The fire, which took over 90 minutes to contain, was reported a total loss

A fire tore through the Tiger Athletic Club (TAC) house located close to campus at 4:15am on Wednesday, Jan 25, 2011. Benjamin T. Rogers ’12 suffered some minor burns and Kirk Rohle ’12 continues to be treated for second and third-degree burns after being airlifted to the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) in Richmond.

The 911 call was received at 4:12am, at which point Campus Security Officer Noel Malave arrived at the in a matter of three minutes. According to Chief Gee, Director of Campus Security and Police, “the officer responded by vehicle, and upon his arrival, the structure was fully involved with fire.”  Immediately, unit R-12 called for a helicopter while an ambulance arrived on the scene by 04:25am.

The TAC house, also known as the Benedict house, housed nine Hampden-Sydney students and was formally a private residence acquired by the school like most other homes close to campus.  Mr. Thomas Shomo, Director of Marketing and Communications, reported, “the house was up to code with fire safety measures: there were smoke detectors in every bedroom, and all furniture was fire resistant, like all dorms on campus.”

Preliminary evidence suggested that, the one place where there wasn’t a smoke detector, the porch, is where the fire is suspected to have started. Shomo comments that ongoing investigations have pointed to “a cigarette butt smoldering on the sofa located on the porch” to be the source of the incident which took place when eight of the nine residents were asleep.

According to Shomo, the students attempted to put out the cigarette butt, which slipped into the sofa around 1:00am, and proceeded to bed.

Matt Maloney, one of the residents of the TAC and a senior from Atlanta, GA described the incident as it unfolded to reporters from the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “I could see the fire, [so] I ran upstairs shouting — trying to get everyone up.”

As soon as the students rushed outside, it didn’t take them long to realize their 6’1’’, 265 lbs housemate, Rogers, a senior, All-American offensive lineman on the H-SC football team was not with them. “We knew right away that Ben wasn’t there,” confirmed Maloney.

The brave students, including running back Kirk Rohle, defensive lineman Josh Phipps, and quarterback Travis Lane returned to the house to get their friend. Rogers, Phipps, and Lane managed to exit the burning building again; however, Rohle, who had also reentered the burning house to save his friend, was nowhere to be found.

Maloney said he then heard his friend’s voice: “Kirk was just outside a first-floor window, yelling, ‘Help me!’ ”

“It is believed [Rohle] exited the building though a ground floor window,” speculates Chief Gee. As soon as the EMT team arrived, he was air Medevaced to Richmond where he is currently receiving treatment. Sources say that Rohle had to be placed in medically induced coma for better treatment options.

“Kirk has gone through several hardships on campus—none worse than this; however, I know he will return with a smile on his face. He would be the one to run back into a burning building in concern for another studet’s life,” said C.W Hammond, a fellow Biology student and classmate of Kirk.

Krik’s father Ken Rohle commented to reporters that, “His worst burns are on his toes and fingers. We think he was trying to stay low, under the smoke, sort of crab-walking, and burned himself touching the floor.” He also added that his son is most likely to be in the hospital for as long as three months. Families of both students, who are from Mechanicsville, VA, expressed gratitude for the amount of support they have been receiving from coaches, teammates, students, administrators, and President Howard, who just recently promised to cover all textbook expenses for all the residents of the TAC house. The students were moved to the former Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house. Rev. Keck, Pastor of College Presbyterian Church, has also been leading a relief effort to raise funds and collect basic necessities for these students who have lost absolutely everything.

The fire took 90 minutes to contain and has been reported a “total loss” by Hampden-Sydney Fire Safety Supervisor, Chuck Ironmonger. Incidentally, the event comes in the aftermath of a series of unpopular fire-safety policies that have been introduced by the Fire Safety Department in the 2011/2012 school year, which have prompted a strong student opposition. When asked whether or not the school will be seeing tighter fire regulations in the coming months, Ironmonger commented, “The administration will review the event, of course, to see if there is anything we can do better, but there is no way I can give you an accurate answer at this time, and I will not speculate.”

Though the College has experienced periodic fire incidents in its history, including the fire that burnt the front portion of the former library at Winston Hall in 1941 and the Mcilwaine Hall fire of 1957, this was the first time in 235 years that an occupied residence hall was fully on fire.

