The Oracle - Oct. 28, 2011

The Ten-nessee Board of Regents chose do not require a doctoral de-gree in order to become the next president at Tech.

T B R voted on the criteria for Tech’s presi-dential search during their quarterly board meeting Sept. 23. Among the qualifi cations for each candidate, the fi rst one listed states that they must have “an earned doctorate from an accredited institution (preferred).”

“The earned doctorate is not required, but is preferred, so candi-dates without a doctorate can apply and be considered,” said Monica Greppin-Watts, communications di-rector of TBR.

The list of qualifi cations also states that the candidate must have a minimum of fi ve years of successful campus administrative experience.

“The search fi rm working with the Board felt it would help attract a broader and more diverse pool of candidates, including those with proven experience in fi elds related to or other than higher education,” Greppin-Watts said. “However, the terminal degree will be a very strong preference.”

Sophomore Briana Fulton said “I feel like with a doctorate, they have a better understanding of how to do the job and that they would perform at a higher degree.”

However, there are current uni-versity presidents without a doctor-ate. One example is James Danko, who became president of Butler Uni-versity in August 2011.

According to an article in the But-ler Collegian, Jay Howard, dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences at Butler, defended President Danko about earning his new position.

“Some faculty will have some degree of suspicions [of a president

without a Ph.D.], but I believe that President Danko has the ability to win over their approval,” Howard said. “He realizes it’s his job to in-spire and challenge the staff. I think President Danko is capable of doing it.”

Prior to his presidency at Butler, Danko lead the business school at Villanova University, where fi nan-cial giving more than quadrupled while he was there. Because of his success there, Butler chose Danko to help strengthen their fundraising and fi nancial goals.

By hiring someone with just a master’s degree, it opens the door to applicants who may not have a doc-torate, but do have a strengthened background that could help Tech in-crease current fi nancial giving.

For the presidential search at Tech, TBR has yet to announce a search committee, and it is also un-known how many applicants there are so far.

For more information on the presidential search at Tech, as well as the search criteria, visit http://www.tntech.edu/president/search/.

Tech’s Food Services has established a Food Committee in an effort to help improve the qual-ity of food and students’ overall experiences in on-campus dining.

The committee, which is expected to meet once a month, met Oct. 11. The committee consists of stu-dents, faculty and staff.

Sam Holm, director of Food Services, is head of the committee. The com-mittee focuses on helping the Food Services manag-ers and staff so that they may grasp a better under-standing of what students would consider an ideal dining service.

“Help us create the best meal program on campus,” Holm said. “That’s what the commit-tee is about.”

Several students brought forward issues during the meeting. Two of the main topics includ-ed the effi ciency of Yan Can Cook and the opera-tion hours of Swoops Food Court.

One student said that Yan Can Cook has been out of certain menu items several times when she has eaten there. She also said that the food was of poor quality when served.

“That shouldn’t be the case,” Holm said. “It’s fresh and hot. There’s nothing worse than Asian food that’s soggy and gross.”

Holm added that he would further investigate the matter and would be visiting Yan Can Cook

more frequently. Another student com-

mented on the effi ciency of the service at Yan Can Cook.

“I like the food there,” Allen Mullis, graduate stu-dent, said. “I like the qual-ity. I like how they cook it right then. It’s fresh; I just think the ordering process could improve.”

Some of the Food Ser-vices staff members who were present at the meet-ing attributed the long lines in Swoops Food Court to students being too selective with their orders. They said that stu-dents who are unprepared and overly particular while ordering may cause other students to wait in unnecessary long lines, and eliminating the prob-lem relies on the students themselves.

A Tech athlete at the meeting suggested keep-ing Mondo Subs and Back Yard Burgers open later than the restaurants at The Perch. The athlete said that her team usually does not fi nish practice until af-ter Swoops Food Court is closed, and she feels that there is nowhere to get a lighter, healthier meal on campus after certain hours.

Holm explained that The Perch is open later than Swoops Food Court because it is more conve-nient for students living in the residence halls sur-rounding it. The original intent of The Perch was to be open late for the conve-nience of students living on campus, Holm said.

However, this doesn’t hold true for students in Crawford Hall and the

Capitol Quad.Holm has tried to ini-

tiate a food committee in the past, but was unsuc-cessful with the attempts.

“We’ve tried to start it off and on, but we never got any student support,” Holm said. “Last year was the fi rst year that we actu-ally seemed to get some in-terest, and this year seems to be a little stronger so maybe we’re gaining some momentum.”

Holm said that, ide-ally, he would like to have a committee consisting of 15-25 members. He would like for the students to outnumber the staff, but have equal representation of both on-campus and off-campus students.

THE OORACLEVolume 95 | Issue 5 | Free in single copy | October 28, 2011Tennessee Tech University | Cookeville, TN | 38505

More stories and exclusive content at tntechoracle.com

OPINION: ABORTION IN POLITICS | PAGE 2 NCAA INCREASES SCHOLARSHIP | PAGE 3 THE THREE MUSKETEERS | PAGE 5

FRIDAY

CONTACT: news - 931.372.3285 - [email protected] | advertising - 931.372.3031 - [email protected]/33 °F

SATURDAY61/30 °F

TNTECHORACLE.COM FACEBOOK.COM/TNTECHORACLE@TNTECHORACLE

SUNDAY63/39 °F

MONDAY63/39 °F

TUESDAY67/39 °F

WEDNESDAY70/41 °F

Committee aims for higher food quality

By NICK ROLLINSAsst. Managing Editor

Doctorate not required for Tech presidency

A former Tech Athletics trainer was arrested on child pornography charges Oct. 21 in Cookeville, accord-ing to a Putnam County grand jury indictment.

Upton Dabney Jr., 43, of Briarwood Street, was arrested Friday afternoon by Putnam County Sherriff’s Deputy Tory Womack and booked into the Putnam Coun-ty jail, where bond was set at $10,000.

The case was investigated by Cookeville Police Detective Sgt. Yvette Demming. The in-dictment charges Dabney with sexual exploitation of a minor and aggravated sexual exploi-tation of a minor, both stem-ming from 2009.

According to the indict-ment, between June 8 and July 14, 2009, Dabney “knowingly possessed over 100 images or

material that includes a mi-nor engaged in sexual activ-ity.” Dabney also allegedly

intended to distribute or exchange materialthat includes a minor engaged in sexual ac-tivity.

Dabney posted bail the same day of his ar-rest and he is sched-uled to appear in the Putnam County Crimi-nal Court Nov. 15.

Cookeville Police led the investigation

in conjunction with Internet Crimes Against Children, a multi-agency unit in which de-tectives monitor internet sites for evidence of crime againstchildren.

Dabney was an athletic trainer at Tech from 2008 to spring 2011. Before that, he was a sports medicine employee at Oregon Tech University.

