuals who skate on the rink seem miniscule — insignificant. Their identities blend together to create a blurry collective of sports enthusiasm, social media and consumer opportunity. In this group, skaters lose their respective identities in the collective identity of Atlanta. However, from the per-spective of two twenty-somethings on their first date, they are sur-rounded by strangers and entangled in their own world of passion and curiosity.

These feelings are easy to ig-nore amidst international corporate landmarks. Even among people in groups, it’s natural to gather con-fusion from a third-person experi-

ence — confusion over what they’re saying, what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling.

An ice-skating rink in the park is a microcosm of its society. Where some see danger and consumer-ism, others see passion and curios-ity. Regardless of occasional injury and financial implications, the rink brings together curious strangers. It harbors self-expression, transcen-dence and physical strength.

For those who come to wit-ness these concepts first hand, hot drinks, snacks and funnel cakes are available for purchase. Georgia State students can get into the rink for 90 minutes for $9 if they show a student I.D. The rink closes for the year on Jan. 19.

A cold

ZACH ITZKOVITZStaff Reporter

PHOTO BY RALPH HERNANDEZ | THE SIGNALCentennial Olympic Park annually offers ice-skating in the heart of downtown Atlanta where families, couples and friends come to test their skills on ice.

The Properties of Centennial Olympic Park’s Ice Skating Rink

conductor

Extra Info!• $12 per person, $9 college and military discount

(with valid ID and only Mondays and Tuesday 4:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.). Group discount is $9 per person for groups of 20 or more. Concessions are available to buy.

• Live feed of the rink available at http://www.centennialpark.com.

• Week of Jan. 12 - Jan. 18, movie night showing thefilmofthedecade,Frozen!—7p.m.MondaythroughFriday,1p.m.and7p.m.onSaturdayandSunday.ThatweekisalsoGirlScoutWeek!($7ticketsforgirlsdressedinasash).

Starting the New Year is al-ways an exciting yet scary adventure. You never know what great things to

expect and what horrors will fol-low. One of those horrors is a new schedule of classes.

Starting any new class is scary; there are so many things to worry about. What if you get lost? What if you walk into the wrong class? And God forbid, what if you have to choose partners on a group as-signment? There are a lot of things that could go wrong, but luckily I have a few tips to help you adjust to your new schedule.

1 Find your way: Being lost is the worst feel-ing in the world. No one ever wants to walk around

like a man in the women’s section of a department store. That is why I suggest you map out your sched-ule ahead of time. Whether it is just finding the building or count-ing your steps from room to room, knowing your way around ahead of time will save you from the em-barrassment of looking at maps or falling into the pattern of your old, boring routine.

2 Come prepared:

Knowing exactly what to bring to class and what the teacher will expect is difficult.

What if you don’t bring enough pa-per or what if you bring too much paper? To avoid struggles like these I suggest you carry a few essentials before entering the class.

Make sure to always have a notebook. Size doesn’t matter un-til you figure out how many notes you will be taking in that one class. Also, have at least one pencil and pen on you. Remember that there is no need for 30 gel pens and mul-tiple color-coded folders. This is

not fifth grade; no one cares how pretty your pencil case is.

3Make friends:Switching classes means that you won’t always run into the same friends from

other classes until you start classes pertaining to your major. But do not fear, surviving a class without friends can be done by following one of two rules.

The first thing that you should try is compliment the person next to you. Even if you are pulling a Regina George (“Where did you get that? So cute.”), the person will appreciate your kindness and hopefully a conversation will strike up.

If that doesn’t work, revert to having the attitude of a Persian prince/princess: just think to yourself, “I am here to learn and get out. Do not waste my time.” You shouldn’t be mean to others if you use this method, but it will make you feel better about not re-ally talking to anyone. Plus, your other friends are waiting to meet you for lunch, so don’t sweat it.

4 Don’t get distracted:Many of us have probably gotten used to constantly being on our phones or

turning into sludge on the couch from the winter break. Unfortu-nately, with classes starting we can’t risk being distracted by our favorite TV shows or the new-est trending topic on twitter. So when you are in class, try putting your phone away; it won’t kill you to not know what’s happening in the world for an hour. And while you are trying to force yourself to write that paper over the 300 pages you never read, have your favorite show recording so you aren’t wor-rying about missing it.

