title: 2009 Indian general election

text: Eventually, on 1 March 2009, President Patil rejected Gopalaswami's recommendation to remove Chawla after the Government advised her to do so. Soon after the above announcement by President Patil, the Election Commissioners got together to announce the details of the general election.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The polling schedule for the 2009 General Elections was announced by the Chief Election Commissioner on 2 March 2009.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: Subsequently, the President's House announced on 4 March 2009 that CEC Gopalaswami would retire as scheduled on 20 April 2009 and Navin Chawla would take over as CEC starting 21 April 2009. It was the first time in the history of Indian politics that two different people oversaw different phases of the same election.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The 2009 general election saw three main national pre-poll alliances. Given the volatile nature of coalition politics in India, many parties changed alliances before, during and after the elections. The two larger coalitions, UPA and NDA, had clearly indicated their prime ministerial candidates during campaigning for the election. The Third Front announced repeatedly through the campaigning period that their prime ministerial candidate would only be decided after the election results came out. In Indian parliamentary system, the announcement of Prime Ministerial candidates prior to elections is not required.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was formed after the 2004 general election to bring together parties that either allied with the Congress in various states, or were willing to support a Congress-led national government. Though the UPA never enjoyed a clear majority on its own in the 14th Lok Sabha, it managed to complete its five-year term from 2004 to 2009 by securing outside support from the left parties (CPI(M), CPI, AIFB, RSP), Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party at different times during this tenure.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: Following the August 2008 confidence vote victory for the current government, a statement by Congress President Sonia Gandhi caused speculation that the UPA would project Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the Prime Ministerial candidate in the next elections. While Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader M. Karunanidhi supported Manmohan Singh as the PM candidate, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar tried to project himself as a possible Prime Ministerial candidate as well. On 24 January 2009, Manmohan Singh underwent a cardiac bypass surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Following the surgery, speculation of alternate PM candidates arose both within the Congress and amongst coalition partners. In an attempt to quell such speculations, Sonia Gandhi on 6 February 2009, confirmed that Manmohan Singh would be the UPA's PM candidate by writing so in the Congress party magazine "Sandesh". This was the first time in the history of Indian elections that the Congress party had declared its Prime Ministerial candidate prior to the elections.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was the first large national coalition formed by a national party supported by various regional parties. It was formed after the 1998 general election and the NDA formed the Government led by BJP's Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The government collapsed a few months later, but the NDA returned to power after the 1999 general election and this time the Vajpayee-led Government completed its full term from 1999 to 2004. Due to the volatile nature of coalitions, NDA won 181 seats after the 2004 election, but due to parties changing alliances, before the 2009 election they had 142 seats.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The main opposition party, BJP, and its NDA coalition partners announced on 11 December 2007 (more than a year before the election) that their candidate for prime minister would be BJP party leader Advani who was the Leader of the Opposition at the time. On 23 January 2008, leaders from BJP and other NDA parties convened in the capital to officially elect him as their candidate for the election.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The CPI(M) led the formation of the Third Front for the 2009 election. This front was basically a collection of regional political parties who were neither in UPA nor in the NDA. Most of the constituents of this Third Front were those who were part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party failed to reach seat sharing agreements with the Congress and decided to form a new front, hoping to be kingmakers after the election. Despite announcing this front, the constituent parties continued to declare their support for the UPA.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The Congress party bought the rights for the Oscar-winning soundtrack "Jai Ho" from the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which was used as the official campaign tune by the party. The song title "Jai Ho" translates to 'Let there be victory', and the Congress hoped that the popular song would galvanise the masses during the almost one-month-long election season.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: On 24 March 2009, Congress President Sonia Gandhi released the party's manifesto for the 2009 election. The manifesto highlighted all the achievements of the UPA Government over the last five years in power and identified improving various policies to favour more rural & under-privileged sections of the Indian society.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The Congress campaign ran into trouble when the Election Commission took exception to a full page advertisement on the 2010 Commonwealth Games taken out in major Delhi newspapers. The EC served notice to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Cabinet Secretary and the Chief Secretary of Delhi, stating that the advertisement was a clear violation of the model code of conduct since it enumerated the achievements of the UPA Government. The EC has also asked the violators to pay from their own pockets.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: To counter the Congress' selection of "Jai Ho" as their official anthem, the BJP coined the phrase "Kushal Neta",


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: On 3 April 2009, BJP released its election manifesto in New Delhi. The party was taking on the incumbent UPA Government on the three fronts of "Good Governance, Development and Security". The manifesto highlighted all the different NDA policies that the UPA reversed over the last five years. The manifesto laid a lot of importance on requiring strong, POTA-like anti-terrorism laws and vowed to make India a safer place if the BJP is elected. The full text of the manifesto is available at the BJP website.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The BJP campaign faced its biggest controversy when the EC directed the District Magistrate of Pilibhit to lodge a criminal case against the BJP's candidate Varun Gandhi for his allegedly inflammatory speech against minority communities made on 7 March 2009. This decision was taken after the EC had earlier issued a notice to Varun Gandhi and the BJP. After reviewing the incident, the EC found Varun Gandhi guilty of violating the model code of conduct by creating feeling of enmity and hatred between different communities and issued a recommendation the BJP to drop him from their list of candidates. The BJP however came out in support of Varun and refused to drop him as a candidate.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) formed a Third Front. The Third Front tried to contest the election, hoping to create a non-BJP, non-Congress government, by attracting many local and regional parties, that were once with the other two alliances. The Third Front came into the alliance with 109 MPs, and various polling conducted before the election projected the alliance of getting over 100 seats. The CPI(M) created a campaign website hosting its campaign information to attract sympathisers among the netizen public to vote for the party.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: During this election, political parties used technology in innovative ways to reach out to the voters. Although SMS had been used during prior elections, political parties had realised that the rural and illiterate voters which form a majority could not read. Young and technology savvy politicians quickly realised that voice was the way to reach out to the rural community as they could speak their language. This turned out to be very interesting as two voice companies from India, TringMe and VoiceHawk played the pivotal role in reaching out to the billion people of India.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: Most opinion polls conducted by major agencies gave the UPA an edge over the NDA, but none were predicted to get absolute majority. The UPA including the Fourth front was, however, predicted by a few to get seats close to majority. The opinion polls reckoned that other regional parties would play an important role by winning a substantial number of seats. In results where the "Fourth Front" is indicated, the SP, RJD and LJP are not being counted in the UPA figure.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: In February 2009, the ECI banned the publishing of all exit polls starting 48 hours before Phase 1 of the election until the end of Phase 5. This was intended to prevent exit polls from earlier phases affecting voter decisions in later phases. The ban ended with the close of Phase 5 voting at 5:00 pm IST on 13 May.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The first phase of the 2009 election took place on Thursday, 16 April with elections in 124 constituencies across 15 states and 2 union territories. There were incidents of violence in a few places in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra and between 17 and 19 people were killed in Naxal attacks. The dead included five poll officials and 10 security personnel, whose families received a compensation of Rs 1 million. Naxals set fire to voting machines, attacked voters, security personnel and polling workers, and destroyed vehicles. According to one news source, "It was apparent that the Naxals had clearly planned to disrupt the polls."


