The RUC will be transformed into a Window on the World for today and Saturday. This window will allow people to see into different cultures, traditions, foods and the chance to buy artifacts, artwork and souvenirs from different countries.

The RUC will be decorated in cel-ebration of the event. You will receive a passport to get stamped at the 39 cul-ture-oriented tables.

“It started out last year that I just needed an extracurricular activity to put on my resume and I volunteered to help. [Katie Kumar] made me a decora-tions coordinator and this year I asked her if I could do it again,” said Shauna Farley, decorations coordinator.

WOW is a celebration of different cultures and nations of Tech students. There will be 46 different fl ags hang-ing outside the RUC to represent Tech students’ countries.

Farley and her group do the general decora-tions while the booths are student-run and dec-orated.

“It starts a couple of months in advance. They start the planning, trying to fi gure out what countries are going to be represented this year and who’s going to need a booth,” Farley said.

The event is free to attend, although there will be vendors selling food and some booths selling artifacts from their country.

“I like seeing the fi nished product because we have an empty UC—basi-cally—and then by the time it comes day for the festival there’s always so much color and so many interesting things in there,” Farley said.

“I would suggest people get in-volved with it next year or volunteer for it at least because it is fun…” Far-ley said. “I have met a lot of nice, good people through it from different coun-tries.”

The WOW staff is always looking for volunteers and it is something

that can be added to a resume. For more information, go to

orgs.tntech.edu/wow.

Window on the World starts today, festival tomorrow

ENTERTAINMENTOPINION

THE OORACLEVolume 93 | Issue 8 | Free in single copy | April 16, 2010Tennessee Tech University | Cookeville, TN | 38505

IN THIS EDITION

>> More content on tntechoracle.com

Spin Dat Record:Shame, Shame

- Page 7

SPORTS

By GERILYN LEMONS Staff Writer

See “Printing”, page 4

FRIDAY FORECASTMOSTLY SUNNYHIGH 83, LOW 54

Courtesy of the Global Education Center

These girls traveled from Nashville to perform Chinese cultural dance tomorrow in the RUC Multipurpose Room.

Athletes respond to suspension of rifl e, women’s tennis teams - Page 6

Catch a glimpse into other cul-tures and celebrate international cultural diversity as Tech hosts its annual Window on the World Fes-tival and Symposium.

This years’ symposium is sched-uled for 10:10 a.m. today in the RUC-Multipurpose Room and will focus on the subject of development issues in West Africa.

The festival, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow on every fl oor of the RUC.

“Window on the World is an in-ternational festival which celebrates cultural diversity and global harmo-ny,” said Festival Coordinator Katie Kumar. “We invite and encourage all participants to share in learning and caring about our Earth and its people.”

This year’s entertainment sched-ule features a myriad of music, dance and cultural exhibits, most of which are completely interactive.

The Multipurpose Room stage offers many acts throughout the day

WOW encourages students to volunteer

12Number of years Tech has hosted

WOW

Student printing policy under review

By SAMANTHA KENDALLStaff Writer

Festival offers international music, dancing and food

Committee wants to see Tech go green - Page 5

Photo / Cella Neapolitan

including Appalachian Clogging at 10 a.m., Arabic Fusion at 10:45 a.m., Irish Step Dances at noon, The Dan-ny Salazar Band at 3 p.m., and many more.

Even more musical acts will transpire on the Tech Pride Stage in-cluding a Drum Circle at 10:30 a.m., Didgeridoo crafting and playing at 1 p.m., Celtic Music at 3:45 p.m., Greek Dances at 4:30 p.m., and many more throughout the day.

Along with musical acts on the two main stages, WOW also fea-tures strolling musicians including Chinese Lions, German Accordion Music, Scottish Bagpipes, and Trio Vendeval.

Activities overfl ow from the RUC onto South Patio where Psi Chi will host a Wii Carnival, and Phi Al-pha Theta will host their bi-annual book sale.

WOW does not limit the explo-ration of cultural diversity to just the ears, however. Like years past, WOW offers the opportunity to sample culinary delights from every corner of the world.

Returning favorites include Greek gyros, Polish perogies, French strawberry crepes, Indian chicken curry, Bosnian dishes, Filipino cui-

sine, and many more.WOW will also intro-

duce new vendors this year including Little Jimmy’s Ital-ian Ice, an outdoor Latino cart, Mexican food, and Columbian tamales, empanadas, and ar-roz con pollo.

“Everyone looks for-ward to Window on the World each year, but many come to the festival for the food alone,” said Kumar. “It’s like a family reunion among all the vendors.”

WOW encourages people of all ages to attend and offers many activities for families with chil-dren including an interactive simulated rainforest on the third fl oor of the RUC and crafts in the Alumni Room.

Promoting cultural aware-ness and learning, WOW in-vites all attendees to partici-pate in the Amazing Race, a contest of collecting clues throughout the festival to win prizes.

WOW is funded primarily by Center Stage and sponsored by the Globalization Committee of the College of Business.

Left: Mohera Narimetla performs Kathak dance at last year’s WOW.

A new printing policy is being consid-ered by Information Technology which would eliminate free printing services on campus.

While nothing has been decided yet and students can still print materials for class in several locations on campus, a new print per page policy could be in the works.

“We are stuck between a rock and a hard place--making sure students can print from as many locations as possible, making sure money collected from students by technol-ogy access fee is used to benefi t students, but also making sure students are aware that this

By BAILEY MORGANStaff Writer

cost is a lot,” said Annette Littrell, Information Technology services manager.