Dabney is a graduate of East High School in Morris-town, Tenn., and he earned a degree from Fountainhead College of Technology in Knoxville, Tenn.

Former Tech Athletics trainer arrested for child pornographyBy WILL HOUSLEYManaging Editor

Dabney

By GERI ANNA WILSONStaff Writer

Geri Anna WilsonFreshman Chayla Bell orders lunch at Chartwells’ Chef Yan Can Cook.

The Tennessee Tech Pan-hellenic Council has decided to bring a new chapter onto campus in the spring of 2012 due to overcrowded sorori-ties.

National Panhellenic Council area offi cer Tricia Barber and Greek Life adviser Katie Williams agreed to open campus for expansion in the spring. Waiting until spring will allow chapters to increase house total and better prepare for the expansion.

“This decision will benefi t all four chapters on campus to compensate for overcrowd-ing and allow more women to get into the sorority of their choice,” Shelby Reagan, Greek Life graduate assistant said.

Expansion will start with all four current sorority chap-ters agreeing to invite a new chapter to campus, according to Winningham.

“Every time, the process is always the same,” Winning-ham said.

From there, outside soror-ities send their information to the Tech Panhellenic Council explaining how they can make Tech’s campus and Greek Life better.

Next, a special expansion committee will be formed by taking two members from each of the sororities— Alpha Delta Pi, Delta Gamma, Kappa Del-ta, and Phi Mu— currently on campus. This committee will be in charge of making the fi -nal decision of which submis-sion will be the new chapter

on campus.“That way each sorority is

equally represented in the de-cision, but everyone on Pan-hellenic Council usually gets to meet all the competing so-rorities,” Reagan said.

“We are excited for expan-sion here at Tennessee Tech,” Laura Horton, Kappa Delta chapter president, said. “It will be interesting learning about a new sorority and see-ing how they would fi t into our campus. Another Pan-hellenic sorority will mean more chances for girls going through recruitment to fi nd their places. It may also meangreater participation in phil-anthropic events and greater good done for Cookeville.

“Our chapter is also ex-cited to be able to help the new sorority get involved and bring about positive change for all of our organizations,” Horton said.

The most recent organiza-tion to come to Tech was Delta Gamma, which established a chapter in 1980. Until now, there was no push to go back to fi ve chapters on campus, according to Winningham.

Expansion is different at every campus, it depends on the campus size. According to Winningham, some will expand every two years and some every 31 years. Big-ger schools tend to plan in advance which organization joins at which time.

Greek Life currently makes up 10 percent of the student body with 383 Panhellenic women. The average chapter includes 95 women.

Panhellenic announces plans for new sorority next semesterBy LINDSEY WALLACEStaff Writer

Greppin-Watts

See “Food” page 6

Halloween fever has offi cially hit Tech. I’m lov-ing every minute of it, but there’s one thing that keeps bothering me.

Why are we so judg-mental about people’s costumes?

We’re too old to walk around and fi ll an old pil-lowcase with free candy. All we have left is the right to dress like crazy people.

After all, unless you’re a regular at themed parties, Halloween is the one time of year that you get to wear whatever you want.

And I’m not talking about a plaid shirt and striped pants. I’m talking about dressing like there is no such thing as normalcy.

If you feel like wrap-ping yourself in foil and dancing the robot, then go for it.

Do you want to wear fangs and a cape while you run errands? Then this is your one chance to do it and not look like you’ve read the Twilight series one too many times.

So let’s stop worrying so much and enjoy all the holiday has to offer.

Late October is always a busy time for the social lives of college students.

Think of any event then add the word “haunted” in front of it and chances are you’ve named something happening in Cookeville. We have everything from haunted corn mazes to haunted half-marathons.

After walking through a haunted you-name-it and being chased by the obliga-tory chain-saw-wielding maniac, it’s time to get ready for all the Halloween parties.

That means it’s time to get a costume.

Freshman year of col-lege, I learned that cos-tumes are not all consid-ered equal. There is a defi -nite hierarchy of costumes and you will be judged ac-cording to what you wear.

First, there’s the elabo-rate and creative home-made costume. This is the highest in the college cos-tume hierarchy. It’s clever, so it obviously took some planning. Another plus is that no one else will be wearing the same thing.

Next on the hierar-chy is the standard store-bought costume. It didn’t take a lot of effort, but you did what was necessary to arrive at the party looking like something far removed

from your everyday self. One more down is the

slapped together home-made costume. You don’t want to spend the time to make a costume or the money to buy a costume so you throw on a lab coat and goggles you found ear-lier in Foster Hall and tell everyone that you’re a mad scientist. This category is still passable.

The lowest and most controversial of the cos-tume categories is the sexy costume. This can be homemade or store bought. Take any costume idea, make it tight and pos-sibly short, and you’ve got a sexy costume.

For some reason this category is only appli-cable to the ladies. I’ve seen plenty of sexy slave Princess Leia costumes, but I’ve never seen a guy show up as sexy Darth Vader.

The college population has a strange obsession with the sexy costume cat-egory. We can’t decide if we love it or hate it.

I’ve never heard a guy at a Halloween party com-plain that he’s sitting next to a miniskirt-wearing pi-rate. He’s probably busy sending a mental thank-you note to whoever de-signed the costume.

But any other day of the year, the same guy will describe Halloween as “the one day a year girls get a free pass dress like sluts.”

Really, guys? You

came to the party as Justin Timberlake from the SNL skit “[fi ll in the blank] in a box” and you’re judging us about having too sexual a costume on Halloween?

Girls can be just as bad. Instead of enjoying the par-ty, some of them will spend the whole time talking about how that sexy fi re-fi ghter girl is just desperate for attention.

Let’s be clear: if you show up to a Halloween party and wear a costume of any kind, then you want attention. If you didn’t want people looking at your costume then you would have stayed home watching YouTube clips all night.

This is our one chance to wear whatever we want. If we keep judging each other and making up all of these costume rules then we’re missing the point.

I don’t care if you show up as a sexy librarian, a homemade and historically accurate Charlemagne or if you just draw dark circles around your eyes and call yourself a zombie. It’s only a costume.

So let’s forget about insulting others’ costumes and get back to what real-ly matters: jumping out of corners wearing ski masks to scare our roommates half to death.

