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Beat the polar vortex: snuggle up in a scarf

Bluegrass group brings ‘high energy’ back to Knoxville stage

Jeff Dunham promises to pull some strings on Saturday at the Civic Coliseum

ARTS & CULTURE >>pg. 6

ARTS & CULTURE >>pg. 7

Lady Vols ready to rebound from early conference blunders

ARTS & CULTURE >>pg. 7

SPORTS >>pg. 8

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Zoe Yim Contributor UT’s campus workers were seen, but not heard. That is, until the university enacted a raise of the base pay of campus workers from $8.50 an hour to $9 on Jan. 1. After a 13-year campaign led by United Campus Workers, paychecks now meet the university’s standards for adequacy. On Dec. 3, 2013, the university announced base pay will be further raised to $9.50 an hour for all full- and part-time regular employees by June 2014. While UCW Union President Tom Anderson commends the university’s actions, he maintains the necessity of further reforms. “We’re glad they’ve listened to us,” Anderson said. “The truth of the matter is that $9.50 … is a good step, but there’s still ground to cover.”

Dining Dollars cause stir on the Strip Bradi Musil Staff Writer Cumberland Avenue, colloquially known as “the Strip,” is under threat. Confirmed by Jeff Maples, senior associate vice chancellor for finance and administration, two restaurant franchises, Panda Express and Raising Canes, will soon open on Cumberland Avenue. Both will be privately owned by Aramark and potentially accept student balances, as other Aramark locations do. This competitive advantage over other merchants on the Strip has sparked serious discussion between the Cumberland Avenue Merchants Association. Rob Wynkoop, owner of Gyrene Burger and member of CAMA, was determined to plant his company on the Strip due to its reputation within the community and the university area. But his research on the area was nothing short of discouraging. Recently, Penn Station Subs, a staple on Cumberland Avenue, was forced to relocate due to lost business. The effect of added competition could complicate an already growing problem. “When a couple of your friends want to get a Gyrene Burger, but one can’t go because all they have is money in their dining dollars left, it makes a difference,” Wynkoop said. To combat the problem, Maples

and other members of CAMA have started discussing a plan to help merchants and students maintain the Strip’s lively atmosphere by allowing university accounts, like Dining Dollars or AllStar balances, to be accepted at locations beyond campus boundaries. Still in the earliest stages of consideration, Wynkoop fears delays in approving the plans. “The turnover on the Strip with businesses opening and closing is much higher than other college towns; we don’t have any sort of integration with the university,” Wynkoop said. “Cumberland Avenue is very much a part of the university. When [students] see 20 vacant businesses, it doesn’t bode well for the university as a whole.” Maples cautioned that merchants have just begun exploring possibilities and a laid out plan is still “a long way off.” “I want to do it right,” Maples said. “I don’t want to rush into it.” Despite the potential financial cost of contracting with the university, Wynkoop and other CAMA merchants are willing to make the investment. Wynkoop acknowledged the likelihood of paying a commission to the university and indicated that the price would be worth the increased customer base. “We welcome that,” he said. “We just want to be included.” See STRIP on Page 3

• Photo Courtesy Rob Huber

Campus workers celebrate 2014 with new wages

Issue 02, Volume 125

Merchants are on the hook as two new franchises, Panda Express and Raising Canes, will soon open on Cumberland Avenue. The restaurants will potentially partner with Aramark and accept Dining Dollars, which local businesses fear will lead to an unfair advantage for some.

Hayley Brundige • The Daily Beacon

See PSA on Page 3

Artist program connects outsiders with UT

Troy Provost-Heron Sports Editor

Victoria Brown Staff Writer The 2014 Artist-inResidence boasts a unique spectrum of artists’ work, ranging from abstract to contemporary and modern pieces. The Opening Reception for the 2014 Artist-inResidence Biennial event will be held today at the UT Ewing Gallery of Art & Architecture. The event focuses on four chosen artists who will be exhibiting work in the gallery from today through February 6. This year’s artists are Patricia Treib, Michael Berryhill, EJ Hauser and Jaya Howey. The Artist-in-Residence program was created by UT in 1982 in order to “enrich student’s experience further by regularly bringing new artists from outside the university who are active in the contemporary gallery and museum arenas,” according to the program’s website. See ARTIST on Page 6

Lady Vols plan to learn from early SEC struggles

Jimmy Cheek watches the Nov. 23 Tennessee game against Vanderbilt at Neyland Stadium next to his son Jeff, a local auto-repair shop owner. Chancellor since 2009, Cheek has so far defined his position as raising UT’s standing toward becoming a Top 25 public university.