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Remembering that Hampden-Sydney is the home to over 1,000 male students, one must understand that while the College has numerous clubs, intramural teams, and organizations, most of them can be distinguished into two major groups: athletic and non-athletic.  For many years, Hampden-Sydney has especially been successful in various sports.  Producing not only quality performances on the field each year, H-SC athletes are very much involved and prevail in the classroom as well. All of our athletes are catechized, just like the rest of the students, to be good men and good citizens at all times. Unfortunately, no one is perfect, and everyone has their flaws; moreover, when there is a failure to abide by certain standards, consequences will follow.

Beyond the popular notions as to why people consider Hampden-Sydney unique, lies a reason concerning the level of discipline at the college.  Assistant Athletic Director and Head Athletic Trainer Andy McPherson comments:

“In 2007-2008 H-SC participated in a NCAA Drug Testing Pilot Testing. The NCAA tested 40 student-athletes. They found 9 positive tests. The student-athletes were not punished, and they did not inform the college who tested positive.”  In response to the students who failed the drug tests, Mr. McPherson stated, “because of the results of the NCAA pilot, H-SC made the decision to do institutional drug testing on the student-athletes.” The notion to instill a school drug testing policy was made based on a legitimate incident, but is the drug testing process exercised fairly and thoroughly?

Concerning how the drug tests are operated, senior lacrosse player Jack Gibson stated, “the Athletic Department randomly selects a certain number of athletes from each team. Since the selection is random some people get tested multiple times, and some people never get tested.  When you are selected to be tested, the athletic trainer informs you a day or two in advance.  If you fail to show up to the test, it is counted as an automatic fail.”

While many athletes may be opposed to the additional school drug test, the participation and outcomes of the drug test is what helps display some of Hampden Sydney’s singular qualities like cooperation and discipline. These tests are relevant and signify how the College deals with a problem and creates a solution. Division III college athletics are extremely demanding and should not be seen as any less difficult or important than Division 1. Showing up for a drug test should be just a much of a priority as showing up for practice or a game.

As Hampden-Sydney continues to hold these drug tests each year, the right will prevail and the wrong will be disciplined. The question remains that aside from having to wake up at the crack of dawn, do these drug tests really place any unnecessary pressures, inconveniences or reflect a lack of trust, on the administrations side, for the students?

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As unfortunate as the incident was, it brought a few things to light concerning the process in which the school handles emergencies and the procedure and interworking of the ENS. According to Dr. Dale Jones, Vice President for Strategy, Administration, and Board Affairs, the school handles incidents such as these in three steps: the first concern is to promptly respond to, the second is to inform the community, and lastly communicate with off-campus constituents. The first step involves police officers, the fire department, and emergency medical responders, or “first responders.” Once they have taken control of the situation, the administration alerts the community using the ENS. After these steps have been taken then parties such as parents are informed via email.

During the latest shooting incident, many members of the community were left wondering: “why did it take so long?” In response to this Dr. Jones comments that the administration also “asked [themselves] why?” This led them to make improvements to the ENS system and form the Incident Management Team. The INS, according to the H-SC website “provide[s] a coordinated approach to preparing for, responding to, and managing an emergency incident at Hampden-Sydney College.” One of the issues that the school ran into that prolonged the time it took to activate the system, according to Tommy Shomo, Director of Communications, was the number of people that had the clearance to do so. In response to that problem, Dr. Jones said that, “we had six individuals before, and now we have fifteen.” This is because, unlike before, police officers are now able to activate the system and send out a message if necessary.

Another problem administration ran into in the aftermath of the incident was the reaction from parents regarding their late notification about the shooting on campus. According to Mr. Shomo, the incident happened in the early hours of Dec 4, 2011, but an official statement was not sent to parents until the afternoon of Dec 5. Parents’ reaction to this was very negative, and they wish that they too be informed at the time of the activation of the ENS. Mr. Shomo says the problem with that is it would slow the system down. Another factor is that a parent’s natural response would be to call their sons, and that may slow down the phones on campus which at that time should be open in order to send out other notifications if necessary. The administration agrees that it is the school’s responsibility to alert the campus first, then those off campus.