Happy Halloween, everyone.

| October 28, 2011 tntechoracle.com

OPINION

Weekly. Student operated.Weekly. Student operated.Tennessee Tech UniversityTennessee Tech University

TTU Box 5072TTU Box 5072Cookeville, TN 38505Cookeville, TN 38505

WILL HOUSLEYWILL HOUSLEYManaging EditorManaging EditorNICHOLAS ROLLINSNICHOLAS ROLLINSAsst. Managing EditorAsst. Managing EditorBRIDGETTE BUCHANANBRIDGETTE BUCHANANAd ManagerAd ManagerDAKOTA WEATHERFORDDAKOTA WEATHERFORDSARAH DEROSSETTSARAH DEROSSETTAd AssistantsAd AssistantsBRITTANY RITZMANBRITTANY RITZMANCopy EditorCopy EditorCASSIE TESAUROCASSIE TESAUROEditorial EditorEditorial Editor

JONATHAN FRANKJONATHAN FRANKAsst. Editorial EditorAsst. Editorial EditorROSS HARVEYROSS HARVEYSports EditorSports EditorANDY RUTHERFORDANDY RUTHERFORDAsst. Sports EditorAsst. Sports EditorCHUCK ACHESONCHUCK ACHESONEntertainment EditorEntertainment EditorWILL SHECKLERWILL SHECKLERAsst. EntertainmentAsst. EntertainmentEditorEditorHOLLY COWARTHOLLY COWARTFaculty AdviserFaculty Adviser

BEAT REPORTERS:BEAT REPORTERS: Ashley Ayub, Lindsay Blakely, Ellie Boles, Jillian Boreing, Jacob Cook, Ashton Corbin, Jackson Cresswell,

Sarah DeRossett, Jamal Ferguson, April Gilbert, Julie Graham, Kayla Gulley, Emily Haile, Karla Hammac, Drew Haston, Biskie

Holman, Emily Homan, Caitlin Jared, Dhir Joshi, Samantha Kendall, David Lane, Justin Matheney, Amanda Miller, Logan Nick-

leson, Sarah Reese, Shannon Rountree, Megan Severe, Aubrey Smith, Ashley Smith, Haley Smith, Brandon Stephenson, Heather

Veatch, Jacob Walker, Lindsey Wallace, Emily Weinzetl, Geri Anna Wilson, Jenda Wilson, Camille Woods

THE OORACLE

Send letters to the editor to [email protected]. Include your Send letters to the editor to [email protected]. 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 clarity.We reserve the right to edit grammar, length and clarity.

A group uses Halloween to pay homage to their favorite heroes, including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Photo courtesy of http://mrcostumes.wordpress.com

tntechoracle.comtntechoracle.com

CONTACT USCONTACT USAdvertising [email protected]

NewsroomNewsroom [email protected]@tntech.edu

REPORT AN ERRORREPORT AN ERROR

Editor [email protected]

VOICE YOUR OPINIONVOICE YOUR OPINIONOpinion [email protected]

The Oracle encourages The Oracle encourages readers to write letters readers to write letters and commentaries on and commentaries on topics of interest. A few topics of interest. A few guidlines:guidlines:

1. Letters should not 1. Letters should not exceed 300 words. exceed 300 words.

Commentaries should be Commentaries should be around 500 words and around 500 words and include a picture.include a picture.

2. Originality is required. 2. Originality is required. Plagiarized works will not Plagiarized works will not be considered.be considered.

3. For verifi cation, letters 3. For verifi cation, letters and commentaries MUST and commentaries MUST include your name, e-mail include your name, e-mail address, home town and address, home town and classifi cation or title.classifi cation or title.

4. Letters may not run 4. Letters may not run in every edition due to in every edition due to space.space.

5. The Oracle reserves 5. The Oracle reservesthe right to edit for style, the right to edit for style,grammar, length and grammar, length andclarity.clarity.

6. Submissions must be 6. Submissions must bereceived by 4 p.m. on received by 4 p.m. onTuesday.Tuesday.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this newspaper DO NOT necessarily refl ect those of Tennessee Tech University’s employees or of its administration.

Regardless of our po-litical climate at the time, or what else may take place on the world stage, there are some issues that will in-variably thrust themselves back into our country’s po-litical dialogue every elec-tion season. Abortion is one such issue. Somehow, as exhausted as the subject is, with nobody on either side of the matter offering up any new or groundbreak-ing argument in the past 20 years, another debate on the topic resurfaces every time Americans go to the polls to vote.

While the issue is not one that falls straight along party lines, we’ve tradition-ally seen Republicans speak out against the procedure in an effort to court the support of the “family values” con-stituency, with Democrats articulating primarily pro-choice policy positions. It’s doubtful how sincere many candidates on either side of the aisle really are in ex-pressing those views.

Abortion is the peren-nial political football in the game of American elec-tions. And let’s be honest, it’s the only reason anybody is voting for Rick Santorum. Because it is an issue that evokes such strong feelings from so many, candidates keep the issue at the fore-front of their campaigns year after year promising to either defend the plight of the unborn child or uphold a woman’s right to choose. Pundits and campaign spin doctors will nuance either position to sound like a no-ble endeavor.

We seem to forget, though, that underneath the talking points and heated rhetoric, there is a very real issue in play. The frequency of our discussion on the is-sue of abortion seems to have caused us to miss the gravity of what it actually means. And it matters tre-mendously. While I won’t defend all of the ways that abortion opponents have sometimes conveyed their message, I do believe there

is great value in the cause of defending innocent life.

I was reminded of thislast week, while watching a feature story on the TODAY Show. The segment profi led a pregnant woman who was diagnosed with cancer and faced with the pain-ful choice of either treat-ing her cancer or carrying her unborn child to term.Knowing that there was al-ready a beating heart living inside of her, she made the diffi cult choice to protect that life and forego cancertreatment. The mother livedjust long enough to hold her child before passing away.

Just like that child—whocame to be named DottieMae—if you are reading this column you too are the product of someone who chose life, and aren’t youglad?

It is diffi cult to think of many issues that couldpossibly be more important than who is protected underthe law and who is not; who is granted life and who isdenied it. Those of us who affi rm the importance andpotential for all innocent human life must continue to speak up for this most vulnerable and voiceless population.

Some 235 years ago, our founding fatherswrote in the Declaration of Independence, “We holdthese truths to be self-evi-dent, that all men are cre-ated equal, that they are en-dowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit ofhappiness.” It is time now, to extend those sacred pro-visions to the unborn, rec-ognizing that they, too, area part of our society.

This election season,let us be able to look at thislongstanding debate with new eyes and be able to sift through the political speak long enough to hear the softsound of a beating heart.And may we be remindedthat defending the gift of life is always a worthy cause.

Pro-life causestill matters

JONATHAN FRANK

Asst. Editorial Editor

The Oracle’s new “That’s What She Said” advice column is here to help.

Questions can cover any topic. Send your submissions to:

[email protected]

CASSIE TESAURO

Editorial Editor

Halloween costumes causing controversy

Have a question?

| October 28, 2011tntechoracle.com

SPORTS

For More Info:

TTUSports.com www.peacecorps.gov

with a community overseas.

Toby Rowell: [email protected] or (404) 562.3468

Contact your TTU recruiter for more info.

www.peacecorps.gov/apply/now

Are you wondering what do after graduation?

Peace Corps has assignments in

Apply NOW! For fall 2012 Departures

76 Countries for Tennesse Tech graduates. *** Full travel and living benefits included ***

Live, learn, and work

This is the best time to gain international experience.

