Where have all the students gone?

Where have all the students gone?
Jackson Shoaff-Bembry

“More and more I can’t even go to the bars because I look in my wallet and realize I have rent due in a week”

Ian Jones walks into the bar and a look of disappointment instantly crosses his face as he scans the crowd before him. His demeanor becomes standoffish and it seems as though someone just told him his dog had died. The bar is by no means empty but it is also no close to being full.

This is a trend that has been making its way throughout most old town bars in recent years. Jones isn’t the only one to be stricken by this inexplicable wave of disappointment upon entering a bar.

In actuality all of downtown Fort Collins seems to have fallen prey to this sweeping depression. What could be the cause? That seems to be the question everyone has been asking.

Throughout the past two years old town bars have seen a steady decline in the amount of patrons that frequent their establishments. Even the new bars have outgrown the honeymoon stage and are beginning to feel the pressure. So what happened?

The students are still here and there have been some of the largest classes in school history going through Colorado State University, so where is everyone? Many opinions have been brought to the table but the leader seems to be the economy. With the decline in expendable resources many believe hard times means less fun and less money spent at the bars.

Washington’s Sports Bar and Grill used to bring in between 700 to 900 people through the door on an average Thursday night. Currently they will be lucky to see 300. They aren’t the only ones. Drunken Monkey, Tony’s, Lucky Joes, Beach House, Bondi Beach Bar, and even Sports Exchange have all seen declines in persons through the door. Bar owner Shane Belcher believes the economy may be one of the largest factors to the decline in business.

“Everyone knows the economy is down and without their parents helping them out students might just be realizing they have other things they need to spend their money on,” says Belcher.

Even students are realizing that hard times mean cutting back on certain recreational activities. CSU student Ian Salmela believes it is about deciding what is important rather than what is fun.

“More and more I can’t even go to the bars because I look in my wallet and realize I have rent due in a week,” says Salmela.

Some believe it may also be due to self-preservation. With old town being a long walk for most students and with so many DUI’s being handed out around campus many students are choosing to go out closer to home. West campus seems to be the new destination for students as CSU student Nate Fitch believes.

“It’s closer it’s cheaper and I have less of a chance to get in to trouble on this side of town,” said Fitch referring to west campus.

Bars such as Mo Jeaux’s, C.B. and Potts, Road 34, and Ma’s Juice bar have been seeing increases in their numbers even with the slow economy. Specials such as four for ones and dollar beers have become the staple of what students on a budget have been thriving on. West campus is slowly becoming the new down town, a trend that worries many bar owners in old town.

The economy and convenience seem to be the leading reasons for the lack of participation in old town bars but there is another reason that others are taking stock in. Students in general seem to be more focused on their academics rather than the stereotypical party scene so prevalent in movies relating to college. When asked where all of his friends were, Ian Jones was quick to answer that the majority of his friends have taken up to studying on Fridays and Saturdays. Jones classified the trend of studying as lame and crazy.

“I remember going to the bars when you couldn’t even move, and that was every bar in town,” Jones said, “Saturdays are supposed to be a day to relax not study, I just don’t get it.”

Some students may not like it and the bar owners definitely don’t like it but perhaps this new trend of academics over partying is a positive thing. With some of the highest DUI arrests in the country and with incidents in old town such as the riots after the Earth Wind and Fire concert, maybe it is time for a change in what it means to have the college experience. Maybe with these hard times we will see a social shift that promotes the student who is more about getting good grades than being hung-over every Sunday.

Hoops improves, but falls short

How do you measure success?

Is it by how far you’ve come? Or how you fell short of your goals?

The CSU men’s basketball team went 19-13 on the season, and finished fourth in the Mountain West Conference before losing in the first-round of the MWC tournament and again in the first game of the National Invitational Tournament.

Coach Tim Miles and his players said all season long that their goal was to “make the NCAA tournament and win when we get there.”

Based on that, the season was a failure. But when you consider that just a couple of years ago, CSU basketball went winless in 16 conference games, it’s not hard to look at being in contention for a NCAA tournament spot as a success.

