Arn Chorn-Pond watched his siblings die slowly, narrowly escaped his own death by fleeing to the jungle and became a human rights activist as he works to revive traditional Cambodian arts, an aspect of the culture that was silenced during the years of the Khmer Rouge communist Killing Fields. “Most of the prisoners were digging out their own graves,” Chorn-Pond said. “Many children starved to death. Fifty survived —I was one of them.” Chorn-Pond visited WSU as part of International Education Week and was the keynote speaker Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Compton Union Building (CUB) Senior Ballroom. The Khmer Rouge was the ruling communist party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, during which time its leaders overworked and starved citizens who were forced into labor camps, he said. The government arrested, tortured and executed anyone considered to be an enemy. About 1.7 million people died. The Killing Fields are the mass of grave sites where Cambodians were killed and buried during the four years of genocide. “When we went to the battlefield, we expected someone to die,” Chorn-Pond said. “Some of the kids as young as I was couldn’t even hold the guns. Sometimes, they would blow their heads off.” Chorn-Pond said 90 percent of Cambodia’s traditional artists died as a result of the Khmer Rouge genocide or famine that followed for years after. He said he believes the only reason he was not killed is because he excelled at playing the flute, and played government propaganda songs for Khmer Rouge officials. Now Chorn-Pond is working to revive Cambodian arts. His effort began in Lowell, Mass., where he worked with Cambodian gang members and taught them to play traditional Cambodian instruments, he said. When he returned to Cambodia, he began teaching music to three girls. Now Chorn-Pond said his dream has drastically expanded. He has helped set up arts centers of 500 students each in 10 provinces around Cambodia. But his work is not yet finished. Chorn-Pond said he wants to create an art movement in Cambodia and around the world. “I’m just scratching the surface now of the art of Cambodia,” he said. “The Khmer Rouge silenced it. Every child — not only Cambodian children, but children around the world — they will dance, they will sing. They will carry musical instruments, not guns.” Chorn-Pond said he got so tired of blindly following the Khmer Rouge’s orders that he fled the Killing Fields and ran off into the jungle. Amid snakes, leeches and malaria threats, Chorn-Pond walked through the jungle for several months, following monkeys and eating the fruit they dropped. On occasion, he would eat the wrong fruit and succumb to the symptoms of food poisoning, his body growing weak. In 1980, Chorn-Pond was found unconscious in a bush by two girls looking for firewood, he said. He had walked to Thailand and was about to die. He weighed just 30 pounds. The father of the girls who found him was an American man, he said. The man adopted Chorn-Pond and two other Cambodian orphans and moved with him to New Hampshire. They were the first three orphans brought to the U.S. after the genocide. Living in the U.S. was a struggle at first, Chorn-Pond said. He got in trouble at school and with the law. He was made fun of and bullied to the point that he became suicidal. “It was hard sometimes,” he said. “I was depressed. I was planning to shoot myself, but I didn’t have guns. What you get now is a total different Arn. I was always ready to strike all the time, and I had a reason to. I never knew anything but hate and kill.” When Chorn-Pond finally began telling his story, people started listening, he said. He met former president Jimmy Carter, who wrote him a recommendation letter and got him into Brown University. Carter asked him to speak for human rights on behalf of Amnesty International, the organization Chorn-Pond has now been with for 15 years. He said he would much rather talk about his arts foundation instead of his life, but it is good for people to know what happened, even though it hurts him to recount it time after time. By telling his story, Chorn-Pond said he hopes others will be motivated to stop tragedies from happening. There are not many survivors who are willing to share their story. Politicians screwed up the world a long time ago, he said. Now it will take the work of peace-makers to fix what they destroyed. Chorn-Pond told students in the audience not be materialistic and make their dreams about more than just making money. He said there is still a major struggle between the poor and the rich all around the world. “It’s very hard to refuse to go shopping,” he said. “That’s all American teenagers know. But the suffering continues. Making money, living an American life – it used to be my dream, too. There are so many things I don’t like about this country, but I want to make it better. When I don’t like something, I work.” Sina Sam, junior basic medical sciences major, said hearing Chorn-Pond’s story was really moving because she is Cambodian-American. “I’m so starstruck because for me, he’s one of the only Cambodian heroes we have to look up to,” she said. “Everything he was saying is something that my parents could never tell me. There’s no one that hasn’t been touched by death if you’re Cambodian-American.” Theary Chhim, a graduate pharmacy student, echoed Sam’s thoughts as a Cambodian-American. She said listening to Chorn-Pond’s speech made her really sad, especially knowing that her parents had gone through the same struggles Chorn-Pond did. She said her dad worked in Khmer Rouge hospitals and her mom witnessed people digging up graves. “Right now I still feel like somebody squeezed my heart,” she said. “For me, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (to meet Chorn-Pond).” Chorn-Pond is the recipient of the Reebok Human Rights Award, the Anne Frank Memorial Award and the Kohl Foundation International Peace Prize. He is also the subject of the Emmy-nominated documentary, “The Flute Player.” To learn more about Chorn-Pond and his foundation, or to watch “The Flute Player,” go to www.cambodianlivingarts.org.