And finally, the kicker.

5 Get out of your holiday slump: Yes, yes, we all hate coming back after a well-deserved

break. You’re not different so stop complaining. Everyone struggles with the same back-breaking rage of starting classes again, but your tuition is already paid and there is no backing out now. So, here are a few ways to get out of your holiday slump.

First, take down all of your holiday decorations. It is sad to give up the holiday spirit, but the end of last semester was your time to slack off with the excitement of the holidays.

Next, get your sleeping sched-ule on track as soon as you can. It is no longer acceptable to sleep in until 3 p.m.

Failing to adjust

Nichole is a sophomore journalism major writing for the Arts & Living section of The Signal.

Follow her @GSUSignalAandL

NICHOLE PLACEColumnist

Lifestyle column

ARTS & LIVING14 TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015

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10

Known for his fantastical worlds and char-acters, fascination of children and adults alike, Tim Burton could easily maintain

the style that encompasses much of his work. In Big Eyes, however, the director takes another path, showing the world that there are no boundaries to his palette of colors and stories.

Set in California in the 1960s, the movie tells the true story of the painter Margaret Keane. While selling her paintings at an art fair one af-ternoon, Margaret meets Walter, a fellow artist. A professional relationship between the two quickly develops into a marriage after Margaret receives a letter in the mail with a judicial warning stating she can lose the custody of her daughter.

Looking to give her child a family environ-ment, Margaret decides to marry. Soon after the wedding, however, Walter begins claiming the authorship of the sad eyes portraits painted by his wife. Margaret initially accepts this situation as Walter keeps bringing the money home and arguing that female painters struggle to sell their works.

Starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, the film moves swiftly as Burton doesn’t need many strokes to get the story across the screen.

The director lets the story flow, relying on in-spired performances by Adams and Waltz. The dialogue scenes gain not only from what it is said but also on what the two actors can show through their expressions and eye contact.

When Margaret sees Walter lie for the first time about her work, Burton uses a long period of silence as the two characters must decide who will step up as the creator of the paintings.

This silent battle sets off the conflict between husband and wife, the businessman and the artist. It is an early victory for Walter, but the true win-ners of these battles are the viewers.

Both Adams and Waltz give life to characters whose frustrations and ambitions, qualities and flaws, are constantly in friction against each other. The richness of these characters is a gift to both actors whose talents shine on screen effortlessly.

Differently from other OSCAR contenders over the last few years, Big Eyes does not seek to impress the viewer with a complex story that lasts over the two-and-a-half hour mark.

The result is a movie that does not get dragged down by complicated plot lines or superfluous scenes. The constant flow is one of the main quali-ties of the screenplay. In Big Eyes, the screenwrit-ers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski rarely need long dialogue scenes. Every scene flows naturally from beginning to end without over-stretching any situation beyond the screen time it deserves.

Burton uses this tight script well by playing with subtle details throughout the film. When Walter finds out he can make more money by sell-ing the posters of paintings rather than the actual works, Burton inserts a scene of Margaret strolling through the supermarket passing in an aisle full of Campbell’s soups.

Once featured in the work of Andy Warhol, the Campbell’s cans provide an interesting visual commentary to Walter’s posters. No comparison could be better than Warhol who was able to com-bine talents for both art and business. Burton’s two main characters struggle for each only possesses one of these talents.

The movie focuses on the relationship be-tween Walter and Margaret and never spends too much time discussing the state of art itself. Bur-ton chooses wisely since the script does not seem flexible enough to support complex theories about art. The quick pace of the film discourages these discussions as the scenes keep flowing across the screen. This choice of pace is not necessarily a bad thing since the main story always stays in the fore-front of the movie, but it also may disappoint those who are looking to dive deeper in the world of arts.

What results is a movie where Burton simply acts as a storyteller, not as a juggler of script gim-micks or a starter of philosophical discussions. He chooses to tell a story with straightforward shots and editing, letting his actors work their magic and the images tell more than words.

FERNANDO MATTOSStaff Reviewer

Grade: A-Verdict: Marked by inspired performances from Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes is one of the movies that should be included in any regular moviegoer watching list this awards season.