Lastly, one of the biggest issues the administration faces with alerting the community about emergencies on campus is that not enough students have registered their cell phones in the ENS. According to Dr. Jones we have an “Opt in” system, in which student voluntarily submit their cell numbers. Because cell phone numbers are the students’ property the school can’t require the numbers to be registered. According to Dr. Jones the amount of people that register rises in spurts over time: after the incident, some after an email sent, etc.  Mr. Shomo said that on Dec 3, the day before the shooting, there were 176 students that had registered their numbers in the ENS. Now there is about 450 students registered. Mr. Shomo also said that the administration ultimate goal is to have at least eighty percent of the student body registered for the ENS via their cell phones. Students can register their numbers via the emergency links on the HSC website using their student ID and pin.

The school is continuing to look into other areas to strengthen the ability to respond to events like the shooting. Dr. Jones said that some of the options the school is reviewing are using carillon speakers to audibly alert the community, possibly installing alert beacons within classrooms, installing more emergency telephones around campus, the utilization of social media, and he formalization of an agreement between the school and the Farmville Police and Fire Departments in case assistance is needed. Via the changes already made and the changes that continue to be made the ENS and H-SC’s ability to respond to an emergency situation are constantly growing.

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Stepping in to fill Pohl’s shoes is current director Mr. Grant Morrison.  Mr. Morrison took over around December 19^th, or, to put it in perspective, 3 days before we left for winter break.  Since Mr. Morrison took over, even though he has not had much time at work, he has already put forth many ideas for improving the dining hall as well as making the Tiger Inn a more attractive place for people to go. Examples of such ideas are decorating the dining hall with student paintings or similar decorations to spice up the blandness.  The only thing stopping the dining hall from putting up paintings or other decorations is the complicated process to get approval, which means having to go through three or four people before it is allowed.

With regards to increasing the appeal of going to the TI instead of other dining options, Mr. Morrison has suggested hosting video game, dart, billiards, and other types of tournaments.  Mr. Morrison also asked to list his email address (Morrison-Grant@aramark.com) so that students who have a good idea for a nightly tournament, such as a FIFA or Tiger Woods Golf tournament, can email him their ideas and possibly create a fun social activity for the entire school.  “I want students to want to come to the TI and dining hall not because they have to, but because they want to,” he said.

Some breaking news that most students are aware of is H-SC’s switch of food providers from Aramark to Thompson Hospitality.  With this in mind, it certainly changes current plans that Mr. Morrison has for the dining services in general; nonetheless, the entire staff is still working together to achieve goals they have already set.  Morrison made aware that they have recently re-organized the management staff to ensure a more efficient system that includes each of the managers dealing with just one specific area in an effort to decrease overlap and confusion.

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Many supporters of the SOPA and PIPA legislation argued that both bills were actually in defense of to free speech and free exchange. Cary Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Recording Industry Association of America wrote in the New York Times “[that the anti-online piracy legislation] is specifically designed to focus on the worst of the worst sites whose model is predicated on theft.” Coincidentally, the histories of content industries do not support Williams. Over the last twenty years or so, content industries have made broad, assertive claims of what constitutes their intellectual property.

Indeed, both bills illustrate an example of the increasing collusion between government and business. Companies such as Time Warner Cable, a staunch supporter of SOPA and PIPA, lobby Congress for legislation that would have made it difficult for low-priced or free websites to compete. This drives companies with new technology and lower prices out of the market. For example, Qwiki.com, an online encyclopedia which uses audio and video multimedia content—a great deal of which are taken from Time Warner affiliated sites—to display Wikipedia pages would have been shut down. Furthermore, other websites such as those which allow users to search for a broad range of content such as Google, Yahoo, and AOL could have plausibly been fined or challenged by SOPA and PIPA. Search engines neither censor nor scan for pirated content and can lead users to websites where they can download copyrighted material—a violation of SOPA and PIPA.

The broad language included in SOPA and PIPA may have effectively ended public domain. This is a confrontation to the original purpose of the internet. The internet is a perfect spontaneous market. Free speech thrives. Good, services, and information exchanges between individuals. Entry and transaction costs are low. Innovation is not centrally planned, but is driven by entrepreneurs. Individuals employ their knowledge and capital productively without an understanding the entire system. People make decisions on which websites to use based on their desires.