A season’s worth of hard work and preparation come to a head for the 16 Tech cross country runners who will compete Saturday in the Ohio Valley Conference Champi-onships in Richmond, Ky.

The event, hosted by Tech a season ago, moves to Eastern Kentucky this fall and will be held at The Arlington Club. The men will race fi rst with an 8K at 8:30 a.m. CDT, followed by the women’s 5K at 9:30 a.m.

The Golden Eagles have run in fi ve regular-season meets this fall and last com-peted at the UE Invitational in Evansville, Ind., on Oct. 15, where six runners posted personal-record times. Tech was led by John Greene on the men’s side while Rebecca Cline was the top fi nisher on the women’s team.

Greene has had an out-standing junior campaign, posting new personal-bests in all fi ve of the team’s meets and leading all Tech run-ners in each event. He has chopped his best time down to 26:17 from 28:00 a season ago.

Greene, a native of Friendsville, Tenn., repre-sents Tech’s best chance at individual success at the con-ference championships as he could become the fi rst male Golden Eagle ever to earn All-OVC accolades.

Joining Greene in Tech’s eight-runner lineup at the

Cross Country’s season culminates with OVC championships Saturday

championships will be Matt Bishop (season-best time of 26:51), Mike Mahan (27:36), Adam McLeod (27:37), Ster-ling Smith (28:32), Matt Pen-nycuff (29:15), Charlie Jordan (29:30) and Kolbe Andrze-jewsi (30:05).

The women’s lineup will consist of Rebecca Cline (19:29), Peri Winborne (19:53), Leah Bradley (19:54), Amelia McCoy (19:56), Beth Miller (20:01), Kara Webb (20:12), Traci Jones (20:39) and Meghan O’Donaghue (20:45).

“Our women’s team has had a tough year with several nagging injuries to some of our best runners, and we’re just now starting to get healthy,” said head coach Tony Cox. “The men are really excited about this

meet and want to place well. It would be great if we could get John Greene onto the all-OVC team and have a fi rst for our team.”

At last year’s champion-ships, held in Cookeville at Southern Hills Golf Course, the Golden Eagle women placed seventh while the men took sixth. Then-senior Sam Taylor paced the men’s team with a time of 27:11 while Peri Winborne was the top fi nisher for the women, coming in at 20:01.

Cox said he expects Ar-lington to be a rolling-to-hilly course that will challenge runners.

Results from the meet will be posted on TTUSports.com as they become available on Saturday.

Runner John Greene, (center, 62) leads the men’s cross country team into competition Saturday. Greene has set per-sonal bests in every race this season.

Sports Information

PRESS RELEASE

Tech student-athletes received high marks in the 2011 Graduation Success Rate Report released Tuesday by the National Col-legiate Athletic Association.

Tech student-athletes earned a combined GSR of 78, which ranks as the second-highest mark among all of Tennessee’s public univer-sities. The grade for TTU is up one point from last year, when TTU had the highest mark among Tennessee public universities.

In addition, Tech’s student-athletes con-tinue to graduate at a higher rate than the general student body

Annually among the national standard bearers in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate report – which measures eligibility and retention – Tennessee Tech also ranks among the nation’s best in GSR.

“This most recent GSR report continues to be good news for Tennessee Tech Athletics, one that we can take a great deal of pride in,” said Mark Wilson, TTU Director of Athletics. “It verifi es in numbers that we are success-fully fulfi lling our mission of graduating our student-athletes.

“The results of this most recent NCAA report speaks to the diligence of our student-athletes,” Wilson said. “Our students are coming in better prepared when they enter Tennessee Tech, and they are staying on track to earn their degrees.”

Four Tech programs – tennis, volleyball, men’s basketball and women’s basketball – not only ranked among the nation’s best, they paced the Ohio Valley Conference in GSR within their respective sports.

Two of those teams – tennis and volley-ball – recorded perfect GSR scores of 100, in-cluding a third consecutive year with a perfect score for coach John Blair’s volleyball team.

The latest GSR report refl ects several oth-ers positive recent trends by Tech’s student-athletes, including the upward growth of the total numbers on the Athletic Director’sHonor Roll and the record-breaking com-bined grade point average by Golden Eaglestudent-athletes.

During the past year, Tech’s student-ath-letes have posted the highest combined GPAever achieved at the University, earned acombined 3.0 GPA six times in the last sevensemesters, and fi lled the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll with more than 200 in four of the past fi ve semesters.

“These kinds of numbers continue to point out that our student-athletes and ourstaff continue to take seriously our goal ofstressing the importance of academic suc-cess,” Wilson said. “This latest GSR is anothergauge in how we’re doing, and it says we’redoing well. Our coaches, our academic sup-port system and personnel, and our student-athletes are doing a good job.”

The history of Tennessee Tech Athleticshas typically shown a higher graduation rate for student-athletes than the general student body, and the GSR is a national report thatsupports that trend.

“If you layer the GSR on top of the state-wide graduation rates, we can say that Ten-nessee Tech is among the leaders in the statefor graduating our student-athletes,” Wilsonpointed out.

Tech’s numbers are part of a national trend. According to the NCAA report, all Di-vision I student-athletes combined achievedthe highest marks ever for graduation. The single-year GSR for student-athletes who be-gan college in 2004 is 82 percent, a new highfor the NCAA.

PRESS RELEASE

Tech student-athletes earn second-highest graduation success rates among all state public universities

Over the past year, most of collegiate athletic coverage doesn’t seem to talk about the actual sports that are being played. It seems that all any-one can talk about anymore is conference realignment rumors and scandals involv-ing student-athletes taking improper benefi ts.

This week, the NCAA is in the news again for some-thing, but this time, it could actually be something that will change the landscape of collegiate sports in a positive way.

NCAA president Mark Emmert proposed a deal ear-lier this week that would give student-athletes an addition-al $2,000 of spending money along with their scholarships to cover full cost-of-atten-dance beyond just tuition, room and board, books, and

fees.This major reform pro-

posal was approved on Thursday by the NCAA Di-vision I Board of Directors. Conferences will now vote on whether to add this pro-posal.

It’s pretty obvious that BCS conferences will quickly approve this because they can more than afford it with the television revenue they earn every year. This would also give them even more of an advantage in recruiting over non-BCS conferences.

The big question that re-mains is whether the smaller conferences, which includes the OVC, can afford it. There isn’t as much revenue gener-ated in smaller conferences because they don’t enjoy the network television deals and sponsorships that the BCS conferences do. Plus, when you consider the number of both men and women ath-

letes with scholarships and multiply that by $2,000, that’s a pretty hefty cost for a uni-versity to take on.

This reform proposal in-cluded some other elements beyond the spending money.

