[Editor’s Note: the following article contains spoilers. Proceed with caution.]

Only two episodes into the ten-episode season, HBO’s Game of Thrones has exceeded expectations for any viewer and is on its way to being the highest-viewed series. Thus far, the bulk of the plot has happened with Westeros and has left many of secondary characters static.

The season premieres in Kings Landing, fresh off a victory over the Stark’s where viewers can still vividly picture the Red Wedding, the mass slaughtering of Stark soldiers at the Twins that left Robb, his then-pregnant wife Talisa and his mother Catelyn dead from the ending of season three.

Characters seem as normal: Tywin shows his continual disappointment with his kin, Cersei is a manipulative, power-hungry mongrel, Sansa falls further in depression with the news of her brother and mother’s death, and Joffrey is, well, Joffrey.

Soon, the audience meets the first new character of the season, Prince Oberyn Martell, sent over in-place of his older brother Doran, for the forthcoming royal wedding between Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell. Oberyn though has made it quite clear to Tyron during their walk through King’s Landing that the Lannisters are not the only ones who settle their debts.

Elsewhere, Daenerys and her army are setting out for the city of Meereen, the last of the three great slave cities as she looks to solidify her army. In the premiere though, Daenerys displays concerns as her dragons have not only grown in size but also in aggression.

Her counselor warns her of being able to keep the dragons tamed. Additionally, he advises her to make sure that she can stand in the shoes of the people she has freed from slavery. She needs an army that respects her and her authority, and the best and quickest way to do that is empathize and understand a person’s culture and background.

In the Riverlands, having escaped from the Twins unharmed, the Hound tells Arya he intends to take her to Arya’s Aunt. On the way, Arya recognizes the man who stole her sword and used it to kill her friend, Loomy.

Vengeful, Arya forces the Hound to follow, and they ultimately reek havoc on the man and his men. Arya retrieves her sword and acts as Karma, killing the man in the same manner he had killed Loomy. Her stoicism has dramatically leaped from seasons past and proves she is not the girl from only a few episodes before.

The next episode then features the actual Royal Wedding, come to be known as the Purple Wedding. Things go as the viewer expects, there is the wedding, then an lavishly-overdone reception afterwards. Margery is kind as always and tries to mask the awfulness that is Joffrey.

Outside the reception, Cersei and Tywin have a sass-off with Prince Oberyn and his lover, Ellaria.  After coming to congratulate Margery on her marriage to Joffrey, Brienne of Tarth shares a furtive glance with Jamie.

Cersei though, having admitted that her feelings for brother have been complicated due to his prolonged absence, nonetheless catches the moment between the two then quickly swoops in as nothing less than a smelly, haggard bitch troublemaker and confronts Brienne.

A key foreshadowing occurs when Lady Olenna approaches Sansa over the death of her brother and mother. Olenna offers her condolences and criticizes a man who would dare destroy the sanctity of one’s wedding day, a nice jab on her continual line of sarcasm. The reception intensifies when Joffrey forces Tyron to be his personal server, as he toys with his uncle, mocking his small stature, and even pours his glass of wine on Tyron’s head.

For those who read the books, they could see as the climax of the wedding approached. For those who only watch the series, they were met with one of the most satisfying moments in the entire series. Something that every fan of the show had long waited for, yet did not anticipate: the death of King Joffrey.

The King, yelling as he always does, suddenly gets choked-up, gasping for air as blood quickly trickles down his nose and fills his eyes. Cersei leaps up to help, but all she can do is hold her bastard child as he takes his final breath.  Then, black. That is it. The episode has ended.

Mass jubilee quickly filled social networks as thousands praised the ending and its meaning within the series. The preview for the upcoming episode to air on Sunday looks like they will get right back to it, as Cersei demands her guards arrest her brother, Tyron, for the murder of the King, as Sansa finally makes her flee from Kings Landing.

While that story continues to unravel, the audience still has many unanswered questions with what is forthcoming in Kings Landing and abroad, which cannot be answered soon enough

Either way, it looks like Cersei’s earlier words still stand strong: ‘When you play the game of thrones, you either win, or you die.’