Former Ohio State All-American cornerback Malcolm Jenkins is in the same boat as every other NFL player: locked out of football.

With time on his hands, Jenkins might get his creative juices flowing.

“I was up at Ohio State’s practice, lobbying to get a coaching job,” Jenkins said. “Either coaching or I’ve been watching a lot of HGTV. I might try to get into some interior designing or something.”

Locked out for more than a month, the NFL and the NFL Players Association have yet to reach an agreement on collective bargaining.

“Every player is enjoying the time off,” Jenkins said, “not having as many responsibilities as far as mandatory workouts, to be able to take some time off and be with family, stuff like that.”

Jenkins, who plays for the New Orleans Saints, said the urge to get back to his usual spring schedule is starting to grow.

“Guys are wanting to get together and do our own workouts together, just get back to football,” Jenkins said. “Guys are starting to itch and want to get back on the field.”

If the NFL lockout does not end and Jenkins can’t find a different job, he said he will be able to survive without a paycheck for a while, though he fears that some won’t be as financially comfortable.

“We’ve known about this for two years now,” Jenkins said. “Me personally, I’ve prepared for it. But I know for a fact that there are some guys who may not have saved like they needed to.

“It will impact some guys, but hopefully over the last few years, guys have followed the plan and been smart with their money.”

Something players might not be prepared for is human growth hormone testing, which NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says must be part of the new collective bargaining agreement.

The test, which would require blood to be drawn, has received criticism, both positive and negative, from the NFL players and their union.

Jenkins said he wasn’t sure what was involved in HGH testing but that he can understand why some players are against it.

“I talked to someone yesterday who said they had to take blood,” he said. “When you do that, you get tired. If you get a surprise HGH test on a Friday and you’ve got to play on a Sunday, that can have some effect on your performance.”

Jenkins said he doesn’t think HGH is a problem in the NFL.

“I don’t think our league is played with that,” he said. “I don’t see (HGH testing as) necessary.”

Jenkins said he thinks there will be football but that he doesn’t know if it will be in time for teams to prepare the way they normally do.

“Depending on how long this thing goes, if you miss the whole offseason, from a teaching and learning standpoint, young players don’t get as much time as they usually have,” Jenkins said. “We’re really going to have to go back to the basics because there’s no spring ball or (anything) like that.

“Rookie players, the chances of them making it shrinks. They have less time to make that learning curve.”

Although no one is sure of a time frame for players to get back to work, Jenkins said he’s confident that it is a matter of when football starts rather than if it starts.

“There’s a good chance for football,” he said. “I think there’s going to be football.”

It’s that time of year again: bikini season.

For many people, summer is an excuse to do absolutely nothing except chill at the beach with friends. But for us girls, it can be a bit of a struggle.