One thing it did was raise the academic standards for teams. The Academic Prog-ress Rate will be raised from 900 to 930 and failure to meet that mark will result in a ban from postseason tourna-ments. This rule will also be implemented in bowl licens-ing agreements, meaning it will affect the FBS football teams as well.

Eligibility standards for incoming freshman and ju-nior college transfers have also been raised. Both re-quired a 2.0 GPA before the reform. Incoming freshman must now have a 2.3 GPA in the 16 core classes, and have completed at least ten of them before their senior year.

Incoming transfers will now need to maintain a 2.5 GPA and will be limited on the number of physical educa-tion credits that will count.

Student-athletes that might be in compliance with the current academic stan-dards but not the new ones can be given an “academic redshirt”. The athlete will sit out a season in order to get his/her grades up.

This reform now gives in-dividual schools the option of granting athletes multi-year scholarships or staying with the current year-by-year for-mat. This means that schools can guarantee an athlete his/her scholarship for the entire duration of their eligibility.

The last part of the new deal involves summer bas-ketball recruitment. Coaches will be given four evaluation days in April and twelve in July, as opposed to 20 in July under former rules.

Although they will have four less days of evaluation, coaches will now be allowed more contact with their own players in the summer and a text messaging ban has been lifted.

So what is the purpose of this reform and such a quick approval of it? The NCAA feels that by giving athletes some spending money it will prevent them from seeking benefi ts from boosters and other outlets.

But will this really work? What happens when an ath-lete decides that the $2,000 isn’t enough and he/she de-serves more because they’re a better player?

Just like any reform, this will not be perfect and will not keep every athlete from taking improper benefi ts. There will always be those that don’t abide by the rules.

This is, however, a step in the right direction. This

will keep some athletes from taking improper benefi ts and give them something that many feel they deserve. People have argued for years that student-athletes should be paid because they bring in money for their universities and they don’t have the time to hold a job like any other student. Now they get it.

The important thing here is the rise in academic stan-dards.

Many athletes just see college as a stepping stone for the pros. But not every-one gets to go professional in their sports and need a back-up plan in case of injury or anything else that might end one’s playing days.

Athletes shouldn’t see college as a stepping stone. They should see their athletic abilities as a way of receiving an education and preparing for a future beyond the fi eld or court.

NCAA approves option for student-athlete scholarship increase$2,000 dollar increse will steer student-athelets away from improper benefi ts, NCAA says

By ANDY RUTHERFORD Asst. Sports Editor

Scan this QR Code to

go to

Swansey receives National recognition

Preseason accolades continue to pour in for Tech, and this time, it’s senior guard Zac Swansey garnering high honors from a na-tional media source.

The USA Today named Swansey its Pre-season Player of the Year in the Ohio Valley Conference in its college basketball preview publication released earlier this month. The newspaper, which boasts a circulation of 1.8 million, also named senior guard Kevin Mur-phy a fi rst-team All-OVC selection.

Swansey is the second Golden Eagle to garner attention as a Player of the Year can-didate — Murphy drew the honor in offi cial OVC voting and also from CBS Sports and the Sporting News.

“Our offense runs through him and he makes everyone around him better,” head coach Steve Payne said of Swansey. “He’s ob-viously deserving. He gets the ball where it needs to go for us, and I’m happy to see him receive the recognition.”

Swansey piloted the OVC’s most produc-tive offense a season ago and posted near re-cord-breaking assist numbers. He distributed double-fi gure assists in six games and ranked seventh in NCAA Division I in assists per game.

He also did his share of scoring, averag-ing just shy of 10 points per game. Murphy, also a senior guard, was Tech’s leading scorer

in 2010-11 and ranked third in the OVC, av-eraging 17 points per contest. He was an all-OVC fi rst-team selection a season ago.

Murphy was also recently named one of fi ve all-OVC selections by CollegeHoops.net.

Tennis Stuggles in Knoxville

Tech’s men’s tennis team only posted onevictory in Saturday’s play in Knoxville.

That victory came from Syrym Abdukhai-likov. Abdukhailikov defeated Tennessee’s,Bryan Schwartz, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.

Advancing to the next round, Abdukhai-likov faced Kentucky’s Alex Musialek, who is ranked 20th nationally and was the number two seed for the tournament. Musialek de-feated Abdukhailikov, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2.

Also participating in Saturdays actionwere seniors Alex Chen and Justin Kirstein.

Chen lost to Indiana’s Stephen Vogl, 6-2, 6-7. While Chen took a loss to East Tennessee State’s Juan Ramirez 6-2, 6-0.

Sophomore Vasily Eremeev and fresh-man Ezequiel Gils also competed in Satur-day’s action.

Eremeev was handed a 6-2, 6-1, loss fromTennessee’s Mikelis Libietis.

Gils was defeated by Dalton Albertin of Ball State 6-4, 6-2.

| October 28, 2011 tntechoracle.com

SPORTS

This week’s Weekly Roundup contains stories byStaff Writer Justin Matheney and TTU Sports In-formation.

FreedomClimber.com

By JILLIAN BOREING Staff Writer

FCS Coaches PollWeek 9

1. Georgia Southern 2. Northern Iowa 3. North Dakota State4. Montana State 5. Appalachian State 6. Lehigh 7. Sam Houston State 8. Montana 9. Wofford 10. James Madison 11. New Hampshire 12. Maine 13. Jacksonville State 14. Townson 15. South Dakota 16. Old Dominion 17. Jackson State 18. Indiana State 19. Tennessee Tech20. Delaware 21. William and Mary 22. Alabama State 23. Harvard

24. Liberty 25. North Dakota

Fitness Center to undergo signifi cant changes

The Fitness Center is getting new equip-ment and undergoing renovations for the spring semester.

Rex Bennett is the Student Center Section Supervisor for the Fitness Center. He said that the changes will be mainly an aesthetic up-grade to the building, but that students will notice changes after the fi rst of the year.

“Coming up in December we have a project where we are getting 60 new pieces of weight room and CV (cardiovascular) equip-ment,” Bennett said. Among the new equip-ment will be treadmills and some bikes to re-place older ones.

“We have a lot of older machines here in the building that need to be replaced, it’s just sort of their time, so hopefully that is coming in early December but defi nitely for next se-mester they’ll be ready to go.

“We are also getting 23 new pieces of pin select machines, which means that you select the plate you want. We aren’t getting any new free weights this time. We updated our dumbbells a few years ago so the free weights are actually in pretty good shape. We have new Olympic barbells coming, as well.”

A brand new addition to the Fit will be the Freedom Climber wall.

“On the second fl oor, towards the east end of the track, we are getting what is called a Freedom Climber, which is a rotating wall climber.” Bennett said.

“We’ve gotten a lot of requests for a rock wall and that’s hopefully a future project. But for right now this is a really neat machine it counts not only your calories burned and

your time elapsed but also your elevation and you don’t get more than a foot off the ground when you climb on it. So if you’re scared of heights, don’t worry about it, Freedom Climber takes care of that. That will be ready hopefully in the next two weeks, by the fi rst week of November.”