“I’m proud of our kids. We’ve brought our program a long way,” Miles said. “We’re going to continue to try and get better.”

Not only did this Ram team show great improvement from years past, they also put a stamp on being one of the more successful teams in program history.

The 19-win plateau was reached for only the 10th time in program history, the first since the 2002-03 team which went to the NCAA tournament. The Rams also set a program record for MWC victories with nine.

Perhaps the greatest signal of growth for CSU basketball came in week 15 of the Associated Press top-25 poll when the Rams received five votes, marking the third consecutive week the team received votes.

CSU also enjoyed two sellout crowds at Moby during the season, the first time since 1990 the Rams had two sellouts in a season.

Along the way, notable high points included a six game win streak early in the season. Part of the winning streak was a championship in Cancun Governor’s Cup.
But late in the season, CSU faltered.

After looking like they were going to finish third in the conference and earn an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament, the Rams faded down the stretch, losing six of their last seven games.

The late fade kept CSU out of the NCAA tournament and gave them a first-round NIT game at Moby Arena against Fairfield University.

But that didn’t go as planned, either. The Rams lost their first-round game 62-60.

“I’m very proud of our program. I’m very proud of our kids. We have made steps forward,” Miles said. “But I don’t think anybody thinks that ending the way we ended is good enough. There’s not one person associated with our program that thinks the way it went down is good enough. Nineteen wins is not enough. The NIT one and out is not good enough.”

The Rams will now try to build off of the season. But it won’t be easy.
CSU will lose four seniors to graduation, Andre McFarland, Adam Nigon, Andy Ogide, and Travis Franklin.

Nigon, Ogide and Franklin are all starters and account for about 35 points per game. Ogide in particular will be tough to replace. He set down a mark as the best big man at CSU since current New Orleans Hornet Jason Smith and was named first-team all-MWC this season.

Of the players currently on the roster, the only two players listed as taller than 6-6 are 7-foot center Trevor Williams and 6-10 center Chad Calcaterra. Neither of them has played a minute of college basketball. Williams will be a redshirt sophomore next year, while Calcaterra will be a redshirt freshman.

The Rams success will likely hinge on the play of a slew of to-be-juniors. Dorian Green, Wes Eikmeier, Jesse Carr, Pierce Hornung and Greg Smith all played significant minutes this season. Now they have to become the leaders of the program. And they are ready to do what’s necessary to reach the top.

“I know myself, I’m going to work really hard (in the offseason). I feel like we left a bunch of games out there,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of things that we all as a team need to work on, there should be a lot of incentives that we don’t want to leave our seniors out like this. We want to hit our goals.”

Driving high in Colorado could get you charged with DUI

Driving high in Colorado could now get you charged with DUI
Amanda Surber




On Tuesday the Colorado State House passed a bill that would allow people who are deemed “too high to drive” to potentially be issued a DUI. This would measure the amount of the chemical THC that is found in the driver’s bloodstream.

There are already laws in place that make it illegal for drivers to drive under the influence of any drug, but this bill looks to set real numbers that identify who is too high to be operating a car.

This idea is similar to measuring the amount of alcohol found in a driver’s bloodstream (the legal limit for alcohol is .08 in Colorado). THC levels will be measured by a blood test, if a driver has more than five nanograms per milliliter of the component in their blood, they will be considered too high to drive.

The bill was passed by the House and is off to the Senate and did so with a count of 51-14 on Wednesday. The bill is now on its way to State Senate to see if it can be made into a law.

This bill may have passed with ease, but controversy is inevitable. Many people, users and non-users believe that this bill is cracking down too hard.

“This (bill) just goes too far, the state should not be able to penalize you for driving high on the same level as an alcohol based DUI, they aren’t even on the same playing field,” said junior history major Edward Eide. “Driving while high is different from driving drunk, each have their own risk level, so it is ridiculous to have the same penalty for both,” said Eide.