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: Despite these incidents, the ECI expressed satisfaction about the conduct of the polls due to peaceful polling in many other parts of the country. Initial reports from the ECI place the voter turnout for this phase at approximately 60 percent. This phase of the election was held in 185,000 polling stations, serving an electorate of over 143.1 million deciding the fate of 1,715 candidates.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The ECI ordered repoll in 46 polling booths across 7 of the states where polling took place in the first phase. These include 29 polling booths in Andhra Pradesh, 5 each in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, 3 in Nagaland, 2 in Kerala and 1 each in Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. The repoll in all these polling booths were held on 18 April 2009.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: One of the positive stories emerging from this phase of election was from Kandhamal district, where refugees of the 2008 Kandhamal riots came out in huge numbers to exercise their franchise. It is estimated that there was a turnout of 90% amongst Kandhamal refugees and 50% across the entire district. The administration had earlier identified large parts of the area as Naxal affected and vulnerable. Hence, the administration had deployed extra security in the area and the ECI has arranged for special transport to shuttle the refugees from the refugee camps to the polling booths. Both of these actions helped achieve the high turnout.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The second phase of the 2009 election was spread across Wednesday, 22 April (Phase 2A) and Thursday, 23 April (Phase 2B). Phase 2A saw election in a single constituency in Manipur as it was a state holiday on 23 April.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: According to the EC, the election in Manipur in Phase 2A was peaceful and witnessed a voter turnout of about 62%. Following the election, though, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Manipur People's Party (MPP) have alleged vote rigging by Congress workers during the polls in Phase 2A. The MPP claimed that the Congress workers captured 11 booths in the Andro Assembly segment of Imphal East.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: Phase 2B saw polling in 12 states for 140 constituencies – the most in any phase of this election. This phase was largely peaceful and saw about 55% turnout. There were stray incidents of violence in areas with active Naxalite groups in Jharkhand and Bihar. The poor turnout in this phase was blamed on a heat wave sweeping the country that took the noon-time temperature on election day up to between 42 and 46 degrees Celsius in various parts of the country. Two polling officials even died due to sun stroke in Orissa with two also falling ill.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The third phase of the 2009 election was held on Thursday, 30 April with elections in 107 constituencies spread across nine states and two union territories. The fate of 1,567 candidates was decided in this phase including those of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP's Prime Minister candidate L.K. Advani and former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) President Deve Gowda. This phase included voting in Mumbai where the turnout was relatively low. The voter turnout around the country was moderate and this was primarily blamed on the extreme heat on election day. Voting was largely peaceful all across the country. However, Maoist guerrillas exploded a landmine in West Bengal's Purulia district, injuring a paramilitary trooper.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The fourth phase of the election was held on Thursday, 7 May with elections for 85 seats across eight states involving 1,315 candidates. The phase's high-profile candidates included External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and former chief ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rajnath Singh, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Farooq Abdullah. Apart from bomb attacks in West Bengal's Asansol and Murshidabad districts that killed one person each and some violence in Rajasthan, this phase was relatively peaceful. This phase saw voting in the nation's capital Delhi where the voter turnout was around 53%, much higher than the previous two elections in Delhi.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The fifth and final phase of the 2009 election was held on Wednesday, 13 May with voting across seven states and two union territories for 86 constituencies. Overall the turnout was 62%. Numerous cases of voter omissions were reported in Tamil Nadu which had 39 seats up for grab. In Jammu & Kashmir, two polling stations could not be reached by the polling officials due to extreme snow which prevented their helicopters from landing at the site. The polling officials were forced to trek through deep snow to reach the polling stations and polls took place 2 days later on 15 May in these two stations. A few cases of violence were also reported in this phase. One DMK official was stabbed to death in Tamil Nadu in a clash between the political parties and another person was killed in West Bengal in clashes between Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) party workers.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: Vote counting took place on 16 May and the result were declared the same day. The EVMs were localised to 1,080 centres across the country and counting started at 08:00 hrs. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) took early lead and maintained it to emerge victorious. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajnath Singh said that the BJP's performance in the election was very unexpected and the success of the NDA that had been hoped for had not materialised. The CPI (M) led third front later said that it was ready to sit in the opposition.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: This election defied the predictions made by pre-poll predictions and exit polls and resulted in a new mandate for incumbent UPA government. According to analysts after the election, many factors can be attributed for a landslide. The National Election Study 2009, published in "The Hindu" newspaper after the election, attributed the victory of the UPA government to the saturation of caste-based identity politics, focus on good governance and BJP's limitations. Another factor was the vote-splitting by the Third Front, especially the BSP and MNS in Maharashtra, which resulted in the Indian National Congress gaining many of its seats without getting a majority in the corresponding constituency.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: The President, Pratibha Patil dissolved the 14th Lok Sabha with immediate effect on 18 May. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh submitted the resignation of his Council of Ministers to the President, for him to be re-elected as the Prime Minister as well as for a new Council of Ministers to be elected. On 19 May, Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi were re-elected as party leader and chairperson respectively of the Congress Parliamentary Party. This effectively made him the prime minister-elect of the new government. President Pratibha Patil invited Singh to then form the new government on 20 May. The new government was sworn in on 22 May.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: Due to the fact that UPA was able to get 262 seats – just short of 10 seats for a majority – all the external support came from parties who gave unconditional support to Manmohan Singh and the UPA. The Janata Dal, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party all decided to do so to keep out any possibility of a BJP government in the next 5 years. Nagaland Peoples Front, Sikkim Democratic Front, and Bodaland Peoples Front, each with an MP, decided to join and support the UPA government. The three independent candidates to extend support for UPA were all from Maharashtra, and they were Sadashiv Mandlik, from Kolhapur constituency, Raju Shetty, from the political party "Swabhimani Paksha", who won from Hatkandagle and Baliram Jadhav from Bahujan Vikas Aghadi party who won the Palghar constituency.


title: 2009 Indian general election

text: On 21 May, it was announced that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) had decided to leave and give outside support to the UPA government, due to failed talks between the Congress and the DMK on cabinet positions. After many deliberations between DMK and Congress, the DMK agreed to 3 cabinet ministers and 4 ministers of state. Kanimozhi, daughter of the DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, decided not to join the new government cabinet, instead she wanted to focus on improving the parties image. The two incumbent cabinet ministers from DMK, Dayanidhi Maran and A. Raja joined the cabinet, but due to concerns raised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on T.R. Baalu, he was dropped from the cabinet, and Karunanidhi's son M.K. Azhagiri, replaced him as part of a compromise. On 25 May 2009, DMK decided to join the UPA government, reversing the decision made in prior days to extend outside support.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Andrew James Robert Patrick Martin (March 17, 1975 – March 13, 2009) was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. He was best known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/WWE) under the ring name Test.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: During his nine-year tenure with the WWF/WWE, he found his greatest success as a singles performer, winning the Intercontinental and European Championships once each, and the Hardcore Championship twice. Martin found additional success in the tag team division, twice becoming a World Tag Team Champion with Booker T by winning the WWF and WCW World Tag Team Championships once each.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: In the mid-1990s, Martin met professional wrestler Bret Hart in a restaurant. After Hart offered to train him to wrestle, Martin spent eight months training under both Hart and Leo Burke. Martin debuted in 1997, wrestling on the Canadian independent circuit under the ring names Martin Kane and T.J. Thunder. Martin continued his training with Dory Funk Jr. at Funk's Funkin' Dojo, a training center in Ocala, Florida.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Martin debuted in the World Wrestling Federation on the October 25, 1998, episode of "Sunday Night Heat" as an unnamed bodyguard for the band Mötley Crüe, who were performing on the show. In a scripted event, Martin threw an overzealous fan off the stage during the band's rehearsal. On the December 14, 1998, episode of "Raw is War", Martin aligned himself with WWF Champion The Rock by attacking The Rock's rival Triple H. A week later on the December 21 episode of "Raw", Martin made his in ring debut teaming with The Rock to defeat Triple H and X-Pac by disqualification. Martin went on to join The Corporation, a wrestling stable consisting of numerous other wrestlers. During this time, he received the ring name "Test", since he usually checked the mic saying "test...test..."


title: Test (wrestler)

text: On the January 11, 1999, episode of "Raw is War", Test competed in a Corporation vs. D-X Corporate Rumble, which was won by Chyna, making her the 30th entrant in the upcoming Royal Rumble. At the Royal Rumble, Test competed in the Royal Rumble match but was eliminated by Steve Austin. On the March 8 episode of "Raw", Test defeated X-Pac. At WrestleMania XV on March 28, Test teamed with D'Lo Brown in a WWF Tag Team Championship title match against Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart where Jarrett and Hart retained their titles. Along with Triple H, he helped Shane McMahon retain the European Championship against X-Pac at WrestleMania XV. After being removed from the Corporation, Martin joined The Union who were known to carry 2x4 boards of wood with them. The group briefly feuded with the Corporation and at Over the Edge, The Union defeated The Corporate Ministry in an Eight-man elimination tag team match, before quietly disbanding.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Martin then began an on-screen relationship with Stephanie McMahon that would lead to a "Love her or Leave her" match at SummerSlam. He went on to defeat Shane McMahon at SummerSlam in 1999, gaining Shane's blessing, which led to an on-screen engagement between Stephanie and Martin. Later in the storyline, The British Bulldog hit Stephanie with a trash can, which caused her to develop amnesia. Plans for the wedding continued however, and on the night of the wedding Test defeated Triple H with a quick 3-count from a referee in a Vince McMahon mask. Triple H later showed a video which revealed that he had drugged Stephanie and had taken her to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he married her in a drive-through ceremony. Stephanie then turned on Test and aligned herself with Triple H, ushering in the McMahon-Helmsley Era. Test then had a short feud with DX. On the December 6 episode of "Raw", Test and Kane were defeated by Triple H and X-Pac. DX would go on to break his nose and force him into matches like a handicap match against Big Boss Man and Albert. On the December 12 episode of "Heat", Test faced Al Snow in a losing effort. The next night on "Raw is War", Test teamed with Triple H to face The New Age Outlaws resulting in Triple H turning on and assaulting him. The next week on "Raw is War", Triple H would continue to torment him by putting him in a handicap match against The New Age Outlaws, calling it a "Christmas present". On the January 17 episode of "Raw is War", Test defeated The Big Boss Man to win the WWF Hardcore Championship. At the Royal Rumble, Test competed in the Royal Rumble match where he was eliminated by The Big Show. Test then lost the WWF Hardcore Championship to Crash Holly on the February 24 episode of "SmackDown!". Test then turned heel and formed a tag team with Albert. The two were known as T & A (Test and Albert) and were managed by Trish Stratus. At WrestleMania 2000 they defeated Al Snow and Steve Blackman. Then at Backlash, T & A (with Trish Stratus) defeated The Dudley Boyz. At King of the Ring, T & A were defeated in a Four corners elimination match for the WWF Tag Team Championship by Edge and Christian. At Fully Loaded, T & A and Trish Stratus lost to The Hardy Boyz and Lita in a Six-person mixed tag team match. At Unforgiven, Test competed in a Hardcore Open Invitational for the WWF Hardcore Championship which was won by Steve Blackman. At No Mercy, T & A and Trish Stratus competed against The Acolytes Protection Agency (Bradshaw and Faarooq) and Lita, which ended in a no contest because of T & A attacking The APA before the match. At Survivor Series, T & A and Trish Stratus faced Steve Blackman, Crash Holly and Molly Holly in a losing effort.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: On December 28, 2000, Albert attacked Test at the orders of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, effectively disbanding T & A and turning Test face again.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Again a singles wrestler, Test eliminated William Regal during the 2001 Royal Rumble match and subsequently defeated him the next night on "Raw is War" to win the WWF European Championship. Test then feuded with Eddie Guerrero, losing the European Championship to him at WrestleMania X-Seven following interference from Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn. On the April 30 episode of "Raw is War", Test defeated Triple H by disqualification after Triple H hit him with a chair and powerbombed him through the announce table. At Judgment Day, Test competed in a Triple threat hardcore match for the WWF Hardcore Championship which was won by Rhyno. On the June 14 episode of "SmackDown!", Test defeated Rhyno to win the Hardcore Championship but he would lose the title back to Rhyno on the June 25 episode of "Raw is War".