“I think it’s always good to have new ac-tivities for students,” senior Jordan Jozwik said. “I think if they turned one of the racquet-ball courts into a full climbing wall it would get an enormous amount of use, and there are defi nitely enough students that work in the fi t to train them to belay. Something new is better than nothing new.”

Bennett said that the two main basketball goals in the Fit along with the basketball goals in Memorial Gym are getting replaced with new, fi berglass goals. The pool in the Fit also has some upgrades coming but for now, they will only replace the guttering system.

In addition to all the new equipment, the entire building will be getting new carpeting and paint.

“The purple around the building was done 10 years ago and the second fl oor has never been redone in 20 years.” Bennett said.

Also, the intramural and health promo-tions offi ces will be renovated to match ev-ery other offi ce on campus. The second fl oor bathrooms are currently under renovations and will be ready this week, equipped with all touchless features.

The second fl oor of the Fit will be closed for renovations Dec. 16 through the 23rd, while the fi rst fl oor will remain open. The whole building will be closed December 24 through its target re-open date of Jan. 3.

A “Freedom Climber” rotating rock wall is just one of the addi-tions Tech will be making to the Fit-ness Center this spring. More than 23 machines will be added, along with upgrades to the basketball courts, carpet surfaces and pool.

The Golden Eagle football team (4-2, 3-1 OVC) looks to bounce back from a heart-breaking loss as they travel to Jacksonville, Ala. to face off against the conference leading Jacksonville State Gamecocks (5-2, 4-0 OVC).

Tech and Jacksonville State are both na-tionally ranked teams. The Golden Eagles are ranked 19th in the FCS Coaches Poll and 25th in the Sports Network/Fathead.com Poll. The Gamecocks are ranked 13th and 14th, re-spectively.

“You want to be heading down the stretch still in the race,” Tech head coach Watson Brown said. “The winner of this game controls its own destiny. [The OVC] is a good league. It’s a competitive league. I thought everyone would have at least one loss by now, but they haven’t and they deserve credit for it.”

This is the 16th meeting between the two programs with Jacksonville State holding a 9-6 lead.

Last season, the Gamecocks came to Tucker Stadium ranked No. 4 in the country and looking to clinch the OVC. Tech had oth-er plans however and overcame a 17-point fourth-quarter defi cit to pull off a 35-24 up-set.

Jacksonville State is coming off a 38-14 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats last weekend. Although it was a losing effort, the Game-cocks had a good showing against the FBS opponent.

They were led by junior running back Washaun Ealey, whose 120-yard perfor-mance gave him his fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing game.

Freshman Gabriel Chambers also made some noise with a 99-yard kickoff return for

a touchdown, the fi rst Kentucky had allowed all season.

Tech is coming off a bye week after scor-ing 20 unanswered points yet still coming up just short, losing 42-40, to Tennessee State on Oct. 15. The loss was not only their fi rst con-ference loss of this season, it was also their fi rst loss in FCS play.

Despite losing, the team broke several school single-game offensive records in the game including 36 fi rst downs. Junior quar-terback Tre Lamb set single-game school re-cords for completions (34), pass attempts (58) and total plays (69).

“We just didn’t have enough to get it done tonight and that’s disappointing,” Lamb said.

The loss could be attributed to turnovers and penalties. Tech turned the ball over four times (two interceptions and two lost fum-bles) and committed 11 penalties totaling 80 yards.

“We’re not good enough to win with turnovers and penalties like that,” Brown said. “We just can’t do it.”

One bright spot from the game was fresh-man kicker Zach Sharpe. Sharpe was 4-5 on fi eld goal tries and 4-4 on extra points. His total of 16 points is the second most in school history. Sharpe was named OVC Special Teams Player of the Week.

“He keeps getting better,” said Brown of his kicker. “He made the kicks to keep us in the game.”

The team’s hopes are still high for the re-mainder of the season.

“We’re not done,” said junior Zack Ziegler, who totaled 102 yards and two touch-downs in the TSU game. “If we keep winning, nothing changes.”

Tech looking to upset ranked OVC foe after lossBy ANDY RUTHERFORD Asst. Sports Editor

Weekly Roundup

With a win last Saturday against the Murray State Rac-ers, the Tech volleyball team looks to pick up a couple more victories against the Austin Peay Governors and the Ten-nessee State Tigers while on the road this weekend.

Leading the Golden Ea-gles in kills this season with 234, Sophomore Natalie Pen-rod has proven to be an impact player for Tech in its win over the Racers. Other impact play-ers include Junior Kelsey Gray and Sophomore Allison May.

Gray, with 326 total blocks in her career with the Golden Eagles, is ranked tenth on the all-times block list at Tech.

May, with just 41 digs away from a career-high of 1000, tallied 19 digs in last Sat-urday’s victory.

The four-match road trip will begin Oct. 28 against Aus-tin Peay, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. On Oct. 29, the Golden Eagles are scheduled to battle against its third place oppo-nent, TSU, at 2 p.m.

Volleyball seeks to continue improving record with May, Gray and Penrod leading the way

Allison May tosses the ball up for a serve. May is 41 digs away from 1,000 on the season.

This week’s sports stories at a glance

Sports Information

ByASHLEY SMITHStaff Writer

Halloween is quickly approaching, if you need a costume idea, we’re here with some suggestions.

The bed sheet ghost is a Halloween cli-ché so I offer an updated version of the clas-sic. Instead of using a white bed sheet, use a fl annel one. When people ask what you are dressed as, reply that you are the ghost of a dead hipster. A couple Pabst Blue Ribbon cans tied together make a great alternative to rattling chains.

Zombies and vampires are popular this year and really only require a minimal mon-etary investment. Thrift stores are your one-stop shops for expendable clothing or rela-tively inexpensive suits. If you want to make a realistic zombie or vampire costume, how-ever, you’re going to need some fake blood. Will Sheckler has the solution with his per-sonal recipe.

Fake Blood Recipe:

• 4 tbsp of Corn Syrup • 2 cups of Warm water (or as much as

the amount of blood needed)• 1 tbsp Red food coloring (use a few

drops of yellow and green to make realistic)• 1 tbsp of Cocoa powder/chocolate syr-

up• Bowl/Jug/some kind of containerAfter you aquire the necessary materials,

which can be found for cheap in most dollarstores, you need to mix the ingredients to-gether.

Step one: place the water and cocoa inwith each other before adding other ingredi-ents.

Step two: add corn syrup and gradually add drops of red food dye until satisfi ed.

Step three: keep mixing reds and very lit-tle bits of yellow and green for darker colors.

Now, you have a delicious way to make fake blood around your face.

