Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Volume 141, Issue 11 Wednesday, April 13, 2022

utdailybeacon.com @utkdailybeacon

Students attend to their homework as spring arrives to Rocky Top.

Alexandra Ashmore / The Daily Beacon

Knoxville Starbucks union victory inspires other locations to consider following suit ABBY ANN RAMSEY Staff Writer

Last week, the Starbucks on Merchants Drive voted to unionize their store, making Knoxville home to the first unionized location of the coffee chain in the South.

While the victory was widely celebrated, the corporation challenged the 8-7 vote, arguing that the assistant store manager’s ballot should not be valid. The ballot remained unopened, so it was not counted in the already 8-7 tally.

But on Tuesday, Maggie Carter, a UT journalism student who has led the union charge at the Merchants Drive Starbucks, said she received an official certification from the National Labor Relations Board stating that Starbucks removed their challenge, making the store’s victory official.

Carter began working at the store in Aug. 2020 after transferring from a Jackson, Tennessee, location. That process was one of the first interactions with the company that made her feel undervalued. As the mother of a

7-year-old, she was disappointed that her only options in making the transition were to either take a leave of absence or quit and hope to be rehired. The leave of absence left her without pay for two months as she moved across the state.

From then on, Carter was skeptical of corporate Starbucks moves. When they announced they were raising their starting wage to $12 an hour, she was grateful but felt that it was so sudden and out of the blue that they were using it to cover something else up.

“This to me was not normal and my journalism lightbulb went off because I’m like there’s no corporation out here giving $4 raises within one year for no reason, something’s going on,” Carter said.

She did some digging and found that her intuition might have been right. A few months before the raise, a Buffalo store had announced they were forming a union. In Dec. 2021, the store’s victory became official.

“That made me feel like the $12 an hour was just reactionary and was an effort to stop this from spreading,” Carter said.

Carter began to educate herself on what this meant and felt that following in the Buffalo

store’s footsteps could help make the Knoxville location what she wanted it to be.

“We were really going through a tough time in our store, and it really seemed like there was no path forward with the current management situation,” Carter said. “There was no actual attention being paid to our concerns, so we decided to exercise our rights to join a union and have successfully done so.”

The Merchants Drive employees who voted to unionize cite a variety of ways in which they have been overlooked by the company. For one thing, Carter says baristas have no way to accept credit card tips, as the company asks customers to use cash in an age where most people opt to use mobile ordering, Apple Pay and standard card payments.

“It’s absolutely absurd that a huge percentage of our income is tips,” Carter said. “However, in this 50-year company that has a net worth of, what, $100 billion dollars … we can’t get credit card tips. Fun fact, Howard Schultz, the CEO and founder of Starbucks, was on the board of directors for Square payment devices.”

Square is known for their minimally-designed card machines that have become popu-

lar within the past few years. After a customer uses the machine, a screen appears with simple tip options, doing percentage math for you or asking you to choose between $1, $2 and $3.

Starbucks stores do not have these tipping options for card payments.

Jamie Perlow, a partner at the Kingston Pike and Montvue Starbucks shared a similar sentiment in wanting to improve day-to-day working conditions like tipping. Their store announced their intent to unionize in March.

“We had kind of joked about it for a while … and then we were like, but what if for real though?” Perlow said.

Perlow takes issue not only with the tipping but also with simple sanitary problems. Their store complained to the corporation about poor caulking that was trapping water but received little help. Eventually, it got out of hand and they started seeing maggots and mold issues that Starbucks told the employees to resolve themselves.

STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

2

CITY NEWS

The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, April 13, 2022

DAILY BEACON STAFF AND POLICY INFORMATION EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Sarah Rainey MANAGING EDITOR: Caleigh Rozmenoski COPY CHIEF: Kyra Bogdan CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR: Daniel Dassow CITY NEWS EDITOR: Madelyn Muschek SPORTS EDITOR: Josh Lane ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR: Ethan Stone DIGITAL PRODUCER: Kailee Harris PHOTO EDITOR: Alexandra Ashmore DESIGN EDITOR: Bella Hughes SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER: Kimberly Lalas

ADVERTISING/PRODUCTION STUDENT ADVERTISING MANAGER: Emily

Bishop

ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVE: Aubrey

Bishop, Kelly Glasgow

ADVERTISING PRODUCTION ARTIST: Victoria

Wheelock

CONTACTS

TO REPORT A NEWS ITEM OR SUBMIT A PRESS RELEASE, please email

editorinchief@utdailybeacon.com or call (865) 974-2348 TO PLACE AN AD, please email

admanager@utk.edu or call (865) 974-5206 NEWSROOM: (865) 974-5206

editorinchief@utdailybeacon.com LETTERS POLICY: Letters to the Editor must be exclusive to The Daily Beacon and cannot have been submitted to or published by other media.

Letters should not exceed 400 words and can be edited or shortened for space. Letters can also be edited for grammar and typographical errors, and Letters that contain excessive grammatical errors can be rejected for this reason. Anonymous Letters will not be published. Authors should include their full name, mailing address, city of residence, phone number and e-mail address for verification purposes. Letters submitted without this information will not be published. The preferred method to submit a Letter to the Editor is to email the Editor-in-Chief.

CORRECTIONS POLICY:It is the Daily Beacon’s policy to quickly correct any factual errors and clarify any potentially misleading information.

Errors brought to our attention by readers or sta� members will be corrected and printed on page two of our publication. To report an error please send as much information as possible about where and when the error occurred to managingeditor@ utdailybeacon.com, or call our newsroom at (865) 974-5206.

The Daily Beacon is published by students at The University of Tennessee on Monday and Thursday during the fall and spring semesters.

The o�ces are located at 1345 Circle Park Drive, 11 Communications Building, Knoxville, TN 379960314. The newspaper is free on campus and is available via mail subscription for $200/year or $100/semester. It is also available online at: www. utdailybeacon.com

STORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “It was at the point where there were maggots crawling out of the mold underneath an active food service area,” Perlow said. “After that … we were like, we can’t do this anymore we need to be listened to and actually have some accountability from the company when we tell them, hey this thing needs to be repaired … that lack of accountability we felt kind of came from there’s no democratic voice for us, so that’s why the union really appealed to us,” Perlow said.

For Carter and Perlow, those day-to-day issues like tipping and cleanliness contribute to their overarching idea that the company is attempting to silence partners’ voices.

The company has two chairs at the table at each corporate meeting, one representing the partner and one representing the customer. The chairs remain empty in these meetings. Carter is asking for, quite literally, a seat at the table and believes having that say can combat those problems within the actual stores that executives do not experience.

“I don’t think that chair should be empty,” Carter said.

In terms of the business model, Carter values the goal of individually creating drinks but says they often do not reap the benefits of the laborintensive process.

“We are considered artisans, we handcraft every drink we make,” Carter said. “Starbucks goes to every length they can to automate every process they can, but still keep it to where our hands are making that beverage, so we deserve to not be able to be terminated for no reason whatsoever from this company.”

Starbucks touts its commitment to diversity, inclusion and protecting workers. Yet, some employees seem to think the company’s backlash toward the budding unions is evidence of apathy when it comes to keeping employees’ interests at heart and providing them with enough hours to earn a living wage “Nationally there’s been discussion about how Starbucks has been slashing workers’ hours as a nationwide union-busting campaign and to kind of put a lot of fear into people,” Perlow said.