Accordingly, when the influence of corporate lobbyists enters the political process, policy can raise entry costs for competition. Companies try to maximize profit, but it is protectionist and crony policies that can lead to decreases in innovation, ideas, and free speech. At any rate, perhaps something good did come from the brief scare caused by both SOPA and PIPA that was felt by college students, professionals, businesses, and other individuals alike. When both bills were taken up as national issues civil protest unfurled. Numerous websites, in order to display what may happen if SOPA and PIPA were passed, initiated a blackout of their respective sites for a number of days. Numerous online petitions were created and signed by hundreds of thousands of people. Here, the power of ideas, innovation and individuals were released. Perhaps this is a progressive sign that we are finally tired of the government cronyism.

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Last fall, the Habitat Golf Event raised over $2,500 to enable them to “continue building homes and building hope.”  Included among the 32 golfers were two H-SC teams: the Circle K team of Tim Shen, Patrick Lynch, Scott Cutler, and Steven Ellmann; and the Phi Gamma Delta team of Conner Rund, Andrew Near, Eric Rutherford, and Samson Canovos. Faculty golfers included Drs. Curt and Susan Smith, along with Dr. Jerry Bryce. After a round of golf at the Manor, there was a lunch with silent auction to raise additional funds. The Inter-Fraternity Council provided financial support for the event, as did the Habitat Club and H-SC’s ARAMARK donated snacks and drinks.

The Habitat Club, meanwhile, has been reorganized and is actively looking to help with construction and deconstruction projects, as well as fund-raising events.  So far the club has held cookie sale fundraisers and has done deconstruction work to support the Habitat Women’s Build that is currently taking place. In early February the Habitat Club is also participating in Habifest, a music festival held by Farmville Area Habitat to raise money. Next weekend, the club will be inviting students to come help with the current house-building project in Farmville. There are lots of ways to become involved!

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Last week the Wall Street Journal pointed out, “Ron Paul didn’t win Iowa. He didn’t win New Hampshire. He won’t win here [South Carolina] on Saturday, and he won’t win Florida. The Texas congressman will not likely be the first choice for Republican nominee in a single U.S. state.” This journalist seems so perplexed with Paul’s campaign strategies that she asks “What does Mr. Paul want?” (WSJ, Strassel, Jan 20). Despite his enormous popularity, Ron Paul doesn’t have the kind of traction that the front-running candidates have. There are large philosophical differences between Libertarians and Conservatives. And though they agree on some things, the polls show that the GOP is not changing. I tend to take a libertarian stance on most political issues, and even though I like him, I don’t really pay much attention to Ron Paul. After all, his ill-fitting suits and rants on the FED are off putting to a lot of voters, and I don’t think he has much of a chance at winning the nomination. However, after spending Winter Break in Peru and Chile, I learned that we shouldn’t analyze Ron Paul’s success as in a purely political context

In South America whenever I met someone new, after asking where I was from, the next question was always ‘do you like Ron Paul?’ The question came almost systematically. I always replied, “Sure, he’s cool, but he won’t win.” My acquaintances seemed to be disappointed with my lack of enthusiasm.  In many conversations, my college aged friends quoted things from Ron Paul’s newsletters, and during breaks from a class I took in Chile, my fellow students asked me if I had seen what Ron Paul ‘tweeted’ during the class. I don’t even follow Ron Paul on Twitter.

I was shocked to see so much enthusiasm for U.S. Presidential Candidate from students on a different continent, not even eligible to vote in the U.S. election. The illegal drug trade, and the violence stemming from it, is such an important political issue in Latin America, that I figured Ron Paul’s ‘pro-legalization’ stance was the root of his popularity, but that’s really only part of it.  A libertarian candidate as popular and as seriously acknowledged by the general public as Ron Paul is not something that public opinion would allow in stereotypically left-leaning Latin America. They highly respect the support he has.

Despite my first reactions, I realized this respect is not unfounded. We tend to judge Ron Paul’s success like the Wall Street Journal did last week: via his performance in the election. His chances in the election don’t look so good, but he is succeeding in another realm. After he came in fourth place in the South Carolina primary he remarked, “The message of liberty is being received by more people every day,” and in this realm Paul is succeeding.