Others agree with him but also state that there is an issue of safety whilst driving under the influence of marijuana. “I think it would be harder to measure the effects of “being high,” but driving impaired under the influence of any drug, be it alcohol, narcotics or pain killers is a safety issue,” said junior art major Austin McCasland.

Junior communications major Sam Kelley agrees with McCasland by adding, “I think they should definitely be penalized but not to the equivalent of a DUI, and alcohol has proven to be more dangerous than marijuana, so the punishments should reflect the danger accordingly.”

There are proponents of this bill however among the student population. “I feel it is appropriate (to pass this into a law). Driving reaction times are impaired whether you having been drinking or using marijuana, there is still an issue of safety,” said junior journalism major Darian Warden.

This bill was the bi-partisan effort of Democrat Claire Levy and Republican Mark Waller.

(Levy and Waller)


A group that feels targeted by this bill is The Cannabis Therapy Institute, which is a Colorado-based medical marijuana advocacy organization. They state that this bill is, “unfounded... unnecessary and may cause medical marijuana patients to become a target for DUI arrests."

The Cannabis Therapy Institute is urging its members, the public and medical marijuana users to contact their senators and tell them the negative effects that this bill will have on them.

One of their main arguments is the “unfair” forced blood withdrawal that will occur if a driver is suspected of being high. Their website states that, “HB1261 will require a "forced blood draw", forcing anyone suspected of driving under the influence of THC to submit to a blood draw forced by the state. Currently, alcohol levels can be tested through urine, breath or blood. But under the THC/DUI bill, the nanogram count can only come from a forced blood draw.”

The CTI is not trying to stop this bill from becoming a law, they simply want medical marijuana users to be exempt or be held to a different standard than other “high” drivers. They do not want their members targeted and they want more equality to occur.

This bill looks like it is on its way to passing in Colorado Senate and many people in this state will be affected by its outcomes. It will bring safety to some and outrage to others. If passed into a law, this bill could go into effect as early as July 1, 2011.

What? No Fat Lady?

CSU Opera Hits All the Right Notes

By Aliese Willard

“Shows like "The Gondoliers" show that opera can be very much alive: it’s funny, goofy and satirical, it’s not fat women in ugly dresses singing in a language you don’t understand”--Camrenne Dubler, CSU opera singer

Opera.

The word alone has generated plenty of ridicule in pop culture. There are idioms, like “it’s never over ‘til the fat lady sings.” And there are clichés, like Brunhilde, the stout soprano with the Viking helmet that has come to symbolize classic opera (actually a character from Wagner’s opera “The Ring of the Nibelung”).

It’s not a surprise that interest in the craft has dwindled some, mostly because of, as Colorado State University opera singer Camrenne Dubler puts it, “the stigma.”

“The stigma being big stuffy fat women singing in big stuffy ugly dresses,” Dubler said. “And that they just stand and sing. We call it ‘park and bark’ where they stand in one place, they sing, and walk away.”

But at CSU, the mission is to kill the stigma, and that they do. CSU opera is . . . well, fun. And funny. It has frolic, frivolity and farce. Plenty of good f-words.

Brunhilde, the large woman who has come to symbolize opera in pop culture;

The character originated in Wagner’s opera “The Ring of the Nibelung.”

(photo courtesy of www.thewrap.com)

Dubler, a junior music therapy and voice major, starred as Tessa, the lead love interest of a Venetian gondolier in CSU’s latest production, the classic by Gilbert and Sullivan “The Gondoliers” (which is actually considered an ‘operetta,’ meaning an opera with dialogue). The show had four performances between March 4 and 11.

For Dubler, the production is proof that the aging genre can still enthrall audiences. And for a genre that’s been around since the late 16^th century, that’s exciting.

“Shows like The Gondoliers show that opera can be very much alive: it’s funny, goofy and satirical, it’ not fat women in ugly dresses singing in a language you don’t understand,” she said. “I think that given adequate and professional singers, opera can live. It takes a singer to bring it to life.”