“We have several new hires in the pipes, so they are saying that we’re slashing hours due to business but then hiring more people to work those hours, so it’s very clearly at our store a unionbusting tactic … in no uncertain terms, we see this happening, and it’s part of a nationwide trend.”

For Carter, the union-busting practices and what she sees as a lack of concern for COVID-19 safety precautions have converged to exacerbate an already unhealthy environment.

“Many of these issues were just exacerbated by the pandemic so that’s why I think you’re seeing a huge shift now toward partners putting themselves first because we see the company putting profits before partners, habitually,” Carter said. “After being the only store in our district to stay open for the entire pandemic … a member of corporate management exposed us to COVID-19, gave multiple of my partners

Maggie Carter, a UT journalism student who led the union charge at the Merchants Drive Starbucks, stands in front of the establishment on April 8, 2022. Ericksen Gomez-Villeda / The Daily Beacon

COVID-19 and caused a five-day store closure as a result of their very first union-busting meeting.”

“That’s just scratching the surface.”

While more and more stores are campaigning for workers’ rights at Starbucks, some sister locations do not have the benefit of using these unions as an example of how to address their concerns.

Savannah Gray, a junior English major, actually holds two Starbucks jobs, neither of which technically report to the corporation. She works at both a campus Starbucks, run by Aramark, and a Kroger Starbucks. For her, it’s difficult to differentiate between what’s a Starbucks problem and what’s an Aramark or Kroger problem.

At Kroger though, she has the option to join a union, which makes her feel more secure in her job that is helping her pay for school and simple living expenses. But, she says her job with Aramark tells a slightly different story.

While Carter and Perlow cannot accept credit card tips, Gray and her coworkers cannot accept any tips whatsoever. Her frustration with the issue is exacerbated by how busy the Student Union location is in comparison to the Kroger one, where she can at least receive cash tips.

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE Read more at utdailybeacon.com

CAMPUS NEWS

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 • The Daily Beacon

3

UT’s Sharon Couch becomes first Black woman with PhD in sport psychology KAITLYN PILCHER Staff Writer

Sharon Couch, a senior learning consultant and business partner at UT, received her PhD in sport psychology in March, becoming the first Black woman to ever receive the degree.

Couch, a two-time Olympic athlete who is originally from a small town in Virginia, has spent her lifetime working toward her academic dreams and leaving a legacy.

Her journey began when she graduated from high school, she was ranked number one in track and field in the country. She continued to participate in the sport at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, while she pursued a degree in speech communications.

She is now known as one of the most decorated female student athletes to attend the university and has received the Tarheel Trailblazer Award.

After Couch graduated from the UNC, she began to compete professionally in track and field around the world for 11 years. She specialized in the long jump and sprint hurdles as she made her way onto five World Championships teams and represented the United States at the 1992 and 2000 Summer Olympics.

In her post-competitive years, Couch

worked for several major companies, including Kraft General Foods, Franklin Covey, Quest Communications and Masai Barefoot Technology.

However, Couch wanted to make her experiences as an Olympic athlete count and work towards a higher goal. She began her career at the University of Tennessee in 2010. She worked as the assistant track and field coach for the Track Team for women’s sprints and hurdles. During her time as an assistant coach, she helped to produce SEC Champions and All-Americans for the Lady Vols sprint and hurdle crew.

In 2014, Couch began to further her education as she started a graduate program in sport psychology. While attending UT as a student, she worked as a graduate teaching assistant for the Student Success Center. She then graduated in 2016 with her Master’s of Science degree.

After achieving this, Couch began to work as an academic advisor for the College of Education Human Health and Sciences. She specialized in working with kinesiology and sports management students.

However, she wanted to achieve more and continue to grow her education. Couch began to pursue a PhD in sport psychology. Her research as a student was cultural sport psychology and supporting people of color as they work towards advocacy, social justice and ac-

Sharon Couch (left) shares a laugh with a guest at the TEDxUTK event on Feb. 13, 2020.

File / The Daily Beacon tivism in their performance areas.

While Couch was pursuing her PhD and working full-time for the university, she was promoted to Student Life and Diversity and Inclusion coordinator for the Herbert College of Agriculture. She served every student that attended Herbert, various professional staff and faculty across the campus. Additionally, she served as a Chairperson for the Chancel-

FOOD

lor’s Commission for Blacks at UT. Last month, Couch became the first Black woman to receive a PhD in sport psychology after finishing the degree at UT. She states that her journey is nowhere near over and that she will continue to work on leaving her legacy.

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE Read more at utdailybeacon.com

FIGHT

DONATE TODAY! tiny.utk.edu/FoodFight

Benefitting the Big Orange Pantry

Greve Hall G007 | 821 Volunteer Blvd, Knoxville, TN 37916

4

NEWS

The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, April 13, 2022

In final research lecture, longtime professor Louis Gross provides hope for climate EMILY HOLT Staff Writer

The Howard Baker Center for Public Policy hosted UT professor Louis Gross, director of The Institute for Environmental Modeling (TIEM) and director emeritus of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), for a lecture on climate change and behavioral modeling on Thursday.

The lecture, titled “A Rational Basis for Hope: Human Behavior Modeling and Climate Change,” was Gross’ final lecture after more than 40 years at the University of Tennessee, as he will be retiring this June.

The lecture was a part of the energy and environmental forum, which focuses on teaching the importance of renewable energy and climate change to other disciplines across campus. Professor Charles Sims, director for the energy and environmental policy program, stressed the importance of keeping these conversations open.

“There’s loads of opportunities for us to talk within our own discipline but it is very enlightening when you start talking about things with other disciplines to see how they respond and react,” Sims said.

Professor Gross graduated with his PhD

from Cornell University in 1979, after which he joined the UT staff. He has had an extensive career, which includes authoring and editing several books on mathematics as well as ecology. Gross is currently the director of The Institute for Environmental Modeling, which has been in operation for almost 24 years.

Gross shared his vast knowledge of environmental and human behavior modeling at Thursday’s lecture. His discussion examined how human behavior and social systems can be linked with climate change and how this presents rational evidence that there is still hope for the planet.

“A rational basis means that there is a formal way of looking at the science that was underlying the connections between climate and the plans that impact the future and pulling it all together so that there is a rational basis for saying what will happen in the future,” Gross said.

Gross wants to teach people that there is still hope for the planet and that human behavior models can help us recognize and understand what steps we can take. There are those that have given up hope that anything can be done, yet many will not give up the fight.

“There is a pushback towards the doom and gloom attitude. The real question is, is there a way that science can prove it is not as bad as some of the public perception might be?”

Gross said.

A common question that many people ask after climate change lectures is whether or not there is something the average person can do individually to stop the furthering of climate change. To answer this, Gross told the audience to look outward towards our politicians, as they are the people who can enact genuine change.

“Unfortunately, until there is a strong political will for there to be a significant change, there most likely will not be,” Gross said.

The distrust in scientific leadership in recent years was discussed as well. More people will begin to support and believe in climate change when they witness a respected prominent community member discuss the issue.

