The Daily Beacon 041819

Volume 137, Issue 27 Thursday, April 18, 2019 utdailybeacon.com @utkdailybeacon

SPORTS What led Rick Barnes to choose Rocky Top?

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Nathan Lick / The Daily Beacon

Vision

CAMPUS UT’s campus has been adorned with statues of mascot Smokey. Read more on the alumna behind the artwork.

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OPINIONS Columnist Jason Smethers provides an argument for including collegiate-level esports in the NCAA. Caitlyn Jordan / The Daily Beacon

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Impact

CITY Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum will celebrate its 20th EarthFest with day of volunteering, workshops and connection.

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Miya Heckman / The Daily Beacon

Thrive

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SPORTS

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, April 18, 2019

DAILY BEACON STAFF AND POLICY INFORMATION EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Kylie Hubbard MANAGING EDITOR: Tyler Wombles COPY CHIEF: Paige Greene CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR: Gabriela Szymanowska CITY NEWS EDITOR: Val Lick SPORTS EDITOR: Blake Von Hagen ASST. SPORTS EDITOR: Will Backus ENGAGEMENT EDITOR: Jared Chadwick DIGITAL PRODUCER: Kelsey French ASST. DIGITAL PRODUCER: Elexis Houston OPINIONS EDITOR: Margot McClellan PHOTO EDITORS: Caitlyn Jordan, Roddrick Tooles DESIGN EDITORS: Elisa Razak, Grace Atter PRODUCTION ARTISTS: Meliya Evans, Catherine

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BASKETBALL

Buyout issues, faith led Barnes to stay at Tennessee CORY SANNING Staff Writer

The deal was nearly sealed and signed on the dotted line. Rick Barnes, on the advice of his longtime financial advisor, was set to become the next head coach at UCLA. The lure of bringing a storied program back to relevance to cap off his career was enticing.

Barnes then prayed on the decision long and hard, asking that he be guided in the right direction. That’s when the negotiations stalled and the veteran coach saw the writing on the wall.

“I’ve believe God made it very clear through many people that that I’m supposed to be at Tennessee,” Barnes said. “And it really goes above and beyond the basketball program.”

While Barnes and Tennessee basketball experienced unprecedented success on the court this season, it’s the relationships he and his wife have established in the community that weighed on his mind so much.

Turns out that Knoxville doesn’t make it any easier on the commercial side of the bargain, either.

Countless restaurants offered Barnes free food ‘for life.’ The Tennessee Smokies and Knoxville Ice Bears both brought forth season

tickets. While oblivious to the countless propositions at the time, Barnes’ love for East Tennessee goes beyond any signature eatery.

“I’m in love with this community and I’m in love with this state,” Barnes said. “I think we have a lot of great things going on this town and I want to continue to make Knoxville one of the greatest places to live.”

It was the offer that Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer and interim president Randy Boyd put together that was the most enticing, however.

A former coach himself, with a plethora of experience in college athletics, Fulmer’s mindset from the beginning was to out-bargain UCLA. If the Bruins were going to steal Barnes from the Vols, it would not be easy.

“We weren’t going to let anybody come in here and buy our coach without putting up a great fight,” Fulmer said. “We weren’t just going to let him go away.”

A historian of the game, Barnes grew up idolizing the late John Wooden, who coached the Bruins to 10 national championships and 12 Final Four appearances before his retirement in 1975.

He also gained a lifelong fan in Barnes who, despite growing up thousands of miles away from UCLA’s campus, greatly admired the program growing up.

Tennessee basketball head coach Rick Barnes speaks with the media at media day on Oct. 4, 2018 at the Ray and Lucy Hand Digital Studio.

Caitlyn Jordan / The Daily Beacon

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE Read more at utdailybeacon.com

BASEBALL

Tennessee looks to continue momentum against Kentucky MATTHEW UNDERWOOD Staff Writer

The Tennessee baseball team is coming off its best week in SEC play, posting a record of 3-1, including two wins against No. 2 Georgia.