title: Test (wrestler)

text: During the Invasion storyline, Bradshaw and Faarooq were suspicious of Test's friendship with Shane McMahon, prior to Shane's heel turn and the formation of the ECW half of The Alliance. They decided to attack Test because they thought he was the mole within the WWF, only to find out he wasn't. In retaliation, on the August 9, 2001, episode of "SmackDown!", Test turned heel once again by joining The Alliance by helping Alliance members Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon defeat the APA for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Teaming with The Dudley Boyz, Test went on to pin Bradshaw at SummerSlam to defeat the APA and Spike Dudley in a six-man tag team match. The next day on "Raw is War", Stephanie approached Test with the task of beating Chris Jericho after Rhyno failed to do so at SummerSlam. Despite past conflicts, they shook hands, thus finally resolving the grudge between himself and Stephanie. After Test won the match against Jericho he would defeat Kane at No Mercy. He then began teaming with Booker T regularly in September 2001. Together they defeated The Brothers of Destruction on the September 27 episode of "SmackDown!" to win the WCW Tag Team Championship. However they would go on to lose the titles to The Hardy Boyz on the October 8 episode of "Raw". On the November 1 episode of "SmackDown!", Test and Booker T defeated The Rock and Chris Jericho to win the WWF Tag Team Championship, which they would go on to also lose to The Hardy Boyz eleven days later on "Raw".


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Following this, Test returned to singles competition and began feuding with Edge. After defeating Edge to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship, Test lost the title back to him in a unification match at Survivor Series for the WCW United States Championship and the WWF Intercontinental Championship. On the same night, he won a battle royal which granted him on-screen immunity from being fired for a year after attacking and taking the place of Scotty 2 Hotty. For the next few weeks, a storyline was built around Test using that immunity to justify attacking fellow wrestlers but the storyline went nowhere and shortly after the year turned it was dropped. At Vengeance, Test and Christian were defeated by Scotty 2 Hotty and Albert. At the 2002 Royal Rumble, Test competed in the Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated by Stone Cold Steve Austin. At No Way Out, Test and Booker T faced Tazz and Spike Dudley for the WWF Tag Team Championship but failed to win the titles. At WrestleMania X8, Test, Mr. Perfect and Lance Storm lost to Rikishi, Scotty 2 Hotty and Albert in six-man tag team match on "Sunday Night Heat".


title: Test (wrestler)

text: At the 2002 WWF draft lottery, Test was drafted to the SmackDown! brand. On the May 2 episode of "SmackDown!", Test and Christian defeated Mark Henry and Faarooq. On the May 9 episode of "SmackDown!", Test defeated Mark Henry. On the May 23 episode of "SmackDown!", Test defeated Randy Orton. On the May 30 episode of "SmackDown!", Test defeated Triple H. On the June 13 episode of "SmackDown!", Test defeated The Hurricane in a King of the Ring qualifier. The next week, Test defeated Hardcore Holly in a Quarterfinals match but would go on to lose in the semi-finals of the King of the Ring tournament to the eventual winner, Brock Lesnar. On the July 4 episode of "SmackDown!", Test, Christian and Lance Storm formed The Un-Americans. On the July 25 episode of "SmackDown!", John Cena poked fun at him so he slapped him which led to a match where Cena won. On the July 29 episode of "Raw", The Un-Americans left SmackDown! and joined the Raw brand. Later the night they attacked The Undertaker.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: The storyline culminated in a match at SummerSlam where Undertaker defeated Test. The Un-Americans lost to the team of Kane, Goldust, Booker T and Bubba Ray Dudley at Unforgiven and after a series of losses The Un-Americans divided, and the stable split in brawling fashion and disbanded in September 2002.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: In October 2002, after the Un-Americans dissolved, Test received Stacy Keibler as his on-screen girlfriend and "image consultant". This began by Keibler telling Test he should embrace his fanbase and call them his "Testicles", in line with The Rock's fan group, the "People", Kane's "Kaneanites", Chris Jericho's "Jerichoholics" and Hulk Hogan's "Hulkamaniacs". This eventually culminated with Test cutting off his long hair and trading his trademark leather pants for normal wrestling trunks. The couple were originally heels, but due to the popularity of the gimmick, quickly became faces. At the 2003 Royal Rumble, Test competed in the Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated by Batista. In May, Test formed a tag team with the returning Scott Steiner, at the request of Keibler, and at Judgment Day, they faced La Résistance in a losing effort. Later in the night, he went on to compete in a battle royal for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship, but it was eventually won by Christian. Test and Keibler eventually split up due to the ongoing mistreatment of Keibler at the hands of Test, while turning him heel again and developed a misogynist streak. At Bad Blood, Steiner defeated Test for Keibler's managerial services. On the August 18 episode of "Raw", Test defeated Steiner, winning the services of Keibler and announcing his intentions to "make her a whore". At Unforgiven, Test again defeated Steiner, forcing him to become his manservant. Steiner then attacked Keibler, blaming her for the loss and for him having to take orders from another man. Test then freed Steiner from his obligation, and the pair became a tag team once again, as now both treated Keibler like a slave. The two challenged for the World Tag Team Championship on multiple occasions but came up short each time. The pair were then fired by Mick Foley (therefore freeing Keibler from their control), who was the on-screen Co-General Manager for two nights, thus finally ending the year-long angle. They were then re-hired by Eric Bischoff, upon his return to the position of Raw General Manager. At Armageddon, Test and Scott Steiner competed in a Tag Team Turmoil match for the World Tag Team Championship but failed to win the titles.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Test then had a short feud with Steven Richards in January 2004, which started after Test kicked Victoria (Richard's on-screen girlfriend) in the jaw. They fought several times on "Sunday Night Heat", with Richards winning every match. On the January 19 episode of "Raw", Test competed in a Triple Threat Royal Rumble Qualifying Match against Goldberg and Steiner. After Goldberg won the match Test and Steiner would officially disband. At the Royal Rumble, Test was found knocked out backstage by some officials and the "Raw" Sheriff Stone Cold Steve Austin when it was his turn to enter. Austin ordered someone to quickly replace Test as the 21st rumble entrant. The person who attacked him and replaced him was revealed to be Mick Foley. Test would gain some revenge on the February 2 episode of "Raw", when he and Randy Orton attacked Foley in a backstage area. Test would start competing against the likes of Rico and Stevie Richards regularly on "Heat". On the March 1 episode of "Raw", Test and Matt Hardy were defeated by Rob Van Dam and Booker T. Test would go on to compete on house shows until he reaggravated the neck injury that had kept him out of action the past few months.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Martin had spinal fusion surgery performed by Dr. Lloyd Youngblood in July 2004. On November 1, 2004, it was announced that he was released from his WWE contract along with A-Train and Billy Gunn.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Test returned to the ring in May 2005, and began accepting bookings with various independent promotions. On August 27, 2005, Test wrestled at WrestleReunion 2 teaming with The Masked Superstar, Steve Corino, and The Original Evil Clown losing to D'Lo Brown, The Blue Meanie, Tom Prichard and Dusty Rhodes in Philadelphia. One of his most notable victories during this tenure was against former TNA wrestler Samoa Joe for World Series Wrestling in Australia. His most prominent role in the independent circuit was in the Nu-Wrestling Evolution promotion in Italy, where he took on the ring name "Big Foot", due to his "big boot" finishing move. He also feuded with Mark Jindrak in January 2006 in Italy.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: On March 22, 2006, WWE.com announced that Test had verbally agreed to return to WWE. Subsequently, vignettes began to play during "ECW on Sci Fi", announcing that Test was debuting on the ECW brand. He officially made his return on the July 4 episode of "ECW", defeating Al Snow. In late-July, Test aligned with the fellow ECW newcomers, Mike Knox, Big Show, and Matt Striker to feud with the "ECW Originals", which consisted of Rob Van Dam, Sabu, and The Sandman. On the August 1 episode of "ECW", Test and Mike Knox defeated Sandman and Tommy Dreamer in an Extreme Rules match, with Test pinning Dreamer. On the September 5 episode of "ECW", Test and Mike Knox lost to Rob Van Dam and Sabu in an Extreme Rules Match. On the October 3 episode of "ECW", Test defeated Rob Van Dam in an Extreme Rules Match.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: On the November 7 episode of "ECW", Test defeated Tommy Dreamer to earn a spot in the Extreme Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember. Test was a member of Team Big Show (Big Show, Test, Montel Vontavious Porter, Finlay and Umaga) facing Team Cena (John Cena, Kane, Bobby Lashley, Sabu and Rob Van Dam) at Survivor Series. During the match, Test eliminated Rob Van Dam but was eventually eliminated by Sabu. Team Big Show eventually lost. At December to Dismember, he eliminated Hardcore Holly and Rob Van Dam in the Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship, before being pinned by the eventual winner Bobby Lashley. On the January 16, 2007, episode of "ECW", Test competed in a triple threat match for the ECW World Championship, which was won by Bobby Lashley. The following week, Test faced Lashley for the ECW World Championship but failed to win the title. He would fail to defeat Lashley for the title on two further occasions, at the 2007 Royal Rumble and on the January 30 episode of "ECW".