Calling all action and ad-venture fan, lovers of steam punk, and scalley wag pi-rates, too; “The Three Mus-keteers” released in theaters and it will defi nitely enter-tain you.

“The Three Musketeers” are the best elite swordsmen for the King of France and defenders of Europe when it is in danger. Single handedly these highly trained fi ghters are capable of taking on the whole European continent and they’re still ready for more.

We’re introduced at the beginning to the three he-roes: Arthos (leader; intel-lect), Aramis (stealth), and Porthos (strength). As well, we have D’Artagnan, a new aspiring musketeer, that’s taken under the wing of the other musketeers.

Together the four are unstoppable. An example

displayed at the beginning of the fi lm when D’Artagnan and the Musketeers take on 40 of the King’s guards suc-cessfully. After their feat, the King of France and Car-dinal Richelieu summon the musketeers for punishment. Cardinal wishes that the four to be treated harshly for such crimes, but the King found their victory to be quite im-pressive; so he commends them and tells them not to do it again.

One of the main adapta-tions to the fi lm is the use of steam punk technology like fully functional scuba gear while it has the look of the time and still looks pretty cool.

The fi lm reminds me of ‘Pirate of the Caribbean’ meets steam punk technolo-gy once the Duke of Bucking-ham (Oralando Bloom) sails onto the French King’s court-yard in his fl ying battleship. Another selling point of the movie had to be the choice of actors like Bloom and Mat-

thew MacFadyen (played Mr. Darcy in “Pride and Prejudice”), the attempted feel you get from the ‘pirates’ fi lms, and the fl ying ships. I really was jealous about those giant ships because deep down even with all of today technology a fl ying air ship is all anyone really wants…. Sword fi ghts and battles will more than likely occur later.

Ending off here, just don’t compare it to the classics and it’ll be fun. Let loose and en-joy yourself a while. “I never remembered history being so interesting,” said Jason Swaf-ford, movie attendee and stu-dent at TTU.

Pros: EXPLOSIONS, air ships, decent and fun sword fi ghts, an interesting update of the fi lms

Cons: a little too predict-able, the credits song threw me off, wouldn’t see it in 3D

What to look forward to: A second movie with more air ships and Orlando Bloom.

Rating: C+, a good mati-nee and fun adventure fi lm.

tntechoracle.com | October 28, 2011

ENTERTAINMENT

By WILL SHECKLERAsst. Entertainment Editor

Summit EntertainmentAfter being forced to disband, the three musketeers reunite to prevent a war that would de-stroy Europe.

Movies on my Mind:The Three Musketeers

By SHANNON ROUNTREEStaff Writer

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spell-ing Bee” opens in the Backdoor Playhouse this Thursday at 8 p.m.

Presented by the Tech Players, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is a one-act musical focusing on a fi ctional spell-ing bee set in the geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley Middle School. The musical follows six quirky students as they compete in the bee, which three equally odd teachers run.

Based on the Rachel Sheinkin book, Wil-liam Finn wrote the music and lyrics for the

musical. The play originally debuted on Broadway in 2005 and was nominated for six Tony Awards, winning two.

Mark Creter, Tech theater professor, willdirect the Tech production with musical di-rection by Mendy Richards. As for the cast,members of the student body and faculty will play the characters.

“Theater is open to anyone at Tech who’sinterested. For instance, this musical has a castthat’s a combination of students as well asfaculty. This gives students a chance to work with seasoned performers, and it also brings a little variety to the show,” said Creter.

The show opens Thursday and continues through Nov. 12. Admission for students isfree.

By CHUCK ACHESON & BISKIE HOLMANEntertainment Editor, Staff Writer

‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ opens Thursday

Show Times:November 3 - 5, 7 & 8, 11 & 12 at 8:00 p.m.

November 10 at 10:00 p.m.November 12 at 2:00 p.m.

All performances are free for Tech students

Art Credit: Matt KnielingNo matter the type of vampire, make your costume more realistic with fake blood you can make at home on a budget.

Last minute Halloween costume ideasBy CHUCK ACHESON & WILL SHECKLEREntertainment Editor, Asst. Entertainment Editor

Halloween is Monday, but have no fear procrastinators,The Oracle is here to help.If you pass the Bryan Fine Arts building

between now and Nov. 4, you’ll most likely hear the tuba players preparing their pieces for Tennessee Tech University’s Department of Music and Arts 36th annual Octubafest.

Octubafest includes a substantial amount of recitals and concerts of TTU students and alumni who play instruments in the tuba fam-ily. This also involves the euphonium, bass tuba and contrabass tuba.

Octubafest at TTU provides an environ-ment for students to demonstrate their tech-nical and musical abilities, hard work and ef-forts put into these specifi c instruments.

Being the youngest of orchestral instru-ments, the tuba family was not featured in solo settings until the 1960’s. The rapid rec-ognition and advancement of the tuba during this period is partly attributable to Winston Morris, Professor of Music and Instructor of

Tuba and Euphonium at TTU. Morris has been on the faculty since 1967

and is not only been regarded internationally for the advancement of the tuba for the past 40 years, but the major authority on the de-velopment of the tuba ensemble. The Tennes-see Tech Tuba Ensemble is a group of TTU alumni that has won several awards and is the most recorded group to date.

Taking place in the Wattenbarger Au-ditorium in the Bryan Fine Arts Building on TTU’s campus, all of the recitals and cham-ber music concerts are free and open to the public.

There are still around a dozen recitals re-maining on October 28 through October 31 and Octubafest will conclude with a special performance by the Tennessee Tech Tuba En-semble Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m.

To fi nd out the various times of each per-formance, visit TTU’s website at www.tntech.edu or contact Morris at [email protected].

Octubafest continues through Thursday

*20% Off All Services*

Homecoming Specialfor TTU Students

Spa Pedicure $20Glitter Nails $36Solar Nails $36

Pink & White $36Full Set Acrylic $20Seashell Nails $40

After the 20% discount.Student or Staff ID Required.