Several factors have led the IT depart-ment to a crossroads in policy making. Amid rising costs and Tennessee Board of Regents guideline changes, what is the best way to provide printing services to more than 10,000 students?

“Last year’s cost was $65,000 and it has continued to spiral out of control for the last fi ve years,” said Littrell. “Unfortunately, since TBR has changed the way money comes out of the technology access fee, that money has to come from somewhere else.”

According to Littrell, the annual cost of printing services has increased $40,000 in the last fi ve years.

Technology access fee money is divided

into two pools. Pool two, the larger of the two, was once spent in part on consumables such as paper, toner and ink but is now allocated to other services or equipment deemed benefi -cial to students. Ways the money in pool two can be spent include computer software, new faculty computers, smart classrooms, and in-frastructure. There are no written guidelines for how money in pool one can be spent.

Such a provision includes increasing the effi ciency of the printing services offered at Tech. Students would be able to print from al-most anywhere on campus.

“So if you’re in your dorm and on your way to class and you need to print something you have to turn in to your English class, Information Technology Services

suggests that any new policy would benefi t students

Read more content

Page 2 | April 16, 2010 www.tntechoracle.com

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D V D S a l e !B u y 2 - G e t 1 F r e e !

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Vice PresidentJulian Lyons

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TreasurerLee Gatts

Freshman

Hometown: Livingston, TN

Major: Political Science

Activities: President of Resi-dential Hall Assocation Ex-ecutive Council

SecretaryKristin Holder

Junior

Hometown: LaFollette, TN

Major: Criminal Justice

Activities: Kappa Delta So-rority, Collegiate 4-H, Associ-ated Scholars Guild, Psi Chi Honor Society

PresidentSean Ochsenbien

Junior

Hometown: Cookeville, TN

Major: Biology-Health Sci-ence

Activities: TBR Student Re-gent, Phi Delta Theta Frater-nity, Mortar Board, Rotaract Vice President

2010-2011SGA Executive Offi cers

By WILL HOUSLEYAsst. Managing Editor

Tech’s number of re-ported crimes has remained relatively unchanged as the rest of the state’s rate rose more than nine percent.

Tech, which traditional has a low reported crime rate, didn’t see much of a change in the number of crimes on campus in a recently released Tennes-see Board of Investigation Crime Statistics report—only about an increase of one percent.

According to the re-

Tech’s crime rate remains relatively low as state’s rate risesport, larceny/theft offenses continued to be the largest number of reported crimes at all universities, with an increase of 38.5 percent. That held true at Tech, where about 45 percent of the reported crimes were larceny/theft.

“We face what other campuses are facing with growing enrollment and tougher economic times,” said Gay Shepherd, chief of police. “The types of crimes that are increas-ing refl ect the challenge of serving more people with the same resources and personnel.”

The only signifi cant increase was burglary, up

to 24 from 16 in 2008. One incident of robbery was re-ported and was cleared.

Seven liquor law viola-tions were reported.

TBI reports that sex of-fenses, specifi cally rape, were on the rise on cam-puses across the state. Five more reports were fi led in 2009, but that fi gure didn’t hold true at Tech. No sex offenses were reported. The same is true of homi-cide offenses.

As reported at the beginning of the semes-ter, vandalism has been a growing problem on cam-pus. TBI reports 27 inci-dents of destruction/dam-age/vandalism. A small

portion of those offenses, fi ve, were cleared.

Over the past year, Tech police have been stra-tegically placing security camera all over campus, which has helped iden-tify those committing the crimes.

Shepherd said the clearance rate of crimes has increased from about three percent to nearly 19 percent, a number she be-lieves is result of continued crime prevention educa-tion efforts on campus.

Campus is patrolled 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Offi cers also join students, faculty, admin-istrators and staff in an-

nual safety walks outlining safe areas around campus. Emergency phones are strategically placed all over campus for anyone to use and have a direct connec-tion to the police station.

Annual crime statis-tics, comparative crime rates and daily crime logs are maintained on the po-lice station’s website at http://www.tntech.edu/police/. TBI’s full report, including statistics from each individual institu-tion in Tennessee can be found at http://www.tbi.tn.gov/tn_crime_stats/stats_analys.shtml.

CRIME LOG:April:

4/13 - 11:15 a.m.Henderon HallMissing PurseNo arrest made

4/13 - 1:30 p.m.Vehicle VandalismNursing BuildingNo arrest made

4/10 - 5:15 p.m.Verbal DomesticJobe HallStudents reprimanded

4/9 - 2:20 p.m.Verbal DomesticTech Village WestStudents reprimanded

4/8 - 8:17 a.m.VandalismRUCStudent reprimanded

4/6 - 4:35 p.m.Aggravated AssaultCooper HallAndrew B. Ownsby arrested

4/6 - 9:06 a.m.VandalismJohnson HallNo arrest made

4/6 - 2 a.m.Pinkerton HallCriminal TrespassDylan M. Rollins arrested

4/5 - 12:55 a.m.Browing Hall - West Parking LotUnderage ConsumptionBurrell H. Allen arrested

