The Academic Senate Instruction Committee is drafting a proposal to notate cases of cheating and academic dishonesty on transcripts.

The committee, which has met three times so far this quarter to discuss the issue, is seeking to include on transcripts the specific class and quarter in which cheating incidents occur. Currently, there is no way to distinguish an “F” for academic dishonesty from an “F” for failure to grasp the material.

The existing policy allows for the notation of academic dishonesty on a transcript only if a student cheats multiple times, and the notation does not clarify the specific class and quarter and can be removed from a transcript upon an administrator’s discretion.

David Conn, member of the committee and associate vice president for inclusive excellence and director of Ombuds Services, is currently drafting the policy. The committee hopes to finalize the proposal by the end of Spring Quarter 2010.

Upon completion, the framework will be forwarded to the Academic Senate for approval. If adopted, the new legislation will be included in the Student Rights and Responsibilities section of the Campus Administration Policies (CAP), which is currently undergoing major reform.

The committee, which met with students and faculty to discuss academic dishonesty, is additionally looking to inform students on matters of cheating and plagiarism. Committee chair, Kevin Lertwachara, said the committee discussed creating a public record of campus cheating statistics. Lertwachara also mentioned the committee is working with the library on programs that increase student understanding of plagiarism.

While academic dishonesty reform is part of the CAP overhaul, it also occurs in conjunction with a national trend of curbing cheating on university campuses. According to Student Rights and Responsibilities Coordinator, Adrienne Miller, many universities are adopting sections of the “Model Code of Academic Integrity” produced by the University of Maryland. Likewise, some universities are shifting to an “FX” grade (“F” for fail and “X” as indication of cheating). The CSU, however, prohibits “FX.”

Miller, who also met with the Instruction Committee, acknowledged the significance of notating cheating on transcripts.

“There is no way for prospective employers and graduate schools to tell who failed for academic dishonesty and who failed for failure to master the knowledge,” she said.

Some students, however, do not necessarily echo that sentiment. Tarek Halteh, an economics sophomore, is concerned that minor cheating offenses will now haunt students over the course of their academic and professional careers.

“I don’t feel it is necessary for a student to carry that stigma on and on,” Halteh said. “If someone cheats, he receives an ‘F,’ and that is consequence enough.”

While the Academic Senate moves forward in addressing cheating, it remains uncertain whether the number of academic dishonesty cases are increasing. Miller, who receives all reports of academic dishonesty, said the number of reported cases has been increasing. But that is not necessarily an indicator of more cheating on campus, due to the fact that not all cases are reported by faculty.

Sensing the delicacy of the issue, Lertwachara clarified that the Instruction Committee “doesn’t want to rush through (the process).” “Each case is unique,” he added. He “would prefer a policy that would allow each case (to be examined) on an individual basis.”

Though the committee is focused on notation of academic dishonesty, Lertwachara stressed the new policy will not remove the decision making from “the two most knowledgeable people: the faculty member involved and the Student Rights and Responsibilities (coordinator).”

As John White is set to begin his dream of attending UC Berkeley, he must grapple with a nightmare that left him and his family homeless.

White and his family’s 9th Street apartment was severely damaged, and most of their belongings were destroyed in a fire that began below their home at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society. He begins class June 21 in pursuit of a Ph.D. in psychology.

“What the fire didn’t get, the smoke got and what the smoke didn’t get, the water from the firemen’s hoses got,” he said.

Officials from Berkeley Fire Department have said the fire was most likely caused accidentally by a dryer in the animal shelter and then spread up into the apartment, but the actual cause of the fire has not been determined.

White’s wife JoHanna was asleep while her husband and their four-year-old daughter were staying in Vacaville with friends. Baby, the family’s dog, became known as a hero because she alerted JoHanna of the fire by barking and jumping on her bed.

“At first, I just thought the dog had to go to the bathroom,” she said. “I was minutes away from dying.”

As her husband is a full-time father and student, JoHanna said she is the sole source of income for the family, working in the admissions office at Cal State East Bay. She said she is still in shock after the experience.