Another March is in the books, with a new college basketball team reigning supreme. March Madness brought everything it usually does this year and more. We saw Davids take down Goliaths. We saw Cinderellas make a run for the title. And luckily, we didn’t see any bones this year.

The National Title game featured two college basketball powerhouses: the University of Kentucky Wildcats against the University of Connecticut Huskies. These two teams are known for bringing great basketball teams to the court each and every year. The two teams now have a combined 12 national championships and have produced NBA stars John Wall (UK), Anthony Davis (UK) and Rudy Gay (UConn).

Kentucky and Uconn found themselves in uncharted waters this year. The team usually find itself as one of the higher seeds in the tournament. However, this year, UConn was a seven seed and Kentucky was an eight. No one in their right mind could have guessed that these two teams would be the ones standing at the final game in Dallas.

UConn was the last team standing when all was said and done and they had the honor of cutting down the nets. They will forever have the title as the 2014 Men’s NCAA Basketball National Champions, but were they really the best team in the nation?

If you were to tell me that the Huskies would be National Champions after their showing against Louisville on March 8th and again on March 15th, I would’ve called you a fool. The Huskies got absolutely embarrassed by the Cardinals 81-48 in their regular season finale. Yes, the eventual National Champions lost by 33 points only one month prior to winning the title. UConn got a chance to redeem themselves a week later against the same Louisville team that had just annihilated them. How could a team that had been embarrassed this badly possibly have any momentum going into the tournament?

Let’s go back to the very beginning of the tournament. The Huskies found themselves matched up with the Saint Joseph’s Hawks. UConn got a pretty lucky draw with this one right? Wrong. Saint Joe’s gave the huskies all that they could handle. With a star like Shabazz Napier on your team, you should have no trouble against a small school. UConn needed overtime to beat the Hawks.

It is sort of funny to me how the eventual National Champions struggled as mightily they did. Isn’t your first round game supposed to be one of your easier games? I mean c’mon, its UConn vs. Saint Joe’s. Four national titles to Saint Joseph’s zero. After seeing this performance, there was no way they were going to or even deserved to make it past the next round.

UConn went on to beat a shorthanded Iowa State team and a Michigan State team that played its sloppiest game  in all tournaments. At the end of the day, the Huskies will always be the 2014 National Champions, but I think luck had more to do with it than skill. They got lucky to escape an underdog Saint Joe’s team. They got lucky that one of Iowa State’s top players, Georges Niang, fractured his foot and was unable to play in the tournament. They got lucky that they found a Michigan State team that played its sloppiest game of the tournament and a Florida team that had their worst shooting game of the season.

Of course, with winning a championship in any sport, you need a little luck. We saw not the best team win the National Championship this year, but the luckiest.

This past weekend, the Tech softball team faced North Carolina in a three game series including a doubleheader on Saturday.

It all started with Senior Day in game one where Seniors Hayley Downs, Ashley Thomas, Kaitlin Kates and Alysha Rudnik were all recognized. In a game that was close for the first three innings, things finally opened up for the Jackets after Katie Johnsky hit a pinch hit RBI triple to score pinch runner Alexis Jones. Seniors Thomas and Downs combined with the next two RBIs in the inning with a RBI single and triple. Ashley Thomas later batted in Lionberger, and Downs scored the last run on a RBI double from fellow Senior Rudnik.

Starting pitcher Kylie Kleinschmidt earned the win on her way to a 13-9 record, scattering four hits and two runs in the complete game. UNC’s Tori Spingola, sister of Daniel Spingola, picked up the lost. Tech won the game 6-2.

After a close game one, game two was a little more dramatic. UNC jumped out to an early 6-0 lead. However, the Jackets showed some toughness and mounted a comeback. In the bottom of the third, the Jackets exploded with 7 runs on six hits.

It all started with three straight singles by Chelsie Thomas, Lionberger and Johnsky, who later scored on a RBI single and a two RBI single from Downs and Rudnik. Cabrales drew a walk to load the bases once again. With two outs, Pierannunzi capped of a great inning with a grand slam. The Jackets placed two more runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth.

Sophomore Ashley Clifton picked up her first win in relief and Cabrales picked up her first save.

The two game sweep placed an end to the seven game losing streak, including three to in state rivals UGA, KSU and Georgia State.