“When you ask people who the scientifically trained person that they most respect, it’s the meteorologist on their local TV station,” Gross said.

The work Gross has accomplished over the past 40 years has been incredibly significant to the University of Tennessee, and his colleagues say he will be very missed by the faculty and staff.

Gross will be honored at graduation this May with the Macebearer award, the highest honor awarded to UT faculty, for his dedication to the school and its students.

Louis Gross, director of The Institute for Environmental Modeling (TIEM) and director emeritus of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), delivered his final research lecture at UT on April 7, 2022.

Edward Cruz / The Daily Beacon

All Vol weekend proves true at Tennessee Relays ZACH BALL Staff Writer

The University of Tennessee hosted the Tennessee Relays last week, starting Thursday and ending Saturday. Unexpected weather conditions made life difficult for the event staff and athletes and still, many Vols finished atop or improved off previous marks.

Competition began Thursday with the first half of the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon.

Redshirt senior Caroline Lewis set three personal bests (PBs) through the first four of the heptathlon events. Her quickness was on full display as she set a career-best in the 100-meter hurdles with 14.07 seconds, pushing her to a second-place finish.

Similar to Lewis, Yariel Soto set four personal bests by claiming three of the first five decathlon events.

Teammates Peyton Davis and Ethan Robinson went 5-for-5 on PBs. By the end of the first day, all three of their placements sat inside the top-5.

In addition to the multi-events, Georgios Korakidis went under the lights Thursday evening in the men’s hammer throw. The senior finished fifth with 66.47 meters on his best throw.

Powering through weather conditions

18.55 meters.

On the track, Rasheeme Griffith preserved in the 400-meter hurdles to a winning time of 51.08 seconds. Alex Kay then captured the title of the 800 meter with 1:50.96.

Sydney Seymour, Emmanuel Bynum and Joella Lloyd competed in latter events of the Power Hour. Seymour outlasted the competition, finishing first in the 1,500 meters. Bynum and Lloyd both dashed their way to impressive third place finishes in the men’s 200 meter and women’s 100m.

Saturday Snow Day Tennessee’s Ainsley Cooper runs the women’s 4x1500 meter relay at the Tennessee Relays as the rain and snow began to fall at Tom Black Track, Saturday, April 9, 2022. Ericksen Gomez-Villeda / The Daily Beacon

Saturday began as a breeze as the multievents finished up throughout the day.

Peyton Davis and Yariel Soto both finished decathlon with personal bests with 7,155 and 7,677 points, respectively. Soto’s point total earned the sophomore a third-place finish.

Caroline Lewis became the 10th highest performer in Tennessee women’s history with 5,151 points after the seven heptathlon events — although, the point total only earned her a sixth-place finish.

The anticipated “Power Hour” of invitational events began at 6 p.m. on Friday. However, with the rain and frigid cold continuing

into the night, many competitors were pulled from their competitions. For instance, freshman Favour Ashe competed against only one opponent as he captured the win in the 100-meter dash.

As the host though, Tennessee athletes fought out the conditions and ended the power hour with six event titles and three top-5 finishes.

In the field, Anthony Riley started with a first-place leap in the long jump with 7.66 meters. Latavia Maines then finished first in the women’s shot put a distance 17.18 meters.

Jordan West heaved his way to a second-place finish on the men’s side with a top throw of

Disappointing weather conditions continued as a mix of rain and snow covered the track on Saturday. Many events stayed being left shorthanded as coaches pulled their athletes to avoid risk of injury.

Nevertheless, the show went on and the Vols went on to collect another title in the men’s triple jump — Jalen Tate claimed it with his best jump at 15.24 meters.

Coming Up Tennessee’s Track & Field team will head to Auburn, Alabama, to compete in the War Eagle Invitational from April 15-16.

CAMPUS NEWS

The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, April 13, 2022

5

As Chancellor’s Honors sees growing retention, dropouts see mounting flaws AURORA SILAVONG Contributor

The Honors & Scholars Programs are a set of initiatives for high-achieving students which involve specialized courses of study, service requirements and perks. There are four such programs offered at UT: Haslam Scholars, Chancellor’s Honors, Honors Leadership and 1794 Scholars.

Students within these programs take more rigorous classes and must attend seminars, engage in community service and typically complete a capstone project at the end of their undergraduate studies.

Enrollment into the selective programs affords students a variety of privileges. Honors students are granted priority registration for classes, and they have access to an exclusive lounge within the Howard Baker Center Jr. Center for Public Policy, where the programs are based. The Honors & Scholars website also touts other benefits, such as access to grant money.

In recent years, the Chancellor’s Honors Program (CHP) specifically has seen expansion. First-year retention in CHP currently stands at 82.1%, up from 71.8% in 2017. Vice Provost for Student Success Amber Williams attributes this success, in part, to the Honors & Scholars Living and Learning Community (LLC) at Dogwood Hall and the hiring of more support staff for first and second year students.

Williams also placed an emphasis on communication. The aforementioned changes were implemented in response to student feedback, and Williams says the Honors & Scholars program as a whole continues to evolve based on responses from the community.

“Feedback is vital to our work and will lead Honors & Scholars into the future,” Williams said. “We are committed to creating the structures to develop meaningful change while maintaining the personal experience scholars value in the current program.”

Despite COVID-19 negatively impacting much of campus life, CHP and its peer programs escaped relatively unscathed.

“Fortunately, COVID-19 has not impacted enrollment into UT’s Honors & Scholars Programs,” Kelsey Kyne, chief operating officer for the Division of Student Success, said. “We continue to see strong application and enrollment activity for our four programs.”

Kyne also added that enrollment for fall 2022 is looking strong, with a large number of out-of-state students joining the programs.

CHP continues to see growth, but students who have dropped out of the program during the last few years see several problems which ultimately led them to leave. Most of these students share the perception that the program requires a disproportionate amount of work for the amount of tangible benefit.

Senior chemistry major Ryker Hill left CHP

The Chancellor’s Honors Program was originally housed at Melrose Hall (pictured) before the Honors and Scholars program moved to the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. File / The Daily Beacon

after three and a half years. He cited the enormous expectations, which did not culminate in rewards that warranted the amount of effort.

“Five honors classes, one hundred total community service hours, three seminars every semester, your own website you have to build yourself and a huge capstone project at the end, and for what?” Hill said. “Another line on your diploma?”

Moreover, students found CHP requirements impeded their ability to pursue other opportunities they found more enriching to their college experience.

Leaving CHP enabled students like Patrick Buchanan, a master’s student in electrical engineering who left CHP partway through the second semester of his freshman year, to join extracurriculars and put more effort into their classwork.

“Saving time on Chancellor’s allowed me to pursue other extracurriculars — like Model UN and Robotics — and focus on classes just that little bit more,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan said that participation in CHP posed some unacceptable risks to his academic career.

“Honors classes in STEM represented a tangible jump in workload or difficulty,” Buchanan said. “It means that my GPA could have very easily suffered.” “(GPA) is especially crucial for sophomore and junior internships and co-ops, which are a huge deal for STEM degrees. What are the first things a recruiter looks at? The year of the student, their GPA and their past industry experience, which sophomores and juniors don’t have.”