Time and again, society has created the image of the perfect woman. You know what I’m talking about — the one with flat abs, sculpted arms and the perfect, sun-kissed tan.

We shouldn’t have to compare ourselves to this idealized image of womanhood, but there’s no harm in raising our self-confidence and trying to get healthier for the summer season.

If you’re unsatisfied with your body or feeling insecure at the thought of donning a two-piece, following a few rules of thumb will help you go a long way, both physically and mentally. And when June rolls around, you’ll be feeling more confident, sexy and healthy than ever before.

DO: eat healthier and drink lots of water

To get your body in toning mode, exercise alone is not enough. You must be willing to change your diet to really tone your muscles and burn fat. One of the easiest methods is to replace processed foods with fruits and vegetables. Additionally, if you’re a meat-eater, lean protein foods like fish, chicken and low-fat dairy products contain unsaturated fats and more reasonable calorie counts.

When it comes to beverages, replace sodas, sugary drinks and alcohol with water. Water, like healthy foods, helps sustain muscle mass and promotes future growth.

DON’T: go on a crash diet

Your body needs a certain number of calories to function. By eating less, your body enters starvation mode, which slows your metabolic rate. In other words, your body reacts to the changes by taking energy from stored muscle, rather than from stored fat.

DO: buy a pair of dumbbells

Dumbbells are key when it comes to refining your muscles and sculpting your body. Though most people know them as tools to shape your arms and legs, dumbbells can also be used to engage your abdominal muscles and glutes.

Girls shouldn’t be afraid of lifting weights. Adding dumbbells to your workout routine doesn’t mean you’ll be sporting bulging muscles when you hit the beach. As long as you use dumbbells at least a few times a week, you’ll start to see toning without losing the natural contour of your body.

DON’T: do a thousand sit-ups a day

Few people seem to realize sit-ups and crunches play no role in determining how flat your stomach is. Although these exercises will strengthen your abdominal muscles, you still won’t see any changes in the shape of your stomach if a layer of fat is covering your abs.  The only fool-proof workout to target stomach fat is cardio, but you can never choose where you lose fat.

DO: throw in some cardio

You can’t expect to get a killer body without increasing your heart rate. Try to go for a 25-minute run at least three or four times a week to help you burn calories and excess fat. Although you can’t spot-treat fat-burning, running and other similar forms of cardio are great exercises for flattening your stomach.

DON’T: focus on losing weight or weigh yourself everyday

Getting a bikini body is not about losing weight. It’s about getting toned and fostering self-confidence. Weighing yourself everyday will only make you angrier about not shedding pounds quickly enough. In fact, you might gain weight in the end because you have replaced fat deposits with muscle mass.

DO: have an achievable goal and compliment yourself often

Your goal shouldn’t be to lose weight, but to like the way you look. By summer, you should feel healthier, more energized and more confident about your body. If you don’t acknowledge the efforts you’re making, you’re going to have less fun and become more critical of yourself. Be proud of what you’ve accomplished, even if you’ve only made minor changes.

DON’T: criticize yourself or expect perfection

The honest truth is that you’re not going to work out or eat healthily every day. It’s okay to reward yourself. Don’t feel bad if you sneak a cookie or “forget” to go for that morning jog.

Just keep your goals clearly established and try as hard as you want to. Even if you decide to permanently forego your routine, remember nobody is stopping you from flaunting that bikini this summer.

Head coach Nick Saban joined the likes of Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Paul “Bear” Bryant and Gene Stallings on Saturday, as University officials unveiled a statue of Saban to commemorate his 2009 National Championship team along the Walk of Champions just prior to kickoff of the Tide’s annual A-Day game.

“I’m very proud that my likeness will represent so many who worked so hard on that team,” Saban said during Saturday’s ceremony.

The statue, made by Oklahoma-based MTM Recognition, arrived on campus after months of speculation, with first reports saying it would arrive at the Tide’s 2010 A-Day game.