RYAN HEMSWORTHAlone for the First Time

‘Big Eyes’FILM REVIEW

Undoubtedly, 2014 was a rare year for music. Month after month, incredible record after incredible record dropped

with no end in sight. Whether listeners found their escape in pulsating beats, acoustic guitars or impenetrable walls of noise, there was something for everyone.

I probably won’t be holding my breath for an album as devastatingly emotional as The War on Drugs’ “Lost in the Dream” this year, but I’d still consider myself an optimist when it comes to mu-sic. After all, even if last year’s run was unimagi-nable, 2015 has quite a few interesting releases to look forward to. These, then, are my most antici-pated albums of the new year.

1. Steven WilsonDespite his consistent output since the late

‘80s, Wilson has never garnered much attention outside of the progressive niche. Even so, he’s maintained a remarkably diverse resume over the years, tackling pop, rock, metal, psychedelia, jazz,

drone, ambient and electronica. From the varie-gated excursions of “The Sky Moves Sideways” to the streamlined immediacy of “In Absentia,” Wil-son has thoroughly earned his reputation as one of progressive music’s leading torchbearers.

According to recent interviews, Wilson’s highly anticipated fourth solo album is primed to meld most, if not all, of the artist’s stylistic predi-lections into a comprehensive musical anthology. Album after album, Wilson has contributed an-other solid outing into his own narrative. His new album “Hand. Cannot. Erase.” has all the mark-ings of a defining chapter.

2. RadioheadTwenty-two years after the release of their de-

but, Radiohead still commands the undivided at-tention of music aficionados and casual fans alike. Moreover, Yorke and company have maintained an unwavering mystique, an impenetrable air of genuine mystery swirling about critical impor-tance.

In other words, the release of a new Radio-head record is a cultural landmark, irrespective of the music itself. But it really is the band’s music even more so than any penchant for unorthodox release methods or Yorke’s quirky, spasmodic

dancing that’s warranted this mythical status. Fortunately for just about everyone involved then, Radiohead rarely, if ever, makes a signifi-cant misstep. If the worst that Thom Yorke can do is “The King of Limbs,” then here’s to album number nine.

3. The Tallest Man on EarthIt’s likely that most readers aren’t familiar with

Sweden’s Kristian Matsson, but once they’ve heard his distinctive nasal croon, it’s impossible to forget him. Since 2008, Matsson has proved himself as one of contemporary folk’s unsung heroes — a remarkably consistent and affecting songwriter.

2015 is primed to be an exciting year for fans of Matsson’s work as his previous outing, the ex-traordinary “There’s No Leaving Now,” found the singer-songwriter expanding his sonic palette into new frontiers, lacing his bare acoustic frame-work with pianos, electric guitars and drums. If that’s any indication Mattson may be venturing into full-band territory — a proposition equally thrilling and terrifying. Surely, his lone-wolf ap-proach to folk has been so successful that he couldn’t dream of abandonment. Only time will tell, but the safe bet is that whatever Matsson has planned next will be one for the books.

ALEX KUGACZEWSKIStaff Reviewer

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calendar& games

Town Hall Meeting on GSU-GPC ConsolidationJan. 133:30 p.m. - 5 p.m.Speaker’s AuditoriumPresident Mark Becker hosts a town hall meeting regarding the Georgia State, Georgia Perimeter College consolidation at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 13, in Speakers Auditorium in the Student Center. Rob Watts, the interim president of Georgia Perimeter College, and Shelley Nickel, the vice chancellor for planning and implementation at the University System, will also be on hand to answer questions from the Georgia State community.

Methodologists in Education ScienceJan. 151 p.m - 2 p.m.The Area of Focus: Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy presents Distinguished Lecturer Dr. Chris Schatschneider of Florida State University. Schatschneider will present his research on “The Role of Methodologists in Education Science.”

MLK Day 5k Drum RunJan. 178 a.m.Piedmont ParkThe Drum Run will be a gathering the diverse groups in our beloved community to celebrate Martin Luther King Day in the spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood with fellowship and fitness. This 5K walk/run will take place entirely in Piedmont Park. The USATF certified race course and Peachtree Road Race qualifier will be run on grass, road, gravel, wooden bridge and dirt paths through the Park. There will be a 3.1 mile drumline all along the race course.