While the road never gets easier in the SEC, the Vols will have their first SEC series of the season this weekend that is not against a team in the top 25 when they travel to Lexington to take on the Kentucky Wildcats.

“They went down to Oxford and beat Mississippi, and I don’t know that I have ever done that,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said.

“Their brand new facility is great, their players are great, their coach won national coach of the year, so there is a long list of things we can go to if we need to, but I don’t think we need to.

“Our guys understand that we are still unproven as a group, so they are hungry.”

Tennessee will enter the three-game series against Kentucky having won four of its last five games, posting an overall record of 26-11 (6-9 SEC). On the other side, Kentucky will also come into this week coming off of a series win against No. 15 Ole Miss, while posting an overall record of 20-16 (4-11 SEC). The Rebels were able to de-

feat Kentucky in the first game of the series on Friday night, 8-2, but Kentucky rebounded with a pair of wins on Saturday and Sunday.

“That was the talk about there just now,” Jake Rucker said. “We have to go in there and do what we need to do, and not overlook them.”

In Tennessee’s last series against the Bulldogs, they were able to rely on strong pitching to pick up two huge wins in conference play, shutting out the Bulldogs on Thursday and Friday to start the series. On Thursday, Garrett Crochet got the start on the mound for the Vols, his first start of the season. Crochet took advantage of the opportunity, pitching five innings without allowing a run in a 2-0 shutout victory.

With the way that Crochet pitched on Thursday out-dueling Georgia ace Emerson Hancock, it would have been hard to imagine an equally dominant pitching performance on Friday for Tennessee. However, that is what they got out of starter Garrett Stallings.

After Hancock had pitched a complete game the night before for Georgia, Stallings pitched a complete game shutout on Friday night. Overall, he threw nine innings only allowing five hits and picking up five strikeouts. Tennessee will hope to continue to get dominant pitching to get another series win against Kentucky, and moving forward in the SEC season.

#12 Ricky Martinez rounds third base during the game against Morehead State University on Tuesday April 16, 2019.

Connor Morss / The Daily Beacon

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE Read more at utdailybeacon.com

CAMPUS NEWS

Thursday, April 18, 2019 • The Daily Beacon

3

Smokey statues receive mixed reactions from students JAKE YODER Staff Writer

Ten statues of everyone’s favorite hound dog have been erected around campus. While the announcement of the statues led to great excitement from students, faculty, staff and alumni alike, what do people think about them now?

The statues were conceptualized by the Student Government Association earlier this year. While the idea started as a way to honor Smokey, the SGA thought it best to honor every dog who has ever been the mascot of the university, leading to the creation of ten different statues scattered around campus.

The statues were pushed through by Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Jeff Maples, who, in a news release made by the university, said, “We’re proud of our campus traditions, and this seemed like a unique and exciting way to celebrate one of our longest-running traditions.”

The statues were officially revealed at the pedestrian bridge near the Student Union on April 13, right before the Orange and White game.

After the reveal, however, many were left

disappointed, such as Allison Spradley, junior studying theatre.

“I think that (the statues) are a really nice addition to campus homage to Smokey,” Spradley said. “But they are a little hyper-realistic, and it’s pretty off-putting.”

Others were less bothered by the hyperrealism of the statues, and instead by their quality.

“When I first heard about these statues, I was really excited because I think that the Smokey dogs are a really cool UT tradition,” Gwyneth Doppelt, freshman studying communication studies, said. “I was expecting a little more than what I got … They look pretty cheap if I’m being honest. I was expecting something cast in bronze, and I thought that would’ve been a really nice memorial, but these just feel fake and dense.”

Some, such as senior studying cinema studies Becca Marley, are worried that their tuition money is being wasted on the statues.

“I think the Smokey statues are kind of pointless, to be honest” Marley said. “It seems like a silly expenditure, and that the money could’ve been spent better elsewhere.