For a daily crime log, visit

www.tntech.edu/police-crimelogs

Page 3 | April 16, 2010www.tntechoracle.com

NEWS

techtech@eventsevents

April

tntech.edu/calendar

1610:10 a.m.Window on the World symposium

181 p.m.Baseball vs Eastern Illinois

17All dayExercise Science 5K/10K Fun RunCommunity event, $10

10 a.m.Window on the World

1 p.m.Baseball vs Eastern Illinois

19Until April 24Greek Week

2011 a.m.TAB eventTie-Dye a Tech T-shirtRUC, 1st fl oor

5 p.m.Softball vs Tennessee

tntechoracle.com

onlineedition

223 p.m.Softball vs Cumberland

7 p.m.Alpha Phi Alpha StepshowDerryberry Auditorium$7 in advance/ $10 at door

7:45 p.m.Life in the Peruvian AmazonPennebaker Hall, Rm. 128

By BRANDON JELSONStaff Writer

Wal-Mart of Cookeville is still not allowing the Cookeville Area Transit System buses onto their property. The closest CATS bus stop is across East Veterans Drive, directly adjacent to the shopping center’s property. Pas-sengers of the bus are dropped off and have to cross the busy three-lane street in order to go shopping in the center. This can be hazardous for anybody, re-gardless of physical condition.

John Quest, basic business major, has a tremendous ordeal

Wal-Mart continues to refuse city buses, student to take actionwith this because he’s blind.

“I take it personally,” Quest said. “It’s as if they[Wal-Mart] don’t care if someone lives or dies on the way to their store.

“I’m working with lawyers to help support the Upper Cumber-land Human Resource Agency’s ongoing case against the prop-erty owners.

“Trying to cross the street there is a huge challenge and extremely dangerous,” Quest continued. “Finding a reference point is almost impossible,” in regards to the use of his cane for walking assistance.

“Neither Knoxville nor Clarksville bus systems have this problem,” Quest said. “They can

pull up fi ve feet from the door.”Employees from both Knox-

ville and Clarksville public trans-portation divisions commented on bus access to Wal-Mart stores in the two cities.

Don Laws, nighttime dis-patcher for the Clarksville Tran-sit Center, said, “There’s a shel-ter station on the left hand side of the store. It is on the property.”

Knoxville Transit employee, Kay Molden said, “Not up to the door, but just before it. We don’t pull up that close because of the fi re lanes.”

An employee of Wal-Mart also commented.

Eva Harrison, fl oor manager of a Knoxville Wal-Mart, said,

“They [the buses] pull up right to the sidewalk,” outside of the store.

John Quest is left confused concerning Wal-Mart of Cookev-ille’s approach to the issue.

“It’s like they are setting up smokescreens,” Quest said. “I just don’t understand why.”

According to Quest, “Wal-Mart of Cookeville is in direct violation of the American Dis-abilities Act of 1990.”

Title III of the ADA states, “Public accommodations must:

Provide goods and services in an integrated setting, unless separate or different measures are necessary to ensure equal op-portunity.

And--Make reasonable modifi ca-

tions in policies, practices, and procedures that deny equal ac-cess to individuals with disabili-ties, unless a fundamental altera-tion would result in the nature of the goods and services pro-vided.”

Quest added, “I’ve been rid-ing the Knoxville buses since 1989, and Cookeville’s new sys-tem still has a long way to go.”

The discrepancy is ongoing.For more information con-

cerning the ADA, visit www.ada.gov. For more information about the CATS bus, visit www.uchra.com/cats.

By ASHLEE POLKStaff Writer

A new edition to Tech’s STEM Center is big news.

Brad Sells, a local artist, is sculpting a giant wooden eagle with a 15-foot wingspan to be hung in the entrance of Tech’s new STEM Center.

Sells and Tech’s fi rst lady, Gloria Bell, have been collaborating for years about a wooden sculpture to be placed somewhere on Tech’s campus. As a Tech Alumni, Sells is thrilled about this project.

“This is a fun project, my whole family went to Tech; my parents, brother and I,” Sells said. “Tech is a tremen-dous asset to the community, and I’m completely honored

STEM Center to receive sculpture

Page 4 | April 16, 2010 www.tntechoracle.com

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Symposium from 10:10 to 11:00, Friday, April 16, in the RUC Multipurpose Room Festival from 10:00 to 5:00, Saturday, April 17, in the Roaden University Center

SATURDAY ENTERTAINMENT SCHEDULE

Multipurpose Room Stage Tech Pride Room Stage

10:00 Appalachian Clogging 10:00 Renaissance Recorders

10:30 Mandala Award 10:30 Drum Circle 10:45 Arabic Fusion/Flamenco/Tango 11:15 Filipino Wedding Dance

11:15 Uzbek and Eastern Mix 12:00 German Music on Accordion

12:00 Irish Step Dances 12:30 Eastern Dances

12:30 Dor L’Dor Klezmer Band 1:00 Didgeridoo crafting & playing

1:30 Chinese Lion Dance 2:00 Trio Vendaval 1:45 Chinese Cultural Dances 2:30 Scottish Pipes, Drum & Dance 2:15 Indian Dance and Song 3:00 Instrumental Music from Java WCU Gamelan Ensemble 3:00 Danny Salazar Band 3:45 Celtic Music with Heather 4:00 Saudi Arabian Dance Hayes and Shannon Duncan 4:15 La Voix du Djembe 4:30 Greek Dances Polynesian Dance West African Dance

TTU’s InternationalFestival 2010

A Center Stage EventSponsored by the

College of Business

TTU’s InternationalFestival 2010

A Center Stage EventSponsored by the

College of Business

to be able to do a project for the school. It means a lot to me.”