Avery Vantrease, a senior in the Haslam School of Business, left CHP after two years to pursue other interests.

“I chose to leave the program because, as time went on in my undergraduate career, I found many other extracurricular involvements that not only suited my interests and degree more, but had better perks, looked more impressive to a future employer and didn’t require so much deviation in my academic life,” Vantrease said.

Vantrease also highlighted how there were no classes within her business program that satisfied the honors requirements, requiring her to go out of her way to take extra, unnec-

essary classes. She found that other organizations and programs on campus within her field of study gave her more satisfactory results for the amount of effort she put in, such as financial support and industry connections.

She stated she also heard many of the same criticisms from her peers, even from those that lived in the CHP LLC, where she served as a residential assistant.

Additionally, she criticized the disparity between CHP and Haslam Scholars, the university’s most selective program.

“The ‘perks’ you get in CHP really pale in comparison to what Haslam Scholars receive, and although Chancellor’s is obviously a lower tier of the Honors and Scholars programs, it sometimes felt like we were not in the same universe,” Vantrease said.

According to the Haslam Scholars webpage, students within that program receive full-ride scholarships and their internships and studyabroad experiences are generally paid for. Only 15 students are accepted into the program every year.

The CHP coursework requirements are also not friendly to students who enter university with some college credit under their belt.

Sophomore Dryver Finch came to UT having already completed 27 credits, which gave him a significant head start on his general education requirements. However, none of these credits could be applied towards CHP, and it would have led to him taking classes solely to satisfy those requirements. He was a double major at the time, and that would not have been feasible.

“Because of these requirements, however, I would not have been able to study the specific fields I wanted,” Finch said. “Ultimately, it was one or the other, and I chose to drop honors and focus on what I wanted to study.”

Finch offered a specific example of the English requirements. CHP requires its students to take two honors-level English courses in their first year, regardless of their major or whether or not they already satisfied the English course requirements for their degree.

“I attempted to reach out to appeal this and explained my situation and received little support and no leniency with the requirements,” Finch said.

These criticisms are not new. A quick search on the university’s subreddit reveals posts dating from as far back as seven years ago discussing the value of joining or continuing to participate in the Honors & Scholars program.

Another post from two years ago features comments criticizing CHP’s lack of financial support.

Honors & Scholars leadership are aware of these criticisms. Vice Provost Williams highlighted changes coming to the entire program.

These include a host of initiatives and faculty appointments, as well as developing fundraising strategies for more scholarships. The program also launched a national search for a new associate vice provost (AVP), who will assume their post in August.

6

OPINIONS

The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Letter to the Editor: Elton John’s Farewell Tour arrives in Knoxville

GRANT T. MITCHELL Columnist

This past Friday, April 8, I was fortunate enough to watch Sir Elton John for the second time in my life and in my own backyard at Thompson Bowling Arena. Not only that, but this is the last tour before he calls it a career.

The performance was one that I will never forget, and the clear consideration and care John has for his fans is unparalleled.

John took the stage promptly, making his entrance right at 8 p.m., as the showtime said he would. This was the first notable thing for me because, as some of you may know, musical acts do not always take the stage right on time.

For instance, when I saw The Rolling Stones this past Fall in Atlanta, they took the stage about an hour after they were supposed to make their entrance. Sure, the argument can be made that they’re older and such things should be expected from legends like that. Although, this is Elton John we are talking about — who has sold more records and won many more awards than The Rolling Stones while also being in the same age group as the Stones. This isn’t a dig at the Stones, rather, commendation to John. John is 75 years old and mentioned early into the show he was stuck in Atlanta until 6:15 p.m. but somehow still arrived at the venue to start things off on time.

I grew up on Elton John, so there was affinity for him through familiarity of his catalogue, but he is also one of those rare musicians that culturally and stylistically survived the eras he was most popular in through to the present. The crowd I was in had people from all

demographics because, John is a transcendent talent. He has laid bare all parts of his life for us to see. That includes his battles with addiction, struggle to find love and the freedom and grace in which he broached his sexuality, part of what has made him a pillar of the LGBTQ community.

Beyond his honesty and activism, his music is also great. This isn’t subjective at this point, its objective fact. He has won five Grammy Awards, two Academy Awards, one Tony Award and has been honored by countless other organizations and bodies.

For me, it can take a moment to get into the rhythm and energy of a concert. There’s a lot of shifting around, people cutting through cramped aisles to get their seats and musicians getting a feel for the crowd.

The moment I got sucked into the concert last Friday was about 15 minutes into things when John played “Rocket Man” and then added at least three minutes of improvised instrumental play to the song.

It was epic and felt like something only a master pianist and seasoned musician such as himself could do. That, in essence, was the rest of the night for me watching Sir Elton John.

Moment after moment of special feelings while listening to music that has always been a part

of my entire life.

I may have grown up on Elton John’s music, but I certainly did not have to continue listening to it. I chose to keep listening, not only because of how long I’ve known it but because there are still songs I’m finding from his extensive catalogue that I love. The thing I loved most about the concert though … It’s how Elton John understands how much he means to people, and in turn he gives us all he can both on stage and off it. I am so appreciative to have had the opportunity to see him live in-concert twice because there will never be another Elton John.

Sure, there will be others like him, but none could ever be all that he is.

Grant T. Mitchell is a graduate student at UT this year in the College of Communication and Information.

He can be reached at gmitch16@vols.utk.edu.

Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

East Tennessee Maverick: The Lost Cause in Tennessee

WALKER KINSLER Columnist

Continuing with the theme of history following last week’s article on the Sam Davis Statue, we will more closely examine the role of the Lost Cause Movement and its effect on Tennessee.

Following their defeat in the Civil War,

Southern historians, journalists and wartime leaders began an intellectual movement justifying the Southern cause for the conflict. In a work of historical revisionism, these figures, such as former Confederate President Jefferson Davis and author Edward A. Pollard, began convincing their fellow Southern citizens that the Confederacy was a noble cause of states’ rights versus Northern oppression.

This movement of Southern attempts to diminish slavery as the main cause of the Civil War became known as the Lost Cause Myth.

However, with multitudes of historical evidence against them, the truth speaks differently. Documents, speeches and Confederate actions leading up to and during the Civil War all declare preserving the inhumane and sickening practice of slavery as their purpose of secession.

In the Reconstruction Era following the war, Tennessee was a prime breeding ground for the Lost Cause mentality, famously becoming the birthplace of the terrorist hate group the Ku Klux Klan in 1865. The lax Reconstruction efforts of Tennessee-native President Andrew Johnson provided Tennessee Confederates the ability to reclaim power and status. What is less talked about is the foundation of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) in Nashville in 1894.

The UDC and the Sons of Confederate Veter-

ans venerated and spread the Lost Cause Myth, promoting an idealized Southern past in order to legitimize white supremacy and racial segregation. They erected memorials displaying heroic Confederate figures and encouraged history books in public schools that, at times, entirely removed slavery as a cause for the Civil War. This attempt to rewrite history was extremely effective and has left deep divisions in our modern day Tennessee.

Many native Southerners still grow up believing that the Confederacy was a heroic country fighting for its freedom. Growing up in East Tennessee, I used to be angry when I saw protesters toppling Confederate statues and speaking against the Confederate flag.