If they looked better, I might like them more, to be honest.”

While reception for the statues may have been worse than expected, many have embraced them, posing for pictures with the

Smokey V by the Hodges Library (left) and Smokey I by Neyland Stadium (right).

Miya Heckman / The Daily Beacon statues and filling social media with posts featuring them.

If you haven’t checked out one of the statues around campus yet, you can go and see them at one of these locations: the UT Gardens, the Tennessee Recreation Center for

Students (TRECS), the corner of Lake Loudoun Boulevard and Phillip Fulmer Way, Circle Park, Hodges Library, the courtyard between Strong Hall and Clement Hall, the Student Union Pedestrian Bridge, Gate 21 of Neyland Stadium, the Hill and the Engineering Quad.

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4

CAMPUS NEWS

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, April 18, 2019

‘We’re ready to work’: Vision wins executive positions, most senate seats

SGA ELECTIONS Total votes (2016)

Total votes (2017)

Total votes (2018)

Total votes (2019)

7559

6616

6937

7455

STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT

30.97%

38.56%

Owen Flomberg

Natalie Campbell

Vision Impact Thrive Write-in

2.7%

27.75%

Write-in

Chad Smith

STUDENT BODY VICE-PRESIDENT

36.61% Isaac Holt

2.46% Write-in

STUDENT SERVICES DIRECTOR

30.98% Kaylee Sheppard

29.92%

34.63% Emerson Burd

2.41% Write-in

Kenzie Bastian

33.23% Madison Woods

29.71% Justin Cross

SENATE SEATS Vision

27 Impact

17 Thrive

7

TBD

STAFF REPORT

SGA election season ended on Wednesday with the Vision campaign winning president, vice president, student services director and a majority of the undergraduate senate seats.

With 7,455 total votes, this election received the highest level of student participation since 2016.

Junior studying disability studies through the College Scholars Program Natalie Campbell became UT’s president-elect with 2,875 votes (38.56% of overall votes). Vice presidentelect Isaac Holt, a junior studying marketing, received 2,675 votes and student services director-elect Emerson Burd, a junior studying business analytics, received 2,530 votes.

Due to the rulings of several SGA Senate judicial hearings, both the Vision and Impact campaigns received a 2% decrease to their vote totals. The Thrive campaign received a 1-vote increase to its vote totals.

Those amended totals for the presidential elections are as follows: Natalie Campbell, Vision: 2,875 votes; 38.56% of overall votes; Owen Flomberg, Impact UT: 2,309 votes; 30.97% of overall votes; Chad Smith, Thrive: 2,069 votes; 27.75% of overall votes; Write-In Candidates: 202 votes; 2.7% of overall votes.

Campbell announced her campaign’s win by holding up the papers and screaming “we won!” as she walked into her campaign party.

“I am so proud of each and every one of you,” Campbell said to her campaign. “You all worked so hard. Thank you for believing in us and for taking a bet on us. And it paid off; that’s how great it was.”

While winning all their executive positions, Vision did not win as many Senate seats as it would have liked.

“We did not sweep senate and that’s okay,” Campbell said. “There are other ways to make your voice heard and get involved.”

However, Vision managed to sweep the senate positions for the Haslam College of Business, a total of seven seats.

“It’s exciting considering the fact that a lot of our senators, not just Haslam, won ... this is their first go-round with SGA and I think that’s exciting, to bring a new perspective to SGA,” Holt said.

Now that the campaign has officially won, Vision will look to implement the policies they promised to carry out, including creating an environment welcoming for all students, increasing disability services, expansion of dining hours, increase and better the campus resources, reducing Uber fares, creating a platform for SGA news, making an SGA events calendar, promoting further discussion on the campus alcohol policy and increasing access to SGA to all students.

Campbell, Holt and Burd said that after the celebration parties and some sleep, they will be ready to officially take on their SGA roles.

