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THE

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Tennessee Tech University | Cookeville, TN | 38505

Volume 92 | Issue 9 | November 20, 2009

BlueCross Bowl to compromise commuter parking spots The TSSAA 2009 Division I, Class 6A football playoff scheduled to take place at Tucker Stadium stimulates parking woes and class cancellations

By BRANDON STEPHENSON Staff Writer

Tech will host Tennessee’s high school state football championships Dec. 3-5. But while the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association BlueCross Bowl is a great way to showcase the University and surrounding community, its impending arrival has many scrambling.

The biggest problem facing the University is parking. Event planners are expecting roughly 25,000 people in attendance, which will cause a traffic jam on campus. About 250 spaces around the Angelo and Jennette Volpe Library will be lost to fan parking, plus roughly 700 other spots on campus.

“Student Government at this time is working with the administration to consider all options to make sure students are taken care of,” SGA President Sean Ochsenbein said.

The event itself will stretch from 12th Street to University Drive and from North Dixie to Willow Avenue. This area will be reserved for TSSAA parking, which is $8.

The University’s Public Affairs Office is doing its part to help alleviate parking issues. They are working hand-in-hand with the Green Commission to seek alternate means of transportation to campus. Different apartment complexes can sign up with the commission for carpooling to campus on those days.

Also in the works is a coordinated effort with area churches, the Cookeville Mall, the South Willow Plaza, and the Upper Cumberland Human Resources Agency to provide shuttle locations for students to campus.

The remaining faculty and staff parking will be open to all students as a way to help students cope with the inconvenience, and no tickets will be issued during the event.

Tech Times, the faculty and staff newsletter, urges students and faculty to make alternate parking plans that Thursday and Friday.

More information will be released as plans are finalized, and notifications will be sent to students as the event nears.

The bowl games will start at 3:30 p.m. Thursday and end Saturday night. Sixteen teams from across the state will be competing for titles in their respective divisions.

“I am proud of the partnership between Tech and the community,” Melinda Keifer , chairperson of the Facilities and Logistics Commission for the BlueCross Bowl, said. “It is a great opportunity to showcase the University.”

According to Chamber of Commerce figures, roughly $1 million in revenue is expected to be generated by the three-day event.

The biggest boost for the University, however, is exposure. Over the course of the event, thousands of prospective students, fans and families will be flooding campus.

This joint venture between the University, Chamber of Commerce

Campus map provided by the University

and the city of Cookeville is a great way to allow others to see our community according to Keifer.

Ochsenbein echoes those thoughts.

“The BlueCross Bowl being held here on campus is something I feel the students should embrace and be excited about,” he reiterated.

“TTU hosting such an event is a huge plus for the campus and the community. It’s a great way to show off our amazing campus and surrounding community.”

ABOVE: According to Tech Times, all parking lots and spaces on the stadium side of University Drive will be converted to paid or reserved parking during the event. This area extends from Walton House to beyond the baseball stadium and north to 12th Street.

The parking spots within the yellow border will be $8 apiece.

The lot within the red border is reserved for BlueCross BlueShield. Remaining campus faculty and staff parking will be open to students to help reduce the parking shortage.

Free AIDS testing available on World AIDS Day Tech police move to

“

By BAILEY DARROW Copy Editor Nashville Cares, a community-based AIDS service organization, will offer free HIV testing from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 3 in RUC Room 370.

Testing is confidential and results can be given in an hour.

The Women’s Center will be cosponsoring informational displays and red ribbon sales from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Dec. 1 and 3 on the first floor of the RUC. Proceeds from the ribbon sales will go to Nashville Cares.

“It is important for us to be aware,” Amaris Avant, Lambda president, said. “We see HIV and AIDS as an international problem, in Africa

old Infirmary building

As of December 2007, almost 7,500 Middle Tennesseans have been reported with AIDS or HIV infection. This represents 35% of the 21,400 Tennesseans diagnosed statewide.

-- www.nashvillecares.org

especially, and we don’t think it can affect us, but there are hundreds of cases in middle Tennessee alone.”

Stigmas surrounding HIV/AIDS often prevent people from getting tested for the deadly disease.