Going for the series sweep on Sunday, the Jackets sent Kleinschmidt back to the circle. UNC followed suit and sent Spingola back in. In a game that was truly close throughout, the Jackets fell after an eight run seventh inning. Each batter for the Jackets gained a hit in the hard fought game with the exception of one. The Jackets would total 14 hits matching UNC.

Kleinschmidt pitched 6.0 innings allowing ten hits and five earned runs in a losing effort.

Coming all the way from Stockholm, Sweden, for an American tour, alternative rock band NONONO opened for Twenty One Pilots at the Tabernacle last Thursday night.

The three permanent members met and formed the band in Spring 2012, recorded some demos and was signed to Warner Music Records shortly after.

The band’s debut single “Pumpin’ Blood” charted on the U.S. Billboard 200 with a peak position at the 22nd spot in U.S. alternative music and 32nd spot in U.S. pop. The single is being further promoted and will likely continue to chart; for example, the song is featured on EA Sports’ 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil video game. With a unique sound and strong label backing, the band looks set to continue to grow and gain in popularity.

Their set began with an eerie sound clip playing while the band walked on stage. The band was relatively unknown to the crowd and thus many people had no idea what to expect. The guitarist introduced themselves as “We are NONONO from Sweden!” and the band immediately began playing.

Vocalist Stina Wappling sang about the frustrations of life and of love won and lost. The band’s opening song “Human Being” features the catchy chorus “I’m losing all this time,” as Wappling sings about how she feels like a fool for falling in love.

Helped by exceptional drumming and bass, this song instantly catches attention. The keyboard in the background also contributes to making this an entertaining song.

The next song “Jungle” further displays the band’s unique sound. This song was Wappling’s standout track of the night as her vocals were exceptional and very catchy, as she sings about rejecting a potential lover. “Please go back to the jungle where you came from… Take your hands off me, take your hands off me.”

The band continued to play songs with verses to dance to which also have insanely catchy choruses. The band played “Like the Wind,” another song off their debut EP Pumpin Blood. The band then played a couple relatively unknown songs before playing their hit single “Pumpin Blood.” This song was a hit with the crowd as it was the most recognizable song. The crowd was dancing and really enjoyed the band’s performance.

The standout member of the band had to be their drummer. He was energetic, constantly standing up, flipping drumsticks and noticeably having a good time. The band was somewhat energetic and interacted with the crowd by getting the audience to clap along to drumbeats and the bass.

The crowd reaction was largely indifferent for the first half of the set, but it was much improved by its end, as the crowd was dancing and clapping along to the music.

Before playing their final song, the guitarist said it was his birthday, to which the crowd gave a loud cheer and yelled happy birthday, and it was evident he and the rest of the band really enjoyed their set.

All in all, the crowd enjoyed NONONO’s performance, confirming the fact that this is a band that deserves wider attention.

I am writing in response to the article in the Friday, April 4th 2014 publication of the Technique. The piece was reviewed by an Editorial Board that made their evaluation on a single, hot-button issue, with pre-determined biases towards the way the Roseen-Banner ticket approached that issue. Make no mistake: there is nothing more damaging to the integrity of our student life than sexual assault. However, an approach that includes hearing sexual assault cases in front of the Undergraduate Judiciary Cabinet is no less insensitive than an approach which puts these hearings in front of a different judicial body. It is simply a matter of competing views on how to best serve the men and women who are affected by this tragedy. I am friends with Dillon and know Brandie well; Yvonne and I share exactly the same goals as their team does when it comes to assault. Our differences lie solely in how best to achieve those goals, not the degree to which they damage our community. The Board neglects to recognize this distinction entirely, and crassly describes our position as ”insensitive.”

The writers also demonstrate a blatant failure to evaluate my team’s experience while waxing poetical about the achievements of our competition. I have been the Class President my freshman, sophomore, and junior years. I currently serve as the Undergraduate Treasurer in SGA and I have served as the Institute-Wide Committees chair my sophomore year, responsible for overseeing the 30+ campus committees that represent student opinion to the administration on select campus issues.  Yvonne has been involved with Model United Nations, Nothin’ But Treble, Omicron Delta Kappa, Freshman Activities Board, President’s Council Governing Board, GT Ambassadors, Ivan Allen Ambassadors, and Executive Round Table. Have I mentioned that she was also an intern for Senator Saxby Chambliss, bringing our team’s experience far beyond the boundaries of Tech’s campus? There is no doubt that Dillon and Brandie are accomplished members of our student body as well, but any fair evaluation would reveal that the Bandes-Ploder team’s experience is far more extensive.