The eagle, a symbol of art and science, will host several symbolic scientifi c formulas and methods under its belly and along its wings.

“As a student I studied that eagle in the UC, so the eagle made sense. And to tie it in with the theme of the building, which is science, it just seemed logical,” Sells said.

“As a sculptor, I feel I am a scientist of form. When it comes to art, it is mostly inspired by nature, as is sci-ence. That’s sort of how the two parallel.”

The tree, from which the eagle’s body is carved, was originally a fi ve-foot diam-eter red oak with an interest-ing past.

“This was a huge red oak tree taken from the Bank of Putnam County on 10th and Fisk. This tree has seen a lot of Cookeville,” Sells said. “I would guess it’s around 200 years old.”

This 200-300 pound eagle is designed to be a visual aid to inspire young students to pursue a career in science.

“Here’s this great animal, this powerful animal that’s such a symbol of power, grace, beauty and strength. I’m making a parallel to sci-ence. Think about all the physics and mathematics this bird takes to track down an animal,” Sells said. “Hopeful-ly this will create a curiosity, maybe a broader understand-ing of the connection between science and nature.”

PrintingCONTINUED from page 1

you can actually send your print job to Henderson Hall and pick it up when you get there,” Littrell said.

The IT department has stated that any new policy would be revenue neutral, meaning that IT would not be making money off printing fees. The money accumulated by printing fees would go to

cover paper costs in the labs. No decision has been made about possible print quotas or how much the cost would be exactly per page, but Lit-trell points out that the price would be minimal compared to other universities.

“What we have found out from other universities is that is that it just makes students aware of what they are print-ing, so they stop and think, ‘Do I really need to print this?’” Littrell said. “The vast majority of students print what they have to print, but they are paying for the people who print 300 to 400 pages

they don’t need or print a 50 to 60 page document and just stick it in the recycling bin.”

And while wasting sup-plies by unnecessary printing is a concern, the opportunity costs associated with $65,000 is truly the bigger picture.

“We are thankful and appreciative that a majority of our students aren’t abus-ing the service. And we want them to keep the $65,000. [The money] can go to something else benefi cial to students in-stead of just going in the re-cycle bin, and that is the end goal,” Littrell said.

Brad Sells shows Gloria Bell a model of the eagle he is crafting for the STEM Center.

www.tntechoracle.com Page 5 | April 16, 2010

OPINION

Poll of the Week

Go to tntechoracle.com to vote!

Send letters to the editor to oracle@tntech.edu. Include your Send letters to the editor to oracle@tntech.edu. Include your name, e-mail address and limit letters to 300 words. Anonymous name, e-mail address and limit letters to 300 words. Anonymous letters are not accepted. Deadline for letters is 4 p.m. Tuesday. letters are not accepted. Deadline for letters is 4 p.m. Tuesday. We reserve the right to edit grammar, length and content.We reserve the right to edit grammar, length and content.

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CHRISTINE SEIBERCHRISTINE SEIBERManaging EditorManaging Editor

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SARAH TOWNSENDSARAH TOWNSENDAsst. Editorial EditorAsst. Editorial Editor

BRANDON GOODWINBRANDON GOODWINSports EditorSports Editor

JAMES SCHIERMEYERJAMES SCHIERMEYERAsst. Sports EditorAsst. Sports Editor

CHUCK ACHESONCHUCK ACHESONEntertainment EditorEntertainment Editor

TALLULAH GILLIAMTALLULAH GILLIAMBAILEY DARROWBAILEY DARROW

Copy EditorsCopy Editors

BRENDA WILSON, Faculty AdviserBRENDA WILSON, Faculty Adviser

BEAT REPORTERS:BEAT REPORTERS: Erica Betschart, Ellie Boles, Courtney Clifford, Matt Davis, Erica Betschart, Ellie Boles, Courtney Clifford, Matt Davis, Justin Duke, Casey Elrod, Jordan Farrell, Darrel Ferris, Christina Gillim, Kayla Justin Duke, Casey Elrod, Jordan Farrell, Darrel Ferris, Christina Gillim, Kayla Gulley, Karla Hammac, Hannah Harris, Ross Harvey, Lauren Huxford, Brandon Gulley, Karla Hammac, Hannah Harris, Ross Harvey, Lauren Huxford, Brandon Jelson, Christopher Jones, Dhir Joshi, Jonathan Kaulay, Samantha Kendall, Jelson, Christopher Jones, Dhir Joshi, Jonathan Kaulay, Samantha Kendall, David Lane, Gerilyn Lemons, Leasa McCall, Amber McCarty, Amanda Miller, David Lane, Gerilyn Lemons, Leasa McCall, Amber McCarty, Amanda Miller, Bailey Morgan, Aleksandr Peterson, Jonathan Pierce, Ashlee Polk, Brittney Bailey Morgan, Aleksandr Peterson, Jonathan Pierce, Ashlee Polk, Brittney Robinson, Nicholas Rollins, Jessica Smith, Brandon Stephenson, Evan Taylor, Robinson, Nicholas Rollins, Jessica Smith, Brandon Stephenson, Evan Taylor, Laura Vaught, Dakota Weatherford, Geri Anna Wilson, Jenda WilsonLaura Vaught, Dakota Weatherford, Geri Anna Wilson, Jenda Wilson

THE OORACLE

Green initiative worth encouragement at TechSARAH TOWNSEND

Asst. Editorial Editor

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to speak to one of Tech’s green activists, Josh Donegan. He is the student chairperson for the TTU Green Committee, and we had a really interesting conversation about Tech and the possibility of green energy solu-tions on our campus.