But then I saw how people, especially those of color, spoke about the injustices these symbols reminded them of. As I matured, I realized that the men these statues represent, and the flags they fought under, symbolize the insidious cause of white domination. So I changed my mind, I grew up and I now firmly agree that Confederate symbols should be shunned and not celebrated.

But there are still many within Tennessee that proudly display the Confederate flag and firmly believe that Southerners were simply protecting their homeland from “Northern aggression.”

This divide in historical perspective leads to clashes such as the protest and counter protest in Knoxville over a UDC memorial to the Battle of Fort Sanders in 2017. White men defiantly displayed the Confederate battle flag on our streets and spoke about the Lost Cause as historical fact.

But, the Lost Cause is not historical fact.

Idolizing Confederate ideology can be a breeding ground for hate and racism, such as the neo-Confederates and white supremacists who gathered for the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. This rise in extremist groups promotes dangerous white nationalism and typically leads to violence.

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE Read more at utdailybeacon.com

Walker Kinsler is a freshman at UT this year studying political science.

He can be reached at wkinsler@utk.edu.

Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.

CAMPUS NEWS

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 • The Daily Beacon

7

UTKnox Needs IX fills educational gaps during Sexual Assault Awareness Month AURORA SILAVONG Contributor

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and various UT organizations have made plans to recognize the annual event. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), 13% of college students will experience sexual violence, and students between the ages of 18-24, regardless of gender, are more likely to experience sexual violence than nonstudents of the same age.

On UT campus, there are a variety of resources for survivors, such as the UT Police Department and the Student Counseling Center. One of the most important resources is the Office of Title IX, which specifically handles matters related to sexual and domestic violence. The staff at the Office of Title IX works with other campus and local authorities to connect survivors with what they need to feel safe on campus, including facilitating class changes and altering dorm assignments.

However, many students might not know this resource is here for them. To address this gap, junior Zoey Brewer started UTKnox Needs IX in the fall of 2021. The organization focuses on helping survivors navigate through the reporting and recovery process after violence, including any retaliation or defamation a survivor

Amanda Phillips holds up a blue ribbon representing Sexual Assault Awareness Month at the UTKnox needs Title IX table on Ped Walkway on Thursday, April 7, 2022. Alexandra Ashmore / The Daily Beacon

might experience after an assault.

Brewer says she views Title IX as an important alternative source of support for survivors, which enables them to get assistance they may not necessarily receive from law enforcement and to stay in school.

“A lot of people think ‘oh, you’ve been assaulted, so you have to go to the police or the courts,’” Brewer said. “But generally, the police and the courts aren’t going to be providing any substantial support for survivors … This university needs to be doing everything they can to make sure students know every resource they

have available under Title IX.” Access to this information was impeded by new student orientation being moved online during due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Junior Amanda Phillips, a member of the group, raised concerns that newer students might have missed this vital resource while clicking through the orientation program.

“I’m a junior, and I have not heard another thing about Title IX since my orientation,” Phillips said. “And I know it’s only getting worse because current freshmen and sophomores get online orientation, where you can

just skip through and not listen.”

UTKnox Needs IX holds events throughout the year and sends out a bimonthly newsletter.

For Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the organization is holding a “Know Your Rights” event at 7 p.m. on April 13 at Hodges Library. The event will also double as a space for survivors to speak out about their experiences. At the conclusion of the event, survivors and allies will be encouraged to write letters to themselves and their peers as part of a healing exercise.

Additionally, there are plans to hold an event at local bar LiterBoard. The event will be branded as “Consent is Sexy,” and students are encouraged to come and show their support for survivors. This collaboration will serve as an opportunity for the group to extend their messaging outside of campus and into the greater surrounding community.

“It’s important because so much violence students experience happens after going to bars or after drinking,” Brewer said. “We’re reaching an audience and a place that is so ripe for discrimination and violence.”

Phillips said the collaboration with the owner of LiterBoard exceeded the group’s expectations.

“Having the owner of that bar acknowledge the problem and want to be an active part of the solution has been a step beyond what anything anybody else could think would come out of this collaboration,” Phillips said.

8

CITY NEWS

The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, April 13, 2022

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ review: A multiverse of boundless creativity KEENAN THOMAS Senior Staff Writer

Words cannot begin to describe the audio and visual aura that emits from every moment of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” but let’s try anyway.

This is the sophomore film from filmmaking duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, otherwise both known as Daniels. Scheinert has made another film by himself, but this is the first film they’ve collectively written and directed since the 2016 film “Swiss Army Man.” The film follows Evelyn Wang, a laundromat owner with a crumbling family dynamic. Just as everything falls apart, she gets thrust into a multiversal conflict while filing her taxes. She is informed by a different version of her husband, Waymond, that she must learn to use the skills of her other selves to fight against the powerful Jobu Tupaki to save the multiverse.

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is unlike anything ever made. It weaves together universal themes of family and destiny while making intangible concepts graspable. It’s a film that utilizes every single aspect of filmmaking to create a film about everything.

The film stars Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn, Ke Huy Quon as Waymond, Stephanie Hsu as Evelyn’s daughter Joy, James Hong as Evelyn’s dad and Jamie Lee Curtis as IRS agent Deirdre.

Everyone gives their all in these roles, not only grasping their specific selves but also being able to effortlessly switch to different versions of their characters from other universes and embody the skills that they have to offer.

This is especially true for Yeoh and the actors who play her family, as they do all of this while speaking English, Mandarin and Cantonese. They encompass every aspect of their roles while instilling heart and soul into every facet of the film. Yeoh shows impeccable range within each version of herself, and it’s mesmerizing to watch her perform as she expresses herself through fighting, cooking or emotive complexity.

With her performance, the film is able to ground itself to convey its concepts, which are steeped in hefty science fiction. But the film expertly navigates how to inform Evelyn and the audience about these ideas while actively executing them. In terms of writing, it’s a stroke of genius, as it is able to turn these large, philosophical and convoluted science fiction ideas into a tangible and understandable form that the audience can follow along with.

Along with that, it balances tone in a way that will have audiences laughing at the absurdity of the situation one minute to tearing up in the next as the familial drama begins to take hold. It uses these concepts to tell a story about figuring out your path in the infinite

multiverse while discovering what you can do to change the nature of those individual realities. One reality might seem perfect compared to the one you’re currently living in, but there are steps that can be taken to make it all work, even as those steps break off into their own separate universe.

That’s where the pure creativity of the film fills the viewer’s imagination with every possibility that this movie holds. From universes where verse-hopping is discovered to one where everyone has hotdogs for fingers, anything and everything is a possibility. The film is able to weave these various iterations together through Evelyn to help her in her quest, taking various skills from each universe like her singer universe or her chef universe.

This aspect of the film is brought to its fullest potential given the nature of filmmaking, time and budgetary constraints. There are snapshots of potential universes that are shown, which only makes me dream of a film where the Daniels were given an infinite amount of time and resources to see it all come to fruition.

That being said, it’s unfathomable that this movie was made on a $25 million budget. They used every single cent of that within this film, and it’s all put onto the screen for audiences to appreciate and enjoy.