“We put this campaign together, step by step, with the intention of pursuing students,” Campbell said. “It’s amazing to see that students felt that and they elected us. And now, we are ready to work for (students).”

Owen Flomberg, junior studying political economy and presidential candidate, Kaylee Sheppard, junior majoring in American studies and political science and vice presidential candidate, and Madison Woods, sophomore studying chemistry with a minor in child and family studies and student services director candidate, all finished in second place in the election.

And it came as a shock to the campaign.

“We weren’t expecting this,” Flomberg said.

“We expected it to be a very close election, but we just weren’t really expecting this at all. And I think a lot of people are on that same boat right now.”

The group couldn’t attribute any specific factor to its loss of the executive seats.

“I can’t really say what led to the loss because we did everything we could,” Sheppard said.

Despite failing to claim the executive positions, though, Impact UT did see multiple senators win seats. The campaign had a particularly large effect on the College of Arts and Sciences, with eight of the college’s 10 newly elected senators hailing from Impact UT. The campaign also claimed the East Area seats, as senators Emily Medford and Sascha Richey won the two spots there.

“Kind of how we’re feeling is that it’s not over,” Flomberg said. “We had 17 senators win, so that’s a big chunk of Senate. It is kind of from the impact of the team here looking to promote those policies. We talked again and again and again ... that we’re not a campaign, we’re a party. And we’re here to promote these policies whether the three of us win or only one Senator wins.

“So we’re really excited to kind of promote and really sort to delegate and point to the people that won and say, ‘Hey, start working on this, start working on this.’”

Sheppard echoed that sentiment, consistently praising the senators present at the campaign’s results party.

“We made such an impact and they’re going to make such an impact next year,” Sheppard said.

Sheppard said that she is very passionate about women running for office and that she wants to work next year to encourage women in college to study political science and run for political positions.

Meanwhile, Flomberg hopes to continue to advocate for student programming, one of Impact UT’s major campaign points, next year, despite what role he holds on campus.

CAMPUS NEWS “A personal priority of mine is to make sure that both large and small organizations have access to adequate funding to put on educational programs for their students,” Flomberg said. “So I definitely want to be out and about advocating for that next year, whether that’s in a formal or more informal way.”

Presidential candidate and junior studying medical anthropology Chad Smith, vice presidential candidate and junior studying agricultural education Kenzie Bastian, and student services director and junior studying finance and food agricultural business Justin Cross came in third place in the SGA election season.

“I know how much effort I put into it, I know how much effort every single one of our members put into it and so, major disappointment, because ultimately we thought we were gonna pull through, we really did. We were cautiously optimistic to the very, very end of it,” Smith said. “We had so many incredible conversations with students, like we met so many people, we heard so many peoples’ stories and ultimately when it comes down to what all of this means, that’s what it’s about.”

The executive members walked into The Standard courtyard with their heads held up and pulled their members together to address the results. Though Thrive lost, Smith, Bastian and Cross reiterated how proud they were of their campaign members and supporters.

“I honestly like I just feel proud of everyone a part of it,” Bastian said. “Then I just immediately thought of all the people like of our team and supporters, and so I’m just proud of us. They got the opportunity to like step out of their comfort zones and like speak to students and engage those students. I’m proud of our campaign, we were completely clean and just wanting to be like nice and civil with everyone, genuinely wanting to pursue students.” “(We’re) immensely proud of what we’ve done as a team and as a campaign, and from the beginning we’ve called ourselves a movement and I think that was shown,” Cross said.

Although the exec team won’t be taking office, Thrive still plans on making the voices of all the students they had conversations with heard.

“I mentioned this from the very beginning, I thought that our campaign and our team had the most comprehensive and far-reaching platform that I’ve ever seen come from student government in my time here,” Cross said. “So there were a lot of things we were advocating for, lot of things that weren’t included on the initiatives from the other campaigns and not the winning campaign either, so now I think it’s accountability. We’re going to continue to fight for those goals that we had as a team.”

