Daily Helmsman The
Friday, April 22, 2011
Stir-Fry for the Skinny Guy U of M alum drops 50 pounds in 74 days for weight-loss contest by popular grill
Vol. 78 No. 114
see page 4
Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis
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Environment
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Student says University’s presidential seat no place for politics
by Casey Hilder
BY Chelsea Boozer News Reporter
Outdated copies of The Daily Helmsman work as makeshift flower pots as part of The U of M’s Earth Day festivities. That’s conservation we can definitely get behind.
U of M Earth Day event encourages sustainability BY Kyle LaCroix News Reporter
Even Mother Nature herself couldn’t stifle University of Memphis’ Earth Day celebration Thursday, which took place in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. “It would have been great to have this in the (campus) garden,” said Art
Johnson, garden student coordinator. “But Mother Nature might have had other ideas, so we moved inside.” The celebration, held in the gym where The U of M women’s basketball team plays, featured live music, tai chi lessons, yoga lessons and a bike ride. Various information tables were set up as well, focusing on topics that
ranged from littering to making your own soap. Johnson said he hoped the spirit of the event encouraged people to adapt to a more sustainable lifestyle. “The exhibitors, professors and students are all here because they care
see
Earth Day, page 3
BY Robert Moore News Reporter
Renovations on the Central Avenue parking lot started Thursday near the Carpenter Student Housing ComplexCommunity Building. Current renovations are part of the Central Avenue Project’s first phase, which involves constructing a new drainage system beneath the lot. The City of Memphis is building the new drainage system and will be working on the project for the next 60 days. “The plan is to excavate and construct an underground container that rain will enter then slowly exit through,” said Tony
Poteet, campus planning and design assistant vice president. The new drainage system is being installed to resolve frequent flooding in the lot and on other parts of campus. The City of Memphis recently built similar systems, including one for the Second Presbyterian Church on Poplar behind Carpenter Complex. Once Memphis finishes their role in the project, Poteet and his team will then build another parking lot on top of the drainage system this summer. The project will later include the installation of a center median and bike lanes that will run on the north and south sides of Central.
by Casey Hilder
Renovations off to early start at Central Ave. lot
Construction along Central Avenue has led to the temporary closure of a portion of the parking lot.
An email sent to all faculty, staff and students last week by President Shirley Raines expressing her views on Senate Bill 51, which would allow faculty who own gun permits to carry weapons on campus, has one student questioning whether it’s a university president’s place to communicate political opinion to students. Ronnie South, junior business management major, sent a reply to Raines’ email via his own University of Memphis email to the majority of U of M students Wednesday. He mailed a printed version to Raines, he said, and was still in the process of sending out the email to more students Thursday afternoon. In the email, South said that Raines shouldn’t “use her office as a soap box to promote anti-gun politics.” “I disagree with the administration’s decision for utilizing the school’s email distribution list to students and alumni for political reasons and I believe that everyone is entitled to hear both sides of this argument. Overall, I simply wanted to balance the scales of this issue,” South told The Daily Helmsman Thursday. Bob Eoff, vice president of communication, marketing and public relations, said Raines has not commented on South’s response. He said he did not directly receive the email from South, but was shown it on Thursday. “It’s a free country, and he can certainly express himself,” Eoff said. South said that though he hopes the legislation becomes law, his main reason for sending out the email was to educate teachers and students on the facts of the issue. ”Emails like the one sent from Shirley Raines, who claimed to represent the will of many students, teachers and law enforcement, but offer no facts on the issue or forum for discussion, are not productive in truly determining the best course of action for our school and state,” South said. In his email, South cited articles from the Washington Post and the Commercial Appeal and linked to statistics of U of M crime and to Senate Bill 51, all of which he used to show support of the bill. In one section of the nearly 700-word message, South referenced one of Raines’ quotes from her email to students and faculty. “Currently, the University of Memphis is one of the safest campuses across the south,” she said. South said Raines based that statement off The U of M’s Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report, to which he included a link to, but the Commercial Appeal “publicly brought into question” The U of M’s reporting of crimes in their article, which is subtitled, “College figures don’t always match reality.” South closed his letter to Raines saying that opposition of Senate Bill 51 forces people who can lawfully carry guns “to make a choice of breaking the law or giving up their right to self defense and possibly
see
Gun Email, page 3