“I don’t know what my family would do without me,” she said. “I’m the bread-winner and it’s rough to think about that.”

She was able to grab a few possessions – such as their pet snakes, family portraits and invitations to John’s community college graduation on May 26 – while she ran out of the apartment. What was left was barely salvageable.

“Some stuff is just ashes,” she said. “In the back room where the fire started, you can’t even tell that anything was there. It’s like a fiery hand reached up and took a whole chunk of the building.”

The shelter, too, has been trying to get back on its feet after the fire and to assess its own losses – 12 cats died of smoke inhalation, and the shelter has about $500,000 worth of damages to mend.

Though members of the shelter’s board of directors said they are still tallying the amount of money they have received so far from donations, Stacey Street, executive director of the shelter, said they have more than $100,000.

“We are currently trying to figure out what our insurance will and will not cover … and we certainly feel responsible for our tenants,” she said. “This is a terrible tragedy for all of us.”

So far, the family has only been able to raise about $3,000 through the promotion of their website, but they have received furniture and other donations from friends and family.

The couple said they are still waiting to receive more money once they work out insurance negotiations with the humane society – their landlord.

Street said the shelter is still trying to determine what it can provide to the Whites while it works through its own issues. She said it has offered the family clothes, places to stay and evaluations for their pets, and it has been encouraging others to support the family.

“Everything has taken a lot longer than we thought, but it’s hard having the board of directors of a nonprofit for a landlord,” JoHanna said.

The family had moved into their two-bedroom apartment just five weeks before the fire left them without a home.

“The apartment was perfect,” she said. “It was in the right neighborhood, within our price range, it was everything we could have possibly wanted.”

The Whites are currently staying with friends in Pacifica, but they may have found a new home. They are hoping to sign a lease for an apartment Thursday, but they said it will not be available to them until June 7 or 10.

JoHanna said she does not plan to go back to their old home above the shelter again.

“I don’t want to see it again. It was a little much,” she said. “Ideally we’d like to not go back again.”

As city revenues continue to decline in an already suffering budget, the Berkeley City Council is scrambling for alternative ways to cut costs and raise revenues in the next fiscal year.

In order to combat a projected overall deficit of $16.2 million next fiscal year, city officials proposed a plan in May to eliminate 77 positions, the majority from public health and public works services. The plan reduces expenditures by about $11.9 million and relies on $4.3 million in new revenues.

At their meeting Tuesday, the council held a second public hearing to discuss the plan with city staff and residents.

“We keep monitoring revenues and unfortunately they’re not turning up … they continue to go down,” said City Manager Phil Kamlarz at the meeting. “We keep waiting for that turn, but we haven’t seen it yet.”

To generate new revenues in the next fiscal year, the council approved a fourth fee increase Tuesday that will establish a fee schedule for the Permit Service Center, which oversees permits for development-related services. The increase will create an estimated $794,010 in new revenues, according to a city report.

According to City Budget Manager Tracy Vesely, the city’s mental health program could lose $1.2 million if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s revised state budget is adopted. Schwarzenegger’s revision, released May 14, includes an almost 60 percent reduction in mental health realignment funds.

It is likely the state will not adopt a budget for several months, a city report said, citing alternative proposals to the proposed budget made by the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

“We’re still waiting for the state’s budget to reconcile itself,” Vesely said. “That will be a long process.”

She added that city staff will revisit the budget to evaluate the effects of the state cuts before next January.

Councilmember Max Anderson said the state has imposed heavy funding cuts that the city has no control over.

“I wish that all the factors were under our control but they’re not,” Anderson said. “We have to respond to them in a responsible way.”

During the hearing, Councilmember Laurie Capitelli suggested the city consider an emergency allocation and ask voters to pitch in.

“If each of us ponied up $20 we could raise a million dollars,” he said. “I’m continually amazed by what the citizens of Berkeley will step up for.”

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said if the council puts a measure increasing taxes on the November ballot, it will need to phase voters in with a progressive tax rate.

“It just isn’t going to fly,” he said. “If we have progressively slanted tax … then we can get a lot more support.”