Despite more than 100 mem-bers on Facebook, the Green Committee only has about six active members who attend the meetings.

I know that recently words like “eco-friendly” and “green” have become synonyms for “trendy,” but regardless of why people are getting behind green

energy, it is a good cause and more people should know about it.

The organization is trying to launch a recycling campaign on campus by providing recycling bins in every building which, by the way, many other cam-puses already practice. I think we are pretty behind the green curve. That’s probably because the Green Committee has such sparse membership to support the cause. We do at least have recycle bins in most residential halls.

Since 2006 Tech has included a small green fee of about $8 with tuition, which is the monetary

support for environmental effi -ciency projects like recycling.

Even though we are a little behind on recycling, Tech would be one of the fi rst schools in Tennessee to adopt a sustain-able campus-wide power source should it adopt the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Green Power Switch program.

According to Donegan, TVA’s Green Power Switch pro-gram is Tech’s best option for eco-friendly energy.

“The reason we support TVA is because it’s local,” Donegan said. “If we buy green ener-gy it creates jobs for people in Tennessee.”

It sounds like a win-win situ-ation to me. Jobs for people in Tennessee and a more effi cient energy source would benefi t everyone.

The problem with green en-ergy is that it is expensive ini-tially. However, over time it actually would save Tech some money, not to mention the fact

EMILY BOOKER

Editorial Editor

Your job is teaching, not showing off

Usually, I want my editorials to encourage awareness and involve-ment from people, because I feel there is far too much misinforma-tion, ignorance and apathy in our society. I don’t want to be just an-other person complaining.

But I’m going to be this time anyway.

I’m tired of getting talked down to. Yes, teachers, I understand you have your doctorate in whatever you’re teaching, and explaining the same undergrad information over and over can get tiring. You’d prob-ably heard the same dumb question a thousand times.

But I haven’t heard the answer once. I’m showing initiative by ask-ing the question at all. (I’m talking about questions actually about sub-ject content, not just asking whether the test is multiple choice or essay for the sixtieth time.)

Lots of teachers complain about students who never participate, but maybe students don’t do or say any-thing in class because the slightest display of confusion is met with a rambling response about how the student obviously has not read ev-ery book on the subject at hand and how incorrect our dumb, little, un-dergrad impressions of this fi eld of study are.

Why of course [insert subject here] is the most important subject ever! Everything else on campus is a waste of our tuition money com-

pared to this! How dare we have other classes and jobs that take away from devoting four or fi ve hours a night of extra reading on this impor-tant subject!

To the annoyance of both stu-dents and teachers, a lot of students are taking classes just to cover re-quirements, not because the subject captivates them. That doesn’t mean the class can’t be interesting.

For example, I had no interest in taking Criminology, but it was a requirement for my major. I wound up enjoying it. Partly because my professor taught the content at an upper-level undergraduate level, with no undertone of criminal jus-tice being the most amazing, most necessary subject ever or that every student should want to go to grad school to study it.

I still got a whole new respect for those who work in criminal jus-tice and those who research it. And I learned quite a bit about our crimi-nal system, and I’m glad I had to take that class.

For that reason, required classes aren’t a bad thing. We graduate with useful information not particularly in our fi eld of study that can be use-ful to being an educated citizen.

Unfortunately, there are a hand-ful of classes I’ve hated so much because of a teacher looking down on the students that I want to never discuss the subjects again.

Teachers have the advantage.

They are teaching something they are clearly knowledgeable in, and they have control over the content of the class.

Treating students as inferior makes students not bother to put in the effort. What’s the point in trying if the teacher has already decided we’re stupid? It’s not my job to be an expert.

But treating students as actual people who are capable, even if not experts, makes the learning experi-ence a thousand times better. I’m so grateful to the teachers who have made their classes worthwhile and made time for me as a person.

I just wish they could convince their peers that helping students learn is more important than show-ing off what you wrote your doc-torate on. Isn’t helping the student learn what teaching is supposed to be about?

I’m not saying never mention something a little higher level if it is constructive to the class, but just retelling stories of everything your graduate advisor ever said or every theory you ever studied isn’t teach-ing at all; it is simply showing off.

A classroom is a space for learn-ing, not your personal stage.

I’m here to get an education, to learn things from people who are more informed than I, and to become a well-rounded, educated person. I am not here to hear every single possible theory discussed in the graduate version of a 1500 lev-el class and to listen to complaints about how my efforts are lazy and my questions unimportant.

I was recently told by a teacher that if he wanted to hear an opinion, he’d read an editorial. So here one is if it doesn’t pain him too much to read the opinion of an undergradu-ate student.

Do you think Tech students drink as much as students at other schools?

I think Tech students drink more than other college students. 0%

I think Tech students drink less than other college students. 62%

I think Tech students drink just as much as other college students. 38%

This week: Should Tech aim to use new green energy and be more environmetally friendly?

A resume and letter of intent are due April 20 at 4 p.m. to The Oracle offi ce. Please include journalism courses you have taken. Journal-ism experience is required. The new staff will be announced in the

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Applicants for copy editor are required to take a copy editing test, which must be turned in with your resume and letter of intent. You

may pick up a test in The Oracle offi ce.