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Following these defeats, Test would disappear from WWE television. On February 18, WWE commentator Jim Ross, confirmed that Test had been suspended for 30 days for violating the WWE "Wellness Program" on his blog. A week after Ross made the announcement, it was reported that Test was officially released from his WWE contract. Martin released a statement through his MySpace saying that the release was mutual and he had requested it.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: After his departure, Martin debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as a face under his real name on the August 2, 2007 episode of "TNA Impact!". He allied himself with Abyss and Sting and helped them defeat A.J. Styles and Christian Cage in a tag team ladder match. At Hard Justice, Martin wrestled his first and only match for TNA as "The Punisher" Andrew Martin, as he teamed with Sting and Abyss to defeat Christian's Coalition (Cage, Tomko, and A.J. Styles) in a Doomsday Chamber of Blood match, after Styles was slammed into a pile of broken glass and pinned by Abyss.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: On December 19, 2007, Martin announced that he would embark on a final tour of Britain, Ireland and France in February and March 2008 before retiring from professional wrestling. Martin finished his retirement tour in France, losing to Rene Dupree in a series of matches. However, Martin did wrestle two more matches in Japan in 2009. Martin defeated Lance Hoyt February 1 and Mitsuya Nagai on February 3.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Martin dated WWE Diva Stacy Keibler from 2001 until 2005. He also dated another WWE Diva, Kelly Kelly, from 2007 until just before his death in March 2009.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: On September 14, 2007, and April 5, 2008, Martin was arrested for driving under the influence in Hillsborough County and Pasco County, Florida. He was booked into jail both times, but was released the following day after posting bail.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: Martin was found dead in his Tampa, Florida apartment on March 13, 2009, four days prior to what would have been his 34th birthday. Police were contacted after a neighbor reportedly realized Martin had been laying motionless on his couch for some time, seeing him through a window outside Martin's apartment, prompting them to call 911. Authorities retrieved Martin's body after scaling his balcony and confirming that he was indeed dead. Toxicology reports revealed that Martin's death was caused by an accidental overdose of the prescription pain medication oxycodone. It was reported that in August 2008, Martin entered a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in West Palm Beach, Florida after reaching out to WWE, his former employer, for help regarding his substance abuse troubles. Martin's body was cremated and his remains were flown to his family in his hometown of Whitby, Ontario.


title: Test (wrestler)

text: It was later determined by forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu that Martin had severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain condition caused by repeated concussions and subconcussive head injuries that can cause severe headaches, mood swings, depression, and/or aggressive behavior. Fellow Canadian wrestler and one of Martin's idols, Chris Benoit, also suffered from CTE before his death in June 2007, and it was determined to be a factor in the Chris Benoit double-murder and suicide.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive public university as the University of Louisiana by the state legislature in 1847. The institution became private under the endowments of Paul Tulane and Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1884 and 1887. Tulane is the 9th oldest private university in the Association of American Universities. The Tulane University Law School and Tulane University Medical School are, respectively, the 12th oldest law school and 15th oldest medical school in the United States. Tulane has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1958 and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane has an overall acceptance rate of 8.4%. Alumni include twelve governors of Louisiana; one Chief Justice of the United States; various members of Congress, including a Speaker of the U.S. House; two Surgeons General of the United States; 23 Marshall Scholars; 18 Rhodes Scholars; 15 Truman Scholars; 155 Fulbright Scholars; four living billionaires; and a former President of Costa Rica. Two Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the university.


title: Tulane University

text: The university was founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 partly as a response to the fears of smallpox, yellow fever, and cholera in the United States. The university became only the second medical school in the South, and the 15th in the United States at the time. In 1847, the state legislature established the school as the University of Louisiana, a public university, and the law department was added to the university. Subsequently, in 1851, the university established its first academic department. The first president chosen for the new university was Francis Lister Hawks, an Episcopal priest and prominent citizen of New Orleans at the time.


title: Tulane University

text: The university was closed from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War. After reopening, it went through a period of financial challenges because of an extended agricultural depression in the South which affected the nation's economy. Paul Tulane, owner of a prospering dry goods and clothing business, donated extensive real estate within New Orleans for the support of education. This donation led to the establishment of a Tulane Educational Fund (TEF), whose board of administrators sought to support the University of Louisiana instead of establishing a new university. In response, through the influence of former Confederate general Randall Lee Gibson, the Louisiana state legislature transferred control of the University of Louisiana to the administrators of the TEF in 1884. This act created the Tulane University of Louisiana. The university was privatized, and is one of only a few American universities to be converted from a state public institution to a private one.


title: Tulane University

text: Paul Tulane's endowment to the school specified that the institution could only admit white students, and Louisiana law passed in 1884 reiterated this condition.


title: Tulane University

text: In 1884, William Preston Johnston became the first president of Tulane. He had succeeded Robert E. Lee as president of Washington and Lee University after Lee's death. He had moved to Louisiana and become president of Louisiana State University.


title: Tulane University

text: In 1885, the university established its graduate division, later becoming the Graduate School. One year later, gifts from Josephine Louise Newcomb totaling over $3.6 million, led to the establishment of the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College within Tulane University. Newcomb was the first coordinate college for women in the United States and became a model for such institutions as Pembroke College and Barnard College. In 1894 the College of Technology formed, which would later become the School of Engineering. In the same year, the university moved to its present-day uptown campus on historic St. Charles Avenue, five miles (8 km) by streetcar from downtown New Orleans.


title: Tulane University

text: With the improvements to Tulane University in the late 19th century, Tulane had a firm foundation to build upon as the premier university of the Deep South and continued the legacy with growth in the 20th century. In 1901, the first cornerstone was laid for the F.W. Tilton Library, endowed by the New Orleans businessman and philanthropist Frederick William Tilton (1821–1890). During 1907, the school established a four-year professional curriculum in architecture through the College of Technology, growing eventually into the Tulane School of Architecture. One year later, Schools of Dentistry and Pharmacy were established, albeit temporarily. The School of Dentistry ended in 1928, and Pharmacy six years later. In 1914, Tulane established a College of Commerce, the first business school in the South. In 1925, Tulane established the independent Graduate School. Two years later, the university set up a School of Social Work, also the first in the southern United States. Tulane was instrumental in promoting the arts in New Orleans and the South in establishing the Newcomb School of Art with William Woodward as director, thus establishing the renowned Newcomb Pottery. The Middle American Research Institute was established in 1925 at Tulane "for the purpose of advanced research into the history (both Indian and colonial), archaeology, tropical botany (both economic and medical), the natural resources and products, of the countries facing New Orleans across the waters to the south; to gather, index and disseminate data thereupon; and to aid in the upbuilding of the best commercial and friendly relations between these Trans-Caribbean peoples and the United States."


title: Tulane University

text: University College was established in 1942 as Tulane's division of continuing education. By 1950, the School of Architecture had grown out of Engineering into an independent school. In 1958, the university was elected to the Association of American Universities, an organization consisting of 62 of the leading research universities in North America. The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine again became independent from the School of Medicine in 1967. It was established in 1912. Tulane's School of Tropical Medicine also remains the only one of its kind in the country. On April 23, 1975, US President Gerald Ford spoke at Tulane University's Fogelman Arena at the invitation of F. Edward Hebert, the US representative of Louisiana's 1st Congressional District. During the historic speech, Ford announced that the Vietnam War was "finished as far as America is concerned" one week before the fall of Saigon. Ford drew parallels to the Battle of New Orleans and said that such positive activity could do for America's morale what the battle did in 1815.


title: Tulane University

text: During World War II, Tulane was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission.


title: Tulane University

text: In 1963, Tulane enrolled its first African-American students. In 1990, Rhonda Goode-Douglas, alongside other black, female students, founded the first African-American sorority in Tulane's history, AKA Omicron Psi.


title: Tulane University

text: A detailed account of the history of Tulane University from its founding through 1965 was published by Dyer.


title: Tulane University

text: In July 2004, Tulane received two $30-million donations to its endowment, the largest individual or combined gifts in the university's history. The donations came from James H. Clark, a member of the university's board of trustees and founder of Netscape, and David Filo, a graduate of its School of Engineering and co-founder of Yahoo!. A fund-raising campaign called "Promise & Distinction" raised $730.6 million by October 3, 2008, increasing the university's total endowment to more than $1.1 billion; by March 2009, Yvette Jones, Tulane's Chief Operating Officer, told Tulane's Staff Advisory Council that the endowment "has lost close to 37%", affected by the Great Recession. In 2021, Tulane had to evacuate all students and close down for a month due to damage from Hurricane Ida. No classes took place for two weeks, then there were virtual classes for the remaining two weeks.


