ARKA
THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1923
THE
Lip Sync Battle has a winner.
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ARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY // THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2018 • VOL. 94 NO. 16
Study abroad, path of self discovery Overpaid athletes
I have been in Europe for a little over a month now. Somehow, I’m torn between feeling like I’ve been here for ages and feeling like I’ve only been here for about half a second. Either way, every day has been a learning experience, whether I’m discovering new things about myself, about the town I live in now or about the world. I’ve Gabbi documented my Calabrese time here through this column, a Foreign personal journal Correspondent and social media, because I don’t want to forget about all the amazing opportunities I’ve had, but also, I don’t want to forget what I’ve learned while I’ve been here. That said, here are some habits I’ve picked up that I would like to take back to the U.S. with me.
Ricci Logan Sports Photographer
ed food to the various elementary schools in the Russellville area for their BackPack Program, which provides students with nutritious and easyto-prepare food for the weekend. John Sisco, a junior biomedical biology major from Greenwood, is overseeing the Greeks Give Back event for this year. Sisco said he would like to see the amount of food collected this year surpass last year’s amount. He would also like to see the Greek organizations on campus come together and help the community in a special way. “My favorite part of Greeks Give Back is seeing how much food is collected by the entire Greek life at Tech, and knowing that it will go to places in our community that are
SGA attends 'Day at the Capitol'
year public higher education institutions of Arkansas have united under the Arkansas Association of Students to advocate on behalf of their constituents in support of increased affordability of higher education in Arkansas,” according to the resolution. Several senators are expected to be a part of the trip to Little Rock and will be accompanied by Jenny Butler, SGA adviser and assistant director of campus life. “It’s important that we represent Tech at the Capitol, because it’s our job to make sure our students voices are being heard –not only
Money socially and economically drives the world we live in today. In my life, I have seen many major sports have strikes or lockouts over money. The National Basketball Association, National Football League and Major League Baseball are some notable sports leagues that have money disputes. Every year, players and coaches ask for more money and perks. This raises the question: are professional athletes overpaid? In each sport, the salary for players is different. Everyday Americans struggle to pay bills, student loans and to find good paying jobs. It can be frustrating to the average person for professional athletes to complain about money when they make millions of dollars. According to a Bleacher report, the highest paid MLB Cubs player will have made 19 million dollars in 2012. The highest paid NFL Bears player made over 13 million dollars in 2011. The highest-paid type of doctor averages just over $500,000 per year. And that does not include the endorsements that professional players get. It does not seem right to some Americans that someone swinging a bat should make more than the average American. A guy playing baseball brings in more money than an average household makes in a decade. On the other side of the argument, fans are the one paying to supporting the athletes by buying tickets, jerseys and shoes. The fans are the people who spend their hard earned money on athletes. If the fans truly felt that athletes were over paid, they would stop supporting them, because their money is makes up majority of what athletes make. Professional athletes are paid so great particularly be-
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(SGA page 7)
(OVERPAID page 8)
TRAVELING I’ve always had an ache to travel the world, but before studying abroad, it was all too easy to find reasons not to travel. Maybe it wasn’t financially wise or it would take too much time or it was simply too inconvenient. Being in Europe has completely changed the way I look at traveling. I had no problem hopping on a bus for 8 hours and dropping several hundred dollars for a couple days in Budapest. My spring break trip has already cost me about half of my savings and I
GABBI CALABRESE/THE ARKA TECH The city center in Trieste, Italy, as night falls upon it. haven’t even left yet. Yes, traveling can be expensive. Yes, traveling in Europe works a little differently than it does in the United States, but by the time I return home, I’ll have seen more countries than I have states, and that is a strange realization. When I get back to America, I am going to stop making excuses for traveling. Part of seeing
the world includes seeing my own country. COOKING I am no cuisine master. Last semester, I gave myself food poisoning, if that tells you anything
Greek Week set to kick off in April BAILEY GREENWOOD
Contributing Writer
Arkansas Tech will be hosting its annual Greek Week event featuring two new competitions during the first week of April. Greek Week is a week-long event on campus where the different fraternities and sororities are paired together into teams and compete against one another in different activities and service opportunities. Each day there are different events put on for the teams to participate in and at the end of the week a trophy is presented to the team that has accumulated the most points. The annual Greeks Give Back event, a service project to collect a variety of different non-perishable food items will start the week off. The teams will distribute the collect-
COMMUNITY CLEANUP
SGA TWITTER
SGA President Matthew Smith read the resolution approved by the ATU student senate promoting equal funding.
TIFFINI JARVIS
Contributing Writer
Arkansas Tech’s Student Government Association travelled to the Capitol to deliver their resolution in favor of the importance of higher education funding in Arkansas. The annual Day at the Capitol, an opportunity for students to meet with state legislators, will host multiple SGAs from across the state, allowing students to tour the Capitol building, meet with local representatives and discuss higher education funding in Arkansas. “The student governments of the four-
Stroupe building set to be demolished TREY STARKS
Contributing Writer
SUBMITTED
The United Black Consciousness volunteered to clean up trash around Arkansas Tech University and the I-40 exit ramp near Waffle House. Pictured (left to right): Boyd Hutchins, Cliff May, and Eric Givens. The RSO meets every Thursday at 2:40 pm at Doc's Place.
(STUDY ABROAD page 2)
The Stroupe building is set to be torn down, paving way for new facilities at Arkansas Tech University. Stroupe is home to the Wonder Boys baseball practice area and locker room but will be demolished and replaced by a gravel parking lot. The demolition of Stroupe, comes as part of ATU’s Master Plan, and has already begun with interior demolition that started on March 6. While Stroupe is set to be demolished by April 8, there are plans to preserve some of the building as part of Tech’s history. Bernadette Hinkle, vice president for administration and finance, said many of the plaques would be saved. “Dedication plaques
have been removed,” said Hinkle via email. “The smaller dedication plaques are housed in the Tech museum while the large National Guard Armory 1926 concrete building identifier, that was in the north wall of Stroupe, is in storage until a suitable reuse is determined.” The demolition is the second large-scale-construction project that has taken place near M Street Hall. The first one was the construction of the multisports complex, which is located behind the baseball field. Rachel Morrison, a sophomore elementary education major and M Street resident since 2016, said the inconveniences “will be worth it, eventually.” “These construction projects are kind of inconvenient for M Street residents because they’re
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ARKA TECH MASTER PLAN
taking away some parking and part of the road is closed off,” said Morrison. “I am fine with it though, because after all we are getting a new parking lot out of it.” Makenzie Martin, a senior rehabilitation science major, said this is the start
of a major growth period for Tech. “It’s so great to see all the different projects happening on campus right now,” said Martin. “I can only imagine how different the campus will be if I were to come back in ten years to visit.”