Daily Helmsman The
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
TIgers’ troubles continue Potent SMU offense overwhelms Tigers at Liberty Bowl, 42-0
Vol. 79 No. 18
Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis
see page 11 www.dailyhelmsman.com
Reaping the benefits of the web
Web-only students pay a premium for convenience but receive perks not available to traditional students BY CHELSEA BOOZER News Reporter
MCT
Taking University of Memphis courses from a computer rather than a
classroom may take less mobile effort, but is significantly more costly. Online courses are about $20 more than on-campus courses. Comparing a course load of 15 credit hours, stu-
Despite lacking in-class, face-to-face interactions with teachers and peers, online students pay more to take classes from the comforts of home.
Election time means jobs for some students BY ROBERT MOORE News Reporter As the Oct. 6 Memphis municipal election draws nearer, more than 10 University of Memphis students are being given the opportunity to assist a city council candidate as he vies for one of the nine open council seats. Lee Harris, associate professor at The U of M Law School, hired University students to fill intern positions for his current campaign for Memphis City Council. Harris is running to fill the vacated Dsitrict 7 seat of Barbara Swearengen Ware, who resigned in June. This summer, Harris hung fliers at different locations around campus asking for anyone interested in interning for a Memphis City Council campaign to apply. The decision to use U of M students was the obvious path to take, Harris said. “I am surrounded by students all day,” he said. “There is a lot of talent on this campus. I thought this would be a good experience for students interested in politics, and an
opportunity for me to use some of these very talented students for my campaign.” Jonathan Toles graduated from The U of M this summer with a degree in history and began interning for Harris just before finishing his final classes. The experience of working for a political campaign changed his outlook on the future, Toles said. While he is still interested in attending law school, Toles said working for Harris made him more aware of local politics. He is now considering the possibility of a career in politics, he said. “Interning for Mr. Harris has been an eye-opening experience for me,” Toles said. “Not only have I had the opportunity to coordinate events, but I’ve had the chance to sit in on meetings. It has definitely changed my outlook on the future, and politics is now a real possibility for me.” Dan Buchanan, senior anthropology major, also interns for Harris’ campaign. Buchanan said the internship appealed to him because he wants to study people. “This has been such a great experience,” he said. “My goal was to gain insight to a political campaign, because my interests revolve around public policy. I consider myself a social scientist, and this provided me with a great ethnographic study.” Terry Spicer, campaign manager for Harris, was eager to welcome U of M students like Toles to the campaign efforts. “The interns have been a great
see
Election, page 6
dents taking only online courses pay nearly $1,500 more each semester than on-campus students. The comparison amount increases significantly with each added online hour. Online students have access to perks including free admission to University of Memphis sports games, though they don’t pay the fee on-campus students pay to fund those incentives. According to Jeannie Smith, assistant vice president for finance, the increased tuition is due to a $100-$102 per hour fee started in 2008 and is tagged onto online courses. It funds the “infrastructure, development and delivery of these courses,” she said. Professor Thomas Hrach teaches online classes in The U of M journalism department. He said the courses take a great amount of effort from professors because all work has to be completed prior to the start of school. “From an instructor ’s point of view, there is more time spent prior to the start of class but less time after the class starts. An instructor ’s time is worth something, but whether it is worth a $100 more I can’t say,” Hrach said.
Data shows that last semester 1,870 students solely took online courses and 3,985 enrolled in both online and on-campus courses. The 15,236 other students who took no online classes paid an $82.50 program service fee per hour instead of the online fee. This program fee is a combination of a debt service fee, general access fee, facility fee and student activity fee, mandatory of all students who enroll in any campus courses. The difference is the program service fee cuts off at six credit hours, but online students continue to pay $100-102 for every hour after six, even up to 18. Dan Lattimore, vice provost for extended programs, said the decision was made before his employment at The U of M, and he isn’t sure why there isn’t a cut-off for online courses. He pointed out that at six credit hours, on-campus tuition is actually $23 higher than online tuition. A fee chart on The U of M’s website shows this is the only case where tuition oncampus is more than that online.
see
Online, page 12
Honors students get down and dirty at McKeller Lake BY CHELSEA BOOZER News Reporter Students of The University of Memphis’ Helen Hardin Honors Program have been prodding in a murky lake and pulling out thousands of pounds of trash, which they then recycle. The cleanup of McKeller Lake in Southwest Memphis started as a spring break service project and continued into the summer and fall. To date, volunteers from The U of M, Christian Brothers University, Memphis City Beautiful and other community allies have collected more than 2.5 tons of recyclable materials from the lake. “Most of the storm water in Memphis goes down the drain, then flows into Nonconnah Creek and ultimately ends up in McKeller Lake,” said assistant director of the honors program Colton Cockrum. “Therefore, the majority of what we pick up comes from Memphians and over 90 percent of it is recyclable.” In July, student efforts netted 2,240 pounds of recyclable material from the lake. Colton said the Sept. 10 cleanup yielded even more. Thien-Chuong Phung, graduate bio-
medical engineering student, helped with the project and said that the lake hasn’t always been an eyesore to the community. “It is a real eye opener to see what a mess McKellar Lake is and an even bigger surprise to learn about its history, such as how it used to be a major vacation spot in Memphis,” he said. “People would go out on their boats and ski or swim. Beauty pageants used to be hosted down there, and even Elvis made an appearance or two.” Kenny Park, philanthropy chair of the Honors Student Council, said he found both plastic and glass bottles, old toys, Styrofoam, light bulbs and tires junking up the lake. “Most would think picking up trash is nasty, but it isn’t in most cases. Nothing is ever oozing or spilling and its fun to find things you don’t expect,” Park said. Park, sophomore computer engineering and mathematics double major, said he and his friends started collecting the unexpected material they’ve found, including a glass Gatorade bottle and a coyote’s skull. Students and community members plan to work together again Oct. 1 and Nov. 12 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. to clean up the lake. Any individual or group can volunteer by emailing Cockrum at ccockrum@ memphis.edu.