The Lumberjack, April 17, 2014.

              NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1914 • VOL 100 • ISSUE 28 • APRIL 17 - APRIL 23, 2014
LUMBERJACK
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Alumnus shares Pulitzer Prize for NSA coverage
T he Washington Post has won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the National Security Agency (NSA) files and on the list of contributors is 2008 NAU alumnus Matthew DeLong.
DeLong, a national digital projects editor, works on the national desk of the Post. He takes all the small parts of a big story and transforms them for the average reader to understand. On April 15, DeLong spoke to a small journalism class taught by Angele Anderfuren over Skype.
“They basically have the best hackers in the world working with them all the time, exploiting the stuff we’re not even thinking about,” DeLong said. “Whether or not you think Edward Snowden was a patriot, I think the American people have the right to know what their government is doing in terms of spying on them . . . I guess the Pulitzer Board agreed with us, which is validating.”
When faced with the NSA project, he worked with other reporters, graphics teams and video teams to make sense of the dense government documents. They worked in a secure room on the second floor of The Washington Post building, using no Internet services and only trading information by encrypted thumb drives.
“It was kept quiet within the newsroom, we weren’t even allowed to talk about it with the people sitting next to us,” DeLong said. “We were worried about security — for good reason, the NSA could basically get any electronic communication.”
DeLong’s schedule was difficult. He often had to drop everything he was doing whenever new NSA information came in.
“It’s not a 9-5 job . . . Last year, especially when we were doing all of these stories, I would be doing 12-hour days, 14-hour days, for a week straight,” DeLong said. “It really burns you out after awhile.”
DeLong recognizes that projects like this, which are conducted on such a massive scale, are not the result of any one person’s efforts.
“This was really a massive project, there were like 30 peoples’ names on the entry,” DeLong said. “I’m a small part of a very large team that really won the award.”
DeLong also broke a scandal out at NAU when he was a student.
In 2007, DeLong was part of The Lumberjack team that exposed that the Associated Students of Northern Arizona University (ASNAU) had not followed their code, which stated that they must advertise a certain amount for their student elections. The election was thrown out and a second election was held.
“The person who won the election the first time, who was actually a friend of mine, lost to somebody who was not on the ballot the first time,” DeLong said. “If something seems like it’s not right, like there’s something fishy going on . . . ask questions.”
DeLong and his colleagues will be given their awards at a luncheon hosted at Columbia University. An official date has not been decided but the event is annually held in May, a month after the winners have been announced.
Women’s tennis snaps 12-year losing streak to Sacramento
Emotions were high from start to finish during the three-and-a-half hour match as the NAU women’s tennis team snapped its 12-year losing streak to the California State University, Sacramento Hornets April 13.
The Lumberjacks celebrated their 6–1 victory on the court by jumping up and down with excitement and smiles on their faces, hugging each other.
“They [the team] know how much I have wanted to beat this team my entire coaching career,” said head coach Kim Bruno. “This goes a long way for our program.”
Coach Bruno had been winless against Sacramento State during her nine years as head coach.
“It has been the elusive Sacramento State my entire coaching career here. We knew going into this, this was our opportunity,” Bruno said. “I cannot be more proud of the team how they all came together and stepped up and just took care of it.”
The last time NAU defeated Sacramento State was in 2001 as the Hornets have dominated the Big Sky Conference (BSC) for 12 years with 12 consecutive BSC titles. Sacramento State’s 112-match winning streak was snapped April 11 by the University of Montana.
“When a team has been dominating for 12 years that is an impressive stat to say the least. They [Sacramento State] are a great team and have been for so long. They mentally own other teams in the conference,” Bruno said.
It was not just a big win for the Lumberjacks, but also senior day for lone senior Tatum Rochin.
“I cannot even tell you how happy I am right now and how proud I am of our team,” Rochin said. “Big Sky is up for grabs, it has always been dominated by Sacramento [State] but it is obviously not the case this year. I am glad I could be a part of the team that took them down.”
Johanna Vang (left) and Sarah Maria Spruch (right) set up in a doubles match during the April 13 NAU vs. Sac State match at the Continental Country Club. NAU went on to defeat Sac State for the first time since 2001. (Photo by Evan Jon Paniagua)
BY ELIZABETH SEARS
see WOMEN’S TENNIS page 22
Marlon Correa/
The Washington Post
BY SCOTT BUFFON
INSIDE
News: ABOR approves tuition increase — Pg. 5
Life: Cycling Arizona trails — Pg. 13
A&E: James Byrkit — Pg. 30