title: Tulane University

text: As a result of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and its damaging effects on New Orleans, most of the university was closed for the second time in its history—the first being during the Civil War. The closing affected the first semester of the school calendar year. The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine's distance learning programs and courses stayed active. The School of Medicine relocated to Houston, Texas for a year. Aside from student athletes attending college classes together on the same campuses, most undergraduate and graduate students dispersed to campuses throughout the U.S. The storm inflicted more than $650 million in damages to the university, with some of the greatest losses impacting the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library and its collections.


title: Tulane University

text: Facing a budget shortfall, the Board of Administrators announced a "Renewal Plan" in December 2005 to reduce its annual operating budget and create a "student-centric" campus. Addressing the school's commitment to New Orleans, a course credit involving service learning became a requirement for an undergraduate degree. In 2006 Tulane became the first Carnegie ranked "high research activity" institution to have an undergraduate public service graduation requirement. In May 2006, graduation ceremonies included commencement speakers former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who commended the students for their desire to return to Tulane and serve New Orleans in its renewal.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane's primary campus is located in Uptown New Orleans on St. Charles Avenue, directly opposite Audubon Park, and extends north to South Claiborne Avenue through Freret and Willow Street. The campus is known colloquially as the Uptown or St. Charles campus. It was established in the 1890s and occupies more than of land. The campus is known both for its large live oak trees as well as its architecturally historic buildings. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. The campus architecture consists of several styles, including Richardsonian Romanesque, Elizabethan, Italian Renaissance, Mid-Century Modern, and contemporary styles. The front campus buildings use Indiana White Limestone or orange brick for exteriors, while the middle campus buildings are mostly adorned in red St. Joe brick, the staple of Newcomb College Campus buildings. Loyola University is directly adjacent to Tulane, on the downriver side. Audubon Place, where the President of Tulane resides, is on the upriver side. The President's residence is the former home of "banana king" Sam Zemurray, who donated it in his will.


title: Tulane University

text: The centerpiece of the Gibson Quad is the first academic building built on campus, Gibson Hall, in 1894. The School of Architecture is also located on the oldest section of the campus, occupying the Richardson Memorial Building. The middle of the campus, between Feret and Willow Streets, and bisected by McAlister Place and Newcomb Place, serves as the center of campus activities. The Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, Devlin Fieldhouse, McAlister Auditorium, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, and most of the student residence halls and academic buildings populate the center of campus.


title: Tulane University

text: The Howard-Tilton Memorial Library was under construction from 2013 to 2016. The library now has two additional floors including the Rare Books room. The facilities for the Freeman School of Business line McAlister Place and sit next to the Tulane University Law School. The middle campus is also home to the historic Newcomb College Campus, which sits between Newcomb Place and Broadway. The Newcomb campus was designed by New York architect James Gamble Rogers, noted for his work with Yale University's campus. The Newcomb campus is home to Tulane's performing and fine arts venues.


title: Tulane University

text: The back of campus, between Willow Street and South Claiborne, is home to two residence halls, Reily Recreation Center and Turchin Stadium, the home of Green Wave baseball. In January 2013, ground was broken on Tulane's Yulman Stadium between Reily Recreation Center and Turchin Stadium. Tulane Green Wave football had played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome after Tulane Stadium's demolition in 1980. They now play in Yulman Stadium, which opened in September 2014.


title: Tulane University

text: After Hurricane Katrina, Tulane has continued to build new facilities and renovate old spaces on its campus. The newest dorm building, Weatherhead Hall, was completed in 2011 and houses sophomore honor students giving it the nickname "SoHo" amongst students. Construction on Greenbaum House, a Residential College, began in January 2013 and was completed by Summer 2014. The Lallage Feazel Wall Residential College, was completed in August 2005 and took in its first students when Tulane re-opened in January 2006. Usually an honors dorm, Wall accommodated students of all academic standings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life (LBC) was renovated to be a green, environmentally friendly building and opened for student use in January 2007. In 2009, the university altered McAlister Drive, a street that ran through the middle of the uptown campus into a pedestrian walkway renamed McAlister Place. The area was resurfaced, and the newly added green spaces were adorned with Japanese magnolias, irises and new lighting. In late November 2008 the City of New Orleans announced plans to add bicycle lanes to the St. Charles Avenue corridor that runs in front of campus.


title: Tulane University

text: In 2019, a new student space called The Commons was opened by President Mike Fitts, located in the middle of the uptown campus. The Commons is the central dining area on campus. Catering to most dietary restrictions, The Commons directly connects to the Lavin-Bernick Center and also has a library and classrooms on its upper floors.


title: Tulane University

text: There is one graduate housing complex for Tulane University, Bertie M. and John W. Deming Pavilion, in the Downtown Campus. it is not operated by the university's Department of Housing and Residence Life.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane hosted an Environmental Summit at its law school in April 2009, an event that all students could attend for free. Many students from Tulane's two active environmental groups, Green Club and Environmental Law Society, attended. These student groups push for global citizenship and environmental stewardship on campus. In 2007 Tulane made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10%, getting students involved by providing an Energy Smart Shopping Guide and electronics "greening" services from IT. In 2010 Tulane completed its renovation of 88-year-old Dinwiddie Hall, which was subsequently LEED Gold certified. A new residential college, Weatherhead Hall, opened in 2011 as housing for sophomore honors students. The residence – colloquially known as SoHo – has also applied for LEED Gold certification. Tulane received an "A−" on the 2011 "College Sustainability Report Card", garnering an award as one of the top 52 most sustainable colleges in the country.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane University, as a private institution, has been governed since 1884 by the Board of Tulane (also known as the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund) that was established in 1882. There have been 15 presidents of Tulane since then. The board comprises more than 30 regular members (plus several members emeriti) and the university president. In 2008, Tulane became one of 76 U.S. colleges and the only Louisiana college to maintain an endowment above $1 billion.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane is organized into 10 schools centered around liberal arts, sciences, and specialized professions. All undergraduate students are enrolled in the Newcomb-Tulane College. The graduate programs are governed by the individual schools.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane is unique among universities in the United States in its academic organization in that all undergraduates are enrolled in Newcomb-Tulane College as well as being registered in the School which houses their major. Newcomb-Tulane College serves as an administrative center for all aspects of undergraduate life at Tulane.


title: Tulane University

text: As part of the post-Hurricane Katrina Renewal Plan, the university initiated an extensive university-wide core curriculum. Three major elements of the university core are (1) freshman seminars called TIDES classes, (2) a two-class sequence for public service, and (3) a capstone experience for students to apply knowledge in their fields of study. Many course requirements of the core curriculum can be certified through Advanced Placement (AP) exams or International Baccalaureate (IB) course credits, or placement exams in English and foreign languages offered by the university during orientation. Some schools have different core requirements (e.g., students in the School of Science and Engineering are required to take fewer language classes than students in the School of Liberal Arts).


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1958. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and had research expenditure of $193.3 million in fiscal year 2018.


title: Tulane University

text: In 2008, Tulane was ranked by the Ford Foundation as the major international studies research institution in the South and one of the top 15 nationally. The National Institutes of Health ranks funding to Tulane at 79th. The university is home to various research centers, including the Amistad Research Center.


title: Tulane University

text: According to "U.S. News & World Report" Tulane is deemed a "Most Selective" university. Tulane is the only institution in Louisiana to have that distinction. The school accepts the Common Application for admission.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane has the second lowest percentage of Pell Grant recipients in the United States, only after Fairfield University.


title: Tulane University

text: The Office of Undergraduate Admission received over 43,000 applications for fall 2022 — over a 21 percent increase over the last five years. The acceptance rate for the class of 2026 was 8.4 percent. The yield rate was 52 percent. Among freshman students who committed to enroll in Fall 2022, the average converted SAT score was 1474. Composite ACT scores for the middle 50% ranged from 31 to 34.


title: Tulane University

text: The most impressive incoming undergraduate students are invited to join the honors program by the Office of Admission. Incoming freshmen who did not receive an invitation are allowed to apply for one after completing their first semester with at least a 3.8 cumulative GPA. To remain in good standing with the honors program, honors students are required to maintain at least a 3.8 cumulative GPA and enroll in honors classes their first year in the program. Honors students have access to special privileges and learning opportunities on campus.


title: Tulane University

text: The Dean's Honor Scholarship is a merit-based scholarship awarded by Tulane which covers full tuition for the duration of the recipient's undergraduate program. The scholarship is offered to between 75 and 100 incoming freshmen by the Office of Undergraduate Admission, and is awarded only through a separate application. This scholarship is renewable provided that the recipient maintains a minimum 3.0 GPA at the end of each semester and maintains continuous enrollment in a full-time undergraduate division. Typically, recipients have SAT I score of 1450 or higher or an ACT composite score of 33 or higher, rank in the top 5% of their high school graduating class, have a rigorous course load including honors and Advanced Placement classes, and an outstanding record of extracurricular activities. Notable recipients include Sean M. Berkowitz and David Filo.


title: Tulane University

text: Beginning in 2014, Tulane has partnered with the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation to offer the full-ride merit-based Stamps Leadership Scholarship, Tulane's most prestigious scholarship. Approximately 5 incoming students are awarded the Stamps Scholarship each year, and Tulane graduated its first class of Stamps Scholars in May 2018.


