Hogs Rout Vols 48-7 Page 7 PAGE 1
In This Issue:
News
Textbooks in for Next Semester
Bookstore employees prepare for next semesters purchases.
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Features
News
Briefly Speaking A summary of this week’s events.
Page 2 A Long Way From the Village Called Dirt: UA Student Seeks Changes Housseine Mheimidi, a Fulbright scholar from Mauritania, seeks to be a voice for his ethnic group.
Features
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Friendships That Transcend Borders: International Students on Campus U.S. students can easily form relationships with international students through a variety of programs and events.
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Sports
Hogs Win on Senior Day
No. 8 Arkansas beat Tennessee 49-7, sending 17 seniors out with a win in their final home game.
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Opinion
Vol. 106, NO. 46 UATRAV.COM
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2011
Students Should Continue Spirit Into Other Sports Students should carry school spirit beyond the football season.
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Stay Fresh Always:
Drew Barker’s Journey to the Top from Fort Worth, Texas, is worried about the stage lights. He has longed to perform at Blackout since he pledged FIJI in 2009, and he knows the girls won’t dance if the lights are too bright. The show begins in 30 minutes. “I’m not really scared,” he says. “It’s like game day – you practice a lot, go to studio a lot, and performing is like game day.” When Barker finally enters the
by BRADY TACKETT Staff Writer
Girls run screaming in the Saturday night rain, snaking around puddles and through the tall arching doors of the newly renovated Phi Gamma Delta house. The girls funnel into forever-long hallways draped in black construction paper. The walls are covered in fluoresMIKE NORTON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER cent paint Caleb Credit, a sophomore in mechanical engineering, uses his iPad in class instead of and so printing off PowerPoints and PDFs. are the girls, who squeeze past each other under trail- main hall, the place is buzzing with the loud, slurred conversation of ing black lights. This is Blackout, Phi Gamma Del- nearly 200 people. As he approaches ta’s signature party, and Drew Barker the stage, the house music fades. But is holed away from all the noise in a the bright overhead lights do not. It’s a surreal moment for Barker, first-story bedroom. He’s been waitwho a year ago was recording songs ing for this night for three years. “I hope they get the lights turned in a closet by himself. He gained a down in there. They are way too reputation among his FIJI brothers bright,” he says, adjusting the flat red see BARKER brim of his Denver Nuggets hat. on page 3 Barker, an up-and-coming rapper
UA Officials Plot Campus GPS for Next Semester by MEGAN HUCKABY Staff Writer
The Associated Student Government and University Relations officials want to launch a new interactive campus map and GPS tracking for buses in February 2012, a UA official said. “We are trying to figure out what technology is most important for students to have to navigate around campus,” ASG President Michael Dodd said. “We are working with University Relations to make navigating campus easier.” The construction has played a part in this project, he said. University Relations is working on a “total uplift of the [campus] map” because the current map is four years old, said Chris Nixon, director of digital design and development. The system is still in the development stage.
Other universities, such as the University of Oklahoma, have interactive maps that allow a user to click on links such as financial aid, student union and parking office. When a user clicks on the link, an information box pops up over the location of the building, allowing the user to access Google Map directions. The map also has a search feature. Texas A&M’s map allows a user to click on specific buildings, which launches an information box. The new UA map will implement all these features, Nixon said. Along with the new interactive campus map, Parking and Transit officials are installing GPS finders in the buses. This will allow students to track the bus routes in real time, he said.
see GPS on page 2
Prominent Arkansans to Speak at First Fall Commencement in 40 years by JACK SUNTRUP Staff Writer
This semester marks the first fall commencement ceremony at the University of Arkansas since 1971. The Dec. 17 ceremony will feature speeches by prominent Arkansans, officials said. Ernest Green, a member of the Little Rock Nine, and former Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt will both receive honorary degrees from the university. Green will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree while Hammerschmidt will receive a Doctor of Laws degree. Both are expected to address the graduates. The fall ceremony, unlike spring commencement, will include graduates from all six colleges, graduate school, and
“This is something students have asked for for many years.” - Steve Voorhies, university relations representative law school, said Dave Dawson, registrar. “Six-hundred to 700 students will walk,” Dawson said. The UA rebooted the fall commencement ceremony in response to student requests and a growing student population, said Steve Voorhies, university relations representative. “This is something students have asked for for many years,” he said. “I’ve gotten calls from parents who have seemed very pleased.” Green was the first African-American to graduate from Little Rock Central High
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School, a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal and an assistant secretary of Labor under President Jimmy Carter. Green was also a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s board of directors, chairman of the African Development Foundation and managing director of Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital until his retirement in 2009, according to a UA press release.
WEATHER FORECAST
see COMMENCEMENT on page 2
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COURTESY PHOTO
Faculty Sounds Off on Electronic Devices in Class by BAILEY KESTNER Staff Writer
More than 90 percent of professors surveyed at various four-year public universities in 2010 said e-book content would soon be an important instructional resource, according to a report by the Campus Computing Project. The Campus Computing Project began in 1990 and is the largest continuing study of the role or e-learning and information technology in American higher education, according to their website. “I don’t mind if students have laptops in my class — the same goes for iPads,” said Lonnie Beard, a law professor. Most students use them every class meeting, he said. “Just as long as the students don’t distract their classmates, I don’t mind too much, though I would like them to stay focused on the class rather than surf the web,” he said. He has not experienced many problems concerning laptops and iPads in his classes, he said. “Electronics are windows to things going on outside of the classroom,” Beard said. Stephanie McCullough, junior music and psychology major, said she often uses her laptop in class. “It is mainly to work on things for other classes, though I still take notes for the class I am sitting in,” McCullough said. The only bad thing about bringing her laptop to class is the temptation to get on Facebook, she said. It is obvious that the use of laptops are distracting to the lecture when students giggle behind computers and motion their neighbors to look at things on the screen, Beard said. “Benefit outweighs the cost though, I just hope students use them to their advantage,” he said. “I’m not going to punish or ban iPads and laptops in class just because a few students use them in the wrong ways,”
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MIKE NORTON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Caleb Credit, a sophomore in mechanical engineering, uses his iPad in class instead of printing off PowerPoints and PDFs. he said. Sociology professor Gordon Morgan said he expects students to use electronic devices responsibly. “I tell my students to be careful and pay attention. I shouldn’t hear any noise from their laptops or iPads,” Morgan said. “There is a lot to be gained in listening to lectures in class, not just to gain knowledge, but also discipline,” he said. Morgan details his rules at the beginning of the course so there are fewer problems with the use of laptops and iPads in his classes. James Walker, professor of Human Anatomy, has an uncompromising stance on electronic devices. “All cell phones must be out of sight in my classes and laptops are only to be used to take notes,” Walker said. Walker’s class sizes can reach up to 300 students, but hardly any laptops or iPads,
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he said. The university has no official policy against the use of laptops or iPads. “There is no specific policy against the use of laptops or iPads in classes on the UA campus,” said Steve Voorhies, media manager of university relations. Whether a student can use them in a class is directly up to the individual faculty member, he said. “It is a general policy that the electronics should be used for notes related to the class,” Voorhies said. Regardless of policy, some UA students think laptops are a distraction. “I hardly ever use my laptop in my classes,” said Chris Kinnison, sophomore engineering major. “I don’t really have a use for it in my classes right now and it is a bad source of distraction during lectures.”
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