The Oracle poll is not scientifi c and only refl ects the opinions of Internet users who chose to participate and does not refl ect the

public as a whole. Online voting for this poll closed April 14, 2010.

that Tech could boast on campus tours and brochures about how we’re ahead of the eco-friendly energy curve.

It’s our money that goes to these projects, and we should have a say in what projects it goes toward. I think that pushing for green energy is a great way to get involved on campus.

In the long run, us-ing sustainable re-sources like solar panels or wind energy would save money and help p r o t e c t our envi-ronment , yet many s c h o o l s are re-luctant to invest the amount of time and mon-ey involved up-front. I’d like to

be able to say that I am a student at one of the fi rst schools to adopt green energy.

Donegan encourages any-one who is interested in getting involved with the committee to come to meetings at 4 p.m. on Wednesdays in TJ Farr’s Honors Lounge.

For more information, e-mail Donegan at josh-

donegan@gmail.com.

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The recent restructuring of Tech Athletics has severely affected both the academic and athletic lives of nearly every athlete involved.

Both the rifl e and women’s ten-nis teams have been suspended due to budget cuts, but there is no time-table for their return.

“I was shocked,” said Katie Barnhill, a junior member of the women’s tennis team. “I have one year left, but the thought of being done with tennis is really sad.”

The athletes will be awarded their 2010-2011 scholarships if they decide not to transfer to another school.

“I would like to play tennis for another year and if I fi nd another opportunity to do that somewhere else then I will,” said Barnhill. “Ev-eryone’s just trying to fi gure out what to do now.”

One freshman, four sophomores and six juniors will have to make decisions on whether to try to trans-fer.

Victoria Cran, a freshman tennis player from England, says she has no choice but to transfer.

“I’m the only one who’s got another three years ahead of me,” she said, weighing her options. “If I can’t fi nd somewhere, I’ll have to go back to England.

“All of us on the women’s ten-nis team are international, so it’s not like we know what to do when we’re trying to transfer schools,” she said. “We don’t want to have to go back to our countries and start all over again. It’s hard enough coming out to another country to one school never mind trying to fi nd a new school.”

According to Cran, the Athlet-ics department has notifi ed other schools of its actions.

“They sent an email out saying they dropped the program if [those schools] want any of our players,” she said.

While the athletes do have the option of staying at Tech another year before transferring, it may end up hurting their chances of fi nding another school.

“People don’t really want to re-cruit you when you’ve sat out a year if you’ve not trained or practiced and they’ve got no results for you,”

said Cran. “We need to transfer straightaway.”

The restructuring was an-nounced with just two matches left on the tennis schedule.

“I think they had been consid-ering it for a while,” said Barnhill. “But I don’t know why they decided to do it now.”

Tech played one of those match-es, sweeping Tennessee State 7-0 just one day after the announcement of the suspension.

“At fi rst we didn’t want to play at all,” said Barnhill. “Then once we got there we just kind of realized that this is our last match decided to have fun with it and take it for all it’s worth.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve had three coaches and two of them have quit on me,” she said. “There has been so much crap going on I guess.”

Cran thinks the situation could have been handled differently.

“The school is in an economic crisis,” she said. “I think there are probably other ways to go around it than cutting two of the athletic teams.”

She refl ected back on her rea-sons for coming to Tech in the fi rst place.

“I got recruited by [former coach] Dan Silverstein and I came to visit and I liked him and the place and people,” she said. “It was friendly here. It seemed like a nice place to be around. I looked at a few other places, but I liked Tech and liked the team.

“I’ve made some good friends here,” she continued. “It’s weird only being here for a year then hav-ing to leave Cookeville.”

The Tech rifl e team has the dis-tinction of being the only Tech team to win a national championship. The Golden Eagles won the fi rst three NCAA championships from 1980-1982. In 2008, the Tech rifl e range was renovated to include state-of-the-art electronic targets.

The last time the Athletics de-partment was restructured in 1984, men’s soccer was discontinued. It has yet to be reestablished.

Barnhill has had a roller coaster of a career at Tech.

“It’s not been too smooth since I’ve been here,” she said. “I would have liked to fi nish out [my career] strong next year, but it sucks that I won’t get to.”

With summer near, whether you are staying at Tech or going home, staying fi t is possible.

“Everyone thinks that the Fitness Center shuts down because school is out, but we have a lot of things going on during the summer, “ said Ramona Ma-hood-Pennington, health promotions director.

For those who are staying at Tech, the Fitness Center is open during the summer. The hours of operations are Monday-Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sun-day from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

These hours are in effect from May 10 until the fall semester starts.

There will also be fi tness classes of-fered. The classes will not be as frequent, but there will be at least one class offered everyday.

The pool will remain open, and pri-vate swim lessons are available along with group swim lessons for children from ages 3 to 8.

It is $36 for the summer for those not in summer school or who are taking less than six hours.

For those who are headed home for the summer, staying fi t is still achiev-able, even if there is not a gym around. Fitness DVDs, FitTV and local PBS sta-tions are available and can keep you in shape while following an instructor in you own home.

Being outside is a great way to keep in shape. Walking, riding a bike, run-ning, swimming, and interval training are just a few ways. Challenging your body while exercising outside is key.

“I’m saying to run for two mail boxes then walk for one, that’s interval training, “Mahood-Pennington said.

But how long should you exercise if they are not use to it? At the beginners level, doing cardio for a minimum of 20 minutes a day, three to fi ve times a week is best. A least two of those days should involve weight training. In weight train-ing, the time is based on the routine it-self.

