Sigma Phi to host 'Golf Bros and Tennis Pros' party on behalf of Best Buddies

The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at Utah State University has invited students to its “Golf Bros and Tennis Pros” dance party on Friday night from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

“Our fraternity loves to go all out for our events,” said Matt Kearl, Sigma Phi’s organizer of special events. “The idea for the theme just came to us one day. We love the movies ‘Happy Gilmore’ and ‘Caddyshack.’ We thought that it would be fun to dress in more preppy clothes for a change.”

The hosts are inviting guests to come dressed in golf pants, tennis skirts and argyle sweaters with $3 in hand for entry into their second party of the semester. Women get in free before 10 p.m. because, as Kearl said, “girls bring guys and guys bring more girls who bring more guys.”

“It’s a beautifully vicious cycle,” he said.

Kearl said the group is predicting a good showing, despite the fact that it “won’t compare” to the approximately 1,400 that attended its Jan. 20 “Dukes of Hazzard” party.

“We have DJ Neva Sleep coming,” Kearl said. “So we are hoping to have at least somewhere between 700 to 800 people. It’s not the largest turnout we’ve ever had, but it is a good amount of people.”

Jake Taylor, the fraternity’s chaplain, oversees risk management for the group’s events. He said he’s never had a party get out of hand.

"Our biggest safety issue is when people arrive drunk or high. We are a dry fraternity, so all of our parties are dry as well, and we make sure this is enforced,” Taylor said. “All of the brothers act as bouncers during the party. We are watching to make sure no one sneaks in alcohol, or is belligerent and needs to be removed. The party being dry eliminates 90 percent of the safety problems. This assists in keeping our parties pretty tame.”

Profits from the event will benefit Best Buddies International, a nonprofit organization that looks to create social, employment and leadership opportunities for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

For its October “Angels and Demons” party, the fraternity offered discounted admission prices to those who provided a can of food at entry. The cans were then donated to a local food pantry

Kearl said that this Friday’s party is the first of the 2011-2012 school year that will have all of its profits sent to a designated charity.

“I can’t wait to wear khakis,” said fraternity member Rendon Barlow, “and party like the 1 percent.”

Betsy Blanchard, Jason Borba, Taldon Bressel, Maggie Euller, Alicia Facer, Curtis Lundstrom and Amanda Taylor contributed to this report.

Male-dominated cave cultures likely a myth, researcher says

An image of a man preparing to hurl a spear at a woolly mammoth was projected to a standing-room-only crowd on Saturday in the USU Museum of Anthropology, located in Old Main.

It is this kind of image that James Adovasio has traveled the world trying to debunk.

There is explicit evidence women played a much larger role in pre-historic society than they receive credit for, Adovasio said.

The Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute founder, who has doctorates in archaeology and anthropology, said that when it comes to prehistory there is an unbalanced emphasis on big game.

“You’re not going to stand in front of an imperial mammoth with a spear and expect that it’s going to die before you do,” he said.

Adovasio said much of what his research team has found in its investigations of prehistoric cultures has been plant material and remains from small game – evidence which points to a lifestyle, “that didn’t pivot around mature age males killing elephants.”
Instead of spear hunting, Adovasio said he found nets which were used for “terrestrial net-hunting” approximately 8,000 years ago.

“It sure as hell isn’t exciting,” Adovasio said. “Here’s a net full of critters, you club them, you collect them. Nothing like standing in front of an elephant.”
The role of women was much more intricate than once thought, Adovasio said. Reevaluation of previous archaeological dig sites yielded data that changed thoughts that these Paleolithic cultures were once predominately male-oriented.

The cultures’ labor was equally distributed between men and women, Adovasio said.

“Divorcing those in the preset with views which are, in effect, 100 years old is a very, very difficult thing to do,” Adovasio said, “even with contradictory information.”
The choice to bring Adovasio to speak was easy, said Elizabeth Sutton, a doctorial candidate at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the USU Museum of Anthropology curator.
“Not many archaeologists try to focus equal on the roles of women – a lot of it is focused on men, so we thought it would be interesting to offer a different perspective,” Sutton said.
Sutton said she was pleased with the turnout.

“It was great that we could get lots of people to show up who are interested in learning more about archeology and anthropology,” she said.

“(The lecture) will definitely help me think about women in the prehistoric record... rather than just stone artifacts,” said Megan Bloxham, a graduate student studying anthropology.

Sutton said that while much of what Adovasio spoke about in his lecture is becoming more accepted in academic circles, it had not yet started to “trickle down” to university classrooms.

“I would like to see this become more common in anthropology curriculum,” Sutton said.

David Thomas, Brie Geller, Mackinzie Hamilton, Marissa Shields, Ashley Howell and Danielle Manley contributed to this report.

Regional campuses could be left out of representation after election

A potential change on this year’s ballot could place regional campus students under their own representation in ASUSU.

Utah State Regional Campus and Distance Education students will be able to vote for all constitutional changes and positions in ASUSU this year. However, if changes to the constitution are made, RCDE students may have less of a reason to care about this election. With a change in campaigning rules, they will also have less of an opportunity for an informed vote.

Utah State University includes six regional campuses throughout Utah, making it possible for students that are unable to attend Logan’s main campus to get a degree from Utah State
University.

“This year, any RCDE student can vote for any executive council position as well as any senator in the college where their major is housed,” said Kirsten Frank, executive council vice president.

But if the changes are passed, on the day after elections, the RCDE students will no longer be represented by the ASUSU Logan campus officials, who they just helped vote into office.