As the June 22 deadline to adopt the budget rapidly approaches, Councilmember Darryl Moore said the council should consider everything “on the table.”

“It’s disheartening to hear things are off the table,” he said. “We are far past that. We are talking about people losing their jobs, losing their livelihood.”

Meanwhile, city staff continue meeting with union leaders to discuss ways to mitigate the proposed layoffs.

During the hearing, employees in the Public Health Division and other city programs expressed their concerns about the proposed 23 percent cut to their staff. The budget plan eliminates 18.25 positions – of which five are currently vacant – for $2.2 million in savings.

“The proposed staff reductions will undermine our ability to continue our important work and to respond to urgent and emergent public health issues,” said Janet Cusick, a nurse for the division.

The plan estimates a 30 percent reduction in residents served as a result of the division layoffs.

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak said the city is facing an “almost impossible situation” and must resort to a “share-the-pain” approach to help maintain its public health services.

“That’s not a good way to run a railroad, but that’s the only way we have,” he said. “There are not any good solutions here.”

The AC Transit board of directors approved a resolution Wednesday to reduce bus service, acknowledging public agitation surrounding further service reductions but emphasizing its inflexibility in the face of a projected $56 million budget shortfall.

No dissenting votes were cast as six board members voted in favor of the resolution, while Director Joel Young abstained. The board members said they sympathized with public outcry against the agency’s further service cuts but argued the service reductions were necessary.

“I did support it, but it’s incredibly difficult for me,” said board president Ryan “Rocky” Fernandez in an interview after the meeting. “I got on this board after having a class pass at Cal and because I wanted to get more people riding buses, not using cars, and this is certainly a step back from that.”

Transit agency officials estimate the service reductions will save the agency $9.5 million annually. The reductions will go into effect this August, pending a review that will assess whether the changes violate civil rights code by impacting one community more than another, Fernandez said.

The resolution, which approves a 7.2 percent reduction in service agency-wide, focuses primarily on reducing the frequency of bus stops and altering the hours of certain bus lines instead of eliminating or truncating lines.

The 51B will stop every 10 minutes instead of every eight minutes during morning peak hours in addition to other changes in frequency for early hours, midday hours and evening peak hours.

“We’re trying to preserve as much as we can, make the improvements where we can and hopefully we’re going to come out of this a lot stronger and … we will be able to increase service down the road and make it a lot better,” Fernandez said.

Previously, transit officials proposed an 8.4 percent reduction in service – as opposed to the 7.2 percent in the revised plan – to save the agency $11.4 million. But transit officials revised the extent of service reductions after receiving fervent public opposition at two public hearings last week and conducting further analysis of the effects of the reductions.

Still, several community members from across Alameda and Contra Costa counties who attended the meeting opposed the idea that further service reductions were the best option for riders.

“What they’re doing now is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” said Anthony Rodgers, an AC Transit bus driver of 20 years and political coordinator for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, which represents the agency’s bus drivers. “The ship is sinking, and somebody should have figured out a way to fill the hole in the boat before we got here.”

Others sympathized with the board’s position, stating that the board had exhausted all possible options in resolving its dismal financial situation. Several board members said pressuring higher bodies of authority – including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the California government and the federal government – is the only method of combating the shortfall.

In response to community opposition to the cuts, board members voted five to two in favor of amending the resolution to include a non-binding statement of the board’s intent to freeze further service reductions for the next two years.

“I think that everybody thinks that we’ll just keep cutting services, that we need to,” said Director Greg Harper at the meeting. “We need to indicate to them that that’s not the case; we’re gonna stop, we have to stop now.”

Exercise isn’t always associated with fun, which is why many people don’t do it. Given the choice, anything that feels like work will usually fail to make the list of things you want to do when you don’t have to do anything.

However, making exercise a social activity can make it more appealing.

Created by the Auburn Parks and Recreation Department in October 2007, the Auburn Stride Walkers is a local walking group that meets three times a week at various walking trails in the Auburn-Opelika area. Group membership is free and open to the public.

