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Friday, February 17, 2012

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Partly Cloudy 10% chance of rain HIGH LOW 59 41

Issue 65

E D I T O R I A L L Y

http://utdailybeacon.com

Vol. 118

I N D E P E N D E N T

S T U D E N T

PAGE 5

PUBLISHED SINCE 1906 N E W S P A P E R

O F

T H E

U N I V E R S I T Y

O F

T E N N E S S E E

Hate Poisons Student Art Emily DeLanzo Design Editor The UC offers assistance, nourishment and even recreation to students at the UT. Nearly all students and faculty members have to traverse through the UC and its main concourse connecting one side of campus to the other. In order to give students a fun, creative outlet, the Central Program Council (CPC) decided to dedicate February to poetry sticks. The poetry sticks were velcro words applying to campus life as a UT student to allow students to put words together and create poetry. Starting Feb. 1, the Office of Student Activities, Division of Student Life placed the poetry sticks on the walls of the UC concourse. This was the poetry stick’s second annual incarnation. This year, CPC decided to remove roughly a hundred words from last year to minimize any sort of sexually implied inappropriate use of the poetry sticks. Despite the sexually charged misconduct of some students in 2011, the poetry sticks remained up for the entire month of February. On Wednesday, the Office of Student Activities made the executive decision to cut the ongoing program and immediately remove the poetry sticks because of homophobic and racist remarks created by students. Sarah Houston, senior in English literature and member of Cultural Attractions Committee, said that the poetry sticks were removed because “they had spotted a lot of racist and homophobic comments.” “Since the UC is a public area, people cannot choose whether

or not to walk through that area so it cannot be like an art gallery,” Houston said. Houston said that there were several problems last year as well. “I saw racier things with a wider variety of words that were available for students to use.” The CPC and office staff members monitored the poetry sticks activity. The CPC relied on UT students to act responsibility and respectfully. Some students, however, used the velcro words to convey negative ideas. Homophobic and racist remarks appeared constantly since the placement of the poetry sticks on Feb. 1. Students filed several complaints throughout the past two weeks. “One of the points of the poetry sticks is that you can change what it says,” Houston said. “The whole point is to change (the poetry) if you do not agree with it so you can say what you feel. There’s always the ability to change.” Because of continuing problems with hateful language, the CPC made the decision to remove the exhibit. UT and CPC did not want to make students and visitors to the university feel uncomfortable. “When you give students freedom of speech, college kids are bound to be offensive,” said Terika Greenlee, senior in psychology. Despite the CPC’s effort to minimize harassing language, the poetry sticks were removed because of students’ abuse. The Office of Student Activities, Division of Student Life prides itself on being an equal opportunities office. Hate speech is not tolerated by the CPC or by UT.

Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon

Natalie Williams, senior in therapeutic recreation, looks for words to use on the poetry stick board Feb. 7. The poetry stick exhibit was taken down Wednesday.

UT encourages Conference unifies black community student leadership Jasmine Fletcher-Green Staff Writer

Tiffany Perkins Staff Writer Ready for another round of open-minded thinkers, UT will host the second campusbased session of the LeaderShape® Institute, which will take place May 1116. Participant applications opened Feb. 1 and will remain available until Feb. 24. The program will accept 60 student leaders representing diverse facets of the student body. For over 30 years, the LeaderShape® Institute has encouraged thousands of participants to get out of their comfort zone and create change among their peers. The program strongly promotes the importance of leading with integrity, and having a healthy disregard for the impossible. “The week is intended to produce a breakthrough in the leadership capacity of participants — benefiting them individually, as well as their respective communities and the organizations they will go on to lead and serve in the future,” Sally Parish, assistant director of Student Orientation and Leadership Development, said. Parish serves as the program coordinator for UT’s session of LeaderShape® and worked closely with the administrative tasks of making the program happen. UT started hosting the program because the students and faculty saw LeaderShape® as a unique, once-in-a-lifetime leadership opportunity that would make a huge impact on students, campus and community. While at the LeaderShape® Institute, participants will learn how to create goals and build teams, among other activities. Through the week students work in teams called “Family Clusters” to form supportive relationships. The goal is for participants to gain insights that will serve them

