DAILY HELMSMAN The
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tigers Dropped By East Carolina
Vol. 79 No. 30
Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis
BY CHRISTOPHER WHITTEN News Reporter The University of Memphis will soon be the final resting place of a replica of Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses the Great, as Memphis City Council members voted on Tuesday to move the statue from the Pyramid to The U of M campus. The statue has stood at its current location since the Pyramid was erected in 1991. Bass Pro Shops representatives told city council officials that the statue did not fit with the lodge-like theme they have planned in the redevelopment of their superstore set to open in August 2013. City Councilman Joe Brown argued that the Memphis Zoo was a better choice as the statue’s new home because of its prominent Egyptian theme. There, he said, more people could see the Egyptian replica. Brown postponed the decision two weeks ago to consult a lawyer about the legality of the transfer. At Tuesday’s meeting, Brown said that in accordance with an agreement with the former Egyptian government, the City could lease, but not sell, the statue to The University, as part of their collection of Egyptian artifacts and educational items. According to Lorelei Corcoran, director of The U of M’s Institute of Egyptian Art and Architecture, The University of Memphis secured a $50,000 donation to move the 50-ton statue to the Central Avenue location between the Theatre and Music buildings. Tony Poteet, assistant vice president of U of M Campus planning development, said there is currently an art sculpture, located where the Egyptian pharaoh will soon rest, that must be moved before The University can bring the fiberglass replica of Ramesses to campus. “Once I get the other sculpture moved, and the new foundation poured, and the lease in place, then I will get it moved,” Poteet said. The contract allows The University of Memphis to pay $1 for a 99-year lease on the statue and have the option to renew its contract in 2110 for another 99-year term.
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‘Octubafest’ coming to U of M BY ERICA HORTON News Reporter
It’s big, bold, brass and coming to The University of Memphis. Tuba students and professors are uniting this week for the fourth annual Octubafest. Free and open to the public, Octubafest began Wednesday night with student solo performances in the Harris Concert Hall, where all tuba festival talents will be showcased. The festival will continue tonight with more student solo and chamber music performances and Friday at 5:30 p.m. with faculty solo and chamber music pieces.
Octubafest ends Saturday with guest tuba artist Matt Tropman, who will perform at 5:30 p.m. Tropman once performed in “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. Kevin McKenzie, a sophomore music education major at The U of M, said his relationship with the tuba began in the sixth grade. After auditioning for band, McKenzie decided he wanted to play either the drums or the trumpet, but his band teacher had other plans.
“Come to find out, he put me on euphonium,” McKenzie said. Though he wasn’t enthusiastic about the instrument when he was introduced to it, he said the euphonium, a small type of tuba, helps put him through college on scholarship. “Euphonium was not a very popular instrument at the time,” McKenzie said. “At the end of my sixth grade year, he asked me to be in marching band, which was really cool because you couldn’t usually do it until ninth grade.” McKenzie said he appreciates tuba more now that he is in college and realizes his
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Tuba, page 3
by Aaron Turner
City Council selects UM as Ramesses statue’s home
Football team shows signs of life in 16th straight loss to C-USA opponent
Senior music education major Mark Bonner warms up for Wednesday night’s Octubafest performance in Harris Concert Hall. The brass festivities continue tonight and through Saturday with nightly performances at 5:30 p.m.
Slacking from the back?
Veteran professor offers observations on classroom seating, decorum after 42 years behind lecturn BY CHRISTOPHER WHITTEN News Reporter
Students often battle through distractions with their jobs, their families and their extracurricular activities while in college, only to find their biggest distraction can be sitting right beside them in the classroom. Psychology professor William Dwyer has taught more than 35,000 students, observing their academic performance for 42 years. He said he has noticed that where student sits in the classroom often correlates with their grades. He said he uses the skills he learned during his 20 years of law enforcement in education. He has “arrested a lot of drunks” and said he notices it’s much like teaching freshmen. History major Ed Gardner, 49, said that
the seat selection of 120 students in an art history class he took last fall was very telling. “Students would sit in the back and play video games. The instructor allowed laptops for taking notes, but they would run the ear buds up behind their ears so the instructor couldn’t see,” Gardner said. “It was very distracting to the point where I would get to class early so I could sit up front. I value my education – I come to class to learn.” Dwyer said there is a wide range of decorum that teachers demand in the classroom
and that instructors should be stricter. “When you have kids who are texting and talking on their cell phones or laughing at stuff on the Internet, that’s very disruptive to the ones who are there to learn. They pay almost $20 an hour to listen to a teacher here,” he said. “It is unfair when a teacher does not demand academic discipline.” The range of distractions in the classroom depends on the teacher, Dwyer said.
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SEaTS, page 4