Friday, the Stride Walkers gathered at the Dean Road Recreation Center for its tri-weekly 3-mile walk. With the temperature exceeding 80 degrees by 9 a.m., this is considered a “modest day,” to Melissa Weldon, the group leader.

“You know we’re dedicated walkers when we get up in the morning and the humidity is as a high as the temperature,” said Mike Hogan, who has been a member since he moved here from Ohio six months ago.

Hogan, relatively new to the area and the group, has been a walker for years. Claiming that Ohio’s limited seasons affected his walking routine, Hogan said he prefers walking in the mild Alabama weather.

“Being new to the area, I’ve learned a lot of places to go, and I can actually get back to where I started. That’s important,” Hogan said.

Equipped with walking shoes and water bottles, the five members of the Stride Walkers, including Weldon, walk three miles, winding through the narrow side streets surrounding South Dean Road.

Their walks usually last approximately one hour said Weldon, who added that “Once you start walking and talking, the hour is up before you know it, and you’re right back where you started.”

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t love it,” said Debbie Flick, one of the group’s first members.

Although staying active is important, all agreed that the social aspect of walking with a group is what keeps them coming back each time.

“We’ve formed a nice core group of interesting people that like to get out and exercise and enjoy each other’s company,” Weldon said.

“Usually we get our talking and our visiting done during the walk,” Weldon added, “and sometimes we get together afterward, because you know, friendships have formed as we’ve gotten to know each other over the years.”

Having someone around to ensure safety is one of the things Flick enjoys most about the Stride Walkers.

Safety is another benefit of exercising in a group. “There is safety in numbers. There’s somebody there if you get too hot or you don’t feel well,” Weldon said. “You don’t ever have to go by yourself, and there’s always someone there to share the experience with.”

Exercising alone provides health benefits, but belonging to an exercising group offers members a chance to meet new people, make new friends and experience new places. Being with others not only removes the boredom of exercising alone, but it offers a sense of security as well.

“There are so many neat things in the Auburn area, and Alabama in general, just to get out and see,” Weldon said.

The group is always looking for active people of all ages, who enjoy exercise and want to stay healthy, to join. For more information, visit the Auburn Parks and Recreation website, which provides group schedules for the Auburn Stride Walkers and Auburn’s new hiking group, the Tiger Trekkers.

It’s been a long wait–but Grambling State is back in a NCAA Regional.

After taking four straight games in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, the Tigers are advancing to postseason play for the first time since 1985.

The drought snaps when Grambling takes the field at 2:05 p.m. when it faces the top-seed in Arkansas. But after starting the season with nine straight losses, the Tigers are ready for the challenge.

“We’ve got to come in focused,” Grambling right fielder Mychal Roby said to the News Star. “I have no clue about the other teams, but I’m sure they’re pretty tough. We’ve just got to make the most of the opportunity.”

Grambling State Tigers (22-33, 10-14 SWAC), fourth seed

Last 15 games: 10-5 record

How they received the bid: won conference tournament

The Washington State Cougars are no stranger to Fayetteville or the Arkansas Razorback baseball program.

Cougar head coach Donnie Marbut said the team learned a tremendous amount last year at the Norman Regional, where the team lost to the Diamond Hogs. Washington State also traveled and started the season last year by being swept by the Razorbacks.

But after making it to back-to-back regionals for the first time since 1987, Marbut said the team is looking for more than just an early exit after the learning experience.

“The experience is going to help because we have been there before,” Marbut said. “We are going to win. That’s the whole expectations. We know how to do that from last year.”

After battling each week with Pac-10 teams, eight of which earned regional bids, the Cougars expect to be ready for the weekend ahead.

“It’s been an absolute grind every weekend to fight a game or maybe two,” Marbut said. “It’s been a tough year. But I’m so happy for this team.”

Washington State Cougars (34-20, 15-12 Pac-10), second seed

Last 15 games: 12-3 record

How they received the bid: NCAA at-large

When the Kansas State baseball team learned of a regional bid, Wildcat head coach Brad Hill couldn’t help but think about the upper classmen that made the appearance possible.