You don’t have to win elections to promote social change. In fact, President Wilson’s Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan was the Democrat party’s candidate for President in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections. He lost every time- even after 500 speeches. However, he managed to change the Democratic Party’s platform to the big-government-oriented, progressive-leaning character that we know today. Bryan, the person, failed, but his ideas succeeded. Winning elections is only one metric of success.

Ron Paul is succeeding in spreading ideas about liberty. Other campaigns have accepted his positions on monetary policy, students in other countries know his name, he is the second most popular presidential candidate on Facebook, and there are over 500 University-based Ron Paul groups. Paul might lose the GOP nomination, but one can’t deny his huge social influence- in fact, his ideas seem to be winning. Even if he loses the GOP nomination, Ron Paul is leading a movement to renew an American political ideology based on individual, civil, and Economic liberty.  Just like William Jennings Bryan, Ron Paul can lose and still succeed. We shouldn’t let his lackluster political performance lead us to underestimate his power as a social influence.

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Even if politicians were the most altruistic people in the world they would still face large problems in determining what their constituents wanted. This difficulty arises because voting cannot account for people’s intensity of preference for a policy. For example, in a market, if I wish to buy something, I can use my money to express how much I desire something, and I can use varying amounts of money to express how highly I want the item. However, with voting I simply get one vote. This is my only mechanism for expressing how much I desire a policy and it’s the same as everyone else’s, and the end of the day all of the votes are added together and whoever has the most gets what they want. Lost in this aggregation of votes are the different and varied preferences that people may have on an issue. Thus the feedback politicians receive from voting do not account for the actual demands of the voters, which will lead to poor policy choices.

However, even though every voter’s intensity of preference is restricted by his or her one vote, people and organizations find other ways of expressing themselves politically. Old folks attend party meetings, yuppies donate to politicians, and many young people, such as the occupiers, take to the streets. More importantly, corporations and activist groups also influence politics in a variety of ways from donations to starting Political Action Committees (PACs). Corporations can stand to gain millions based on the decisions of politicians. This means corporations have a strong incentive to be very involved in politics and support those politicians, who will write the laws they want and give them the subsidies they desire. The average voter does not have this incentive since he/she is rarely stands to gain millions of dollars by a single political decision. Inevitably, the politicians become corrupt and less receptive to the wants of their constituents.

Even if politicians could overcome the perils of corporate influence and do what is in the best interest of the country, another obstacle emerges: deciding what is in the national interest is actually a very difficult task which is actually made more difficult by voting. Voting is often cited as the institution best equipped to understand what the populace wants. Politicians evoke this message incessantly, such as current Speaker of the House John Boehner who declared the 2010 midterms as a mandate from the people. However, it is misleading to say that the people have mandated something, even if the majority appeared to vote one way as opposed to the other. This is because individuals can rank their preferences in a transitive manner. For example, I can prefer to eat steak to chicken, chicken to soup, and steak to soup. On the contrary, a “majority” can prefer steak to chicken, chicken to soup, and soup to steak simultaneously. This means that the voting system actually complicates the preferences of the majority by reducing their consumption to just one politician or policy.

Of course, many people will claim that they will still vote, because it makes them feel good. It certainly can feel nice to wear the “I voted” sticker and stroll proudly out of the voting booth. Nevertheless, if someone is legitimately concerned about the well-being of other people, he would know that voting should not make him feel good since all he has actually done is contributed to a systemically flawed institution that will continue to make poor choices.

The arguments against voting should not be seen as a defense for being apathetic and ignorant about the world. Instead, one should seek other ways to improve society that aren’t political, such as becoming educated, pursuing philanthropic ventures, or simply helping friends in need. There are literally hundreds of other ways to advance society that don’t involve a voting booth, and it’s quite possible that the voting booth works against that goal in the first place.

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Our predecessors here at the Tiger wrote with several goals in mind. They intended to bring accurate details concerning athletic events, particularly where the first-hand-accounts of victorious athletes proved too modest. The Tiger was also a means for the student body to voice concerns or criticisms involving the goings-on in their daily on-campus lives. It was also meant as an announcement board for faculty members intending to announce contests, prizes, and exam schedules. It was an important means by which trustees could keep a finger on the pulse of campus life when making decisions, and a way for alumni to arouse feelings of nostalgia remembering their own years here on the hill.