The Technique clearly began their assessment of this race with a pre-determined favorite. I am unclear on the composition of the board’s staff or the individual(s) biases that may have been held before the piece was written. But any fair evaluation would’ve included an analysis of all of the issues on the table, including faculty-student relations, campus cuisine, mental health, a Student Center renovation, and our innovative approach to Roadmap for Success, which would affect the lives of every single student who enters our campus gates. Apparently, none of these issues are flashy enough to gain the respect of a Board, who would prefer to sensationalize a single issue at the expense of a more robust, comprehensive analysis of the teams’ qualifications. A visit to our respective teams’ web pages will give a better overview of the choices in front of this year’s student voters than the quickly-written analysis done by the leaders of our student paper.

Sincerely,

Alex Bandes

Junior Class President & Treasurer

Student Government Association

$1,632.  What does that number mean to you?  Is it a round-trip ticket to a research conference in London?  Is it car repairs?  Is it the cost of having your child on your health insurance?  Maybe it is food or rent for two months?  These are some of the choices made by graduate students when it comes to a stipend level that is rapidly being dwarfed by increasing costs of living, as well as those of graduate enrollment.

$1,632 reflects the annual burden of the Special Institutional Fee (SIF).  This one fee alone represents the loss of an entire paycheck for us.  It forces us to ask whether we should take out additional loans.

Some of us could, but keep in mind that many graduate students fall into one of two categories: Either  we entered Tech with undergrad debt and are quickly approaching dangerous levels of life-long debt, or we are international students and do not have the same access to student loans.  In addition to the incredible financial burden, this fee imposes is the knowledge that it was implemented in lieu of a tuition increase due to HOPE, an undergraduate-only scholarship.

The results of a survey to which nearly half the graduate population responded were presented to President Peterson and key members of his cabinet at the end of March.  The administrators listened as they were shown testimonials describing how dire the grad experience is: How many of us need to choose between living in safe areas and affordable rent, buying food for our families or paying fees or how many seek external employment (beyond the “normal” 50-70 hours on campus) simply to make ends meet.

At the end of the presentation, we lobbied for reanalysis of cost of living in Atlanta, uniform language including cost of fees on acceptance letters across all schools and that they recommend to the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents to roll the SIF into grad tuition over a multiyear period.  This last request specified a desired reduction of $94 per semester effective Fall 2014, bringing the total to $450 per semester, in line with the next closest USG universities.

After over a week of silence, an official response was provided.  The administration will be performing a cost analysis to benchmark our financial package with those of peer institutions taking “tuition, fees, medical coverage, etc.” into consideration. This is to see if we are losing prospective recruits, even though faculty and student testimonials stated that we are.  Additionally, they are progressing on unifying acceptance letter language so those would-be students know about the fee rates.

But what of existing students, you ask? The administration says that they will “continue to work with the System office staff and Regents to advocate that all or part of the SIF be rolled into tuition for graduate students. Again, we must tell you that it appears unlikely for that to happen anytime soon, but the President is supportive of that and will continue to work toward it.”

From our perspective, this is not acceptable. Given this is not a new issue and that the mandatory fees have only increased in the past five years, the lack of a proposed immediate action plan for reducing fees does not bode well.

Many graduate students at Tech are suffering a financial crisis right now and we do not believe our request is unreasonable or unwarranted. Given our excessive mandatory fee burden, to not see even this minimal request elicit immediate action adds insult to injury.

This is far from over.  Senator Johnathan Lyon, candidate for Graduate President, has declared his intent to continue this fight. He will not be alone as the Graduate Student Government Association continues to pursue every option for reducing the burden of the SIF on our fellow students.

We will continue to be the voice that you need and deserve.