(931) 520-8381 541 S. Willow Ave., Ste. #105

Cookeville, TN 38501

SolarNail & Spa

tntechoracle.com

O•Crossword•Multimedia•Polls

ONLINE:

•Crime Map•Comics•Twitter

tntechoracle.com | October 28, 2011

NEWS

techtech@eventsevents

Oct. & Nov.

tntech.edu/calendar

28Midterm Grading EndsStudents may now view Midterm grades on Eagle Online

7:00 p.m.Jacob Reid, Jalen Tally, tuba, Student RecitalWattenbargerAuditorium

8:00 p.m.Briana Engelbert, euphonium, Student RecitalWattenbargerAuditorium

303:00 p.m.Euba Quartet, Student RecitalWattenbarger Auditorium

7:00 p.m.Austin Vogt, eupho-nium, Student RecitalWattenbarger Auditorium

8:00 p.m.Patrick Curry, tuba, Student RecitalWattenbarger Auditorium

291:00 p.m.STEM Safari SaturdaySTEM Center

2:00 p.m.Tuphonium Quartet, Student RecitalWattenbargerAuditorium

3:00 p.m.LesTubas Quartet, Student RecitalWattenbargerAuditorium

7:00 p.m.Bill Glesias, tuba, Student RecitalWattenbarger Auditorium

8:00 p.m.Preston Light, tuba, Student RecitalWattenbargerAuditorium

313:30 p.m.Faculty Senate MeetingPresident’s Conference Room

7:00 p.m.Nick Waycaster, euphonium, Student RecitalWattenbargerAuditorium

8:00 p.m.Derek Cunningham, tuba, Student RecitalWattenbargerAuditorium

3TRENDS Career FairHyder Burks Pavilion

6:00 p.m.Studio Voice RecitalWattenbarger Auditorium

For a daily crime report, visit www.tntech.edu/police/police-crimelogs

CRIME BRIEFS:- Oct. 8 - 10:35 a.m. Charges: Theft of vehicle stereo Location: New Hall North- Oct. 8 - 4:34 p.m. Charges: Theft of GPS from vehicle Location: New Hall North- Oct. 10 - 3:20 p.m. Charges: Bike Theft Location: Ellington-Warf Bike Rack- Oct. 10 - 4:10 p.m. Charges: Bike Theft / Recovered Location: Jobe-Murphy Bike Rack- Oct. 11 - 1:50 p.m. Charges: Vehicle Vandalism Location: Prescott MS Parking Lot- Oct. 11 - 10:10 p.m. Charges: Theft of motorcycle helmet and gloves Location: Open Parking North Dixie Avenue- Oct. 12 - 1:30 a.m. Charges: Threatening Text Message Location: New Hall North- Oct. 12 - 9:10 a.m. Charges: Vandalism / Window shot with BB gun Location: School of Nursing- Oct. 14 - 12:15 a.m. Charges: Sexual Harassment Location: Murphy Hall- Oct. 14 - 8:30 a.m. Charges: Vandalism / Window shot with BB gun Location: School of Nursing- Oct. 15 - 7:45 a.m. Charges: Extortion Location: Southwest Stadium

- Oct. 17- 1:20 a.m. Charges: Verbal Argument Location: Tech Village East- Oct. 17 - 3:01 a.m. Charges: Attempt B&E Location: New Hall North- Oct. 20 - 2:09 a.m. Charges: Driving without DL, Misuse of Registration, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia Location: 8th & Armstrong Ave.- Oct. 20 - 8:09 a.m. Charges: Vandalism to state vehicles Location: Intramural Parking Lot- Oct. 21 - 3:10 a.m. Charges: Underage Consumption Location: Jobe Hall- Oct. 21 - 10:30 p.m. Charges: Suspicious Persons Location: Tech Village Community Center- Oct. 21 - 10:16 p.m. Charges: Pulled Fire Alarm Location: Foster Hall- Oct. 26 - 1:55 a.m. Charges: Arson (set fi re to cardboard box) Location: Prescott MS Parking Lot- Oct. 26 - 6:20 p.m. Charges: Bike Theft Location: Pinkerton Hall Bike Rack- Oct. 26 - 1:33 p.m. Charges: Theft of unattended laptop Location: Volpe Library

The STEM Center is no longer accompanied by only students, teachers and staff. Room 131 houses a hedgehog and a rose-haired tarantula.

These animals live in their respective cages and are on a feeding schedule administered by instructors and students. Rosie, the rose-haired tarantula, feasts upon live crickets, and Reggie, the four-month-old hedgehog, consumes cat food.

“The purpose of the ani-mals is to allow early child-hood development students to become comfortable with class pets and learn how they can be used in classroom in-struction,” Jane Baker, assis-

tant professor of early child-hood education, said.

Every day in class, the creatures are let out to play with early childhood edu-cation undergraduate and graduate students.

“It is neat to see future teachers warming up to the animals, along with taking pride and care of them,” Bak-er said.

Three newts will also soon be living in Room 131. The Twilight series inspired the students to name the new aquatic amphibians Edward, Jacob and Bella.

“Ideally, there would be one of each animal class in the classroom,” Baker said.

Viewing times for the animals are administered by the STEM Center offi ce.

By KARLA HAMMACStaff Writer

STEM Center now home to exotic animals

At 10 p.m. every Thurs-day, students gather in the lobby of New Hall North for light conversation over free pancakes.

New Hall North resident assistants continue pancake night, a regular event target-ing hungry Tech students, with the help of Tech’s Tree-house learning village.

“It gives the students a good break, a good social time,” Caitlin McCowan, as-sistant coordinator of the Treehouse, said. “And it’s neat because when they’re standing in line for pancakes, they’re talking to people they didn’t know. So it defi nitely meets the community goal we’re after as Res. Life.”

According to McCowan, the process is simple. A team of RAs make each student two free pancakes with choice

of chocolate chips, butter and syrup.

“Generally by 10 after, there’s a line out the door. It is rare for us to have less than 100 people,” McCowan said.

The amount of ingredi-ents used is evidence of the event’s popularity among the campus-wide audience.

“Every week we have pancake night, we’re prob-ably going through three gal-lons of syrup and eight boxes of batter,” McCowan said.

The event is now directed by Michelle Best, a junior at Tech. According to Best, Sara Lynes, a former Tech stu-dent, is responsible for start-ing pancake night during the 2009-2010 school year.

“Two years ago, she lived in Jobe-Murphy, and she used to do it in there,” Best said. “Then she asked Caitlin if we could do it in here and it just kinda turned into a big thing.”

By LOGAN NICKLESONStaff Writer

Students gather at New Hall North for weekly pancake night

Karla HammacJane Baker holds Reggie, a four-month-old hedgehog, who now resides at the STEM Center. Reggie will also soon be accompanied by three newts: Edward, Jacob and Bella.

Food ServicesCONTINUED from page 1

According to Holm, a couple of the advantages for participating with the Food Committee include receiv-ing a free meal and the ac-complishment of changing and adjusting Food Services in order to meet people’s needs.

“I want the students to get very comfortable with the managers because, in my opinion, the more comfort-able you are with a person,

the more likely you are to walk up and talk to them about your problems,” Holm said. “Bottom line, we want to hear from the students how to run their food ser-vice. We want to run it the best we can and how you guys want it.”

For more information about the food committee, contact Sam Holm at [email protected].

tntechoracle.comPlease recycle your copy of The Oracle.

O•News•Sports•Opinion•Entertainment

AWESOME EAGLE VISITS CANE CREEK ELEMENTARY

Awesome Eagle eats breakfast with Pre-K classes at Cane Creek Elementary to encourage students to eat a healthy meal before school.

Emily Haile

The Oracle - Oct. 28, 2011

Documents

Transcript of The Oracle - Oct. 28, 2011