Camrenne Dubler as Tessa (left) and Cassie Murray as Casilda (right);

March 11 performance of “The Gondoliers”

Photo courtesy of Cassie Murray

And CSU’s opera is full life: it brims with energy and comic relief. The three hour storyline isn’t meant to be taken seriously. It involves two women marrying Venetian gondoliers, only to discover that they may be royalty, but no one’s sure which one is. And one of them may be married to someone else, but they weren’t aware of it. It’s complicated and over-the-top, but Gilbert and Sullivan were famous for creating storylines with satire and melodrama. And that’s where the cast takes the characters and the cake. You wouldn’t believe opera was fun until you saw the performers: their joy in the show is so obvious, it’s hard for audience members not to climb onstage and join in.

“It’s great fun. (And it’s) great that it’s all in English. It’s a funny, satirical role for the time period,” said Charlie Boehlke, a freshman vocal performance major, who plays the snobby Duke of Plaza Toro in the opera. “Gilbert and Sullivan have a lot of poking fun at the aristocracy and upper class, so I play a rich man who lives with his nose in the air, spends a fortune but has no money at all.”

There are plenty of other hoity-toity British aristocrats in the cast, who sound authentic because the cast practiced speaking in Queen’s English for a week before classes resumed this semester. It’s entertaining on its own to hear them convincingly spout out the old English, including the frequently-used phrase “upon my word!”

But the main draw to watch is, again, the fun. Because in the audience, you get the feeling that the cast members are having as good a time performing as you are watching them.

“I love performing. As soon as I get onstage, when I do anything, I get so natural,” said Anastasia Gray, a freshman vocal performance major and chorus girl in the show. “I love sharing the expression and emotion of my character with the audience, and making them feel what I feel.”

Anastasia Gray as a chorus girl (right) and Charlie Boehlke

as the Duke of Plaza Toro (left) after the March 11 performance

of "The Gondoliers."

Another draw for the performers is that singing opera with proper training strengthens their voices. CSU singers are classically trained, meaning they are trained to sing opera, in a way that is healthy for their vocal folds and guarantees they will have a longer career as a singer. This also means they can transfer these skills to sing in musical theater or to sing in general, knowing that with the proper technique they will achieve the best sound and protect their vocal instrument.

Professional opera singers perform without microphones, and so do the CSU students. It’s difficult and takes a lot of practice, but students say they love it.

“What I didn’t understand before I came to appreciate opera is it feels so good to sing the right way—with great technique,” Gray said. “When other people are singing like that it’s so loud because they get the right resonance in their mouths, and it feels good.”

Singing without a microphone can be intimidating for new students, especially when they must sing so loudly that people in the back row of the large theater hall can hear and understand them.

“It’s a whole new world because you (don’t have a microphone), you have to know what you’re doing and it’s all on you,” said Boehlke, who had no previous opera experience before he auditioned for the show. “You go up there onstage and you’re naked when you’re singing that aria, because all you have is your body and your soul and that’s what people are going to see, without any smoke and mirrors, which is what I think people are relying on a lot nowadays.”

Not only are the voices powerful and resonant, but the production is visually stunning as well. The sopranos sing their arias and the baritones belt their solos in a beautiful set fashioned to look like a village square in Venice, complete with charming tan buildings and a bridge to span the canal for the gondolas. The women beam in their colorful dresses, and sing and dance with gusto and bouquets of flowers. As for the male gondoliers, they look authentic in striped shirts and red waistbands, with lush mustaches and showy sideburns that would put Ebenezer Scrooge to shame. It’s no surprise as to why every cast member interviewed said they loved the costumes. But none more than Dubler.

“That’s the first role I’ve played as a woman in college,” Dubler said, laughing. “I’ve played boys on stage. It’s a pants role tradition that mezzo soprano singers, who are tall and skinny play boys onstage (she’s 5-foot-11 inches). So this is exciting because it’s my first role as a woman onstage, and I get to wear a dress and heels.”

Other cast members say the production is satisfying for a different reason.

“Because the professors really like it when you do operas, and it actually is a lot of fun,” said Westin Sorrel, a freshman music education major, who played Francesco in the show.