Chancellor Huckaby and members of the Board of Regents, if you stand by your statement that “Maintaining affordable tuition and fees remains one of the highest priorities of the University System of Georgia,” listen to Tech graduate students.  Listen to President Peterson and Tech Administrators.  Reduce the SIF for graduate students at Tech!

On Saturday, March 29, Tech students awoke bright and early to volunteer their time and efforts to the sixteenth annual Tech Beautification Day (TBD).

While it may seem rare for college students to wake up so early and even rarer for them to agree to do hard labor, Tech Beautification Day draws hundreds of students across campus. With full stomachs, tools in hand and a passion for service in their hearts, the students marched out to their various stations. There, they spent a morning in the sun wholeheartedly working to improve Tech’s campus.

Jessica Webster, a fourth-year ISyE major, served as a co-chair for the event. She has served on the TBD Executive Board all four years of her undergraduate career and believes without a doubt its one of the worthiest contributions she has made to Tech.

“These past four years have been very rewarding…not to mention, a lot of fun,” Webster said.

While all the students work towards beautifying campus, different groups work on different projects around campus. Webster, however, does have her favorite ones.

“Every year, TBD does 80 plus projects around the [Tech] community. A couple projects that have been standouts for me would have to be ones that entail painting murals or planting trees,” Webster explained. “Projects like these allow volunteers to leave their mark on Tech for years to come, which I think is pretty unique and exciting.”

Gabrielle Lupacchino, a first-year BA major, was proud of her contribution to Tech’s campus.

“When we were planting these golden flowers near the Biotech Quad, one of the many landscape workers who works to keep Tech’s campus beautiful said with great pleasure, ‘In a year, you will look at Tech and see this sea of beautiful gold flowers and you’ll remember you did that.’ Tech Beautification Day made me realize that we aren’t just making our campus beautiful, but we are helping others, like this man, achieve the beautiful vision he sees for Tech, and a vision that we should see, too. Tech Beautification Day is one step towards that vision,” Lupacchino said.

Despite the success of this year’s TBD, Webster’s favorite memory comes from 2012.

That year, President G. P. “Bud” Peterson was a guest at the Morning Celebrations. Peterson easily captivated and motivated students to seek out service opportunities, and he was eager to compliment and recognize the hard work of past and future TBD participants.

According to Webster, there are more reasons than service for students to participate in TBD. Volunteers are offered a free breakfast, lunch, snacks, t-shirt and numerous give-aways. Even more, Buzz, the Ramblin’ Wreck and WREK Radio are also known to make appearances from time to time.

While TBD itself lasts, not surprisingly, just one day, the preparations for the event take nearly all year.

While most of the students sign up to volunteer just a month or even days before the event, the TBD Executive board will begin work for next year’s event in September.

“The most challenging task the 2014 TBD Executive Board undertook this year was trying to find the balance between recruiting volunteers and creating projects for them to work on. You don’t want to have more of one than the other,” Webster said.

TBD is an annual event where faculty, staff, students and alumni can join forces to improve the Tech that everyone sees day-to-day.

It is a tangible, effective and visible improvement students can admire and remember for  years to come.

On Friday, March 28, the Office of Student Integrity (OSI) disbanded the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity at Tech until May 15, 2017, effectively ending the organization’s right to be recognized as a Chartered Student Organization and requiring that the chapter premises be vacated before May 6.

These sanctions take place almost five months after the chapter was placed on probation following the ubiquitous “rape bait” email.

Based on its investigations in the case, OSI found multiple instances where the chapter violated the rules set forth by that probationary letter that have occurred since the original probation began on Nov. 1, 2013.

The first violation occurred when two fraternity members, one of whom was Matthew Petersen, the author of the “rape bait” email, furnished alcohol to minors, according to GTPD Incident Report 14020433. Both Petersen and the other fraternity member were underage at that time and also consumed alcohol. This was in clear violation of section C1a of the Student Code of Conduct, which prohibits underage use or possession of alcohol.

According to the official letter from OSI to the fraternity that was obtained by the Technique, additional reasons for Phi Kappa Tau’s dismissal include a “pattern of sexual violence that…suggests a deep-rooted culture within the fraternity that is obscene, indecent and endangers women,” the nonremoval of fraternity members who pose a risk to others and other incidents where drinking was permitted in chapter meetings. This is corroborated by various chapter meeting minutes and emails obtained by the Technique from the OSI.