title: Tulane University

text: The student body of Tulane University is represented by the Associated Student Body (ASB). In 1998, the students of Tulane University voted by referendum to split the Associated Student Body (ASB) Senate into two separate houses, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA). USG and GAPSA come together twice a semester to meet as the ASB Senate, where issues pertaining to the entire Tulane student body are discussed. The meetings of the ASB Senate are presided over by the ASB President, the only student that represents all students of Tulane University.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane maintains 3,600 beds in 14 residence halls on its uptown campus for undergraduate students. First year residence halls include Warren House, Sharp Hall, Monroe Hall, Paterson Hall, Josephine Louise Hall, Wall Hall, and Butler Hall. Per the Renewal Plan instituted after Hurricane Katrina, Tulane requires all freshmen and sophomores to live on campus, except those who are from surrounding neighborhoods in New Orleans. Due to the increasing size of incoming classes, Tulane has allowed a small number of rising sophomores to reside off campus instead of being required to remain in campus housing. Housing is not guaranteed for juniors and seniors.


title: Tulane University

text: "The Tulane Hullabaloo" is the university's weekly student-run newspaper. It is published every Thursday of the academic year, except on holidays, and has received multiple Pacemaker Awards, the highest award in college journalism.


title: Tulane University

text: The Tulane Vignette is the university's unofficial weekly satirical online newspaper. It has received multiple awards.


title: Tulane University

text: The "Jambalaya", Tulane's yearbook, published annually since 1897, published its last edition (Volume 99) in 1995, because of funding and management problems. In the fall of 2003, the "Jambalaya" was reestablished as a student club, and in the Spring of 2004, the centennial edition of the "Jambalaya" was published. The staff now continues to publish a "Jambalaya" annually.


title: Tulane University

text: "The Rival" is a student-run, online-only publication of opinion, commentary, and satire. It features three sections: campus, culture, and current.


title: Tulane University

text: The student-run radio station of the university, WTUL New Orleans 91.5, began broadcasting on campus in 1971.


title: Tulane University

text: Tube, an acronym meaning Tulane University Broadcast Entertainment, is the university's student-run television station.


title: Tulane University

text: The Tulane Literary Society produces an arts, poetry, and prose magazine once a semester called the "Tulane Review".


title: Tulane University

text: Every fall, usually during homecoming week, Tulane holds a special ceremony for the presentation of the Tulane Ring, the class ring of the school, which is conferred upon students having earned 60 credits or more.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The university was a charter member of the Southeastern Conference, in which it competed until 1966. Just before leaving the SEC, it had notably become the first conference school to field a black athlete when Stephen Martin, who was on an academic scholarship, played on the baseball team in the 1966 season. Tulane, along with other academically-oriented, private schools had considered forming the "Southern Ivy League" (Magnolia Conference) in the 1950s. Tulane's intercollegiate sports include football, baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, men's and women's track, men's and women's tennis, and cross country, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, women's golf, women's bowling, and women's beach volleyball. Tulane's graduation rate for its student-athletes consistently ranks among the top of Division I athletics programs.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane Green Wave teams have seen moderate success over the years. The school's national championships have all come from men's tennis, with one team title in 1959 and multiple singles and doubles titles. The baseball team has won multiple conference titles, and in both 2001 and 2005, it finished with 56 wins and placed 5th at the College World Series. The women's basketball team has won multiple conference titles and gone to numerous NCAA tournaments. The women's volleyball team won the 2008 Conference USA Championship tournament. The Green Wave football team won the 2002 Hawaii Bowl, the 1970 Liberty Bowl, and the inaugural Sugar Bowl. In 1998 it went 12–0, winning the Liberty Bowl and finishing the season ranked 7th in the nation by the AP and 10th by the BCS.


title: Tulane University

text: Most administrative and athletic support facilities are located in the Wilson Athletic Center in the center of Tulane's athletic campus. The adjacent area was once home to Tulane Stadium, which seated more than 80,000 people, held three Super Bowls, was home to the New Orleans Saints, and gave rise to the Sugar Bowl. Home football games moved to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome when it opened in 1975, and Tulane Stadium was demolished in 1980. The university has committed to upgrading its athletic facilities in recent years, extensively renovating Turchin Stadium (baseball) in 2008, Fogelman Arena (now Devlin Fieldhouse; basketball and volleyball) in 2006 and 2012, and Goldring Tennis Center in 2008. The Hertz Center, a new practice facility for the basketball and volleyball teams that includes athletic training and strength and conditioning rooms, offices, film rooms, and lockers, opened in 2011. Tulane completed construction of Yulman Stadium in September 2014 and began using it for home football games that season.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane is home to many alumni who have contributed to both the arts and sciences and to the political and business realms. For example, from television: Jerry Springer, Jake Yoel and Ian Terry, from literature: John Kennedy Toole, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "A Confederacy of Dunces", Shirley Ann Grau, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner, and conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart, who later criticized his education at Tulane for what he perceived as its inadequacy; from business: David Filo, co-founder of Yahoo!, Ashley Biden, daughter of Jill Biden and Joseph R. Biden and Neil Bush, economist and brother of President George W. Bush; from entertainment: Lauren Hutton, film actor and supermodel, and Paul Michael Glaser, TV actor of "Starsky and Hutch"; from fine arts: Sergio Rossetti Morosini, artist and conservator, and internationally renowned glass artist Mitchell Gaudet; from music: conductor and composer Odaline de la Martinez, who was the first woman to conduct at a BBC Proms concert in London; from government: Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House who famously coordinated the first Congressional Republican majority in 40 years, Perry Chen, founder of Kickstarter and Luther Terry, former U.S. Surgeon General who issued the first official health hazard warning for tobacco; from medicine: Michael DeBakey and Dr. Regina Benjamin, President Obama's Surgeon General; from science A. Baldwin Wood, inventor of the wood screw pump and Lisa P. Jackson, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator under President Obama; from sports: Bobby Brown, former New York Yankees third baseman and former president of the American League. A former graduate residence hall on campus was also named for Engineering graduate Harold Rosen, who invented the geosynchronous communications satellite. Douglas G. Hurley, NASA astronaut and pilot of mission STS-127, became the first alumnus to travel in outer space in July 2009.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane also hosted several prominent faculty, such as two members who each won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Louis J. Ignarro and Andrew V. Schally. Other notables such as Rudolph Matas, "father of vascular surgery" and George E. Burch, inventor of the phlebomanometer in medicine, also were on faculty at Tulane. Five U.S. Supreme Court Justices have taught at Tulane, including Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Tulane has also hosted several prominent artists, most notably Mark Rothko, who was a Visiting Artist from 1956 to 1957. Currently on the faculty are Walter Isaacson, Nick Spitzer, Olawale Sulaiman and Melissa Harris-Perry.


title: Tulane University

text: Several football alumni played in the National Football League, including five-time NFL Champion Wide Receiver Max McGee, Mewelde Moore, Matt Forté, Troy Kropog, Dezman Moses, Cairo Santos (Chicago Bears) and Darnell Mooney (Chicago Bears).


title: Tulane University

text: Several baseball alumni played in the Major Leagues, including Brian Bogusevic (Chicago Cubs), Brandon Gomes (Tampa Bay Rays), Mark Hamilton (free agent), Aaron Loup (Toronto Blue Jays), Tommy Manzella (Colorado Rockies), and Micah Owings (Washington Nationals).


title: Tulane University

text: Actor Harold Sylvester was the first African American to receive an athletic scholarship from Tulane. Turning down Harvard, he attended Tulane on a basketball scholarship and graduated in 1972 with a degree in theater and psychology.


title: Tulane University

text: Shalanda Young, who is an American political advisor who is the nominee to serve as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Biden administration, graduated with her Masters in Health Administration.


title: Tulane University

text: Tulane has been portrayed in several books, television shows and films. Several movies have been filmed at the Uptown campus, especially since tax credits from the state of Louisiana began drawing more productions to New Orleans in the early 2000s. The uptown campus has been host to two movie premieres from 2006 to 2007.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The dissolution of Czechoslovakia (, ) took effect on December 31, 1992, and was the self-determined split of the federal republic of Czechoslovakia into the independent countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both mirrored the Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic, which had been created in 1969 as the constituent states of the Czechoslovak Federal Republic.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: It is sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce, a reference to the bloodless Velvet Revolution of 1989, which had led to the end of the rule of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Czechoslovakia was created with the dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I. In 1918, a meeting took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, at which the future Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and other Czech and Slovak representatives signed the Pittsburgh Agreement, which promised a common state consisting of two equal nations: Slovaks and Czechs. Soon afterward, he and Edvard Beneš violated the agreement by pushing for greater unity and a single nation.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Some Slovaks were not in favour of that change, and in March 1939, with pressure from Adolf Hitler, the First Slovak Republic was created as a satellite state of Germany with limited sovereignty. The alignment with the Soviet Union after World War II oversaw the reunification into the Third Czechoslovak Republic.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: In 1968, the Constitutional Law of Federation reinstated an official federal structure of the 1917 type, but during the Normalization Period in the 1970s, Gustáv Husák, despite being a Slovak himself, returned most of control to Prague. That approach encouraged a regrowth of separatism after the fall of communism.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: By 1991, the Czech Republic's GDP per capita was some 20% higher than Slovakia's. Transfer payments from the Czech budget to Slovakia, which had been the rule in the past, were stopped in January 1991.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Many Czechs and Slovaks desired the continued existence of a federal Czechoslovakia. Some major Slovak parties, however, advocated a looser form of coexistence and the Slovak National Party sought complete independence and sovereignty. For a few years, political parties re-emerged, but Czech parties had little or no presence in Slovakia and vice versa. To have a functioning state, the government demanded continued control from Prague, but Slovaks continued to ask for decentralisation.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: In 1992, the Czech Republic elected Václav Klaus and others, who demanded either an even tighter federation ("viable federation") or two independent states. Vladimír Mečiar and other leading Slovak politicians wanted a kind of confederation. Both sides opened frequent and intense negotiations in June. On July 17, the Slovak parliament adopted the declaration of independence of the Slovak nation. Six days later, Klaus and Mečiar agreed to dissolve Czechoslovakia at a meeting in Bratislava. Czechoslovak President Václav Havel resigned, rather than oversee the dissolution, which he had opposed. In a September 1992 opinion poll, only 37% of Slovaks and 36% of Czechs favoured dissolution.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The goal of negotiations switched to achieving a peaceful division. Peaceful division was prioritized as the process ran in parallel with the violent breakup of Yugoslavia (another socialist, Slavic federal state created after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary). On November 13, the Federal Assembly passed Constitution Act 541, which settled the division of property between the Czech lands and Slovakia. With Constitution Act 542, passed on November 25, they agreed to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia as of December 31, 1992.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The partition occurred without violence and so was thus said to be "velvet", much like the "Velvet Revolution", which had preceded it and had been accomplished by massive peaceful demonstrations and actions. In contrast, other post-communist breakups (such as the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia) involved violent conflict. Czechoslovakia is the only former Eastern Bloc state that had an entirely-peaceful breakup. In the following years, as Slovakia's economy struggled, Slovaks began to describe the dissolution as a "sandpaper divorce".


