February 16, 2007
Volume 93, Issue 17
UILFORDIAN
The Independent Student Voice of Guilford College
See more
What the
Hell Con
PHOTOS ON
PAGES 6&7
AND ONLINE AT
GUILFORDIAN.COM
Jeremy Bante/Guilforoian
W W W . G U I L, F 0 R D I A sN*. C O M
SiJaSSiiiiii
Find out What the Hell
Con is all about, from
the humble beginnings to
today's massive geek-fest
Jake Blumgart | Staff Writer
You've seen the chalk graffiti all over campus,
the posters, the fliers, and the ads in the paper,
and you're wondering what the hell is What the
Hell Con? Where did it come from and from
whose (or what's) fatal loins did it spring?
For those gentle readers not in the know, a
"con" is a convention, generally one held to cel
ebrate a specific geeky interest including, but
not limited to, anime, comics and role-playing
games (RPGs).
The origins of Guilford's WTH Con are
shrouded in myth. As rumor has it, a large
brown paper Kroger's bag filled with unmarked
VHS tapes was bequeathed to several members
of the Yachting Club by persons unknown, with
the addendum "Get rid of this for the love of
god." The story could have ended there but, ad
venturous lads that they were, the ending is a bit
more sanguine than that.
"It turned out there were a lot of real bad
movies in that bag. Hentai, Japanese animated
pom basically. Real terrible stuff," said Sylvia
Toth, vice president of the Yachting Club. "After
watching about half a bags worth of VHS, one
of the guys said: 'What the hell, we could make
a con out of this.' Over the years we've put more
funding into it, and it's turned into an actual con
vention."
And lo, a tradition was bom.
At first, the Crap-A-Thon was the only event,
an annual review of the original crappy material,
but as the years progressed, events such as the
Geek Auction, RPGs, a gaming room and Dai-
kaiju battles were added.
"Imagine something like Godzilla vs. King
Kong but substituting larger members of the
Yachting Club for the legendary beasts," said
Yachting Club president Dani Moran.
"We set up lots of cardboard boxes and make
a fake town. Then we have lots of large guys, so
they get in there, mix it up a bit, and throw each
other around."
But it is the Con's special guests that really
started to pull WTH Con out of relative obscu
rity.
"We started out making fun of cons, being
Continued on page 8
Dan Katzman/Guilfordian
Students play warhammer 40,000.
Q&A with
Intramural
Coordinator
Mark Hargis
Dylan Grayson | Senior Writer
How long has the intramural sports
program at Guilford been around?
Mark Hargis: Intramural sports
have been here a long time. I Imow
they've had basketball as far back as
1907. Other sports got added little by
little over time.
What is the purpose of intramural
sports?
People get the opportunity to com
pete with others in an array of activi
ties. Intramurals aren't like club sports.
Club sports compete against club sports
at other schools. Intramural competi
tion is within Guilford.
What kinds of activities are fea
tured?
In the fall we had a football pick'em
(people met each week to predict win
ners of NFL games), a fantasy football
league, introduction to weight-train
ing (to give students an opportunity
to learn how to use our facilities in a
safe and effective manner), a tennis
league, soccer, etc. We got a pretty
good turnout for some sports this fall.
Continued on page 3
Tensions rise between
Unites States and Iran
Jake Blumgart | Staff Writer
"God help us if that man in the White
House preemptively bombs Iran," said Rob
ert Duncan, assistant professor of political
science. "Then the ship will really hit the
sand, and any hope we had of supporting
moderates in Iran will be gone. If we take
military action we'll turn them all against
us."
In recent weeks, the United States and
Iran have squared off in a series of increas
ingly belligerent exchanges that many peo
ple fear could lead to war.
The already tense relationship beLween
the two countries has become further in
flamed by Iran's nuclear program and al
leged support of Hamas and Hezbollah,
both of which are officially listed as terrorist
organizations by the United States.
Continued on page 12
Q&A with Max Carter
about Bryan incident
Brice Tarleton | Production Assistant
Max Carter is the director of the Friends
Center and Campus Ministry coordinator.
He is involved in the Quaker community
both here and in Palestine. Carter agreed to
speak to The Guilfordian about the incident
in Bryan on Jan. 20.
Q: What steps are you involved with
that are currently being taken in response
to this incident?
A: This Sunday, we're having the big
kick-off for a teach-in, with four different
panels, dealing with issues like the culture
of sport, the social aspect of college in terms
of when has Guilford dealt with issues like
this before, a forum on xenophobia and ste
reotyping, and one on the root of Quaker
principles and testimonies.
Continued on page 4
Athlete Aid
Despite the fact that athletes receive
an average of $776 more financial
aid, athletes receive an average of 5
percent less aid relative to their esti
mated financial need because their
families earn 14 percent less.
Sports Page 3
Core Proposal
The foreign languages depart
ment has proposed adding a
102 requirement to the core cur
riculum in order to set a stronger
foundation for students, stirring
discussion at a recent forum.
News Page 4
Discernment Evening of Love Planck Satellite
Frank Massey, IFP gifts-discern
ment coordinator, works to help
students discover their personal
gifts and strengths. Through guid
ance and counseling, he brings fo
cus to life plans.
Features Page 8
Students, faculty, and staff gath
ered in the gallery of Founders to
read poems as part of "Toward a
Cartography of Love," a poetry
reading in celebration of Eleanor
Branch
Features Page 8
Cosmologists plan to look at cos
mic microwave background ra
diation with the Planck satellite in
order to answer major questions
about the origin of the universe
and its future.
World & Nation Page 11