Bastian pointed that even though a lost can be hard to take, keeping the drive to make change needs to continue so that the students who don’t feel like they belong on campus do feel like they have a place.

“When we spoke to our Senators and gave the results from it, it’s just like keeping that motivation and drive,” Bastian said. “I think sometimes when you face a loss or something

Thursday, April 18, 2019 • The Daily Beacon doesn’t go your way, you immediately want to give up. But I think like through this we get the opportunity to take that drive and that fire, it just makes me want to go out more and make sure these things happen.”

And although the Thrive campaign’s run has come to an end, Smith reassured that he is still here for everyone.

“I’ve heard from so many students and I got so many texts that were saying your campaign gives me hope for our campus, your campaign made me feel like there could actually be change on campus where I never thought there could be,” Smith said. “We aren’t giving up ... try not to lose hope, I know it’s hard, but if we lose hope then we stop, we stay stagnate. Don’t lose hope and I’m here for every single person who reached out and had those things to say.”

Run-off election to follow, referendums pass Due to a tie, two off-campus senator positions will be decided through a run-off election on Thursday, Apr. 18. The tie is between Mary Grace Hinton (Impact UT), a junior majoring in supply chain management and Catherine Faulk (Thrive), a junior majoring in political science.

Each candidate received 1094 votes; 3.23% of overall votes.

Two candidates also sponsored referendum votes for campus policies.

Flomberg introduced a referendum on UT’s alcohol policy. The referendum proposed that UT allow the legal consumption of alcohol at pre-approved, registered campus events.

The referendum received 6,274 “Yes” votes; 84.15% of overall votes. 9.28% of students voted “No,” and 6.55% of students voted “Prefer not to answer.”

Maria Urias, a sophomore studying sociology, introduced a referendum to amend UT’s Student Code of Conduct. The referendum asked whether the code’s first paragraph should be amended to add: “Moreover, this University seeks to create an environment that is welcome to all and hostile to none. This includes people of any race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, veteran status, military service, or any other legally protected category.”

The referendum received 5,731 “Yes” votes; 76.87% of overall votes. 12.82% of students voted “Prefer not to answer,” and 10.3% of students voted “No.” Winning senate candidates are as follows: Architecture and Design: Nadine Ghezawi, Impact UT - 65 votes Arts and Sciences: Mustafa Salameh, Impact UT - 903 votes Sophia Rhoades, Impact UT - 776 votes Elijah Ramsey, Impact UT - 747 votes Sarah Hodges, Vision - 742 votes Noah Smith, Impact UT - 727 votes Andrew Fahim, Impact UT - 717 votes Simon Jolly, Impact UT - 713 votes Katie Bardwell, Impact UT - 708 votes Kassie Looschen, Impact UT - 702 votes Neil Patel, Vision - 698 votes

Agriculture and Natural Sciences: Chloe Ford, Thrive - 201 votes Jerome Linyear, Thrive - 176 votes Business: Connor Davis, Vision - 603 votes Mary Ciochetty, Vision - 602 votes Michael Banks, Vision - 600 votes Cailin Bailey, Vision - 565 votes John Michael Haren, Vision - 536 votes Drew Hyler, Vision - 536 votes Liam Robertson, Vision - 514 votes Communication and Information: Carson Burns, Vision - 153 votes Bryson Atkins, Thrive - 134 votes Engineering: Molly Mays, Impact UT - 380 votes Shivang Patel, Impact UT - 361 votes Raj Patel, Thrive - 333 votes Scott Malone, Impact UT - 318 votes Michael Burnside, Vision - 297 votes Education, Health and Human Services: Jonathan Thompson, Vision - 351 votes Devanie Carattini, Vision - 327 votes Julia Schaefer, Impact UT - 302 votes Social Work: Ashlyn Wood, Impact UT - 35 votes Nursing: Abigail Haggard, Vision - 80 votes Off-Campus: Hannah Blackwell, Thrive - 1,246 votes

