Brown and White Vol. 125 no. 22

              Vol. 125 No. 22 Tuesday, November 26, 2013 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
SPORTS
Football loses PL
championship game
Page 12
ONLINE
Poll: Are you
professional on social
media?
‘No Shave
November’
Page 5
LIFESTYLE
Bed Races raise LU spirit
despite being cut short
Lehigh runs annual Turkey Trot
Discussion
focuses on U.S.
culture shock
By CHRISTINA
CAVANAUGH
Lehigh-Lafayette week’s
pre-rivalry game activities
concluded with the annual Bed
Races—hosted by the Associa-tion
of Student Alumni—last
Friday evening at the foot of
the University Center front
lawn.
Though originally slated
to run from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.,
the event ended early due to
“technical difficulties,” as an-nounced
by its emcee, Ryan
Spirko, ’16. Therefore, the
bracket was unable to progress
past the second round of races,
so no team won for speed;
however, three “best-dressed”
teams were crowned in lieu of
a champion.
ESPNU Road Trip came
to the event to film one of the
oldest-standing pre-rivalry tra-ditions.
Cameramen captured
footage by filming down the
straightaway, attaching cam-eras
to beds and even running
alongside the beds themselves
as they were pushed down the
makeshift track that ran along
the bottom of the front lawn.
A steady drizzle kept up
See BED RACES Page 2
By XAVIER COUSENS
“To breed acceptance, be
yourselves,” said Francisca
Onyioke, ’15, regarding co-hesion
among international
and domestic students dur-ing
a discussion last Friday
afternoon.
Lehigh’s struggle with ac-knowledging
and understand-ing
cultural differences has
not been a secret this semes-ter,
and some students came
together at the Women’s
Center to address this reality
in a discussion called “Cul-ture
and Gender Shock When
Coming to America.”
Several students shared
experiences about living
abroad and major differences
in behaviors.
Makima Wilkinson, ’16,
of the U.S. Virgin Islands,
shared her life as a “half-in-ternational”
student.
She said the Virgin Islands
differ significantly from the
U.S.
Some examples of Ameri-cans
and foreigners misun-derstanding
each other that
were discussed at the event
are greeting elders and the
use of formal titles (e.g. Mr.,
Mrs., etc.), welfare policy and
failure to grasp diversity in
the U.S.
Participants then asked
where the issue of misunder-standing
of cultures come
from.
Students at the discus-sion
commented that many
stereotypes come from the
media. The general consensus
from attendees regarding the
media was that the U.S. and
other nations never really get
to see the broad spectrum of
foreign territory.
Director of Student Activi-ties
Aarsenio Perry said this
can lead to being surrounded
and treated like a celebrity in
another country, but can also
lead to division among stu-dent
bodies at universities.
The topic that “Culture
and Gender Shock” gave
importance to was finding
a remedy for the divide be-tween
Americans and for-eigners
or for the detrimental
environment for international
See CULTURE Page 4
By SAMANTHA TOMASZEWSKI
Dressed in costumes and crazy outfits, more than
400 students, staff and faculty members participated
in the 57th annual Turkey Trot Thursday afternoon.
The event is one of the oldest Lehigh-Lafayette
week traditions.
The runners began at Packer Memorial Church,
jogged up “the hill”—passing fraternity and sorority
houses and residence halls—then looped back down
the hill to finish on the University Center’s front
lawn.
The race measures 2.6 miles in length, although
the route changes from year to year. In past years
the race began on the Maginnes lawn and attracted
more than 800 participants.
This year, Robert Galante, ’17, finished in first
place with a time of 13:01; Brandon Fritz, ’15, fin-ished
second with a time of 13:51; and Chris Barry,
’16, finished third with a time of 13:58.
Students were able to sign up for the race in
teams; groups formed based on sports teams, resi-dence
halls and groups of friends.
The top three team runner scores were “men’s
running club,” “rowing D” and “men’s running club
2.”
Team scores were determined by adding the
numbers of the finishing positions of the top five
members on each team, similar to the scoring of a
cross-country meet.
Runners’ spirits were high as everyone gathered
outside of Packer chapel around 4 p.m. to prepare
for the race.
Students were dressed in capes, hats, a chicken
suit, morph suits, fur vests and other eye-catching
items.
Everyone who finished the race received a t-shirt;
some runners even said their main motivation
for running the race was to receive a shirt.
Jane Josephson, director of intramural sports,
was responsible for organizing the event.
“Planning the event takes a lot of cooperation
between many different groups on campus,” she
said.
Planning for the Turkey Trot started in Septem-ber;
campus police, transportation, university com-munications,
campus athletics, football coordinators
and student workers are just some of the important
groups that make the Turkey Trot possible every
year.
Josephson is very dedicated to this event, and
this was Josephson’s 25th year working to keep the
Turkey Trot alive.
“There are very few traditions left,” she said.
Josephson was assisted by Doug Strange, direc-tor
of fitness, who helped promote the Turkey Trot,
manage tasks throughout the event, and enter data
afterwards. This was Strange’s 22nd time working
the event.
Three years ago, a competitor race was created
to go along with the Turkey Trot entitled “Too Hot
to Trot.”
This year, about 40 faculty and staff members
ran the “Too Hot to Trot” race.
See TROT Page 4
n The race around Lehigh’s campus
had participants racing for glory and
bragging rights Thursday afternoon.
Photo courtesy of ANDREW LAW
“Team Pac-Man” prepares for its first-round race. The team was one of three to win the title
of “Best Dressed” at the event’s premature end, brought about by technical difficulties.