Andrew Martinez, a junior majoring in telecommunication and film who attended the statue’s unveiling, said, regardless of the wait, he was excited the statue finally made its way to campus.

“It’s been a long time coming, but I couldn’t be happier that it has finally arrived,” Martinez said. “This is an important moment in the lives of all of the Crimson Tide fans, and I’m glad I was here to witness it. We had a magical 2009 season, capped off with a win at the Rose Bowl, and it’s great that, even now, we’re still celebrating it. This will be talked about for a long time to come.”

Just prior to the statue’s unveiling, 2010 team captains Greg McElroy, Mark Barron and Dont’a Hightower imprinted their hand and foot prints outside of Denny Chimes alongside the other team captains from over the years.

Abby Haynes, a nursing student who attended both the statue unveiling and the 2010 team captain’s ceremony, said it was a moment she’ll remember forever.

“I was born and raised on Alabama football, so to see something like this, a national championship coach being enshrined alongside UA legends I read about in books and watched in videos, is really something,” Haynes said. “Generations of students and fans alike will walk past Coach Saban’s statue and be reminded of our 2009 season for many years to come. This was such a fitting way to kick off the 2011 college football season.”

A record 92,310 fans attended Saturday’s pre-season scrimmage and watched the Tide’s Crimson team edge out the White team for a 14-10 victory.

The Tide’s 2011 football season will officially begin on Sept. 3, in a home game against Kent State.

“[Saturday’s] events have gotten me excited for Crimson Tide football already,” Martinez said. “The fans are excited, the students are excited, the players are excited; we’re going to win another national championship this season. I can’t wait.”

A five-kilometer walk and run event was hosted on campus on Sunday to provide awareness of the genocide occuring in the Darfur region of Sudan and to raise money for relief efforts.

The UA’s Student Anti-Genocide Coalition (STAND) sponsored the run, which was titled Dash for Darfur. This was the second time the race has been held on campus and a larger number of runners participated this year than last.

“It’s great to have all of these people come out,” said Aeen Asghar, president of STAND. “It shows, economically, that people are more willing to donate their money and time.”

Approximately 44 runners began at a chalked starting line at 8 a.m. in front of the Eddie Lynch Athletics Pavilion by the UA Mall. The course went though the UA campus and followed east on Sixth Street and north on Campbell Avenue before ending back at the starting line. The best time recorded was 17 minutes.

“I found out about the race at the Campus Rec Center when they were passing out flyers about a few days ago,” said Cora Crecelius, an anthropology senior and one of the participants of the race. “It sounded like fun and it was for a good cause so me and my friend signed up.”

This year the event raised about $700 from running entrance fees and donations. Asghar hopes that more people will continue to participate next year as away to raise awareness.

“This is our main fundraising event,” Asghar said. “It is also a public awareness event as well, people are able to learn more about what we are trying to do.”

Funds raised during the run will go to genocide intervention networks and protection programs for refugee camps in Darfur. The club raises $1,000 annually and said it wants to increase this number in the future.

The STAND chapter in Arizona started in 2005 at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix after a history class learned about the conflict between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan over natural resources. When some of the founding members went to the UA they expanded to a club on campus.

In early 2010, the disruption of talks by major officials was all the rage on university campuses, even as these outbursts inspired greater measures of outrage amongst the broader student body. In January, General David H. Petraeus was repeatedly shouted down by student anti-war protesters during a speech to a packed Gaston Hall at Georgetown University. In response, organizations across campus—from the Georgetown University Student Union to theGeorgetown Democrats—condemned the conduct. The next month, Israeli Ambassador Michael B. Oren was similarly assailed, this time by 11 members of the Muslim Student Union at UC-Irvine. The interruptions of “war criminal” and “mass murderer,” which prevented the ambassador from addressing an assembled audience of hundreds, were harshly condemned by the university administration, and the MSU was subsequently suspended as a campus organization.