Boehlke agrees.

“It’s a great way to get brownie points, we’re all told. We’re not, you know, suck-ups,” Boehlke said, smiling.

Westin Sorrel as Francesco (note the mustache)

After the March 11 performance.

And though being in the show has payoffs in a variety of ways, cast members were clear that it’s not as easy as it looks. For one thing, the hours are long. As Dubler puts it, she is “saturated” in music all day long. Students audition to be in a class for the performance, which meets twice a week for three hours. In the weeks before the show, however, cast members must go to the class, as well as meet every day to rehearse from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., and for six hours on the weekends.

“My least favorite part is the rehearsal time; I just want to perform,” Gray said. “It’s very time consuming, but the end result is always worth it. And the stress level during the week of the show (is my least favorite), where you’re (at the University Center for the Arts) more than you are at your house. You lose a lot of sleep.”

The “stigma” also haunts performers when they announce to their college-age friends that they’re in the show.

“It’s definitely an art form you have to appreciate,” Boehlke said. “Otherwise it’s like ‘Hey dude, want to come see my opera?’ They’re like, ‘nah. You’re in an opera? What’s that?’”

The cast members say that opera is less appreciated by today’s youth (though the theater was sold out for the last performance), but Dubler says it still has a place and a purpose in musical theater.

“If you see opera it’s different then listening to it, because it’s a story. We’re storytellers, and we’re actors just as much as we’re singers, and people don’t always connect that,” she said. “There’s something to be said — there’s always a message to be communicated, even with the satire. That’s why the composer wrote it. That’s why vocal music and the music of our past is important. They had something to say, and it was important enough that they composed music for it and composed beautifully.”

So what does “The Gondoliers” say?

“I think ‘The Gondoliers’ says a lot about aristocracy, that no one really knows what we’re doing, and we just kind of go with it. There’s a lot of truth in sarcasm,” Dubler said. “It’s supposed to be goofy that the characters are like ‘we met 15 minutes ago and we’re getting married, and we love each other desperately.’ It’s goofy but it’s a reflection on little things that are real blown up to be noticeable. It makes you stop and consider why it’s funny.”

Camrenne Dubler as Tessa after the March 11

Performance of “The Gondoliers”

And after three hours of joyous music, arias and dancing, the audience had a lot to consider before at the final curtain. Their gratitude can be explained by their action, which in this case was much louder than words: a standing ovation for every member of the cast. And one by one, Gray, Sorrel, Boehlke and Dubler took a bow, sporting the widest of smiles.

"Free" To Be Me

(Marie “Free” Wright)


Former host of the hit show 106&Park “Free”, whose real name is Marie Wright, came to Colorado State University’s North Ballroom fired up and ready to discuss being a woman in the rap world and how her journey through life has shaped who she is now as a person. The spunky former talk show host turned popular radio host approached the podium with pizazz and passion. Wright began the program, which was sponsored by CSU’s own Black Definition, by prompting the crowd to recite the phrase, “Find your dreams, find your drive, and just do it!”

“To me if you don’t get up and go to work every day you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing, that’s just how I was raised and I was fortunate for that,” Wright said.

She then schooled the crowd on her methods for success especially being a woman in a male dominated society. She even went so far as to mockingly beak into a solo of the infamous James Brown song “It’s a man’s world” during her beginning remarks. But she quickly moved into the details and significance of Internships, networking and knowing yourself before you get into tough and potentially life changing business situations. Many fail to recognize that Wright made her start not as a television personality but as an aspiring rapper. She began getting recognized at a very young age for the rap game and especially for the female rap game.

“I was only sixteen when I got my first offer,” Wright said.

But at that tender age Wright got her first look at the cutthroat business that is hip-hop and she knew as a woman she would not only have to be two steps ahead of everyone, but she would have to keep track of herself and the decisions she was making along the way more critically then a male would.

“I remember they wanted 80% of my earnings. I mean, I was only 16 but I knew that they weren’t supposed to get that much of my money,” said Wright.