The way that the camera moves and positions everything within the frame is precise and calculated. It is able to switch between aspect ratios, angles and film styles with grace as if these are ancient masters working the camera using techniques passed down for generations. Along with the camera, the lighting is deliberate, with brilliant usage of colors and light tricks to convey certain ideas and emotions, blending with the acting to say everything it needs to visually.

The production design is out of this world, with several costumes, sets and props that pull from various ideas and influences within the movie itself. For example, I love the Bluetooth devices that they use for verse-hopping, as it makes the film still feel grounded within some kind of reality and gives it that DIY feeling to parts of the movie.

The editing is absolutely mind-blowing, with the film at times cutting on action during a fight scene between several dimensions all at once. The fracturing effect that is used in tandem with the camera is a perfect way to encapsulate the split feelings and universes that occur throughout the film.

In time, this film may act as a masterclass on how to edit a billion different sequences, takes and ideas together into a singular film.

Whatever you do, please walk, run, sprint, swim, drive or fly to whatever the closest theater is playing “Everything Everywhere All at Once” as soon as humanly possible. This is a film that doesn’t just demand to be seen, but it demands to be experienced by anyone, anywhere, at the same time.

KEENAN THOMAS SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Even then, they don’t let the budget restrict their creativity, and it’s quite possible that if they had decided to include anything more, the film would collapse in on itself as the audience gets further sucked into the everything, everywhere, all at once bagel that is this film. However, I don’t think I would mind a film that goes on for infinity if it’s as beautiful as this one.

This film is pure craftsmanship. The Daniels used every single aspect of filmmaking at their disposal to create this film. Along with that, this is something that could have only been put to film. There is no other medium that I can think of that could have accomplished everything that this movie did, all while building upon influences from film canon, like Bruce Lee action films and Wong Kar-wai dramas.

It’s not just the acting, the story or the structure of the screenplay that makes it this way, but the technical film aspects too.

Its ability to cut between different universes during a sequence and tie each and every individual scene together into a unified motif is jaw-dropping.

Finally, the sound design and the music are all perfect. Everything about it works, whether it’s using cartoon sound effects for a specific sequence, referencing a video game within its sound — I 100% believe that there is a Super Smash Bros. sound effect used — or a beautiful usage of “Clair de Lune” that occurs throughout the film. The sound design and editing match with every other part of the film, along with how every other part is intertwined into each other.

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is one of a kind. I don’t think there has been or ever will be a movie that captures even a crumb of what this film has to offer. It blends together a universe’s amount of ideas, stories and char-

Courtesy of IMDb acters into a wild, emotional film, while infinitely expounding upon that at the same time.

This film is special. We don’t quite get movies that utilize every aspect of filmmaking itself into one film, let alone something that feels like the cosmos aligned to bring two forces together to create something that exudes creativity from its pores.

This film alters everything we perceive film to be. It changes how we view the world and the universe. It makes us question how we view life and everything that it has to offer. It acts as the catalyst to unlock the infinite possibilities that can come about by what cereal you had this morning, what you said to the barista upon ordering your coffee or if you decided to take some kind of risk.

It’s a huge, loud, grand, awesome, terrible, beautiful, incredible and ugly film about the huge, loud, grand, awesome, terrible, beautiful, incredible and ugly parts of life and what we do with it. It takes all of that and puts it into a science fiction, martial arts, metatextual, multi-universal, comedic film that contains an intricate family drama within its core.

Whatever you do, please walk, run, sprint, swim, drive or fly to whatever the closest theater that is playing “Everything Everywhere All at Once” as soon as humanly possible. This is a film that doesn’t just demand to be seen, but it demands to be experienced by anyone, anywhere, at the same time.

5 out of 5 Torches

CITY NEWS

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 • The Daily Beacon

9

CommonPlace: A South Knoxville community gathering space KEENAN THOMAS Senior Staff Writer

As a gathering space, CommonPlace provides coffee, community and company in South Knoxville.

Located at 6000 Chapman Hwy., CommonPlace opened its doors in July 2021. Previously, the location was used as a bank. After renovations, the coffee shop includes café style seating along with living room furniture, like the Vault.

They hold several events throughout the week, which they update their Facebook and Twitter accounts about.

Owner Eli Cockrum talked about creating CommonPlace, specifically as a place for South Knoxville.

“The whole idea behind CommonPlace is a community gathering place, and when we started on this journey, we were actually meeting with some families from this community and this idea that South Knoxville doesn’t have a gathering place was discussed,” Cockrum said.

These discussions with members of the community drove him to create CommonPlace.

“That swirled around in my head and I thought about what does this gathering place mean, what does that look like,” Cockrum said.

“And we started down this path, and we can do it around coffee and we can make this space available for other community events.”

They source their coffee from ShareWell.

Based in North Carolina, the roastery shares its community vision while ethically sourcing its coffee beans, as it comes from the farmers to

the roasters to CommonPlace.

“Our coffee comes from ShareWell Coffee Roasters over in Hendersonville, North Carolina,” Cockrum said. “We had some personal family contacts with them that over the past several years our family would bring in some coffee like on holidays whenever they would travel home, and we just fell in love with the coffee.”

“So once we knew we were going down this route, we reached out to them to see if they would be interested in being our coffee supplier, and it’s been a great partnership. They work very closely to source the coffee with the farmers directly. So it’s ethically sourced,” Cockrum said.

They feature coffee as well as food items on their menu. Cockrum said that this is because they want to offer food besides the fast food that is prevalent along Chapman Highway. They offer an assortment of bagels and pastries to go along with their drinks.

But more than that, Cockrum said that the service is what he’s most proud of.

“I think the biggest thing that I hear from customers and when I read customer reviews is the customer service,” Cockrum said. “And that’s something I really work hard on and talk with these guys about. We’re not just trying to sling drinks across the counter and holler the names out. We take the time, if the person is staying here, we’ll bring the drink out to them and talk with them for a couple seconds, a couple minutes.”

“That was the thing that I wanted our shop to be known about. I want my employees to know that they can take the time to talk with our customers, see how their day is going, learn their names, have their drink ready when they walk

in the door, those kinds of things,” Cockrum said.

As they greet and meet customers, CommonPlace holds several events and gatherings in the coffee shop, like yoga classes, trivia nights and meetings within their conference room. They also try to be an active part of the community by hosting vendor markets and providing coffee and hot chocolate for school events.

Along with that, Cockrum wants to represent the South Knoxville community. Trail signs and a South High School door and window make up part of the decor. But, the biggest example that customers see first is the South Knoxville mural.

“When we knew we were doing this, we knew we wanted to do something like this on the wall big and very obvious South Knoxville, and pointing to the different community things from parks to a few churches and schools,” Cockrum said. “We wanted to highlight the community here in South Knoxville.”

He talked about it through the lens of people growing up in South Knoxville as it’s some-

times seen as the forgotten part of the city. He mentioned that most older maps cut off at the Tennessee River and the Henley and Gay Street bridges. The map mural in CommonPlace is a direct response to that view.

As he provides space, Cockrum hopes to build up his customer base. Having been open for nine months, he still sees new faces that come into CommonPlace just about every day.

“We are still getting our name out in a lot of ways and telling people that we’re here and introducing them to our products,” Cockrum said.

