DAILY HELMSMAN Tuesday 4.1.14
The
Vol. 81 No. 092
Independent Student Newspaper of the University of Memphis
National Public Health Week kicks off
Cards beginning to stack against 7 NCAA Defense marches 8 into April strong
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MAD party takes overwhelming victory for second year in a row By Mandy Hrach
news@dailyhelmsman.com In an election where only 8 percent of the all University of Memphis students voted, Ricky Kirby of the Making a Difference Party was re-elected as Student Government Association president along with almost everyone from his party. The final results showed that Kirby collected 1,118 votes, while his opponent Domenic Martini of the A.S.A.P. party collected 406 votes. “I am so excited,” Kirby said. “It’s cool to think that 11 other parties have tried to get re-elected and mine is the first to be able to say they will have served two terms.” Kirby said he plans to use his second year in office to focus on increasing affordability and retention rates. He also wants to work on better parking and dining options. Results were announced to the public at 12 p.m. on Friday, March 28. The results were set to be announced at 3 p.m., but, due to misunderstanding between the parties, was announced at the earlier time. “I wasn’t expecting that big of a margin,” Kirby said, “It was nervewracking because so many other people have tried but haven’t been able to be re-elected.”
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Time, weather and rockwielding teenagers shattered nearly every window in the old three-story Melrose school building. Fluorescent light fixtures, twisted and red from rust, dangle in the abandoned classrooms. A patchwork of plywood and iron bars conceals man-sized holes dug into the brick walls. In some ways, the structure emulates the boarded up shotgun-style homes seen through-
Students discuss dorm sex By Brady Boswell
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and take a first grade, wide-line writing tablet to Melrose,” She said. “Most of his life he had to use an ‘X’ to sign anything. So when they taught him how to spell his own name, he was so excited that he wrote it on everything.” Famous doctors and athletes also attended school at the old Melrose building. Dr. Alvin Crawford, the first black student to receive a medical degree from the University of Tennessee, graduated from Melrose in 1957.
Dorm rooms have always been a hot spot for students to enjoy each other’s company, but what many people don’t realize is that it’s also a place for students to become intimately acquainted with one another without anyone knowing. “It’s by far the quickest, easiest and less stressful place to get the job done,” a University of Memphis resident advisor said. “I mean, most students do it anyways, as long as people are courteous to let their roommate know, then everything is fine.” The RA’s name was withheld. For many students, the best way to not draw attention is by doing things that arouse suspicion such as playing music at a reasonable volume and finding a time where the majority of other students are out of the dorms and in class or doing extra-curricular activities. “Well, it’s actually not that hard to get away with it,” Melanie Daniel, an undecided major and campus resident, said. “The best thing to do would be to lock the door, let your roommate know ahead of time, know that your boyfriend is coming over and then play some music in the background so other people won’t hear you.” There is also a secret code among many students to let their roommates know not to barge in if they forgot to inform them they were having company over. Tiger tails, rubber bands and colorful socks are all items students put on doorknobs to let their roommates know what is happening behind closed doors. “Communication is key,” Megan McDivitt, an education major and former campus resident, said. “If I have to get
see DECAY on page 4
see SEX on page 3
PHOTO BY HARRISON LINGO | STAFF
U of M President Elect Ricky Kirby and U of M Vice President Elect Prataj Ingram discuss the upcoming 2014 to 2015 SGA budget. Kirby’s vice president for the next year will be his running mate Prataj Ingram, who defeated A.S.A.P. candidate Jalen Griggs 1,041 votes to 455. Ingram takes the vice president’s job from EuDarius Jones, who did not run
for a second term. Of the 37 senator positions, only two of them were not won by a member of his party. Martini’s A.S.A.P. party only collected one at-large senate seat and the lone senate seat representing the nurs-
ing school. Of the 19,884 students eligible to vote, only 1,610 people voted. Additionally, the number of voters was down two percent from what it
see MAD on page 3
Orange Mound school decays in doldrums By Jonathan A. Capriel
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out the Orange Mound area. What separates this building from others like it in Memphis is the 8-foot-tall silver painted sign that reads “National Register of Historic Places.” Built in 1938, the once stateof-the-art school contained two dozen classrooms, a library and health clinic. Melrose stood as a “pillar of education” for AfricanAmericans in Orange Mound during an age divided by segregation, explained Mary Mitchell, chairwoman for the Melrose Center for Cultural Enrichment.
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Starting in the ninth grade in 1952, Mitchell walked to the school almost every day, encouraged by her neighborhood. “Education was prized in early Orange Mound,” Mitchell said. “Children who could read were asked to help the illiterate members of the community.” Melrose also provided basic education classes for black adults who either never got the opportunity to go to school or were previously forbidden, Mitchell said. “My uncle would get off work
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