But what seemed like a typical story of an overheated campus culture clash took an unusual turn after emails among the MSU’s membership surfaced indicating that the Irvine disruptions were carefully coordinated by the group to prevent the ambassador from speaking—a premeditated plan that involved staggered disruptions by predetermined individuals with cue cards, all directed via text messages. In light of this evidence, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas convened an investigatory grand jury and then leveled charges against the so-called “Irvine 11,” bringing the campus controversy into the California courts. Arraigned this past Friday, the students each pled not guilty to misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to disturb a meeting and disturbance of a meeting.

To understand why this prosecution is justified, and indeed similar future prosecutions of campus disruptors are warranted, one must first understand what this prosecution is not.

It is decidedly not an “absolute affront to the Constitution” that will “inhibit the free exchange of ideas,” as Dan Stormer and Jacqueline Goodman, two of the Irvine defense attorneys, have claimed. It is their clients who sought to inhibit the free exchange of ideas by shouting down Oren’s speech, preventing him and the estimated crowd of 500-700 individuals from exercising their rights to free speech and assembly.

In fact, when viewed through the lens of pragmatism rather than partisanship, the prosecution of these disruptors clearly protects our civil discourse. Imagine, for contrast, a campus climate in which it is possible for any sufficiently motivated group to shut down an event to which it is ideologically opposed. Not only would Ambassador Oren and General Petraeus be shouted off the stage, but Nancy Pelosi would be accosted with cries of “baby killer,” while Omar Barghouti, who spoke recently at Harvard to advocate boycott of Israel, could be met with jeers of “terrorist” and “anti-semite.” It is essential for the preservation of considered campus conversation that such suppressive “speech” never be tolerated, no matter the opinion being espoused. Simply put, no partisan should have a vocal veto over the marketplace of ideas.

Beyond the practical necessity of such prosecution, there is also strong legal justification for it. As Professor Eugene Volokh of UCLA, a renowned free speech expert explains, “California law rightly makes it a crime to interfere with people’s rights to speak, and listeners’ rights to listen.” Volokh is a long-time equal opportunity advocate for First Amendment rights, having defended flag-burning, anti-Israel bus advertisements and even the permissibility of voluntarily-assumed Sharia arbitration on U.S. soil. To him, the Irvine case is not an example of individuals exercising free speech but rather attempting to stifle it. “Of course, the defendants have their own free speech rights,” he says. “They could have freely exercised them outside the meeting. They could have exercised them during Q&A … They could have exercised them by staging their own event. But First Amendment law has long recognized that there’s no right to speak so loudly that it interferes with other people’s activity.”

Countering a misconception, Volokh adds that “while a jail term is theoretically available” if the defendants are found guilty, “it will be highly unlikely for first offenders.” Rather, “in a case such as this, the defendants …  will be fined, put on probation, and possibly sentenced to some community service.” And that, he concludes, “sounds like about the right punishment.”

Of course, prosecution is a last resort only to be employed when students themselves are unable to respect the opinions of others and the rights of their fellow students. Ideally, even the most impassioned groups would choose to engage in dialogue rather than diatribe. But for those partisan purists not dissuaded by the pragmatic and legal consequences of Irvine-esque conduct, there remains one final objection to such tactics: they don’t work. At Georgetown, the ejection of anti-war protesters was met with sustained applause and the disruptions were condemned across the campus political spectrum. At UC-Irvine, the student group responsible was suspended, and the administration left angry and embarrassed. These reactions are unsurprising: the arrogance of those who seek to override the free speech prerogatives of others alienates rather than attracts people to their cause. The assumption that one’s viewpoint is so self-evidently correct that the rights of others can be trampled to trumpet it proves predictably counterproductive, as self-righteousness so often does. Student groups interested in actual influence ought to take note and save their objections for the Q&A.

Too often, we forget that freedom of speech is largely about silence. The dignity of discourse in America stems not merely from the right of each individual to speak freely, but from those who might vehemently disagree making space for that person to express themselves. Our universities ought to be models for this mutually respectful conversation, not where it is in constant danger. With that in mind, let us make the Irvine prosecution into a teaching moment about the nature of our nation’s most fundamental freedoms. And let us be reminded what we owe each other as Americans, even—or especially—in the confines of our college campuses.