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: A number of reasons have been given for the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, with the main debates focusing on whether dissolution was inevitable or whether dissolution occurred in conjunction with or even in contrast to the events that occurred between the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the end of the joined state in 1992.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Those who argue from the inevitability stance tend to point to the differences between the two nations, which date back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and to other issues. There are differences between the Czechs and Slovaks, such as problems with the shared state during communism, the success of the state in the Czech lands, its failure in the Slovak lands that still resulted in the adoption of communism since the Czechs were more influential in the running of the state than Slovaks, and the 1968 constitution with its minority veto.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Those who argue that events between 1989 and 1992 led to the dissolution point to international factors such as the breakaway of the Soviet satellite nations, the lack of unified media between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and most importantly the actions of the political leaders of both nations like the disagreements between Prime Ministers Klaus and Mečiar.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Since the coat of arms of Czechoslovakia was a composition of those of the historic geographic areas forming the country, each republic simply kept its own symbol: the Czechs the lion and the Slovaks the double cross. The same principle was applied to the two-part bilingual Czechoslovak national anthem that comprised two separate pieces of music, the Czech stanza Kde domov můj and the Slovak stanza Nad Tatrou sa blýska. Disputes occurred only with respect to the Czechoslovak flag. During the 1992 negotiations on the details of dissolution of Czechoslovakia, as demanded by Vladimír Mečiar and Václav Klaus, a clause forbidding the use of the state symbols of Czechoslovakia by its successor states was inserted into the constitutional law on the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: From 1990 to 1992, the red and white flag of Bohemia (differing from the Polish flag only by the proportion of the colours) officially served as the flag of the Czech Republic. Eventually, after a search for new symbols, the Czech Republic unilaterally decided to ignore the constitutional law on the dissolution of Czechoslovakia (Article 3 of Law 542/1992 stated that the "Czech Republic and Slovak Republic shall not use the national symbols of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic after its dissolution.") and to keep the Czechoslovak flag, with an altered meaning. Slovakia, meanwhile, adopted its traditional flag; however, just before independence, on September 3, 1992, the coat of arms was added in order to prevent confusion with the similar flags of Russia and Slovenia.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The national territory was divided along the existing internal borders, but the border was not clearly defined at some points and, in some areas, the border cut across streets, access roads and communities that had coexisted for centuries. The most serious issues occurred around the following areas:


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The new countries were able to solve the difficulties via mutual negotiations, financial compensation and then an international treaty covering the border modifications.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: People living or owning property in the border area, however, continued to experience practical problems until both new countries entered the Schengen Agreement Area in 2007, rendering the border less significant.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Most federal assets were divided in a ratio of two to one, the approximate ratio between the Czech and Slovak population in Czechoslovakia, including army equipment, rail and airliner infrastructure. Some minor disputes, such as gold reserves stored in Prague and federal know-how valuation, lasted for a few years after the dissolution.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Initially, the old Czechoslovak currency, the Czechoslovak koruna, remained in use by both countries. Czech fears of an economic loss caused the adoption of two national currencies as early as February 8, 1993. At the beginning, the currencies had an equal exchange rate, but the value of the Slovak koruna was then usually lower than that of the Czech koruna (in 2004, around 25–27% lower). On August 2, 1993, both currencies were distinguished by different stamps that were first affixed to and then printed on old Czechoslovak koruna banknotes.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: On January 1, 2009, Slovakia adopted the euro as its currency with an exchange rate of 30.126 SK/€, and the €2 commemorative coin for 2009, Slovakia's first, featured the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in remembrance of the common struggle of the Czechoslovaks for democracy. By a quirk of fate, the welcoming speech on the behalf of the European Union on the occasion of Slovakia's entry to the eurozone was delivered by Mirek Topolánek, the prime minister of the presiding country, the Czech Republic, naturally in his native language, but the other guest speakers used English. The Czech Republic continues to use the Czech koruna, or crown.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Neither the Czech Republic nor Slovakia sought recognition as the sole successor state to Czechoslovakia. This can be contrasted to the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, when the Russian Federation was recognised as successor state to not only the Russian SFSR but also the Soviet Union itself. Therefore, Czechoslovakia's membership in the United Nations ceased upon the dissolution of the country, but on January 19, 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were admitted as new, separate states.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: With respect to other international treaties, the Czechs and the Slovaks agreed to honour the treaty obligations of Czechoslovakia. The Slovaks transmitted a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations on May 19, 1993, to express their intent to remain a party to all treaties signed and ratified by Czechoslovakia and to ratify treaties signed but not ratified before dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The letter acknowledged that under international law, all treaties signed and ratified by Czechoslovakia would remain in force. For example, both countries are recognised as signatories of the Antarctic Treaty from the date that Czechoslovakia had signed the agreement in 1962.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Both countries have ratified the Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties, but it was not a factor in the dissolution of Czechoslovakia since it did not come into force until 1996.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The dissolution had some negative impact on the two economies, especially in 1993, as traditional links were severed to accommodate the bureaucracy of international trade, but the impact was considerably less than expected by many people.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: A customs union between the Czech Republic and Slovakia remained in place from the dissolution until May 1, 2004, when both countries entered the European Union.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Many Czechs hoped that dissolution would quickly start an era of high economic growth in the Czech Republic, which no longer had to sponsor the "less-developed Slovakia". Similarly, others looked forward to an independent unexploited Slovakia that might become a new "economic tiger".


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: According to "The Prague Post", "Slovak GDP reached 95 percent of the Czech GDP, and it is likely to draw level with it. The Slovak gross national product (GNP), which includes citizens' incomes abroad and deducts the money multinational companies move out of the country, is higher than the Czech one. Old-age pensions are more or less at the same level in both countries, and the consumption per capita is slightly higher in Slovakia. However, salaries are 10 percent lower on average in Slovakia than in the Czech Republic".


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: However, Martin Filko, the head of the Institute of Financial Policy of the Slovak Finance Ministry, pointed out that Slovakia is among the EU countries whose salaries form the lowest portion of their GDP. In other words, some of people's incomes come from sources other than their main employment, which reduces the real difference between the Czech and the Slovak salaries.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Slovaks have become a more integral part of the EU because of their adoption of the euro and are more resolved to take part in the banking and fiscal unions. In the Czech Republic, the right wing opened the economy, and the left wing privatised banks and attracted foreign investors.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Until 2005, the GDP of the two countries was growing at a similar rate. However, from 2005 to 2008, the Slovak economy grew faster than the Czech economy. Economists agree that this growth was caused by the right-wing reforms of the Mikuláš Dzurinda government and the promise to adopt the euro, which attracted investors.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: When the left-wing populist Robert Fico replaced Dzurinda as Slovak prime minister after eight years in 2006, he reduced the right-wing reforms only moderately, but he did not abolish them, unlike the Czech Social Democrats (ČSSD).