5

Maria Urias, Vision - 1,212 votes Mallika Vohra, Vision - 1,207 votes Wesley Smith, Vision - 1,179 votes Caroline Waters, Vision - 1,154 votes Emma Boyle, Vision -1,152 votes Annelise Brueher, Vision - 1,144 votes Tonio McKinley, Vision - 1,113 votes Paige Shimer, Thrive - 1,105 votes Eva Herinkova, Vision - 1,100 votes Isabelle Baker, Vision - 1,098 votes Fraternity Park: Ronald Young, Vision - 31 votes Sorority Village: Claire Donelan, Vision - 95 votes East Area: Emily Medford, Impact UT - 450 votes Sascha Richey, Impact UT -395 votes Central Area: Cameron Gracey, Vision - 330 votes Jaden Hodges, Thrive -305 West Area: Avery Patterson, Vision -740 votes Eli Pearson, Impact UT -574 votes

Kylie Hubbard, Editor-in-Chief; Tyler Wombles, Managing Editor; Gabriela Szymanowska, Campus News Editor; Val Lick, City News Editor; and Cat Trieu, Staff Writer contributed to this story.

6

OPINIONS

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, April 18, 2019

Wide World of Esports: The future of collegiate esports

JASON SMETHERS Columnist

I’m going to say it at the top, so those of you who follow collegiate esports can decide if the rest of this is worth reading or not: The NCAA would be good for intercollegiate esports.

Now that I’ve said it, and you’ve gotten your disgust for that statement out of the way, let me explain why I think this.

I’m aware of what many of you think. The

NCAA would only ruin college esports the way its faux amateurism has ruined big time college athletics. The NCAA can’t include esports in its current model because esports players make money. The NCAA doesn’t even think esports is a sport, so why should we get involved in an association so trapped behind the times?

I would normally say those are all valid concerns, but they really aren’t. The NCAA, while slow to change, is capable of it, and the value they bring to college esports far outweighs the negativity most gamers have of the association.

Let me first lay out the current collegiate esports landscape as I know of it today.

Some highlights for the uninitiated: College esports has no central organizing body. There are some who claim to be those things, but they don’t have the buy-in yet to actually be called a governing body.

The closest example of a governing body is the current National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE). 130 schools across the country are members of NACE — many are smaller private schools and members of the NAIA, but they have a couple large names such as the University of Oklahoma and the fledgling esports program at the University of Missouri.

In the past two years, NACE has held a few competitions in games such as Smite and Paladins but still does lacks a wide-reaching popu-

larity despite substantial membership.

The reason for this: Primary tournaments for big games such as Overwatch and Hearthstone are hosted by an organization named Tespa — a pseudo-arm of Blizzard’s collegiate esports focus — through which all of Blizzard’s collegiate championships are coordinated. This year they have teamed up with ESPN to host the Collegiate Esports Championships — a multigame championship event with live finals in downtown Houston.

Unlike the NACE, Tespa has managed to build enough clout with their connection to Blizzard to run truly national circuits. They have quickly become one of the premier supporters for collegiate esports and one of the few organizations to keep sustained support for their games.

If Blizzard hosts Tespa and their competitions, then developer of League of Legends Riot is the next major benefactor who hosts their own collegiate league. In the early days of college esports there were about five different intercollegiate LOL leagues, but some have come and gone ever since Riot started running the league themselves.

Now they have partnerships with the Big Ten Network, the Big East and a few other conferences to support conference champions, earning automatic spots in the Collegiate LOL final bracket. Speaking of conference support, the Big East has partnered with Electronic Sports League to host their LOL championships and run a Rocket League season for their schools.

That doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the various student and communityrun leagues for all the other games in the esports playlist, but hopefully that gives you a sense of the chaos that is the current model for college esports.

If all these other options exist, then why would we want the NCAA to get involved?