Lambda, in cooperation with the Women’s Center, will be working to inform the Tech community and raise aware-

ness in observance of World Aids Day. “We felt it was important to help raise awareness about HIV and AIDS because it is a disease that seems to prey on the uninformed,” Diana Lalani of the Women’s Center, said. “And of course, that’s part of our mission. To educate, empower and inform.”

For brochures about AIDS

By GERILYN LEMONS Staff Writer

”

and other sexually transmitted diseases, visit the Women’s Center in Pennebaker Hall Room 203. More information about World AIDS Day is available at http://www.worldaidsday.org.

UNIV 1020-001 SERVICE EVENT Tuesday, Dec. 1

Students will distribute bottled water from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on South Patio to promote American Red Cross emergency preparedness plans. The American Red Cross lists bottled water as an important item to have in case of an emergency or environmental disaster.

events @ tech November

tntech.edu/calendar/main.php for more events

21

23

22

26

10:30 a.m.

Football v. Murray State

10 a.m.

NASA downlink with astronauts aboard International Space Station

7 p.m.

Men’s Basketball v. Oakland

Thanksgiving Holiday Classes resume Nov. 30

The University Police and Telecommunications Office relocated Tuesday to 90 W. 8th St., what was once home to the old infirmary.

Tech Police and Telecommunications staff members spent the day transporting equipment to the new location.

“We are more centrally located now,” Gay Shepherd, chief of police, said, “which is a greater convenience for the students.”

W. 8th Street, which previously consisted of only one lane, has expanded into two lanes, allowing for two-way traffic.

“The new location will prove to be much more efficient in terms of traffic,” Shepherd said. “We will no longer have to deal with all of the hustle and bustle on Dixie Avenue.”

Shepherd, who has worked with Tech Police for over 30 years, worked diligently throughout the day

30 12:10 p.m.

Fall Luncheon Forum in Tech Pride Room 8 p.m.

Women’s Basketball v.

Lipscomb

Shepherd

fitting all her belongings into her new office.

“It’s going to take a lot of time to get everything set up again,” Shepherd said.

The former office, located at 845 N. Dixie Ave., will continue to serve as storage for items such as traffic cones, signs and police bicycles.

For more information on the new location, email Shepherd at GShepherd@tntech.edu or Tammy Cobb at tcobb@tntech.edu.

First United Methodist Church thanks everyone involved in recent food drives at Tech.

As a result, over 250 Putnam County families were able to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner.

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Page 2 | November 20, 2009

Editorial and Opinion SENIOR FAREWELLS Oracle ‘09 Amanda Russell

Chris Brooks

Managing Editor

Sports Editor

While I’m wonderfully excited about graduation, I’m also terribly sad to leave the place that harbors so many great memories.

Daniel, thanks for introducing me to all this stuff I now love to do.

Chris, thanks for all the times you just sat and listened. Alli and Sara, thank you for just being the girls I could always count on.

Ross and LeeAnna, thank you for being the piece of home that was always here for me.

Christine, thank you for .png’s, .gif’s and consistently spotting my many errors and correcting them.

You’re going to be great.

And, Luke, thank you so much for the good times and bad, for always being the one person that was there for me through it all.

Much love,

Amanda

Mike Ford Entertainment Editor

It’s kind of hard to believe that graduation is this close. It’s been a long, winding road to get here, and I definitely couldn’t have done it alone. I’ll miss this place, but I’m eager to move on to new things.

First of all, I want to thank everybody in the Journalism department who has helped me during the past two-plus years. I couldn’t have been the first in my family to graduate college without your time and efforts. I also would like to thank Brandon for being an excellent assistant for the last three semesters, and I think you’ll do an excellent job in succeeding me.

Thanks to all the writers and editors for your hard work in the stories that get published. A newspaper is only as good as the stories that are in it. And many thanks are in order for Rob and everybody over at Sports Information, you made things easier for us and we couldn’t have done it without you.

And thanks to everybody who is reading or has read The Oracle. It is for you that we do this every time out. So long, and keep your stick on the ice.

I was a zoology student for two full years before switching to journalism. Today, there is no way I could tell you what made me change to journalism. I cannot seem to recall hearing anything about the program or some overlapping course I ended up taking that piqued my interest, but what I do remember is arriving in Karen Lykins’ reporting class and the semester that followed.