Campus & Downtown Events

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SPORTSwww.georgiastatesignal.com/sports

AKIEM BAILUMSports Editor

WHILEYOUWEREAWAY

It was business as usual for men’s basketball...

The last time students could be found in droves on Georgia State’s campus, it was still early in the

basketball season for the men’s team. The Panthers have since completed their non-conference schedule and are now in the midst of Sun Belt play as we get closer to the conference tournament in March.

Dec. 17 at Old Dominion (58-54 OT loss)

Georgia State nearly earned a victory on the road against the Old Dominion Monarchs but eventually suffered defeat by a final of 58-54 in Virginia. The Pan-thers had assumed a 50-42 lead with un-der six minutes to play before Old Domin-ion responded with an 8-0 run to close out the regulation period.

The Monarchs would go on to win the game behind 21 points from junior guard Trey Freeman. Three Panthers would fin-ish in double-digits for points. As Ryan Harrow finished with 16, R.J. Hunter put in 13 and Markus Crider had 11.

Dec. 21 vs. Southern Miss (68-55 win)

The Panthers returned to the Sports Arena four days later and earned a 68-55 victory over the Southern Mississip-pi Golden Eagles. Leading the way in the winning effort for Georgia State was Har-row who finished the game with 27 points.

The team also saw a 13-point outing from Hunter who was battling flu-like symptoms. He also contributed seven as-sists along with five rebounds while still playing 31 minutes.

Dec. 27 at Green Bay (78-61 loss)

Earlier in the season, Georgia State had earned a 72-48 victory over Green Bay at the Sports Arena. A couple of days af-ter Christmas, the two mid-major powers squared off again, but this time, the Phoe-nix prevailed by a final of 78-61.

The two teams played each other close for a majority of the game before Green Bay closed the second half with a 16-1 run en route to the seventeen-point victo-ry. Green Bay’s Carrington Love finished with 28 points while the Panthers got 19 from Hunter and 14 from Harrow, who was held scoreless in the second half.

Dec. 30 vs. UL-Monroe (65-45 win)

Having concluded the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 7-4 re-cord, Sun Belt play commenced for Geor-gia State with a matchup at home against the Warhawks of Louisiana-Monroe. The Panthers’ defense of their regular season conference championship began with a 65-45 victory over the Warhawks.

Leading the way for Georgia State vs. UL-Monroe was Crider, who recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. A late second-half run by the Panthers was enough for the team to pull away to their first Sun Belt victory of the year.

The Panthers’ defense also managed to keep the Warhawks’ leading scorer Ty-ler Ongwae scoreless. Ongwae averaged almost 16 points a game coming into the matchup.

Jan. 3 vs. UALR (82-69 win)

Georgia State then matched up against the Trojans of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock for the team’s first matchup for the new year. As the previous matchup for the Panthers concluded, this one also end-ed in auspicious fashion as Georgia State prevailed 82-69 over UALR.

The Panthers would get 21 points from Kevin Ware as he was also celebrating a birthday. The 21 points were good enough for a career high. It was another game in which Georgia State rode a late scoring run on the way to victory.

Jan. 5 vs. Texas State (77-74 2OT loss)

Losses for the Panthers at the Sports Arena have not been common as of late, but the Texas State Bobcats did just that as they defeated Georgia State by a final of 77-74 in double overtime.

Late in the first overtime, Ryann Green made a pair of clutch free throws to put Georgia State ahead 69-66, but Texas State would get a buzzer-beating three from junior forward Emani Gant to send the game to a second overtime, in which the Bobcats would prevail.

Jan. 8 vs. Louisiana-Lafay-ette

(84-80 loss)This one was circled on the schedules

of many: The much anticipated rematch from last year’s Sun Belt championship game between Louisiana-Lafayette and Georgia State. This one also resulted in a victory for the Ragin’ Cajuns as the topped the Panthers, 84-80 from the Cajundome.

The Panthers jumped out to an early 29-12 lead, but Louisiana-Lafayette got back in the game with many fouls being called against Georgia State. Hunter and Harrow combined for 52 of the Panthers’ 80 points.

