MINARET UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA’S NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1933
THE
Volume 79 Number 5
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September 27, 2012
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ut.minaret@gmail.com
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theminaretonline.com
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blog.theminaretonline.com
Professors’ History of UT to be Unauthorized
Residents Fight Back for Outdoor Hangout
University declines support of publication proposal
By ZOE FOWLER News Writer
A picnic bench near the sitting area outside of the Austin Hall was taken away when a group of students violated a rule on campus that regulates the distance that students can smoke outside a building. This rule is called the 25 by 25 rule and states that students can only smoke outside at least 25 feet from the doorway of every building on campus. Chris Futch, Area Coordinator for Austin Hall and Res Com stated that the picnic bench was also removed because it wasn’t put there by the university. As a result, the group of students replaced the picnic bench with a gray table labeled “The Stoop.” Freshman film and media arts major Haley Cerasuola, stated that they were only aware of the policy after the table was taken away. “They never warned us and never said anything. They just kind of took it. If they really wanted to promote that rule, ‘no smoking unless you’re 25 feet away’, they should’ve hung up signs or better advertised it,” said Cerasuola. Breathe-Easy UT is a tobacco free group on campus working towards a smoke-free campus through awareness. Senior international cultural studies major Monica Mansour, is the president of Breathe-Easy UT. She stated that although the 25 by 25 rule has been in effect for years, it hasn’t been advertised around campus as it should’ve been. However, they are in the process of getting cards to educate students about the policy so that everyone is aware of it. The 25 by 25 rule states that you can’t smoke within 25 feet of any building on campus. “Second-hand smoke is a huge issue so it’s not only that we’re concerned about the smokers, we’re concerned about the environment,” said Mansour. Contrary to popular belief, the sole purpose of the “stoop” wasn’t for smoking. The students used it as a means of socializing with their friends. That’s where they went to
See STOOP, Page 5
In Other News...
Photo courtesy of Sean Maddan
The pictorial history of UT will include photos, like the one above, and detail the history of the university from its start as the Tampa Bay Hotel. By JESSICA KEESEE Associate Editor
Efforts to publish a pictorial history of The University of Tampa were turned down earlier this month by administration, leaving one UT professor and alumnus/former UT professor frustrated and left to seek another means of publication. Sean Maddan, associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at UT, has been working on a book that will document the history of the university all the way back to the Tampa Bay Hotel years with co-author James Beckman, an alumnus and former UT faculty member and now chair of the Department of Legal Studies at the University of Central Florida. Maddan met with Beckman during the summer to talk about another project when he asked Beckman if he would be interested in co-authoring a pictorial history on UT through Arcadia Publishing. Although reluctant, Beckman agreed. Twice before Maddan approached him, Beckman had pitched the idea of a history on UT to be published by the Arcadia Publishing Company’s Campus History series. Beckman
had previously written a book on said Beckman. He continued, Harpers Ferry, which has sold “Given that the UT Alumni “in excess of several thousand journal has run two articles on my copies.” The book was also Harpers Ferry book (articles in written on in two UT Journal Fall 2006 and Fall 2008), I didn’t articles (“Professor Published see this requirement as much of a Third Book This Year,” in Fall problem.” 2006, and “Alumni Take a Trip According to Beckman, after Back in Time,” in Fall 2008). he contacted Marrs, Marrs spoke The UT Journal is a magazine with President Ronald Vaughn, published three times a year for who quickly turned the project UT’s alumni, parents and friends. down, which Beckman said was Beckman was contacted twice by “I remember thinking at the editors from Arcadia time what a shame it was that an while he was a alumnus of the university and faculty member at two well respected members of the faculty (with good publication the university to records) couldn’t get the approval write a history book to write such a book at their own on UT, similar to that university.” of Harpers Ferry. He -Sean Maddan reached out to Todd Marrs, then-director of Alumni Affairs for institutional without explanation. The first support, which Arcadia Publishing proposal for the pictorial history required in order to publish the was in fall 2006. history of UT. The second proposal was “My understanding is that pitched in 2008, after Beckman ‘institutional support’ meant had been contacted again by a minimum pre-order of a another editor from Arcadia reasonable number of books Publishing, asking if he was still (e.g., 400-600) at a significantly interested in writing UT’s history. discounted rate...and that UT Once again, the proposal was will generally support the book rejected by UT administration. through the UT Alumni Office “No further explanation was (through at least one article),” provided, except that President
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Vaughn wasn’t ‘interested’ in the project, or so it was relayed back to me,” said Beckman. “I remember thinking at the time what a shame it was that an alumnus of the university and two well respected members of the faculty (with good publication records) couldn’t get the approval to write such a book at their own university.” Beckman eventually gave up and forgot about the idea for the pictorial history and left UT in May 2011 when he was offered a position at UCF, after 11 years as a UT faculty member. When Maddan brought the idea up again this summer, Beckman agreed to co-author on one condition: that Maddan would handle the issue of institutional support. Maddan agreed. Maddan began the process of obtaining institutional support from the university, writing a letter to Interim Dean Joseph Sclafani, who, according to Maddan, approved the idea for the project. In a letter provided by Maddan between Sclafani and Maggie Bullwinkel, a publisher at Arcadia Publishing, Sclafani wrote, “I am aware of Dr. Jim Beckman and Dr. Sean Maddan’s
See MADDAN, Page 3
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Sports..............................17