Sitting in a hotel lobby in Washington, D.C., in October 2010, Dori Maynard patiently waited for her friend to join her for breakfast. There, Maynard noticed a passerby’s shirt that said “eracism” on it. As she went to compliment the person, a hotel security guard stopped her and told her to leave the hotel. She refused, saying she was a registered guest with the hotel. He again told her to leave, and she did.

Maynard described that experience as humiliating and felt the man made false assumptions about her because she is a middle-aged black woman.

“He either thought I was a prostitute, homeless or potentially a homeless prostitute,” Maynard said. “What he didn’t see was a writer or a journalist.”

Maynard, president of the Oakland-based Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, spoke about the limitations of media stereotypes inside the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Nebraska Union Auditorium Friday. There were 20 students and community members in attendance for the event hosted by Multicultural Students in Media, a UNL student organization. Maynard said good journalism means challenging these stereotypes and getting uncomfortable.

Journalism today, she said, falls victim to the principle that reporters write what they see. Without the exposure to different perspectives as well as multi-cultural newsroom, diversity in the media suffers, Maynard said.

The way diversity is sometimes covered, Maynard said, people of color are over-reported in crime, sports and entertainment stories while underreported in political stories. That, she said, can have drastic impacts on readers.

“If you only give people one image, they don’t know there is another image to live up to,” Maynard said.

Challenging stereotypes in reporting is one way of changing how people see themselves in the news, she said. That means including sources of different genders, ages, races, religions and sexual orientations in a story and avoiding journalism that confirms stereotypes.

Another way to break media stereotypes is through discomfort, she said. Journalists need to break their habits and surround themselves with people who are different from them.

To do that, Maynard suggested taking a different route home, going to a different grocery store or joining a group with a shared purpose.

Likewise, she said there needs to be a fearless mentality when reporting. Journalists need to set aside the fear of offending or being offended and recognize that they may do both, she said.

Maynard said the best solution is not to make an excuse but apologize. Everyone needs to give each other a pass because at some point each will offend the other.

Readers are dually responsible for helping improve the diversity of the media, she said. They should notify their local media when they do a poor job and when they get it right.

Communication, she said, can also help reporters find sources and story ideas.

TeyAnjulee Leon, a freshman mathematics education major, said reader responsibility struck a note with her.

“We’re as responsible as consumers as those who put the news out there,” Leon said, adding that diversity is an ongoing issue for papers because of its broad reach.

Andrea Vasquez, a co-founder of Multicultural Students in Media and a senior news-editorial, broadcast and Spanish major, said diversity in the media is an issue for everyone.

She said she hoped Maynard’s speech helped journalists see the importance of changing the media’s diversity status quo.

Vasquez said the media needs to toe the line on issues of diversity and not be color-blind. To her, that means not casting stereotypes while recognizing everyone’s uniqueness.

“We still want to be able to appreciate the differences we each bring to the table,” Vasquez said.

Notre Dame had a winning outcome Saturday — not just because it was playing itself, but also because all three objectives outlined by Irish coach Brian Kelly were met. He and the coaching staff wanted to avoid injuries, provide some playing time for the younger players and, more specifically, get an extended look at the two inexperienced quarterbacks competing for the starting job.

Outside of a couple minor bumps and bruises, Notre Dame completed the 82nd Blue-Gold Game unscathed. This is especially important at the positions in which the Irish lack depth, namely running back and cornerback.

Irish fans were given their first glance at some of the young players that will take on a more prominent role on the squad next season or, in a few cases, have already made the jump from high school to college as early enrollees and could appear on the Notre Dame depth chart once fall rolls around.

Defensive end Aaron Lynch showed off the skills that made him a coveted five-star recruit by top programs across the country. The early enrollee notched seven tackles on the afternoon, including one-and-a-half for loss.