Senior Adam Muenster hit .434 for the season, earning first team All-Big 12 honors, and senior catcher Daniel Dellasega had a .333 average while making a shift to the starting role.

“This is all about our seniors,” Hill said. “Adam Muenster and Daniel Dellasega came up huge as team leaders, even though Muenster was playing a new position and Dellasega was the No. 1 catcher for the first time in his career.”

Senior starter Ryan Daniel, who missed time this season with an injury, was even a big part of the team while recovering.

“He is a big part of this even though he was injured for part of the season,” Hill said. “He was the biggest cheerleader on our bench during a time that we needed him to be.”

Kansas State Wildcats (36-20, 14-12 Big 12), third seed

Last 15 games: 6-9 record

How they received the bid: NCAA at-large

NCAA FAYETTEVILLE REGIONAL

Friday, June 4

Game 1: No. 1 Arkansas (40-18) vs. No. 4 Grambling (22-30) – 2:05 p.m.

Game 2: No. 2 Washington State (34-20) vs.. Kansas State (36-20) – 7:05 p.m.

Saturday, June 5

Game 3: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser – 2:05 p.m.

Game 4: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner – 7:05 p.m.

Sunday, June 6

Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser – 2:05 p.m.

Game 6: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner – 7:05 p.m.

Monday, June 7

Game 7: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser (if necessary) – 7:05 p.m.

Auburn University will serve as a host site for the 2010 NCAA Division 1 Baseball Regionals, June 4-7.

This marks the fourth time in school history Auburn has been selected to host an NCAA regional. Auburn previously hosted in 1978, 1999 and most recently 2003.

In just his second year as head coach, John Pawlowski led the Tigers to their first South Eastern Conference (SEC) Western Division title since 1995. Auburn finished the regular season at 40-19 with a 20-10 record in league play and earned its first postseason appearance since 2005 and 18th overall.

“It’s nice having the opportunity to play at home,” Pawlowski said.

“It’s a huge advantage for us: we know how the field plays, we get to sleep in our own beds, and it’s a tribute of how hard they’ve worked.”

Auburn was led this year by SEC player of the year and first baseman Hunter Morris. Morris led the SEC in hits (94), home runs (20), slugging percentage (.758) and total bases (188). Morris joins Tim Hudson of the Atlanta Braves as the only two Auburn players to win the award.

“It’s exciting,” Morris said. “A lot of work went into that award, but it’s not the end of my hard work. I still need to get better.”

The NCAA Division 1 Baseball Tournament is comprised of 64 teams selected on their individual resumes and with conference tournament champions that automatically qualify. The 64 teams are sent to 16 different regional sites where the four teams play each other in a double-elimination format.

The winners of the regional sites are sent to the super regionals where they play for a spot in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

Auburn will start its path to the super regionals Friday, June 4, against Jacksonville State University. Jacksonville State earned its way to the regionals by winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The two teams previously met May 18 with Auburn winning 9-7. Second baseman

Justin Hargett knows his team will be ready.

“They’re a good team with really good pitching, but nothing changes with us,” Hargett said. “Regardless of who the team is, we will be ready.”

Cory Luckie, who was just named SEC Scholar Athlete of the year, will get the start at pitcher in game one against Jacksonville State.

“(Luckie’s) done a great job for us all year, and he certainly deserves that opportunity,” Pawlowski said.

Joining Auburn and Jacksonville State in the regional are Conference USA winner Southern Miss and ACC at-large bid Clemson.

Auburn players and coaches believe the year’s tough competition, in and out of conference, has prepared them for this tournament.

“Competing in the SEC will prepare you for anybody in the country,” Morris said. “We also went out to Arizona State earlier in the year and played the No. 1 team in the tournament.”

The SEC tied for the most schools in the tournament with eight. Auburn, Florida, South Carolina and Arkansas were all selected to host regionals, while Alabama, LSU, Mississippi and Vanderbilt will start the regionals on the road.

If Auburn and Alabama both advance from the regionals, the teams would face each other next week in the super regionals.