“RCDE students would vote for RCDE representatives and not for main campus representatives,” said Jordan Hunt, executive council administrative assistant.

“So for this upcoming election, regional campus students can vote for ASUSU candidates but they will not represent regional students at all as of March 2 this year,” said Justin Watkins, RCDE vice president.

Candidates also have been instructed not to actively campaign on RCDE campuses. This has caused some controversy. Candidates feel unable to get their name out there and openly discuss their platforms.

“Here are 15,000 people who are voting and I have no way to reach them other than social media and friends,” said Hannah Blackburn, presidential candidate.

Some RCDE students have expressed concern over their own vote.

“I don’t know anything about their platforms,” said Brianna Whitley, a USU Brigham City regional campus student. “To vote for them would be like guessing on a test.”

Matt Skabelund, Katie Carter, Parker Jeppesen, Julia Stock, Jessica Jolley, Adison Pace, Victoria Hepworth and Joe Bagnes contributed to this report.

Aggie gymnasts falter on bars, take third in meet

The Utah State University gymnastics team came in third on Saturday at a tri-meet against Brigham Young University and Southern Utah University – finishing with a score of 193.625 out of 200.

The Aggies scored 48.275, 48.025, 48.750 and 48.750, respectively, in bars, beam, floor and vault.

“The event we are favored on is bars,” Coach Jeffrey Richards said. “We are ranked fourteenth in the nation.”

But Richards said that bars were rough for the team at this meet, with missed handstands and a fall by their best gymnast, Sarah Landes.

“We started off a little rocky at the beginning, but ended up pulling it back and doing really good on our last couple events,” said gymnast Susie Miller. “It wasn't our best meet but we stayed together really well as a team.”

“We are a very talented team and we just have to believe that and put all our hard work into play on all four events,” Miller said. “We all really care about each other and believe in each other so much… these girls are amazing.”

Richards said his gymnasts need to dig deep and fight for everything at meets.

USU will host the Western Athletic Conference championships this year on March 24.

Abbie Lewis, Adam Barkley, Amanda Morgan, Amy Nelson, Danielle Hayes and Katelyn Swain contributed to this report.

Zombie attack imminent at Utah State

The halfway point of a semester at Utah State University means that a zombie invasion is imminent.

Presented by the USU Residence Hall Association, Humans vs. Zombies, or HvZ, will be returning to campus the week of March 19. More than 150 players have registered as of Feb. 27.

According to Brice Colby, RHA events coordinator and harbinger of the HvZ Council of War, this semester’s game will feature rule changes in order to improve safety.

“As far as new improvements, we’ve added restrictions to the NERF guns,” Colby said. “What that means is no obscenely large weapons are going to be allowed during the day. They will have to be able to fit into a backpack.”

Colby said the HvZ council will make a list of what NERF blasters are permissible during the day. In addition to blasters, rolled up socks can also be used as weapons. After 4 p.m. players will be allowed to use larger blasters in gladiator matches and night missions.

According to the official USU game rules found on hvzsource.com, all blasters must have bright colors on 50 percent of both sides of the gun as well as an orange-colored tip. Blasters may not be modified to inflict pain but they can be modified to increase range.

“To make sure that people are compliant with the rules, we are going to have moderators and administrators out there during the day administering randomized blaster checks,” Colby said. “We will check to make sure that they are following the rules in terms of paint jobs and modifications.”

HvZ moderators will be strategically placed throughout campus to referee the game.

Council member and moderator Jeremy Baker said that one of the biggest reasons that the blaster restrictions went into effect was because large blasters can be a distraction in classes.

In addition to blaster restrictions Colby said this semester’s game will focus on improving the quality of moderators rather than increasing their numbers.

“Last game we had over 50 moderators helping out, but I couldn’t tell you who was who,” Colby said. “We are focusing more on training our moderators and teaching them how to deal with situations and what to look for.”

The council has instituted a zero-tolerance policy toward violations of the rules.

If a player is found using profanity, getting into physical confrontations or violating other rules, moderators are to mediate the situation. If the violation is serious enough, moderators can confiscate the player’s identification bandana and refer that player to HvZ headquarters in Bullen Hall. There, the game’s administrators will decide whether or not the player will be removed from the game.

“It’s not like they are outright banned from the game,” Baker said. “It’s more of a process where we make sure and talk to the person just to see if they realize that they are doing something against the rules.”

The USU Police will also be monitoring the players during HvZ week.

“They are really hesitant about the whole NERF factor because of the potential for active shooters on campus,” Colby said. “We’ve been working with the police to figure out how we can make the game safer but also maintain the integrity of the game so that we aren’t losing our NERF and having to use only sock balls.”

During last semester’s game a student group was openly carrying firearms on campus as part of a separate school-sanctioned event. The police notified the HvZ council of this and a campus-wide safe zone was established where players had to conceal their blasters.

“We will be targeting that awareness factor with advertising for the game and letting people know what’s going on,” Colby said. “We are really trying to get the word out as much as possible so that people aren’t caught unaware.”

Safety issues aside, Baker thinks the game is beneficial to the university.

“The reason why we have kept it going is because there have been a few people who’ve said that they’ve come to Utah State just for Humans vs. Zombies,” he said. “They’ve talked about other colleges that they’ve wanted to go to but the biggest pro that they saw about Utah State was Humans vs. Zombies. I think that the future of the game here is sound.”

Rebecca Eisenhower, Eric Jungblut, Trevor Anderson, Ryan Neeley, Marisa Nielsen, Trey Williams, Nicole Murray, Bailey Nielsen contributed to this report.