Chancellor Cheek: the man behind the desk R.J. Vogt Editor-in-Chief The typical American occupation is descriptive in name; salesmen sale, servers serve, teachers teach. People rely on these indicative job titles as insights into the day-to-day lives of others. But when someone has a less obvious line of work – say, chancellor of a major state university – he or she becomes an enigma, one that operates in the complex anonymity of public scrutiny. It begs the question – what does Jimmy Cheek actually do? On Nov. 23, Jimmy Cheek is not eating at a tailgate for the UT vs. Vanderbilt game. Surrounded by savory meatballs, stuffed chicken tenders, and a wet bar with 10 different wines and 12 different beers,

Cheek holds only a plastic cup of water in his left hand, leaving his right hand free for shaking and his mouth free to chat. Unlike the tailgates outside in the cold, full of cornhole boards and contraband drinking, this gathering in the warm Tyson House has a purpose greater than the game – top administrators from UT have come to mingle with their counterparts from Oak Ridge National Lab. Cheek is too busy rubbing shoulders with the likes of Thom Mason, ORNL director, and A.C. Buchanan, III, a top ORNL chemical researcher, to enjoy the delicious spread before him. “Late in the third quarter you’ll see him sit down,” says David Golden, the president of faculty senate. Seamless and constant, the chancellor shifts from network-

ing with UT-Battelle board members to small talk about their families. Part-politician and part-CEO, he never stands in one place longer than a few minutes. As kickoff draws near, Cheek and his wife, Ileen, head for the Chancellor-mobile – a UT golf cart. Russ Swafford, manager of special projects, drives them both to a skybox in Neyland Stadium where even more food and people wait. Once inside, Cheek shakes hands with 14 different people within 10 minutes, despite a three minute break for the national anthem. Each handshake is followed by genuine conversation – Cheek calls students, administrators, alumni and trustees by name, thanks in part to the nametags offered upon entry to the skybox. See JIMMY CHEEK on Page 5

For the Lady Vols, the start of SEC play has been far from perfect. To open the conference schedule, the Lady Vols dropped an 80-77 decision to the LSU Tigers on Jan. 2, snapping a 16-game winning streak in SEC openers. They followed that up by building a lead as large as 28 against Georgia on Jan. 5 before allowing the Bulldogs to go on a 21-0 run late in the second half that brought the game within six. While UT was able to pull away at the end and escape with a victory, their “bounce back” game didn’t go as planned, even though the team was able to come away with an important lesson. “We definitely got lax,” junior center Isabelle Harrison said. “We saw the lead so I guess we were all just waiting for the time to expire, but you never know who’s going to come back and no team is going to quit playing us just because they’re down. “So that game gave us a lesson that we can’t take any team for granted, so I’m honestly glad it happened so it won’t happen in the future.” Cue the Ole Miss Rebels, the Lady Vols next SEC opponent and another opportunity to get back on track in a season filled with high expectations.

Tennessee will look to take advantage of the opportunity by focusing more on the defensive end and paying closer attention to their coaches’ scouting reports. “With all the teams in our conference, we need to pay attention to their strengths and when it comes to scouting reports, we can’t take those lightly,” Harrison said. “We can’t give people season-highs in games. “We have to really get down on defense and really make that our pride, and I think that will make the difference for this whole season.” When the Lady Vols check their scouting report on the Rebels, they’ll see a glaring need to take better care of the basketball. Ole Miss forces 16.5 turnovers a game, a category that Tennessee has committed 40 of in its previous two games. “I was okay with a lot of them because some of them were in transition or we were attacking,” Lady Vol Head Coach Holly Warlick said about the abundance of turnovers in their last couple of games. “I think we’ll just continue to work on them in practice. It does concern me, but I thought a lot of them were what we were wanting to do, such as get the ball inside and attack in transition, so those are things we have to keep working on to get better at.” See LADY VOLS on Page 8

INSIDE THE DAILY BEACON

“Why exactly do we all fall down before her and declare her as the goddess of the musical realm?” @UTDailyBeacon www.utdailybeacon.com

OPINIONS >>pg. 4

In Short News Opinions Arts & Culture Sports

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