For the past four years, nearly 50 students have had free reign to question and critique the state’s, and in some cases the world’s, most complicated and difficult issues – those of social justice or injustice. This past April, the Bama Theatre displayed this year’s crop of Documenting Justice critiques and cultural explorations.

The opening film explored what it means to have true community in today’s increasingly fast-paced society. While the ten members of “Common Ground” found emotional satisfaction by relying on one another for communal success, I couldn’t help but question the long-term future of the commune. When old age finally takes the community to the grave, who will be left to carry on its spirit?

Their escape is temporary in a larger societal context, yet on an individual level, they appear to have found some level of satisfaction unattainable in a larger city. The film forced me to reconsider my notions of community and ultimately my judgments as an outsider to their community.

The following four films continued the critical exploration of Alabama, examining Wilcox County’s physician shortage, neighborly interaction in Tuscaloosa, juveniles serving prison sentences of life without parole and the emotions of coming of age in a small town. For these ten students and the students before them, myself included, this experience of thoughtful dialogue about justice was both an opportunity and an obligation. As the thousand-plus attendees can attest, the power of social critique through film offers a possibility for a better campus and state by creating a venue for intellectual discourse.

Although Documenting Justice shows us one example of UA students who give a voice to the voiceless or who shine light on the darkest recesses of our past, the University must offer more students the opportunity to grow as thoughtful critics in an environment that truly needs them. Far too often, the education process is one of memorization, devoid of the intellectual wrestling that fosters growth.

To create an atmosphere open for discussion and thoughtful critique, a whole-hearted commitment from administrators, faculty, student leaders and community members will be required. A half-hearted focus to create more “chances” and “opportunities” of this nature will not alone be successful. Deliberate action, strategic focus and encouragement must be coupled with these attempts so that more students will be critically aware.

Documenting Justice directly leads to a more thoughtful and engaged citizenry, and initiatives in the same mold can help to make our University a “Critiquing University” – a university that is fundamentally a place for the free exchange of ideas, all ideas, and thoughtful dialogue issues that often make us uncomfortable. When this University refocuses on this goal, or if it ever does, students will be empowered and our campus, community and state will be positioned to create a moral and just society.

– Marshall Houston is a U. Alabama junior majoring in economics and English.

As an evangelical Christian, I have heard about the Gospel my entire life. However, it was not until my freshman year at the University that I received a firm grasp on the Gospel and its nature. The “Bible Belt” has retained the rhetoric of its Christian fathers, but it has not retained the original meaning and intent of the Gospel. I see this as an infinitely harmful trend.

In the beginning, God created man in his own image. Man was in perfect communion with God and found his value in him. When God created man, he said that it was good. After Adam and Eve sinned, man fell out of this perfect communion with God.

When I read the teachings of Jesus and the writings of his disciples, I see a gospel that was preached with conviction and with love. To understand why a Christian should share and spread the Gospel by both word and deed, one must understand what the Gospel of Jesus really is.

Some have responded to the Gospel by asking, “Why should I care about this ‘Gospel’? You can believe what you believe and I will believe what I believe.”

The Gospel is much larger than a story or a historical account. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simply this: although man is dead in sin, there is hope for a restoration of communion with God through Christ! This hope is not a hope for a better life or for a higher level of self-esteem, but for salvation. One may ask, “Save me from what?” To that I answer, “God.”

God’s wrath justly abides on every man, woman and child due to sin. Romans 3 tells us that “No one is righteous, no, not one.” “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ,” for those who have believed in the work of Christ on the cross (Ephesians 2:4-5). Why is the Gospel called “the good news?”

The Gospel is good news because God placed his wrath on Jesus Christ as he hung on a cross rather than on me! When I placed my trust in his work on the cross rather than in myself, God counted me as righteous.

Because God has shown me grace, or unmerited favor, I am freed to live a life of love and sacrifice. Why? God showed me love and compassion when I was poor and needy. I had money and success, but my soul was needy. I was dead, but God made me alive! I deserved condemnation, but God gave me eternal life.