Jan. 10 vs. Troy (77-72 win)

Georgia State was coming into their home matchup on Saturday against Troy already having lost two in conference play after their 17-1 conference showing last season. After losing their last two, the Pan-thers got back in the win column by beat-ing the Trojans by a final of 77-72.

The Panthers were short-handed as they competed vs. Troy without Harrow who was encountering foot issues. Hunt-er scored a season-high 37 points to lead Georgia State to their third Sun Belt win.

The winter break may have served as time away from the classroom, but the

Georgia State women’s basketball team was still active on the court. Beginning with the Georgia State-hosted Holiday & Hoops Classic, the Panthers still had a lot of work to take care of as the team has since began Sun Belt play as we get closer to the tournament in March in New Orleans.

Dec. 19 vs. Massachu-setts

(71-66 win)The Panthers’ slate of matchups

over the winter break began with a game at the Sports Arena against the UMass Minutewomen to kick off the annual Holiday and Hoops Classic. Georgia State prevailed over the Minutewomen by a final of 71-66 that increased the team’s re-cord to 5-3 on the season.

It was the first collegiate start for freshman guard Makeba Ponder, who recorded 17 points and made five of her nine three-point shots.

Kayla Nolan also ended the game with 17 points while Brittany Logan recorded a double-double with 16 points along with 11 rebounds.

Dec. 20 vs. La Salle (76-68 loss)

With Georgia State defeating UMass and the La Salle Explorers de-feating Ohio, this set up a matchup between the Panthers and Explor-ers in the championship game of the Holiday and Hoops Classic. Ul-timately, it would be La Salle who would prevail at the Sports Arena by a final score of 76-68.

A late La Salle rally had propelled their team to victory as they scored 20 of the game’s final 28 points af-ter the Panthers had a 60-56 lead. The Explorers’ freshman forward Micahya Owens led her team with 20 points. Ponder finished with 22 and Logan had 20 points plus 11 re-bounds.

After the game, both Ponder and Logan represented the Panthers on the All-Holiday and Hoops Classic Team.

Dec. 30 vs. UL-Monroe (80-72 win)

After a ten-day layoff due to the Christmas holiday, Georgia State

took the court once again two days before the new year. This time, it would be to begin Sun Belt Con-ference play as they took on the Warhawks of UL-Monroe. This one would see the Panthers prevail by a final score of 80-72.

Georgia State would see a bal-anced scoring attack as four play-ers finished with double-digit points. Ponder led all scorers with 20 points. Logan recorded another double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds. The Panthers would also see an 11 point outing from Ashley Watson with nine of her 11 coming from the free throw line. Nolan finished with 10 points.

It was also the first game back after a four-game suspension for se-nior point guard Alisha Andrews. The suspension came for a violation of team rules.

Jan. 3 vs. UALR (75-55 loss)

The next conference test for Georgia State would come in the form of a home matchup against the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans. The Panthers suffered their first conference loss of the season as UALR defeated Georgia State by a final of 75-55.

Midway through the first half, the Panthers led 19-17 before the Trojans closed the half out with a 22-7 run leading 39-26 at the half. UALR never looked back as they cruised to a 20-point victory.

Four Trojans finished with dou-ble-digit points. Only Andrews got to double-digits for points for the Panthers with 11. Logan only played 11 minutes as she found her-self in foul trouble early.

Jan. 5 vs. Texas State (74-69 win)

A couple of days later, Georgia State faced off against the Texas State Bobcats, the team that pri-or to the start of the season was picked to finish third in the Sun Belt. The Panthers would earn their second win of the Sun Belt schedule with a 74-69 win over the Bobcats.

As was the case in their pre-vious victory over the Warhawks, the Panthers rode a balanced scor-ing effort to a victory as four play-ers finished with double-digits, in-cluding Ashlee Cole who put in 12 off the bench. Nolan had 14, Lo-gan contributed 13 along with 11 rebounds and Kennesha Nichols finished with 10 points.

Jan. 8 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

(68-52 loss)Two days later after topping Tex-

as State, the Panthers then took to the road to face Louisiana-Lafayette. Geor-gia State would suffer a 68-52 defeat to the Ragin’ Cajuns in a game that for the majority of it was not close.