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Meanwhile, the Czechs had three ČSSD prime ministers in four years (2002–06), followed by a shaky centre-right cabinet, which cut and simplified taxes but failed to push through other reforms and did not want to adopt the euro because of the financial crisis and the Civic Democrats' ideological stance.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Since federalisation in 1968, Czechoslovakia had divided citizenship, either of the Czech Socialist Republic or of the Slovak Socialist Republic, the word Socialist being dropped from both names shortly after the Velvet Revolution. That distinction, however, had little effect on citizens' life. On January 1, 1993, all Czechoslovak citizens automatically became citizens either of the Czech Republic or the Slovak Republic, based on their previous citizenship, permanent residence address, birthplace, family ties, job and other criteria. Additionally, people had one year's time to claim the other citizenship under certain conditions.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Slovak legislation allowed dual citizenship until 2010, when it was abolished (see Citizenship Act (Slovakia)). Only a handful of people have exercised that right, but its significance is lessened by both nations' membership in the EU as the freedom of movement for workers, a policy that guarantees EU citizens the right to work and to live anywhere in the Union. In the case of movement between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the policy took effect from 2004.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: By contrast, the Czech Republic has prohibited dual citizenship for naturalized citizens and requires them to give up existing citizenship(s) prior to receiving citizenship of the Czech Republic. That requirement can be waived only if giving up an existing citizenship might put the applicant or their relatives in danger of persecution in their homeland, which was not the case of applicants from Slovakia. That situation changed with the new Citizenship Act of 2013 (186/2013 Sb.), in force since January 1, 2014. However, most Slovak citizens are still unable to become dual citizens of both the Czech Republic and Slovakia since they automatically lose Slovak citizenship upon voluntarily acquiring another one (see previous paragraph). Exempt from that law are only Slovak citizens who obtain a foreign citizenship by virtue of marriage with a foreign national. Some Slovak politicians have speculated in the media about softening the Citizenship Act, but no change has yet materialised as of January 2015.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: People of both countries were allowed to cross the border without a passport and were allowed to work anywhere without the need to obtain an official permit. Border checks were completely removed on December 21, 2007, when both countries joined the Schengen Agreement.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Under the current European regulations, citizens of either country are entitled to the diplomatic protection of any other EU country and so both have been considering merging their embassies, together with nations of the Visegrád Group, to reduce costs.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: One of the problems not solved during dissolution was the question of a large number of Romani living in the Czech Republic born and officially registered in today's Slovakia. Most of them did not re-register their official place of stay during the months before dissolution and so the question of their citizenship was left open. The 1992 Czech Nationality Act allowed a grant of automatic citizenship only to those who were born on Czech territory. For others, the right to citizenship required proof of a five-year period of residence, an "unobjectionable" criminal record, significant fees and a complicated bureaucratic process, which reportedly excluded a rather large percentage of Roma.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The Slovak government did not want to grant citizenship to nonresidents. Significant numbers of Roma living in Czech orphanages did not have their legal status clarified and were released from care as adult noncitizens without any right to work or live in the Czech Republic. Under pressure from the European Union, the Czech government made amendments to its nationality law in 1999 and 2003, which effectively solved the problem, but compensation has not been provided to those rendered stateless in 1992.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: In the former Czechoslovakia, the first television channel was a federal one and Czech and Slovak were languages that were used in equal ratios in the television news there, but foreign films and television series were almost exclusively dubbed into Czech, for example. That and the fact that the two languages are very similar made almost all people of both nations passively bilingual: they could understand but not necessarily speak the other language. After the dissolution in 1990s, the new television channels in the Czech Republic practically stopped using Slovak, and young Czech people now have a much lower understanding of Slovak. Also, the number of Slovak-language books and newspapers sold in the Czech Republic dropped drastically. The Czech television news, however, started to reintroduce Slovak-language coverage from Slovakia and Slovak television (STV2) rebroadcasts the Czech television newscast "Události ČT" daily, ten minutes after midnight.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: On the public Radio and Television of Slovakia, it is common to have at least one daily newscast from the Czech Republic during prime time news. Furthermore, many programmes on Slovak television channels are still dubbed into Czech, some films in cinemas are subtitled in Czech and there are far more Czech-language books and periodicals on the market than there were before the dissolution. The major boost for the language interchange has come from private television channel providers like CS Link (Czech Republic) and Sky Link (Slovakia) that offer Slovak channels in the Czech Republic and vice versa. Additionally, several channels, regardless of their national origin, offer programs both in Czech and Slovak (CSFilm, TV Barrandov) or even mix like TV Nova's Nova Sport coverage of the English Premier League. New impulses to mutual contacts coming via television are also common shows like the Intelligence Test of Nations, Czechoslovakia's Got Talent, and Masked Singer broadcast by PRIMA and TV JOJ, and Czecho-Slovak SuperStar, the latter being the first international edition of the Pop Idol song contest broadcast by TV Nova and Markíza (both owned by CME), which also organized joint versions of MasterChef and The Voice in 2012. Also, the New Year's Eve Program for 2009 was prepared and broadcast jointly by ČT and STV and for 2010 by the Czech TV PRIMA and the Slovak TV JOJ, this time even including the singing of the Czechoslovak national anthem.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Young Slovak people still have the same knowledge of Czech as their predecessors, if not better. In Slovakia, Czech may still be used automatically in all judicial proceedings, and all documents written in Czech are acknowledged by Slovak authorities and vice versa. Further, the Slovak Official Language Act, passed in 2009, reconfirmed the right of Czechs to use their language in all official communication when dealing with Slovak authorities although it explicitly limited the use of Czech in Slovakia to persons with Czech as their mother tongue. The same is true about using Slovak in the Czech Republic because of the Administration Procedure Act of 2004. Gustáv Slamečka, a Slovak citizen who was the Czech transport minister (2009–2010), used only Slovak exclusively during his official communication.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The official breakup occurred right in the middle of the 1993 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, which took place in Sweden. The team representing Czechoslovakia was renamed "Czech–Slovak" on January 1. In international ice hockey tournaments, the Czech Republic took over Czechoslovakia's place in the A-groups, and Slovakia had to start in the lower divisions.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: During the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1993 in Falun, Sweden, the ski jumping team competed as a combined Czech–Slovakia team in the team large hill event and won silver. The team had been selected prior to the dissolution. Jaroslav Sakala won two medals in the individual hill events for the Czech Republic at those games along with his silver in the team event.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: In their qualifying section for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the Czechoslovakia national football team competed under the name RCS, which stood for "Representation of Czechs and Slovaks". It was afterward that it was officially split up into Czech and Slovak national teams. The team failed to qualify after it got only a draw in its final match against Belgium, a match that it needed to win to qualify.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The mutual encounters between the national teams of both countries in many sports are followed by most of the populations, and the number of players and coaches active in the other republic is significant. Martin Lipták, a Slovak handball coach, successfully led the Czech national team to the EHF 2010 Handball European Championship in Austria. A Slovak team under his coaching, Tatran Prešov, won the Czech national league in 2008 and 2009. Czech ice hockey coach Vladimír Vůjtek led the Slovak national team to the silver medal at the 2012 IIHF World Championship, having beaten the Czech team in the semifinals.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Several sports have featured a common league, and discussions about having a common football or ice hockey league continue.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The road cyclist Ján Svorada earned Slovak citizenship in 1993. In 1994, he became the first Slovak rider ever to win a Tour de France stage. Two years later, he earned Czech citizenship, and he became the first Czech rider ever to win another Tour de France stage in 1998.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: The two successor states continued to use the country code +42 until February 1997, when it was replaced by two separate codes: +420 for the Czech Republic and +421 for Slovakia. Since then, telephone calls between both countries have required international dialing.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Public perception of the dissolution has not changed much, with a December 2017 poll showing that just 42% of Czechs and 40% of Slovaks agree with what happened (compared to 36% and 37% in 1992, respectively). According to the Czech political analyst Lubomir Kopeček, many Czechs and Slovaks view the breakup process unfavourably because they had no say in the matter, and most would have rather had a referendum decide. In 2015, a Slovak movement called "Czechoslovakia 2018" was established to try to get a referendum by 2018. Its leader, Ladislav Zelinka, said that he had received thousands of emails and calls from supporters, but it was unable to reach the necessary 350,000 petition signatures. The younger generations of both countries are largely indifferent to the issue since they never experienced the previous period themselves, and older generations are more focused on present issues such as immigration and favour their own separate nationalism.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Surveys from 2010 showed that the majority of the population of Prague (Czechs) still considers the division of the country a mistake; similarly, the general representative survey in Slovakia (from 2008) showed that society is still divided in opinion on the dissolution, with 47% favouring the dissolution and 44% considering it a mistake.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Political influences between the countries are minimal, but social democrats tend to cooperate very closely on regional and European topics in recent years. Furthermore, it has become customary that the elected presidents pay their first and last official foreign visits during their term to the other republic of the former Czechoslovakia. Appointed foreign ministers tend to follow that unwritten rule. On October 29, 2012, to commemorate Czechoslovakia's declaration of independence, which occurred on October 28, 1918, the Czech and the Slovak governments held, for the first time, a joint cabinet meeting in the communities of Trenčín and Uherské Hradiště, near the common border.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Also, peacekeeping troops stationed in the former Yugoslavia were put under joint command on several occasions. For example, from 2002 to July 2005, the Czech Armed Forces joined with the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic to form a joint Czech–Slovak KFOR battalion in Kosovo, which contributed to the Multinational Brigade CENTRE. Trade relationships were re-established and stabilised, and the Czech Republic continues to be Slovakia's most important business partner. After a short interruption, Slovakia's resorts in the Carpathian mountains are again the destination of a growing number of Czech tourists.


title: Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

text: Following the death of the last Czechoslovak (and the first Czech) president, Václav Havel, on December 18, 2011, both the Czech Republic and Slovakia observed a day of national mourning. During the funeral mass in Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral, prayers were recited in an equal ratio in Czech and Slovak.


title: Zimbabwean dollar

text: The Zimbabwean dollar (sign: $, or Z$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies) was the name of four official currencies of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 12 April 2009. During this time, it was subject to periods of extreme inflation, followed by a period of hyperinflation.