For those who are advanced in work-ing out, they should increase their time based on how comfortable and challeng-ing they want to make a workout.

“Keep your eyes on you own paper in fi tness. Everyone’s level is different. You want to physically challenge your-self, Mahood-Pennington said.

Students and members who work out at Tech get to use the machines, but when you go home for the summer and get involved in another gym, it may not always have the same machines. In that case, always talk to a trainer at the gym and ask what machines compare to the machine you use at Tech. They can help you meet fi tness goals and get the same kind of workout.

“Do not just jump on a machine you don’t know about. Ask, “Mahood-Pen-nington said.

If the gym does not offer fi tness classes, then look into fi tness DVDs and get involved in FitTV’s workouts. There are DVDs out there that compare to the classes at Tech.

For instance, if you like Turbo Kick, try Turbo Jam by BeachBody. If you en-joy pilates, try Winsor’s pilates.

And for great looking abs, 10 Min-ute Solutions Blast Off Belly Fat will help melt the fat.

If boot camp or kickboxing sounds exciting, check into Billy Blanks TaeBo or TaeBo Boot camp. Barry’s Boot camp is a great interval training DVD that blasts away fat.

When trying to decide which DVD is best, there are websites that can help you fi nd the right one. One website is

http://www.collagevideo.com. They have fi tness DVD reviews and sugges-tions.

The hardest part about getting in shape is a lack of motivation.

At Tech, students get together and go work out, but when summer comes around, they may not have that other person to motivate them to go work out. What do you do then? How do you con-tinue to motivate yourself?

“It has to come from inside of you, “Mahood-Pennington said. “ There are always ways to get fi t and stay fi t. No more excuses.”

For any information about summer hours and activities including swim les-sons or classes at the Fitness Center call 931-372-6511 or go to http://www.tn-tech.edu/recreation/home.

Page 6 | April 16, 2010 www.tntechoracle.com

SPORTS

By BRANDON GOODWINSports Editor

By HANNAH HARRISStaff Writer

Fitness Center to hold classes, swim lessons in summer

Athletes react after programs are victims of budget cuts

Below, Front row, left to right: Krystle Harris, Jessica McCauley. Back row: Chase Cortner, Curtis Gagne, Patrick Stidham, Austin Litherland Photos courtesy of Sports Information

136 S. WALNUT AVE. 931-526-HIKE

Above, front row, left to right: Katie Barnhill, Leydi Zora , Joanna Corkern, Diana Woodcock. Back row: Laura Porras, Frederike Kahl, Head Coach Kenny Doyle, G.A. Coaches Beto Bloise and Margot Carter, Victoria Cran

Fitness Center summer hours starting May 10

Monday-Friday6 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Saturday8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Sunday1 p.m. - 8 p.m.

For more information,visit tntech.edu

Rifl e and women’s tennis teams were suspended last week in order to help maintain 14 other athletic programs at Tech

By KASSI THOMASSpecial to The Oracle

Last summer at Bonnaroo, I was at my campsite taking a break from the heat, humidity, clamorous crowds, and mediocre midday bands when the guy settled next to me unzipped his tent and shouted out a question to no one in particular, “Who sings that song that goes ‘Ooh, girl’?”

To many people, this half-wit-ted interrogation seems entirely too vague to merit an answer. “Ooh, girl.” Surely, that’s been in hundreds of songs over the years. Elvis Presley, maybe?

No, he must be referring to one of those late nineties boy bands. “Ooh, girl?” It could be anyone! However, a chorus of sweaty hipsters, myself in-cluded, responded without missing a

beat, “MGMT.” No doubt, we had all spent more than our fair share of time in 2008 booty shakin’ to the psyche-delic electro-pop singles of MGMT’s fi rst major release, Oracular Spectacu-lar.

In fact, we’d probably all danced our happy little hearts out together to “Electric Feel” (the song in question) during the Brooklyn based duo’s Bonnaroo set the year before, and it was entirely possible that we’d all be heading out for their late night set again in a few hours.

MGMT enjoyed great commer-cial success with tracks from Oracu-lar Spectacular. “Kids” earned them a Grammy nomination, and “Time to Pretend” quickly became looped lob-by music for Mexican movie theatres. What more could a couple of twenty-somethings want for their career? Ap-parently, they wanted to be taken a little more seriously.

I don’t want to allude that all of the fun has been sucked out of MGMT’s lat-est release, Congratulations, which dropped Tuesday. “It’s Working,” “Song for Dan Treacy,” and the pop-py ode to legendary music guru “Brian Eno” provide the danceable beats on this album, but they’re still not as carefree what we experi-enced with “Kids.”

The twelve-minute composition “Siberean Breaks,” which eats up about one-fourth of the album’s dura-tion, and ambient space rock melody “Lady Dada’s Nightmare” illuminate the new direction that sets this album apart from those of yore. And, for an album that the boys promoted as sin-gle-less, “Flash Delirium” is already distinguishing itself as the most ac-cessible track.

Now for the judgment we’ve all been waiting for. Is it good? Is it worth it? Of course it is. However, if you’re only in the mood for fl eeting beats, don’t bother. Go crank up “Electric Feel” and call it a day. But, if you fi nd that you’re interested in checking out the more introspective side of MGMT, “Congratulations” may need to be your next musical investment.