Instrumental in the Panthers’ de-feat to UL-Lafayette was the amount of turnovers they committed. Georgia State turned the ball over 24 times and the Ragin’ Cajuns scored 28 points off those turnovers. The Panthers did not have a player that finished with double-digit points.

Jan. 10 vs. Troy (96-87 loss)

The Panthers’ next test saw them face off at home against the Troy Tro-jans at the Sports Arena. The two teams would battle each to a high-scoring contest that would see Troy prevail by a final score of 96-87.

Georgia State and Troy traded points for much of the game, but the Trojans rode a 13-3 run to close out the game en route to the victory. Troy’s senior guard Kourtney Coleman led her team with 27 points and made six threes. Ponder’s 22 led the Panthers.

SPORTSTUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013 SPORTS18 TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015

AKIEM BAILUM Sports Editor

SUBMITTED PHOTO | GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICSSenior guard Alisha Andrews helps lead the Lady Panthers to victory in the Sun Belt Conference.

WHILEYOUWEREAWAY...

The women’s basketball team remained busy

during the winter break

23

After another tumultu-ous season on the grid-iron, Georgia State football

moves into another offseason. As a fan or student it may seem as if the season could not end fast enough.

Could 2015 bring better for-tunes for the Panthers?

One thing to keep in mind for next year is that the team is only los-ing 14 seniors. It may seem like a lot, however, many of this year’s players were freshmen and sophomores. The offense finished 27th in the FBS standings in passing with averaging 279 yards per game. Trent Miles will be returning many of his offensive standouts from this past season.

One player who will not be re-turning is junior wide receiver Av-ery Sweeting who caught 16 passes for 224 yards and one touchdown last season.

As was the case heading into the season, Georgia State still must make improvements on the defen-sive side of the ball. So many defen-sive assignments were missed and at times it appeared there was a lack of focus. To the Panthers’ credit, as the season went along the team became ‘thin’ on the defensive depth chart.

In their last game of the season against Texas State there were only

16 scholarship players on the defen-sive side of the ball. Teams that av-erage at least 23 points a game usu-ally have success, but this can be cancelled out when a team has the defensive difficulties Georgia State encountered.

After the Georgia Southern game, Trent Miles discussed in his postgame press conference how they went out to improve the of-fense more so than defensively. The offense had its struggles on certain days, but it did put a lot of points on the board, particularly with the pass.

If the coaching staff can improve the defense with recruitment and develop current players in the off-season, next year should be interest-ing. The defense ranked at 128th in FBS standing, giving up an average of 43.3 points per game. One of the biggest concerns for the team is the lack of penetration the defense had. The defense had very little pressure if any on quarterbacks this season.

There seems to be a physiological frame Georgia State has an aware-ness of. The mindset of the players should not be “here we go again.” The 2014-15 Panthers were a young team on a young program. But the key to winning all begins with the attitude and mentality of believing it can be achieved then everything else follows trend.

The Panthers were also ham-

pered by a lack of depth on both sides of the ball. The team per-formed well in the beginning of games, but the third quarter seemed to be Georgia State’s worst night-mare this season.

The in-state rivalry matchup against Southern saw the Eagles of-fense score 21 unanswered points in quarter number three. There were several games that should have been wins this season. There must be players that step up this offseason to complement the new recruits and the veterans for next season.

“First of all we have to recruit. That’s the main thing which never stops,” head coach Trent Miles said after the loss to Texas State. “We’ve got to get bigger and stronger. We’ve got a lot of young guys that we need to develop and we’ve got some guys that will be back that need to get stronger. If you look across the field and look at us, it’s not the same right now. So, we have to develop in the weight room. We have to develop leadership.”

Georgia State students, fans and alumni understand the program is still growing and improving. This was the sixth year of the program. However, some are growing restless with the team’s consistent issues on the field. This program has talent and needs to use it and begin to cre-ate results with wins. Those have to be seen on the field.

Sports column

JARED OLIVERStaff Reporter

SPORTSTUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013 2319SPORTSTUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015

GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

On Jan. 10, the first day of the UAB Invitational in Bir-mingham, Alabama, sophomore weight thrower Tracy Dorcemont set a Georgia State record when she heaved for 18.19 meters. The throw was good enough for her to finish fourth in the event for that day.