Now, when I look upon those who are hungry and needy in this world, I have compassion for them. They have just as much value and worth as I do, as they too were created in the image of God. God is compassionate towards the needs of the poor. In Job 34, God says that “he hears the cries of the afflicted.” Psalm 140 says that “the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.” The Lord carries this justice through his people. God speaks about his concern for the needy in Psalms 22:36, 68:10, 82:3 and 113:7 in order that we may grasp the need to help the afflicted.

However, we need a holistic view of the Gospel. God not only cares about the physical needs of a person, but he is more concerned that he or she is reconciled into a right relationship with himself. During his earthly ministry, Jesus advised, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.” The message of the Gospel is infinitely more valuable and needed than money or even food.

In our world, people find their worth and happiness in money, sex, success, family, religion and health. However, the only way for a person to obtain true peace, joy and fulfillment is to experience communion with God the Father through Jesus Christ.

Therefore, true social justice treats a person holistically. In seeing a homeless and hungry person, we are reminded of an infinitely greater need that exists with each person, a need to find his or her sustenance in a relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ.

If you are a Bible-believing follower of Christ, I urge you to live a life of radical sacrifice and radical abandonment of the things of this world. See and savor the bread that does not perish and drink deeply of the living water offered by Jesus. We have a privilege to carry this bread and water to the needy and afflicted. Don’t waste your life!

– Michael McDowell is a U. Alabama junior majoring in communication.

The Alabama baseball team was calm and relaxed leading up to the NCAA college baseball selection show. They watched Sports Center, cracked jokes to each other, and some even played pool.

Most of the coaches and players figured they were going to end up playing in Atlanta, but no one knew for sure. They were confident. Looking around the room, it was apparent that no one cared where the team played or who the opponent was. They just wanted to play.

Once the selection show started, the Tide learned that they earned a No. 2 seed, and they would be playing in Atlanta. Joining Alabama (37-22) in the four-team field will be No. 1 seed Georgia Tech (45-13), No. 3 seed Elon (38-22) and No. 4 seed Mercer (37-22).

The Yellow Jackets are the No. 8 national seed in this year’s tournament. The winner of the Atlanta Regional will play the winner of the Auburn Regional in the Super Regionals next week.

Arizona State is the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. Alabama is one of eight Southeastern Conference teams to receive an NCAA Tournament bid. The Pac-10 and Atlantic Coast Conference also had eight teams earn berths.

Tide pitcher Adam Morgan is from Atlanta. He said he likes the idea of being able to play at home.

“It’s always good to go home,” he said. “We’re just going to take it game-by-game and give it all we’ve got.”

Head coach Mitch Gaspard knows there are a lot of advantages to playing so close to home.

“You’re busing over there so it’s a pretty easy trip for us,” he said. “Secondly, it’s going to give our fan base the opportunity to come over and watch us play, which could certainly help us in some of those ballgProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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es. There are a lot of advantages to when you’re just going four hours and not having to jump on a plane to go somewhere.”

The Tide’s pitching staff will be one of its biggest assets going into the NCAA Tournament. The pitchers started to get hot during the end of the season and carried that momentum into the SEC Tournament.

“I think at this point in the season, it’s not about offense as much as it is about pitching,” Gaspard said. “You win regionals with good pitching, good defensive play and good timely hitting. You look at regional games and you don’t see many 12-10 scores.

“I think there’s a little more confidence and energy about us knowing that we’re pitching so well. Pitching is going to put you in a position to win, and I think we’ve got a pitching staff that’s at the top of their game right now.”

The double-elimination regional begins Friday, at 2 p.m., when Alabama plays Elon and Georgia Tech plays Mercer Friday at 6 p.m. The losers of Friday’s games will play Saturday at 2 p.m., and the winners of Friday’s games will square off Saturday at 6 p.m.

If the Tide gets past Elon, history will be on the Tide’s side whether the opponent is Mercer or Georgia Tech. Alabama owns an 18-6-1 record against Mercer and the teams have not squared off on the diamond since 1998.

Alabama is 30-28-1 all-time against Georgia Tech and the two teams have not met since the 1996 Olive Garden Classic in Kissimmee, Fla. Alabama won that game 7-2.