Maroon

              THE MAROON VOL 85, NO. 18 WWW.LOYOLAMAROON.COM FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2007 GLORYLAND By RAMON ANTONIO VARGAS SPORTS EDITOR LOYOLA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 2007 GCAC CHAMPION* Its on to Tennessee and the NAIA national tournament for Loyola For more pictures, visit: lovolamaroon.com Twelve years ago, when collegiate newcomer Dobee Plaisance first stepped on Loyolas campus to meet her new team, some on campus told her she couldn't win a game. "Well, I won one," she said breathlessly, minutes after she cut down The Den's nets amid a mob of students second-lining to"Do Whatcha Wanna" to punctuate winning the program's first-ever Gulf Coast Athletic Conference tournament after a 73-68 win over Xavier in the final. "When that reality sunk in, 1 knew without a doubt it would be a matter of time before I could get the right combination and win a championship," said Plaisance, the GCAC's Coach of the Year. Five years ago, when criminal justice -1 If— graduate student Dani Holland visited Loyola as a recruit, she said, "There might've been 10 people in the bleachers." An overflow, overwhelmingly maroonand-gold crowd 40 times that size packed and rocked The Den's bleachers Monday night and lined the track overlooking the court to watch her score 13 points, haul down eight rebounds and swat two shots against the last team to beat them 17 games ago. "It's amazing to play in this, to see what we all did together and how far we've come as a program," Holland said. Far, indeed — the 2002-03 season before Holland's arrival, the Wolfpack women's basketball team tallied a 4-27 record. But on Monday night, they engineered the polar opposite reality and made history. After they saw Trenese Smith win both Freshman and Player of the Year and join teammate and twin sister Trenell Smith and Kiely Shorck on the all-conference team, the squad reached the ultimate milestone: the program and university's first-ever GCAC tournament championship, propeling them into their first-ever automatic bid to the NAIA national tournament. Ranked No. 6 in their bracket, they'll face No. 3 seed Southern Nazarene (Okla.). Should they advance, they'll play the winner of No. 2 seed Point Loma (Calif.) and No. 7 seed Westminster (Utah) in the Sweet 16. Freshman sensation Trenese Smith raises the GCAC's top prize after winning the tournament final 78-63 over Xavier University Monday night at The Den. Questionable Sources By KATHY MARTINEZ THE MAROON Some professors frown upon Wikipedia as a research tool Wikipedia.org claims to have the best articles on the Internet about obscure subjects, like exploding whales. That may be all Wikipedia is viable for, some universities say. The Web site, described as the free online encyclopedia anyone can edit, came under scrutiny last month after the history department at Middlebury College in Vermont enacted a policy banning its use as a source for papers. Six students in a Japanese history class wrote on a test that fesuits supported the Shimabara Rebellion. The problem? That didn't happen. Middlebury said that while the site is a good source to gather small bits of information to begin research, the information is flawed in some cases. While Loyola various departments of study have not uniformly restricted students from citing Wikipedia, several professors have enacted personal policies against the encydope-, dia. John Sebastian, an assistant English professor, has prohibited his students from citing Wikipedia in their papers. "1 do not want to discourage students from using Wikipedia, but rather encourage them to use better and more reputable sites," Sebastian said. "My main concern is the definition of the site itself as a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit without posting their credentials. "1 have found many of their entries on medieval studies, which is my field of specialization, to be simply wrong and not very good," he said. Sebastian, however, is not alone in liis request that students use traditional sources for research. Several Loyola professors from various departments have also banned the site. "I have told my students not to use Wikipedia as a source for a research paper. I consider it an un-refereed source of Departures create vacuum in HNS By TARA TEMPLETON SENIOR STAFF WRITER Scully, Joyner accept promotions outside Loyola Loyola will soon have gaps in the administrative staff of the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences. Dean Frank Scully and Associate Dean Laurie Joyner are leaving at the end of this academic year. Scully has accepted an offer for the position of Vice President of Academic Affairs at Emmanuel College in Boston. Scully has been dean for the past nine years, first for the College of Arts and Sciences and then the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences after it was renamed last year. "It's an opportunity to use the experience I've gained at Loyola," Scully said about the position, which is a promotion.Joyner is leaving to become Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and professor of sociology at Rollins College. "1 have decided to continue my career path in academic administration. ... Loyola New Orleans does not have a track record of appointing administrators for senior academic positions from within," Joyner said in an e-mail to The Maroon explaining why she was leaving Loyola. For the past 14 years, Joyner has worked at Loyola in the Sociology Department as a professor and has been associate dean for the former College of Arts and Sciences, now the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences, since 2003. No replacements have been selected at this time. The new permanent dean will be chosen through an open national search, according to Walter Harris, provost and vice president for academic affairs. "We expect to name an interim Frank Scully LU POSITION: Dean, College of Humanities and Natural Sciences TIME AT LOYOLA: nine years DESTINATION: Emmanuel College in Boston Laurie Joyner LU POSITION: Associate Dean, College of Humanities and Natural Sciences TIME AT LOYOLA: 14 years DESTINATION: Rollins College see TOURNAMENT, page 11 see DEANSr page 4 see SOURCES, page 5 fr\ OKI \f\ It's a very, very ULBJ \ Mac world page 6 LOVOLMMMXM.OON V~r~ ~ \\ ■« .:A .mm*. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CATHERINE COTTON / THE MAROON Souring 101 Courtesy of John Sebastian Online sources make it easy to wind up using a source that has your professors questioning where you got your information. Here are a few tips to avoid a research pitfall • Can you identify the author and his or her credentials? Avoid anonymous Web sites or those with authors whose background or expertise is in an area you are unable to establish. Don't be lulled into complacency by .edu sites: Hie author may be a full professor, but he or she may also be a first-year student • Can you identify the Web page's author's sources? Does the author cite his or her work? • Use academic databases. A list of electronic databases to which Loyola subscribes can be found here: http://Übraryloyno.edu/databases/indexhtm. Monroe library offers a set of tips on web-site evaluation at http://libraryioyno.edu/reseanii/evalwww.pdf. Harris staying at Loyola. For the full story, see page 4 MAROON DIRECTORY: CALENDAR, page 2 | LIFE & TIMES, page 6 | SPORTS, 4)age 8 | EDITORIAL, page 14 | NEWS TIPS: 865 3535