*TRIGGER WARNING: The following text contains strong language and graphic descriptions of sexual violence.* 

We are so honored to be running for Student Body President and Vice-President. Our positive experiences at Tech over the last few years have encouraged us to empower other students to become leaders on campus, in the community and eventually the world.

Beyond our roles on the Executive Cabinet of SGA, we have invested our time in implementing several campus-wide initiatives. Dillon was on FASET Cabinet, is a Tech Student Ambassador and created Friday Buzz. Brandie is a Peer Leader (PL), a founder of Wreckless and has helped create programs such as a service project at FASET.

To enhance student experience, we will focus on student life, campus infrastructure, technology access and SGA revitalization.

Improving student life covers many issues. Some key initiatives we will work on include promoting student-faculty relationships, academic calendar restructuring, bettering GT1000, creating a stronger sense of community, fostering Tech pride and expanding counseling programs.

Improvements to campus infrastructure can  be made. We are committed to accelerating the student center expansion and library renovation and support bike-friendly roads.

On-campus technology systems can also be improved. A robust addition of resources and services to JacketPages is needed for to better student organizations. We plan to expand CIOS and StartUp Initiatives to complement academics. And new systems like a centralized campus calendar would be created.

SGA has great potential to do a more effective job serving you. By investing in our members’ leadership development they will be able to serve you better. Increasing transparency and communication with campus will also forward SGA’s mission to improve the student experience.

We love Tech and see opportunity for growth. Thanks for your consideration. To join the movement or read our full platform, visit roseenbanner.com. We promise to better your college experience.

—Dillon Roseen & Brandie Banner

The month of March is coming to a close, but featured numerous activities hosted by the Women’s Resource Center in celebration of Women’s Awareness Month (WAM). Events were kicked off with Women’s Day of Service (WDS), when roughly 80 of Tech students went throughout metro Atlanta and volunteered with charities that focus on helping women and children.

This year’s event featured keynote speaker Amy Phuong, Chief Service Officer for Atlanta, Tech alumna and former SGA vice president, and a catered breakfast by the Flying Biscuit for participants.

The event went smoothly, but a lot happens in preparation for the day of service.

“We start in the fall, working with the general WAM committee to come up with a theme and goals for WAM in general and getting a speaker for WDS,” said Gwen Hughes, chair of WDS. “Spring is our crunch time—we start pulling the projects together, setting up registration, getting all of the logistics like catering and location confirmed.”

For Hughes, her Co-Chair Katie McCoy and many others, the week before the day of service is when the workload really increases.

“That’s when 90 percent of our volunteers sign up, so we’re busy trying to make sure all of the projects are evenly full and we have enough drivers,” Hughes said. “That’s also when we start getting a decent idea of what the weather is going to be like and if we need rain contingency plans. There’s a lot of caffeine that week.”

Women’s Day of Service was the kickoff to the month, sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center.

Other events included the Vagina Monologues, a production designed to celebrate both women’s strength and sexuality and to educate people on different attitudes towards violence against women, as well as Take Back the Night, a candle light vigil in honor of sexual assault survivors.

Finally, there was the Clothesline Project, which gave those with stories the opportunity to share them confidentially.

When the Women’s Day of Service finally came, volunteers set out to places which included the Atlanta Community Food Bank, the Luke Project, the Hope Store, Hosea Feed the Hungry, the Atlanta Community ToolBank and MedShare.

It seemed like once everything started moving, the effort that went into making such an event happen ended up paying off.

“Being involved with WDS and WAM have been some of my favorite moments at Tech. For WDS, it’s amazing to see male and female students come out to support Atlanta charities that help women and children, and just to see how awesome and passionate Tech students are about giving back,” Hughes said.

Volunteers for this year’s day of service were also given complimentary t-shirts, which featured this year’s WDS logo. The logo for the event was the diversity tree, which seemed to work perfectly with the message of the club.

“It’s kind of this idea that one person doing one small act can contribute to a larger picture and make a significant change,” Hughes said.

“That’s kind of the theme of WDS in a nutshell- that together, all of us can make a huge contribution in the local community by working together.”