Freshman tight end Alex Welch was the leading receiver for the Blue team, reeling in four passes for 34 yards. Kelly said the Cincinnati, Ohio, native was one of the players who helped himself the most with his spring performance.

Despite recording just two tackles, freshman defensive tackle Louis Nix showed how large of a physical presence he could be over the next few years for the Irish, beginning this fall. Much of his impact depends on his willingness to get in game-shape and keep his weight under control.

While the 27,863 fans in attendance were finally rewarded by the highly anticipated first looks at freshman quarterback Andrew Hendrix and early enrollee Everett Golson, the coaches did not learn much they did not already know about their young signal callers, or the other two quarterbacks in the competition for that matter.

Junior Dayne Crist, the man who was handed the job last spring after the departure of Jimmy Clausen, looked rusty in his performance and consistently missed his targets. That, however, should be no surprise considering it was the first game action he has seen since rupturing the patellar tendon in his left knee Oct. 30 against Tulsa.

Freshman Tommy Rees made some strong throws and was mostly solid on the afternoon. While he and Crist did not receive as much playing time as the younger two, Rees, who led the Irish to a 4-0 finish in 2010, did not hurt his chances at earning the starting nod for Notre Dame’s Sept. 3 matchup against South Florida.

Hendrix and Golson exhibited flashes of brilliance, but also reminded everyone that they have a combined zero snaps in regular season action at the collegiate level. While it will be an uphill battle for each of the two to earn the starting job in fall camp, either could be a nice change-of-pace at the quarterback position to the less mobile Crist and Rees.

In the end, however, it will be difficult for Kelly to overlook the experience and skills that Crist can offer. If you take away the Tulsa game and the first half of the Michigan game, the two contests in which he was injured, Crist threw for over 2,000 yards and 15 touchdowns in less than eight games. His leadership skills and the talent that made him a five-star recruit give Notre Dame the best chance to pursue a Bowl Championship Series bid in 2011.

Kelly acknowledged in the postgame press conference that a decision on the starting signal caller will be made early in fall camp. The last time Notre Dame entered the fall with a quarterback controversy, then-head coach Charlie Weis decided to enter the season opener without an announced starter at the position in 2007. The opponent, Georgia Tech, did not know, the fans did not know, but most importantly, neither did any of the Notre Dame players, including the three quarterbacks. The decision was disastrous, and was one of the contributing factors in the nightmarish 0-5 start. Kelly won’t make that same mistake.

So, while the Blue-Gold exhibition does not earn Notre Dame a win in the standings, it gives the team a bright finish to spring practices and some excitement heading into fall camp and the 2011 season.

The Healthy Campus Initiative — a recent push to make the University eat healthier, exercise more and stop smoking — may now be heading in a new direction, focusing on the direct connection between brain and body activity.

This new angle has been largely influenced by Harvard University Medical School professor John Ratey, who spoke Friday to a packed room in Columbia 150 about the relation between exercise, nutrition, brain function and education throughout the human life . Ratey is an assistant clinical professor at Harvard and has authored or co-authored eight books about mental conditions — most notably attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

A common theme during Ratey’s lecture was an emphasis on the importance of physical activity as play.

“It’s built in … something we need to do; we need to play,” Ratey said. “We’re moving out recess and P.E. and ignoring essential components of letting learners be better learners. … the best recess was the one with the least equipment. That speaks to what play is.”

But the backbone of Ratey’s lecture was about the research he has done into the direct effects of exercise on thought.

“The question people always want to ask is, ‘What’s the minimum I can do?'” Ratey said, spurring laughter from the crowd. “The pre-frontal cortex is sleepy in people with ADD. This is the part that’s always turned on by exercise. Brain volume increases with exercise.”

Paul van Donkelaar, a University associate professor of neuroscience, was among those who worked to bring Ratey to campus. Van Donkelaar said he’ll be working with others at the University in a roundtable format to find a clearer direction for the Healthy Campus Initiative.