Heaps of gratitude from me to Karen for making news writing more than a formula for freshman to follow. Instead, she interjected real conversations and welcomed discussions that led to critical thinking.

That class made me comfortable in a way I had never been as a zoology student and allowed me to think and speak freely, something needed in the news room and far beyond.

Dr. Wilson’s open office door has been a beacon, particularly upon graduation. My comic strip was from the heart in last week’s Oracle.

Read the rest of Mike’s letter at www.tntechoracle.com.

Mike

Chris

Letter

TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor: I applaud Emily Booker’s recent editorial, “Coddling does not create critical thinking” (Nov. 13) for calling attention to the TTU Learning Communities. This program pairs various general education courses so students can spend more time in their first year of college with a group of peers and participating faculty.

However, I do wish to correct some of the editorial’s factual errors, especially those from which Ms. Booker concludes that Learning Communities represent “handholding” and other impediments to students’ maturity.

First, she appears to be confusing the “First-Year Connections” courses (UNIV 1020 and its variants) with the Learning Communities.

They are separate programs.

All freshmen must enroll for a section of UNIV 1020 or equivalent, but students join a Learning Community voluntarily; only about 75 seats are available each year.

Also, a Learning Community involves only two courses of a student’s schedule per term, a total

of four courses during the freshman year, not “most of their core courses” as the editorial states. The only negative evidence cited in the editorial was actually from a UNIV 1020 course, not from a Learning Communities course.

A goal of this program is to connect students to the university, ideally so they stay and complete a degree, but we don’t shield any student from the hard work of achieving personal and intellectual maturity.

The university itself is really one big community of learning, where students have varied opportunities to grow through voluntary pursuits and associations beyond the requirements of their academic degree programs.

I think a student who chooses to join a Learning Community is not seeking to be “coddled,” but instead has wisely taken advantage of one such opportunity for growth.

Sincerely, Kurt Eisen Chair, General Education Committee keisen@tntech.edu

Response I would like to thank Dr. Eisen for clarifying some of the points of the learning communities. As I had never heard of the program until recently, I was not aware of some of the specifics.

However I hope that if learning communities remain on campus, they voluntarily and do not grow into a mandatory program (like Univeristy 1020 unfortunately is).

Not only would students who view the program critically be forced to participate, but upperclassmen not involved would see further strain on registering for classes blocked off for learning communites.

A student is considered fulltime when he or she is taking 12 hours.

Two classes in a learning community would account for 50% of classes.

Half of the time is a lot of time to spend with the same people should you not like them.

Wouldn’t it be better (and easier) for students to build their own relationships with the university and others and form a sense of community indepentantly and naturally?

Emily Booker Editorial Editor

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Tennessee Tech’s

Student-Run Newspaper

Managing Editor- AMANDA RUSSELL Advertising Manager- SARA BOHANNON Editorial Editor- EMILY BOOKER Sports Editor- CHRIS BROOKS Entertainment Editor- MIKE FORD Copy Editor I- TALLULAH GILLUM Copy Editor II - BAILEY DARROW Asst. Managing Editor- CHRISTINE SEIBER Advertising Asst.- ALLISON WHEELER Advertising Asst.- DIANA CARSON Asst. Editorial Editor- CHUCK ACHESON Asst. Sports Editor- BRANDON GOODWIN Adviser- BRENDA WILSON Cartoonist- MIKE FORD Tennessee Technological University--nondiscriminatory on the basis of sex in its educational programs and activities including employment and admission of students to the University as required by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and regulations based therein and published in CFR, part 86.

Tennessee Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer.

The Oracle is published weekly by Tennessee Technological University, P.O. Box 5072 TTU, Cookeville, TN 38505

Letter

TO THE EDITOR

To Editor, Journalism is a program that has seen rapid growth among students at Tech. The journalism program is facing problems because the courses the program offerings are not very attractive to students who want more options than just PR and news and editorial.

As per the research in my English and honors program, I found that Tech is losing students to Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) because they are not offering certain classes within the journalism program. If Tech wants to support the communications major the school should offer a broadcasting class

which is more visualize. The department of communication major they should start increasing their budget with the help of research funding, government grants. These funds can provide better courses with new technology and more faculty members which will give students more opportunities within the journalism program.