He hopes that more South Knoxville residents will come in and enjoy some coffee as well as college students. One such regular at CommonPlace is Johnson University student Addie Milligan. Studying education, she first visited the coffee shop in September after moving into the area and has kept coming since then.

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE Read more at utdailybeacon.com

THE DAILY BEACON

WORSHIP GUIDE 2022

UKIRK IS AN OPEN AND AFFIRMING CAMPUS MINISTRY, WELCOME TO ALL. 1831 MELROSE AVENUE

JOIN US FOR DINNER AND WORSHIP EACH WEDNESDAY AT 7PM CommonPlace Co�ee o�ers ample seating for guests to study, chat, read and more inside the previous bank building turned co�ee house. Wednesday Apr 6, 2022.

Keenan Thomas / The Daily Beacon

10

The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, April 13, 2022

CITY NEWS

Fires blaze in Wears Valley and Seymour areas causing mass evacuations AUTUMN HALL Staff Writer

On Wednesday, March 30, fires erupted across the Hatcher Mountain area, causing massive destruction and evacuations of more than 100 buildings in the area.

The fire, which was likely fueled by a combination of strong winds and dry ground conditions, was mirrored by similar fires in the Seymour and Blount County areas. Local area firefighters have been working tirelessly throughout the week to eliminate the fires, which are now almost fully contained in both areas, with no resulting fatalities. Despite this, many residents are continuing to face longterm effects.

Brooklyn Cunningham, a Walland resident and journalism and electronic media senior, explained her experiences with the situation and how she believes the lack of news coverage impacted her family’s evacuation.

“My husband and I evacuated Wednesday night after we heard the news of the Seymour fire at the end of our road. No news outlet had reported on it and the evacuation maps only extended to the county line since it is run by Sevier County … It was a scary situation because we could see the glow of the fires coming from over the mountain in our backyard,” Cunningham said.

While Cunningham’s property did not face any damages, her neighbors suffered several impacts to their homes, which she believes made the situation even worse in terms of the fire’s traumatic nature.

... we could see the glow of the fires coming from over the mountain in our backyard.

BROOKLYN CUNNINGHAM WALLAND RESIDENT, UTK JOURNALISM STUDENT

For many residents in the area such as Cunningham, the current fires are reminiscent of the 2016 Sevier County wildfires, which claimed the lives of 14 people and caused more than $1 million in property damage. These fires took East Tennessee by surprise and are now known as one of the worst fires ever to occur in the Eastern United States.

Assistant Chief Mark Wilbanks of the City of Knoxville Fire Department (KFD) explained the current condition of the Wears Valley and Seymour, and how they compare to the 2016 wildfires.

“At the time of the Gatlinburg fires back in 2016, that was the largest dollar value loss in

the history of the United States for wildland fires. This fire does not at this time appear to be as high of a dollar value loss as the 2016 fires were … It is a little bit different, but for those who lost something, it is devastating,” Wilbanks said.

Similar to the 2016 fires, the sense of helpfulness within the East Tennessee community has contributed greatly to the rapid elimination of the fires thus far. These community efforts helped to rebuild Sevier County from the ground up in 2016, and community members are confident that it will work in the same way with the current fires, as many individuals faced the total destruction of their homes and businesses.

In an April 2 wildfire update, Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters addressed the help that Sevier County has received from neighboring communities.

“I had an opportunity today to visit with a lot of the folks that are volunteering in our area, the folks staging area for firefighters, the folks who are feeding them at the Pigeon Forge High School … Because of that work, I firmly believe that lives have been saved and property has been saved. We can’t say enough about that,” Waters said.

Waters believes that without the efforts provided by East Tennessee as a whole, the fires might have been much worse in the scale of their impacts. He and other members of the Sevier County community are grateful for the help that they have received throughout the fires.

Wilbanks described the KFD’s overall position in the matter.

“We were an assisting agency in Wears Valley, so that means we were called in by the state of Tennessee to go to Wears Valley to assist with the home agency, which was Sevier County Emergency Management and the local fire departments in the area up there. So, our job really was to provide equipment … We provided nearly 1500 man-hours of personnel assistance,” Wilbanks said.

Wilbanks did not hesitate to talk about the KFD’s pride in being able to help out the local area and neighboring fire departments during times of hardship, despite being located out of the area of impact.

To prevent future fires, Wilbanks urges people to be cautious of burning brush, especially on days that are dry and windy. For those who wish to help community members affected by the current fires, Appalachian OUTReach will be accepting new, unopened donations of items including bottled water, sports drinks, personal hygiene items and baby items such as diapers, wipes, formula, as well as gift cards and pet food. Donations can be dropped off at either 519 W. Lamar Alexander Parkway in Maryville, or 209 N. Calderwood St. in Alcoa.

Wildfire photo updates were posted to Facebook on March 31 (top) and April 1 (bottom) detailing information regarding the Hatcher Mountain Road fires. Courtesy of the official Facebook of the Sevier County Emergency Management Agency

SPORTS

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 • The Daily Beacon

11 11

Notebook: Hooker leads dynamic offense, defense shines in spring scrimmage RILEY THOMAS Staff Writer

It was an unordinary frigid Saturday in April, filled with rain mixed in with snow.

Tennessee head football coach Josh Heupel — who wore shorts the entire afternoon — still believed his team had a productive scrimmage amidst the poor weather.

“What a great day today, especially when the sun came out,” Heupel said. “Today you get an unique opportunity to bring VFLs, our players’ parents and recruits on campus. Obviously, we aren’t inside Neyland Stadium, and we miss our fans. Would love the opportunity for them inside that stadium.”

Here are two takeaways from the second scrimmage of the spring season.

Offense shows sparks In the first drive of the scrimmage, Hendon Hooker and the number ones on the offense drove the length of the field and scored.

Hooker took command of the field on the first possession and went perfect on the drive, topping it off with a touchdown pass to Jacob Warren in the back of the end zone.

Joe Milton and the second team took the field on the next drive with the same aspira-

just out of precaution, but he led the offense to score on the first drive and was engaging with his teammates on the sideline all afternoon.

“I thought Hendon did a really good job managing things,” Heupel said. “Joe made a bunch of plays today, scrambling, and completing a deep throw down the middle of the field. He’s been really consistent throughout spring practice. Tayven is a young guy who continues to get a bunch of reps. He’s learning from every single one of them. I love that he’s resilient and comes back and competes the next play regardless of what happened on the previous play. Got a bright future.”

Defense brings energy Despite giving up 2 straight touchdowns, the defense picked it up by turning in 4 consecutive three-and-outs before allowing the Hendon Hooker No.5 evades the tackle from Vanderbilt Safety Maxwell Worship No. 21 during the Tennessee next touchdown.

The defense forced constant pressure all afvs Vanderbilt football game on Nov. 27, 2021 in Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, TN. ternoon, not allowing the quarterbacks to get Jamar Coach / The Daily Beacon comfortable in the pocket, sacking them sevbomb in the end zone to give the offense backtions to score as the first team did. eral times. to-back touchdowns.