Wright became engulfed in the rap lifestyle and began rubbing elbows with rap moguls such as Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Missy Elliot, and Wyclef Jean. But she soon figured out that the expectations of women in the rap world were not what she expected and she was not willing to compromise her morals just for fame and fortune. She soon left her label and informed Wyclef Jean that she would not rap in that type of environment again.

Wright decided that she would attend school pursuing a major in Criminal Justice and started working at the Conservation Law Foundation in her hometown of Boston Massachusetts. The job turned out to be everything she had dreamed of and she made a note of stressing to the audience the significance of finding a job that not only suits your employment needs, but your needs as a person.

“You want a company that wants to help build your future with you,” Wright said.

But little did she know that her big break was just around the corner, and it didn’t involve her current job or anything she had ever done before. She met up with an old friend of hers at a party, Steven Hill, and they discussed a new show that the Black Entertainment Network (BET) was working on called 106&Park. The network had most of the major things handled but was still searching for male and female hosts for the show. Hill encouraged Wright to try out so she did.

“I was so nervous at the audition as a woman, it was crazy,” said Wright.

Wright captured the attention of the producers and was immediately signed as the first host of the now world famous 106&Park. Her co-host, AJ, was signed second and Hill even looked to Wright for advice on whether or not to hire AJ or not. Wrights career took flight and so did the show, but behind the scenes she was extremely displeased with the way the television network tried to make her appear as a woman.

“I had never worn a mini-skirt or booty shorts until I got on 106&Park. I had to tell them that the wardrobe was not okay with me,” said Wright.

Eventually the blatant sexism that Wright felt on the show was too much for her to bear.

“I felt like there was a glass ceiling over me at BET. I made the decision to leave BET myself because I know they wouldn’t have done it right. They would have been like, “bye Free bring on the next girl” and I wasn’t having that,” said Wright.

Wright left the spotlight with tears in her eyes and her life fell into turmoil. She was unable to find peace in another environment, her fans and co-host AJ felt as if she had abandoned them and her mother was terminally ill with cancer.

“My family and I are very close so I made the decision to leave it all and go home until she died,” said Wright.

On the 15th of December in 2009 Wright’s mother passed. But before she did she told Wright to keep pursuing her glamorous career.

“She kept telling me that she wanted me to be set,” said Wright.

To take a turn away from the sad tone the speech had taken Wright finished with powerful and motivational words of advice that seemed to move the crowd as soon as the words left her lips.

“Look in the mirror and fall in love with yourself before you fall in love with someone else.”

Sophomore Ed Harlan said he thoroughly enjoyed the speaker and her passionate tips on life and for women.

“I thought some of the women really needed to hear the things she was saying because we as men can tell them all day and it’s like water off a ducks back. But coming from a role model like her I’m sure it meant so much more,” said Harlan.

Sophomore Raven Olivia also found the words inspiring and very necessary for the women on campus and especially the women of color.

“It’s just a lot different for us and people seem to forget that. It’s hard enough being a woman but being a woman of color just makes it that much more difficult,” said Olivia.

Junior Marray Napue, who is also an aspiring musician, thought that the speech was insightful and thought Wright’s story was one that needed to be shared nationwide.

“I mean as a guy trying to make it in this game I felt like this speech wasn’t just for the women but it was for the men too because a lot of the times we are the ones causing this gaps in the gender spectrum. I really appreciate what she is doing for all of us and her story definitely needs to be heard around this nation because we have a lot of people that want the fame and the fortune. But they don’t know the price some women have to pay to get it,” Napue said.
(Marie Wright in the Lory Student Center)

Seniors prepare for real world

Seniors prepare for real world

By Kyle Grabowski

Though they all played guard for the CSU women’s basketball team, the future couldn’t be more different for the Rams’ three outgoing seniors. The team’s season ended March 8th with a 63-66 loss to 9th-seeded Air Force in the Mountain West Conference tournament.