I feel that the administration at Tech should treat this core field as an emerging major for current and incoming students. Maybe Tech should start living up to their motto, “More than Tech”?

Dhir Joshi dnjoshi42@tntech.edu

Response from Editor In reponse to Mr. Joshi’s letter: I wonder what research you did that determined we “lose” students to MTSU’s program. I’m sure some students have chosen MTSU over Tech, but I also know students who transferred here from MTSU. MTSU’s School of Journalism is really not comparable to our program within the Department of English and Communications. They have 700 students; we have 100. Some students want a large journalism school; others prefer the smaller, more personal program, such as Tech’s.

The journalism program at Tech offers concentrations in Public Relations and News Editorial with emphasis options in Agricultural Communications, Environmental Communications, Digital Electronic Multi-Media Communications, Sports MultiMedia Communications, and

Writing Fiction and Non-Fiction.

And the program does, in fact, offer a broadcasting class. Not to mention WTTU, our school radio station run by students. While the broadcasting training students receive in their courses leaves something to be desired, the students of the journalism program are wonderfully trained in writing, a skill needed in PR, print, broadcast, or web communications.

I agree that I would love to see my department receive more funding and technology. Yet the program has still seen growth. To me, that is a sign that we are doing something right.

Students work on the newspaper, radio, and yearbook or at local internships. All these provide real, valuable journalism experience.

Emily Booker Editorial Editor

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Page 3 | November 20, 2009

Sports and Entertainment Men Dressed as Women

SUDOKU

A comic strip by Mike Ford

Level: Challenging

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Tech can clinch winning season, nine seniors to be honored on Saturday

BY BRANDON GOODWIN

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The Golden Eagles will wrap up the 2009 football season at home on Saturday when they take on the Murray State Racers.

For nine seniors, it will mark the last time they take the field in the purple and gold as Tech (5-5, 4-3 OVC) looks to finish with a winning record and the only undefeated home mark in the Ohio Valley Conference.

If that happens, it will be only the fourth time the Golden Eagles go undefeated in Tucker Stadium since it opened in 1966. A win would

also give Tech its first winning season under coach Watson Brown and its first in five years and its first winning OVC record since 2001. “I’m very concerned about this game. It is going to be very hard to win it.

We’re going to have to play at a high-octane level with a team that’s much more tired and more sore than they were four weeks ago. These last two weeks have just paid a price on us,� said Brown.

Both teams are coming into the finale after suffering losses last weekend. Murray State (3-7, 2-5) lost 49-13 at Southeast Missouri, while Tech fell 55-28 at 15th-ranked Jacksonville State.

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The Racers won last year’s meeting 51-21 at Murray, Ky., but Tech leads the all-time series 40-33-1 and has not lost to MSU at Tucker stadium since 1999.

After hard-fought games against Georgia and Jacksonville State, Tech has to deal with a few key injuries coming into the final week.

Quarterback Lee Sweeney went down in the JSU game with a leg injury, but looks to play in his final game in Purple and Gold. “We will have a lot of players not practicing this week and try to play the game,� Brown said. “This is really the first week that’s happened.�

Sweeney, who has already written most of the Tech and OVC record books, needs just 197 yards to surpass Kelley Holcomb for fifth place in all time OVC passing yards with 7,201.

Murray State fired its head coach, Matt Griffin, earlier this week after the loss to SEMO. Defensive coordinator John Lister will take the helm as the interim coach for this week’s contest. “This is a big game, there’s no doubt,� Brown said, “but there is so much left to do, win or lose. We’ve got three goals left and it’s all in one game. The good news is we’ve gotten to this point and have it set up. The bad news is it’s not going to be easy at all. It’s at best a tossup game.�

Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. at Tucker Stadium. Admission is free to all Tech students with a valid I.D. The game can also be heard live on Magic 98.5 and online via TeamLine.

Seniors Brendon Fisher, Kelvin Quarles, Taron Ryce, Calvin Smith, Lee Sweeney, Cedric Wilkerson, Derek Dickerson, Brandon Harris and Derrian Waters, will be honored for their time as Golden Eagles.

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Page 4 | November 20, 2009

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