Dorcemont was born in 1995 in Miami and is currently ma-joring in pre-medical studies at Georgia State. While in high school at Roswell High, she was part of their track and field team. In 2013, she won a regional meet at the Class 6-A level with a throw of 41.4 meters.

As a freshman, she posted a shot put of 13.01 meters at the Samford Invitational in Birming-ham. That same year on the out-door track and field circuit, she had a season-best shot put of 13.03 meters at the Troy Invita-tional in Alabama.

PANTHER OF THE WEEK

Tracy DorcemontTrack & Field

Women’s TennisJunior tennis players Linn Tim-

merman and Niri Rasolomalala were ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s first rank-ings of the year. Timmerman was ranked 69th after originally be-ing unranked while Rasolomalala was ranked 102nd. Georgia State’s women’s tennis also earned itself a ranking of 58 as a team.

FootballAnother future opponent was

announced for Georgia State’s non-conference schedule when it was found that the Panthers will face the Memphis Tigers beginning in 2017. The series will be a home-and-home as Georgia State will host Memphis on Nov. 18, 2017. The Panthers will travel to Mem-phis on Sept. 15, 2018.

Track and FieldThe first track and field meet

of 2015 for the Panthers was high-lighted by huge performances in the weight throw, shot put, and 5,000 meters. Weight thrower Tracy Dorcemont set a school record with a throw of 18.19 meters. LaPorscha Wells’ 16.01 meter showing in the shot put also set a school record while Hannah Stefanoff posted a 17:35 time on her way to victory in the 5,000 meters.

THE FINAL SCORE

What’s next for football?

Women’s Basketball

Thursday, Jan. 15

UT Arlington*

Sports Arena

5 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 17

at Appalachian State*

Boone, North Carolina

1 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 19

at Arkansas State*

Jonesboro, Arkansas

6 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 24

UL Lafayette*

Sports Arena

noon

ESPN 3

Men’s Basketball

Thursday, Jan. 15

UT Arlington*

Sports Arena

7 p.m.

1340 The Fan 3

Saturday, Jan. 17

at Appalachian State*

Boone, N.C.

3:30 p.m.

1340 The Fan 3

Monday, Jan. 19

at Arkansas State*

Jonesboro, Arkansas

8:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 24

UL Lafayette*

Sports Arena

2 p.m.

1340 The Fan 3, ESPN 3

Women’s Track and Field

Friday, Jan. 16

ETSU Invitational

at Johnson City, Tennessee

1 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 17

ETSU Invitational

at Johnson City, Tennessee

All day

Men’s Tennis

Saturday, Jan. 17

Troy

Atlanta Athletic Club

5 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 18

Kennesaw State

Piedmont Park

6:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 24

Presbyterian

Atlanta Athletic Club

5 p.m.

Women’s Tennis

Saturday, Jan. 24

First Round ITA Kickoff

Gainesville, Florida

TBA

SPORTS CALENDAR *conference games

Joel Ruiz (TE)Joel finished the season with 39

receptions and 478 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Joel was an intricate part of the passing arsenal and of Nick Arbuckle’s primary op-tions. The 6’4 tight end is expected to be a redshirt senior.

Donovan Harden (WR) Harden was the leading receiv-

er this season in receiving yards finishing the season with 60 recep-tions for 885 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. This was Hard-en’s breakout year following his knee injury that required surgery.

Nick Arbuckle (QB) The leader of the offensive pass-

ing attack distributed the ball well by finishing this season with 3,283 pass-ing yards, 23 touchdowns and 17 in-terceptions. Arbuckle finished with a 60 percent passer rating.

Joseph Peterson (LB)Peterson was the leader of the de-

fense and finished the season with 97 total tackles. He was also an all-con-ference linebacker in the previous season.

Tarris Bastiste (FS)Bastiste is a hard hitting athletic

safety that finished with 56 solo tack-les. He is expected to be a returning senior.

PHOTO BY RALPH HERNANDEZ | THE SIGNALWith the building of the football program, the Panthers have shown progress in their overall performance coming off the 2014 season.

Key expected returners:

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