I’ve been waiting patiently for Dr. Dog’s new album since their last al-bum, Fate, came out in 2008. Dr. Dog blends catchy Beatles-esque melodies, folk-rock, and psychedelia to create a virtual wall of sound that is complex and distinct.

Layered harmonies and fuzz gui-tar are often featured in the band’s songs, along with ragtime piano, syn-thesizer, pulsating bass, and the ole tambourine. Dr. Dog sounds like they came straight out of the 1960s, which is what they’re going for, I think. It’s great when a band can channel their infl uences but not sound like a rip-off.

It’s pretty evident that Dr. Dog has taken notes from bands like the Kinks, the 13th Floor Elevators, The Beach Boys, and the like, but they have morphed the throwback sounds into their own.

Band members Toby Leaman, bassist, and Scott McMicken, rhythm guitarist, usually switch off songs, each writing and singing their own songs. Both have their own songwrit-ing styles and musical arrangements,

which I think adds to the well-rounded sound. Leaman’s voice is deep, soulful, and demanding. McMicken’s voice, while soft and whiny at some points, is high and seem-ingly pitch-perfect. Hear-ing the juxtaposition of the high and low voices

of the two vocalists and the drift-ing harmonies of the other band members is pretty overwhelming. The new album seems to employ the layered harmony aspect more than any previous one.

Shame, Shame seems to pick up where Fate left off. If you’ve listened to earlier Dr. Dog record-ings such as Easy Beat or Tooth-brush, you’ll hear that the band was going for a more raw, crude sound.

Shame, Shame is much more polished, refi ned and “produced” sounding. This isn’t bad, nec-essarily. Bands generally don’t sound as good on recordings from their earlier albums, but after be-coming successful it’s way easier to book time in a nice recording studio complete with all the bells and whistles.

My two favorite songs, “Shadow People” and “Where’d All the Time Go?” are both sung by Scott McMick-en, whose songs I tend to like more. He uses imagery that I fi nd really en-chanting. His songs are usually the

more upbeat ones, too. That doesn’t mean that I’m getting down on the other songs, however. They’re all re-ally good.

I think Dr. Dog is one of the more unique, likeable, and consistently good bands that are on the scene to-day. I highly recommend purchasing Shame, Shame and all of their other

releases. If you like the music you should also go see them at the Can-nery Ballroom in Nashville on May 6. I’ve heard they put on a pretty gnarly show. If you can’t make it to that show, you can always catch them at Bonnaroo this summer, too. I’ll be at both so maybe I’ll see you there!

Page 7 | April 16, 2010www.tntechoracle.com

ENTERTAINMENT

Events on the HorizonEvents on the Horizon

next Issue: Kick-Ass

By Matt Knieling, who was voted “Best In Show” in the art contest at Omni-Con 2010 / Voyage of the Clementide is exclusive to The Oracle. For previous parts of the story, visit www.inanimateshorts.com

MGMT’s “Congratulations” offers new sound in band’s sophomore album

The album cover of Congratulations

Spin DatRecordWith KYLE BUCKNER

Dr. Dog’s Shame, Shame Movie Talk

By CHUCK ACHESONEntertainment Editor

Final Grade: B

Date NightDate Night is a charm-

ing comedy, starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey, and tells the story of an ordi-nary, suburban couple try-ing to bring excitement to their lives. After one little lie, the couple goes on a wild journey through the seedy parts of New York that makes them think ordinary isn’t such a bad thing.

Date Night offers sev-eral hilarious moments and quite a few laughs with numerous familiar cast members. Although the movie, on the whole, is funny and entertaining, at several points, jokes are forced and the movie tries too hard to be a mash-up of 30 Rock and The Offi ce.

The most stand out part of this movie is the cast. With a wide array of big names from the head-liners to Common, Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, and Ray Liotta, each plays a character that had unique quirks and contributes to the overall humor of the fi lm.

Each character was es-sential to the movie and each actor delivered his or her part extremely well.

Another strong point of the fi lm was the humor. Although the movie lacked constant big-laugh mo-ments, many of the jokes were sublime and timed perfectly. For example, when District Attorney Frank Crenshaw (William Fitchner) appeared late in the movie with his broom from the opening. Or, the reoccurring theme of steal-ing someone’s reservation was another example of the witty humor.

One of the reoccurring big-laugh moments hap-pened when Claire Foster (Fey) continuously ran into open drawers.

However, there were several points during the story that the jokes either fell fl at or felt like an out-of-place episode of 30 Rock. Awkward stares between the two main characters felt awkward for everyone in attendance. The writers tried to recreate the win-ning formula of The Offi ce and 30 Rock but some of the humor didn’t translate to the big screen.

Another problem was the questionable framing and odd camera angles which occurred through-out the movie. And, the pacing of the movie at times seemed obscenely slow.

Still, the movie is a sol-id watch. I’d recommend it for anyone wanting to beat this unseasonable heat, just don’t expect the movie to blow you away.

MPAA: PG-13

April 16thHands Around (Reigen): 8 p.m.

@ Backdoor Playhouse

Lambda Formal: 7 p.m.@ First and Cedar $10

April 17thHands Around (Reigen): 2 & 8 p.m.

@ Backdoor Playhouse

Frequency 54 w/ Otherwize: 8 p.m.@ First and Cedar $5

Photo Courtesy of Dr. Dog

The members of Dr. Dog are Scott McMicken, Toby Leaman, Zach Miller, Eric Slick, and Frank McElroy.

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