both personally and professionally for years to come. “LeaderShape® is not like any other leadership program,” said Courtney Vick, senior in journalism and electronic media and 2011 LeaderShape® participant. “The activities we participated in were innovative and educational to participants.” Vick knew that the program would be a good way for her to better understand leadership. She applied hoping to grow as a leader, and said she gained much more. “Creating visions and having like-minded individuals there to show me support was really memorable,” Vick said. “I am now more understanding and perceptive of others’ leadership styles.” The LeaderShape® Institute, now in its 26th year, has impacted more than 40,000 young men and women all over the world. Though only in its second year, Parish believes the impact from LeaderShape® can be seen. “There is an established group of student leaders on campus who are united in their dedication to living and leading with integrity,” Parish said. “It is hard to think of a greater impact than that.” Since last May, a larger and more diverse pool of student leaders has become involved in leadership rolls all over campus. “I feel that the impact reaches hundreds, if not thousands of students, across campus,” Parish said. “The 2011 LeaderShape® alumni serve as an inspiration to me, and I am grateful for their dedication to living and leading with integrity. I believe that they truly make our campus a better place.” A final information session for LeaderShape® will be Feb. 20 in Panhellenic at 5 p.m. Students can visit sold.utk.edu/leadershape for applications and information on how to schedule an interview.

The Office of Minority Student Life (OMSL) is hosting its 7th Annual Black Issues Conference Friday at the UC, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The theme for this year’s event will be “Black in America: One Campus … One Community … Unified for One Cause.” “Every year I have been a UT student I’ve looked forward to this event,” Jeremy Donald, junior in journalism and electronic media, said. Since its start in 2005, the Black Issues Conference (BIC) has aimed to unite the campus and community by reflecting on the concerns of African-Americans. The conference’s main purpose is to present a forum of discussions on issues that affect the African-American culture. Although the conference will focus on overcoming African-American conflicts, the forum is open to everyone. The conference and lunch are free to all UT students, faculty, staff and registered participants. “All races are welcomed,” said Christian Donaldson, senior in political science and member of the BIC planning committee. “Although the forum focuses on the issues of African-Americans, the committee feels it’s important for other cultures to come so that others can see

just how important it is for us to find solutions, and just how relative these issues can be to them as well.” The itinerary for the students includes attending three sessions followed by lunch and a keynote speaker. Although the students will only attend three, there will be several sessions to choose from. The speaker will be political activist and writer Kevin Powell. The topic of his speech will be “The Leadership We Are Waiting for Is Us: How to Become an Effective Leader.” Powell is the author or editor of 11 books and is widely considered one of America’s leading political and cultural voices of the 21st century. Powell’s writings have appeared in numerous publications including The Washington Post, Newsweek, Essence, Ebony, Esquire, Rolling Stone and Vibe. “The Black Issues Conference is by far one of the greatest events I have ever attended,” X-Zaviana Boddie, recent graduate of UT, said. “I am amazed at how far this tradition has come and hope that it continues to grow as it helped me to do.” Several organizations have come together to ensure that this year’s conference is a success. The planning committee consists of members from organizations such as the National Advancement of Colored People (NACP), National PanHellenic Council (NPHC), Black Cultural

Programming Committee (BCPC), Student Government Association (SGA), Student Services Center (SSC), Central Program Council (CPC) and Diva Opals. Anderson Olds is president of UT’s branch of NAACP and co-chair of the event, along with Tanisha Jenkins, senior associate director of OMSL. Both Olds and Jenkins have been co-chairs of the event for two years. “I am very pleased with the amount of time and hard work this year’s planning committee has put into the program,” Olds said. “Our main goal was to make sure this year’s issues were more local so that the students and community could better relate, and I commend everyone involved in the planning committee for making sure that will happen.” Sponsors of the BIC include the Office of Minority Student Life, NAACP, Charlie Lemmons Foundation, Black Cultural Programming Committee, Commission for Blacks, Black Alumni Council, Office of Equity and Diversity, Office of Disability Services, College of Business and Administration, UT Book Supply stores and the Division of Student Life. To register for the conference go to http://omsa.utk.edu/bic/index.php. For more information, contact Multicultural Student Life at (865) 974-6861, or e-mail BIC@utk.edu.

Tara Sripunvoraskul • The Daily Beacon

Karen Kunc, a printmaker, shows off her work to a printmaking class on Wednesday. Kunc lectured Thursday about her print work.


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