“Where do we go from here?” van Donkelaar suggested as a question the Initiative will try to answer. “Hopefully, we’ll create some actions to move forward from here.”

Lou Radja, an international speaker and Portland State University alumnus, gave a short introduction detailing his work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, giving an example of improving the health of a community. After the lecture, Radja offered a message similar to van Donkelaar’s about how the knowledge Ratey has shared with the audience should now be put to good use.

“Oh, it was great; I was anxious to listen to (Ratey),” Radja said of the lecturer after he had finished. “I thought it was a healthy dose of both knowledge and action … I am hopeful people can act. Faith without action is dead.”

Anne Summers, founder and director of Healthy In Oregon, a statewide community health advocacy group, had a direct connection with Ratey and was able to encourage his and Radja’s participation.

Toward the end, Ratey opened the floor to a short question-and-answer period, and one of the last questions came from Eugene 4J physical education teacher Rachel Farkas.

Farkas said afterward she would like the opportunity to learn more about the community-wellness efforts. She thought an effective option would be to see more University students helping in the local schools.

“We need to know more about it,” Farkas said. “I think it would be great to have college students on campuses … our kids need more role models.”

Ratey said he thought the event was well-organized and was impressed by the campus and community attendance, despite it landing on a Friday night.

“A standing ovation is always nice to get,” Ratey said. “I think (Healthy Campus Initiative) is a great idea — to put health in the minds of all students and faculty.”

Saint Mary’s students are committed to promoting social justice, but one special group of students has incorporated that commitment into the academic lives of its members.

Sophomore Cailin Crowe is a student in Dr. Jan Pilarski’s course “Christians in the World,” a step towards fulfillment of the justice studies minor, which requires students to perform either community service or start a campaign on campus raising awareness for a social issue.

Crowe opted to enlighten the Saint Mary’s community about the realities of human trafficking throughout the semester.

“The issue of human trafficking isn’t getting enough attention. This is an issue that is a very serious and pressing matter,” Crowe said.

Human trafficking, or modern-day slavery, is a global issue that involves the coerced labor of people, usually women or young children, for sexual or commercial purposes, Crowe said. Victims are often smuggled across international borders and may work without pay or fair working conditions.

Pilarski, director of the Justice Education Program, supported Crowe’s decision to make the issue more widely understood on campus.

“Human trafficking is an issue few people are familiar with,” Pilarski said. “There seemed to be great potential to educate the campus about a relatively unknown problem with this project.”

Pilarski said her class is a learning-based experience in order to teach students how to apply classroom knowledge to their extracurricular activities.

“The students in this class are studying the intersection of faith, justice and action this semester,” she said. “We use the praxis cycle in our course, which connects experience, social analysis and action.”

The class project aims to help students understand the importance of working for social justice in our society through the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, Crowe said.

“This class looks into Catholic Social Thought and how crucial it is for us to apply what we learn in class to real life,” Crowe said.

Crowe and her classmates have created several events and projects to spread awareness about human trafficking.

The class held a Tuesday showing of the documentary “The Dark Side of Chocolate,” which discusses the ways chocolate companies like Nestlé and Hershey’s work with African cocoa plantation owners who use child trafficking to produce cocoa for those companies.

Crowe said the students also sent postcards to U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly that included shocking, little-known statistics of human trafficking and petitioned Donnelly to fight against human trafficking in Indiana and the United States.

Crowe said the students are also negotiating with Dining Services to have fair trade chocolate sold at Cyber Café next semester to help the student body make socially responsible consumer choices.

“So far, we have gotten a really good response,” Crowe said. “People seem genuinely interested in starting something on campus to end human trafficking.”

Despite the group’s initial success, Crowe said the group still wants to accomplish more, especially with involvement of the South Bend community in their efforts. By next fall, the group hopes to have an organized club on campus.

“We all have a responsibility to help these people,” Crowe said. “Our choices as consumers can affect the livelihoods of children and others around the world.”