Technique Friday, February 17, 2012• Volume 97, Issue 24 • nique.net
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A night at the ballet
Twyla Tharp’s The Princess and the Goblin provides fun for everyone.415
Police arrest X-Degree searches for identity repeat offenders As the Strategic Plan’s most ambitious initiative seeks a name, lessons learned from changes to LCC and MGT may provide guidance.
Illustration by Brittany Miles
By Lauren Brett Contributing Writer
As the X-Degree Committee hammers out the various details of the designyour-own-degree program, the problem of what to call it has proven unanswerable. “It’s a unique program, and we want to give it a unique name,” said Richard Barke, committee chair and professor of Public Policy. The X-Degree, originally called the X-College, was proposed during the 2009 Strategic Planning Process. The program is meant to be experimental, providing a place for students and faculty to test new ways of teaching traditional subjects. The program will seek students who are risk takers and problem solvers. Before the degree takes its first participants, however, it must have a name. The committee has considered calling the degree “Interdisciplinary Studies” or “Transdiciplinary Studies,”
but the implications of those titles caused concern among some committee members. “They sound more like remedial degrees,” said Amit Khanduri, SGA Vice President for Academic Affairs. The challenge, Barke explained, is “finding a name for [a program] with nontraditional set of characteristics as well as nontraditional students.” The Committee is putting so much thought into the name because it is the public face of the program. The name of the degree will be at the top of graduates’ resumes, and it will provide recruiters and graduate programs with their first impressions of candidates. The X-Degree is not the only program at Tech to face this challenge. Last year, the College of Management completed the process of changing their Bachelor of Science in Management to a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. The College made the
switch after talking to reIf catering to recruiters cruiters. were the X-Degree CommitThe change “makes stu- tee’s only consideration, then dents more marketable,” it could assign many names said Chuck Parsons, Associ- to X-Degree graduates. Parate Dean for Undergradaute ticipants in the program will Programs at the College of be pursuing an 18-hour conManagement. “Many re- centration, and they could cruiters... paid no attention take the name of their degree to schools from that conwithout centration. B u s i n e s s “[The X-Degree] is For examAdministra- a unique program, ple, a student tion prowho chooses and we want to give to focus on grams.” Although it a unique name.” Public Policy, the two debut also take grees are esclasses in Richard Barke sentially the Civil Engisame thing, neering and it is the name that first catch- Economics could receive a es a potential employer’s eye. B.S. of Public Policy with a “Times have changed. concentration in Civil EnManagement degrees are not gineering and Economics. as popular, and students are Such a scheme would require finding it harder to make full support from nearly evconnections with recruiters,” ery degree-granting school at Parsons said. Tech. The College hopes that But Khanduri finds such the change will make their a solution unsatisfying. graduates stand out and give “We’ve talked about bethem the best chance of beSee X-Degree, page 6 ing hired.
By Jordan Lockwood Staff Writer
Police recently arrested two suspects who had been previously convicted of crimes on Tech’s campus. Both arrests came as a result of tips given to officers by students. The first arrest occured on Friday, Feb. 3, when a Tech police officer responded to student report of a suspicious person. The officer identified the suspect as Tony Jackson, who had been released from prison four Photo courtesy of GTPD days prior for thefts commit- Tony Jackson was arrested ted at Tech. Jack- on campus on Feb. 3. son was found with a stolen laptop and was then arrested. The second arrest occurred on Sunday, Feb 5. Four students reported stolen items from an unattended room in the Student Center. Police were able to locate the suspect, who was identified as Shawn Harris, by using a stolen phone’s GPS. Police arrested Harris after a short chase. The police department attributes these arrests in large part to its recent “See Something? Say Something” campaign aimed at increasing student awareness in the efforts to reduce spiking campus crime. “We want the entire community to know that the campaign truly works and to continue to always be aware of their surroundings,” said Alex Gutierrez, Crime Prevention Officer for the Tech Police Department. Police say that the campaign has the potential to identify repeat offenders, as they are statistically more likely to be reported by students See Repeat, page 5
Campus shows off creativity at Art Crawl, TechArts By Kyle Bulkley Contributing Writer
Photo by Josh Sandler / Student Publications
Hank Williams plays cello at the Clough Art Crawl. The Art Crawl featured visual pieces and individual performances.
The Institute, normally known for its graduates’ skills in math, science, and engineering, bucked those expectations this week through a series of events showcasing the creativity that resides on campus. The Clough Commons Art Crawl and the TechArts festival combined to display a new side of the normally quantitative campus. The Clough Commons Art Crawl held on Friday, Feb. 10, showcased the talent of individual student artists. Sections of the Clough Commons were turned into galleries meant for the display of student art. The event featured 160 student submissions including paintings, photographs, sculptures. “The Art Crawl is a response to an ongoing buzz from students wanting a creative outlet,” said Jennifer
Upton, Marketing Events Manager for the Clough Commons. “This is the first step towards a more artistic Tech community.” In addition to the visual art on display, the Art Crawl showcased instrumentalists and other performing artists. Several soloists played throughout the evening. The Art Crawl worked with Erato, Tech’s literary magazine, to provide a venue for students to read poetry and short fiction. Julia Turner, co-editor of Erato, considered the event a great success. “There are a lot of Tech students involved with art and not a lot of places for them to express that,” said Turner. “People like to say, ‘You do math and science; you can’t be into art.’ That’s a false divide. I think Tech does a good job trying to bridge the gap.” Artists who participated in the Art Crawl were surprised at the
number of students who submitted art. “I wasn’t expecting to see this much diversity of work,” said Sarah Horsley, a painter and a third-year STaC major. “I’m proud of Tech and its students. I feel like we should have more exposure for our talent in the arts.” Students found the diversity and quality of art on display especially impressive considering the nature of academic life at Tech. “Since we’re not an art school, you know these pieces weren’t just made for class,” said Jenn Bateman, a fifth-year PTFE major whose photographs were on display. “It’s interesting to see what people can do in their spare time.” Some of the artists used their work as a way to escape the rigors of daily Tech life. See Art, page 6