Zoi Simmons

Zoi Simmons missed most of the year with a foot injury, but still averaged 2.5 points while dishing out 17 assists in 13 games. After graduation, Simmons plans to stay in Fort Collins for a few more years and possibly volunteer as a firefighter, having just taken her firefighting test.

“The program is tremendous,” she said, “not only for firefighters, but for the community and the people here. I’ve wanted to be a firefighter all my life.”

In terms of continuing her basketball career, Simmons received an offer to play in Portugal over the summer, but is considering her options. “A coach gave an offer to go out there and play, but I’m not too sure,” she said. “We’ll see how that goes.”

Bonnie Barbee

Balancing both sides of the student-athlete role has never been much of a problem for Bonnie Barbee. She averaged nearly six points per game over the course of her Ram career in addition to participating in the university’s honors program. Barbee is a biomedical science major and plans to one day be a doctor.

“I’m going back home to Arizona for a year,” she said. “Kind of taking a year off and doing some volunteer hospital work and trying apply for med school this next go around.” Her first choice would be the University of Arizona because she kept her residency there. “But I’ll go anywhere that takes me,” Barbee said, laughing.

As far as organized basketball is concerned, Barbee’s career is over, but she plans to continue to work out at a local gym to stay in shape.

Sarah Hemmings

The only Colorado native among the women’s basketball team’s graduating seniors travelled a winding career path before she got to CSU. Hemmings originally played basketball and soccer at the University of Northern Colorado before transferring to the University of Arizona to play just soccer after a year.

“I think it was too much for me,” she said, “so I decided to leave and go focus on one sport.”

After one year there, Hemmings transferred again to CSU and didn’t play any sports for a year before walking on to the basketball team last year and playing her junior and senior seasons for the Rams.

She will graduate in May with a degree in management and plans to apply for jobs in Denver while assistant coaching for the Fort Collins Fever 17’s basketball team. “It should be fun,” Hemmings said.

New study: Menthol cigarettes less cancer risk

With college students smoking on campuses across the U.S. – despite building distance bans at some, they may be happy to learn that smoking menthol cigarettes may be less likely to develop lung cancer, according to a new Journal of National Cancer Institute Study.

So are students across the country now more likely to smoke menthol?

“Maybe, since I normally only smoke when a friend offers, after hearing about this study,” one senior from Bowdoin College in Maine said. “I would hope that the cigarette they offer me is a menthol one.”

According to WebMD, the new study ironically comes out after the FDA published statements saying removing menthol cigarettes from the market may “improve public health because menthol cigarettes may be more difficult to quit than non-menthol cigarettes, and may be more enticing to young smokers because of their minty taste.”

“The new study information almost closes the door on the lung cancer issue,” study researcher William J. Blot, PhD, of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville said, in the WebMD article. “The main message is that cigarettes are harmful, regardless of whether they are menthol or non-menthol, and the best action is to quit smoking. I don’t think there is enough scientific evidence to justify a ban of menthol cigarettes in comparison with non-menthol cigarettes.”

Many students agree that even if menthol might be better, they still want to stay away from the cigarettes.

“I think it’s disgusting, number one, but also I just don’t know why I would try something that I know I can get addicted to almost immediately,” Jourdan K., a junior at Boston University said. “The good feeling that people say smoking gives isn't worth the damages it causes.”

Echoing Jourdan K’s views, the new study still showed that menthol smokers who smoke one pack a day are still 12 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non smokers. Even though it found that menthol smokers typically smoke less cigarettes a day than those who smoked regular cigarettes, there was still an equal “quitting rate” between the two groups.

“It is well-known that menthol smokers smoke fewer cigarettes per day than regular cigarette smokers [and this is] but one reason why it is highly unlikely that banning menthol cigarettes will lead to a decrease in cigarette smokers,” Gilbert Ross, medical director for the American Council on Science and Health said in the WebMD article.

Still, even if they stay on the market, the new study may not sway students who have already decided against smoking.

“I don’t smoke because it’s bad for you, and I wouldn’t care about less risk with menthol because it’s all a risk for lung cancer,” CSU junior Dana Bencivengo said.