Times have changed, and the Internet has made information easy to access. Even if there is not a desktop or laptop nearby, the proliferation of smartphones and sophisticated software make it a near certainty that there is an app designed to indulge every curiosity. The Tiger finds its relevance in the intent by which it was published. This paper is meant to be the voice of the student body, where you can voice your criticism or satisfaction with campus policies and events. While Facebook is a great place to keep up with friends, The Tiger is the best source of information to keep up with the time-tested institution that strives to make “Good men and good citizens.”

To quote a writer from very first issue, “we are going to do everything in our power to make this a paper that will interest you.” Give us some feedback. Technological innovation means that the campus is no longer only “twenty minutes ride from Farmville by the Norfolk and Western railroad line.” It does not make The Tiger any less your own.

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Drake-Take Care

Rating: B+ (4.5)

In his second album Drake proves that he deserves to be among the best rap artists making music today. Take Care is solid work from start to finish. The album opens with “Over My Dead Body,” a mellow tune that has Drake quasi-singing over a soft piano melody about how despite the money, he hopes not to change. Resisting the temptations of money is the main theme of the entire album, along with his reactions to an ever-changing environment and his hope to remain true to who he is. The theme continues with the second track on the album, “Take a Shot for Me,” a mournful tune lamenting the loss of his past girl. The next track “Headlines” is one of the best songs on the album and really shows what Drake can be at his peak. He raps fast and well and throws in his signature Drake style all over an up-tempo beat. The album slows down a bit here with soft songs like “Take Care” (featuring Rihanna) and “Marvin’s Room,” two of the best songs from the album and songs that show Drake’s versatility. Further flexing his musical muscles, Drake returns to his days of “Over” and “Forever” with “HYFR,” a collaboration with fellow Young Money rapper Lil’ Wayne. The album falls short however on the tracks that Drake tries too hard on. He seems determined to prove that a rapper can be tender and soft yet still have credibility. He does this well on a few tracks (namely, “Marvin’s Room” and “Headlines”), but he does not capture the magic from those two tracks over the course of the entire album.

Coldplay- Mylo Xyloto

Rating: B (4)

The fifth studio album from arguably the biggest band on the planet right now does not disappoint. Despite taking a different direction from their grandiose album Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends, this album is still very good. The band stated that Mylo Xyloto is a concept album focusing on a love story with a happy ending. The band originally set out to release an acoustic and stripped down album, but through the course of recording it came out with a more electronic feel. Despite the “concept” label, the album still has slow piano filled jams that echo “The Scientist” and “Fix You” that Coldplay fans have come to know and love; Most notably is “Hurts Like Heaven.” But where this album really shines is in the more fast-paced songs such as “Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall,” and, in my opinion, the best song on the album “Paradise.” Both songs are filled with lead singer Chris Martin’s soaring vocals. Coldplay also spreads their wings into more of a pop theme with the song “Princess of China” which features vocals from megastar Rihanna. The song doesn’t live up to the rest of the album but there is potential for more of the same nature. All in all, Coldplay still has a lot left in them and Mylo Xyloto serves as a holdover while hardcore Coldplay fans wait for the next Viva La Vida or A Rush Of Blood to The Head.

The Black Keys- El Camino

Rating: A (5)

The Black Keys bring a garage band/blues style to modern rock, and they do it well. This album is the duo’s seventh and, perhaps, their best. The band moves away from their traditional blues style and delves into a broader range of rock and roll styles. Despite the album only clocking in at 37:42, it is great from start to finish. Most of the songs on the album were recorded in one to two takes, which gives it a raw edge that really pushes it over the top. El Camino kicks off with the high-energy jam “Lonely Boy” with a heavy guitar riff and haphazard, yet perfectly timed, drums. The energy keeps coming with “Dead and Gone” and the also brilliant is “Gold on the Ceiling,” which is one of the more blues-rooted songs on the album. Think of the White Stripes… except better. The hits keep on coming with the two more excellent tracks: “Little Black Submarines” and “Sister.” If you ever want to get a party going or need some good beats to frat jam to, this is your album. I cannot say enough good things about this album. I highly recommend it.

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