Milton looked vastly improved since the last It started with Elijah Simmons blowing up a Next, Tayven Jackson got his turn to give team fans saw him out of the field. He looked run play, forcing a fumble, then Omari Thomas the offense its third straight touchdown with more under control and poised in the pocket, picked it up for a scoop and score. the third string. Instead, the defense recorded commanding the offense at a higher rate. its first three-and-out and sent the offense off Milton’s drive was extremely similar to ones STORY CONTINUED ONLINE the field. during the 2021 season — quick. He needed Read more at utdailybeacon.com Hooker only had about two to three drives only 4 plays to hit Jack Jancek on a 40+ yard

Where Tennessee can turn following recent offseason departures ETHAN STONE Assistant Sports Editor

Tennessee basketball has four scholarship positions to fill following the departure of senior guard Victor Bailey Jr., freshman guard Quentin Diboundje and freshman forwards Handje Tamba and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield in the transfer portal this offseason.

The Vols are also still awaiting the final decisions from junior guards Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi on their respective futures with the team. Vescovi recently declared for the NBA draft while maintaining his two years of college eligibility, and James is likely to release a statement on his future soon with the ability to do the same.

The class of 2022 currently contains just one signee – local prospect BJ Edwards out of Knoxville Catholic. Edwards will look to attempt to replace the production of standout freshman point guard Kennedy Chandler, who recently declared for the NBA draft.

Chandler is Tennessee’s third one-and-done prospect in the past two seasons.

“The decision was tough,” Chandler told ESPN in his announcement Tuesday afternoon. “I had talked to my family and coach

Barnes about it as well. We thought it was the best decision for me. This has just always been a lifelong dream of mine.”

Replacing Chandler’s team-leading 13.9 points and 4.7 assists per game will be a tough ask, but Tennessee has already reached out to a few names to replace the seemingly unreplaceable future, late first-round selection.

Where does Tennessee turn?

Obviously, the Vols will likely retain freshman guard Zakai Zeigler and have four-star Edwards on the horizon, but Tennessee will need a return on their losses, especially for Bailey and Huntley-Hatfield who posted considerable minutes in Tennessee’s rotation.

A good place to start could lie somewhere within the remains of the LSU Tigers, whose recent firing of head coach Will Wade sent shockwaves throughout the roster. All 13 scholarship players either entered the transfer portal or declared for the NBA draft, in the case of Darius Days and freshman Tari Eason.

Tennessee already struck out on LSU transfer Brandon Murray, who chose to stay home and attend Georgetown in mid-April LSU lost four commitments to its 2022 class, including five-star power forward Julian Phil-

lips. He collected plenty of offers before eventually deciding on LSU over a final four including Tennessee, Florida State and USC near the beginning of this past season. As of early April, Phillips is the only real move that could represent a feasible replacement for John Fulkerson, Tamba and Huntley-Hatfield.

Tennessee has reportedly shown interest towards a pair of guards in the transfer portal — Indiana State’s Tyreke Key and Kansas State’s Nijel Pack.

Pack was one of the best three-point shooters in the nation last season, draining shots from range at a 43.6% clip, good enough for 46th in the nation. His 17.4 points per game led the Wildcats by a significant margin, and the sophomore guard with two remaining years of eligibility has reportedly narrowed his search to Duke and Tennessee.

Key was impressive for the Sycamores in 2020 but had to sit out the 2021-22 season following shoulder surgery. His 17.2 points per game led Indiana State in 2020 as a junior.

Key has Tennessee ties as well. The Clay County native was voted as 2017’s Tennessee Mr. Basketball and was widely considered one of the more talented players in the state at the high school level, still holding the Tennessee record for most points scored in a single season with 1,383.

Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi No. 25 during the basketball game against Ole Miss on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2021.

Alexandra Ashmore / The Daily Beacon

12

SPORTS

The Daily Beacon • Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Notebook: Tennessee handles Mizzou en route to best ever SEC start ANDREW PETERS Staff Writer

No. 1 Tennessee continued to show that it is deserving of its ranking, sweeping its fourth SEC opponent Missouri over the weekend.

The Vols handled the first two games soundly, winning 8-3 Friday and 11-4 Saturday. Tennessee was given a scare on Sunday, as a late rally put Missouri one base hit away from tying the game, but the Vols hung on to win 4-3.

Here are three takeaways from yet another big weekend from the Vols.

Vols continue to make history A theme this season for Tennessee has been breaking records. Whether it’s franchise records, single game records, personal records, the Vols can’t seem to stop making history.

That theme continued this weekend, as the Vols’ win on Sunday gave them a 12-0 SEC start, the best start ever to conference play by an SEC team. Three teams have started 11-0 — Alabama in 1940, Ole Miss

in 1964 and LSU in 1991 — but no team has made it through the first four weekends unscathed.

The Vols are also just one win shy of tying the record for most consecutive wins by an SEC team. Texas A&M won 24 straight in 2015, and a win on Tuesday against Tennessee Tech would put the Vols at 24 wins.

Tennessee isn’t worried about records or history, however. The team has their sights focused on winning games and making a postseason run. Head coach Tony Vitello said he might, “buy the guys a t-shirt or something,” at the end of the season to reward them for their records.

“At this point what does it mean,” Vitello said. “It’s kind of a group that is all about ‘what’s the next day got going for me,’ so I’ve kind of molded myself into their personality and that’s really all that matters. We’ve got a game tomorrow that’s equal to, no less no more, than today’s game.”

Playing the catch-up game Something that has been unfamiliar for Tennessee so far this season has been getting down early and having to come from behind to win games, so when Missouri

No. 2 Jorel Ortega swings at the ball in Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Sunday April 10, 2022 as the Vols take on Missouri. Alana Adams / The Daily Beacon

took a 2-0 lead in both Friday and Saturday’s games, the Vols had to make some adjustments and find a way to win.

On Friday, it was three solid innings of offense that pushed Tennessee past Missouri. Trailing 3-1 after the top of the sixth, Tennessee scored seven unanswered runs through the sixth, seventh and eight innings to close out the game.

On Saturday, Missouri began the game with two back-to-back home runs, but Tennessee immediately responded with three back-to-back home runs to take the lead. But the Tigers weren’t done, and they regained the lead in the third.

In the sixth inning, down a run, Jordan Beck delivered for his team, hitting a grand slam to left field to give the Vols a three-run lead.

Tennessee hasn’t seen much adversity this season, so to win in come-from-behind fashion two nights in row felt like a much-needed test.

grand slam and two from Luc Lipcius on Sunday that made a big difference in the outcome of the game.

The Vols lead the nation in home runs with 79, and the team in second, Virginia Tech, has 69.

“It’s electric,” Redmond Walsh said. “It is one of those things – you don’t know who its going to be on any day. It could be (Evan) Russell or Trey (Lipscomb), somebody is going to have a big home run or a big hit and turn the tides.”

It’s kind of a group that is all about ‘what’s the next day got going for me’

Vols once again rely on homers Big home run hitting weekends have become the standard for Tennessee baseball.

The Vols hit 8 home runs over the weekend against Missouri, including Beck’s

TONY VITELLO BASEBALL HEAD COACH

Pitcher No. 32, Drew Beam, pitches and strikes out a Missouri batter in Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Sunday April 10, 2022. Alana Adams / The Daily Beacon