The primary reason — this is key — the NCAA is run by the institutions, not the video game companies.

Sure, the NCAA has a central office. What I mean is that the rules that govern the NCAA were decided by the member institutions and are changed each year by those institutions.

The current model for college esports, aside from NACE, allows for zero input from the member institutions.

While I get to give feedback to Tespa and Riot about how I think their tournament is going, I don’t have a representative that sits in planning meetings deciding what is going on. In the beginning, I don’t think this bothered most of us because we were simply happy to have a place to play, but this year changed some of that.

The primary example was Blizzard announcing in December the cancelling of the main collegiate competition Heroes of the Dorm. It wasn’t for another full month that it was determined Tespa would host a Heroes tournament, and it wasn’t until a couple weeks

ago, in the middle of the Heroes season, that Heroes would be included in the newly announced Collegiate Esports Championships.

By then, the damage was already done. Our team, like many of the schools, felt they were abandoned and decided not to participate. A governing body could fix some of those problems. Games being played could be announced prior to school starting, season schedules could follow more traditional academic calendars, so schools can prepare for what the year will look like.

The next reason to move with the NCAA: We need them as much as they need us. Esports presents an opportunity for the NCAA to make some wholesale changes to antiquated policies that no one really likes and that would not fit in with esports (ex. amateurism rules preventing paying players).

Yes, currently, many college players and pros make money not just from playing but from advertising their skills on sites like Youtube and Twitch. And yes, many of the college tournaments award cash “scholarship” prizes to the winners. Many NCAA rules would need to change to allow this. But here’s the thing: We wouldn’t need to award scholarships to the winners if the students already came in with a scholarship.

We need the NCAA to help teach esports about Title IX. Well, we don’t need the NCAA for this; we can and will learn about this on our own. But the people who have spent their careers learning and properly understanding this issue are well-placed in traditional athletics programs. So why rebuild a structure for ensuring Title IX is properly enforced when such a structure already exists?

Structure is the next thing. If we need representation for determining our own championships, then why reinvent the wheel?

At UT, we already have longstanding rivalries with members of the SEC. Why not tap into that by adding esports to the SEC and schedule our seasons around playing our traditional rivals? This doesn’t mean we can’t also play Tennessee Tech or Chattanooga, but it gives us something to start with. Sure, new rivalries could form, but the current models don’t allow for that very often.

STORY CONTINUED ONLINE Read more at utdailybeacon.com UTK Esports is a student organization interested in competing in and promoting collegiate and professional esports. If you have questions or would like to join and compete, please reach out to us at esports@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.

PUZZLES & GAMES

Thursday, April 18, 2019 • The Daily Beacon

the daily beacon

crossword & sudoku

your morning coffee’s best friend.

LOS ANGELES TIMES CROSSWORD • Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis ACROSS 1 “No problem” 11 You can only get one if yRX·UH near home, briefly 14 “What are you asking?”

15 Salon inventory 16 Taunts on the field 17 Doing business 18 Fast period 19 Loiter 21 Showing a ¶tude 24 Emotional 25 Confused conditions 27 Social media movement since 2017 31 Bat coating 34 D12 comedy hip-hop song produced by Eminem 35 One of two raised when rearing 36 Like DorotK\·s slippers 37 Tough situations 38 Oprah, at times 39 Linguine sauce 40 Non __ 41 Largest USA steel producer 43 Subway gate 47 Foxglove 51 Part of URFN·s CSNY 53 Corner piece 54 Causes second thoughts 57 Off-rd. transports 58 Fair 59 Friend of Wyatt 60 Relaxed DOWN 1 JFK __ Airport 2 Worries 3 Big brand in appliances 4 Anthills and beehives, e.g.

5 Morse character 6 Go (for) 7 Airport transport 8 Attention-getting marker 9 “Supernatural” co-star Jensen __

11/3/18

By Brian E. Paquin

10 Electric car maker 11 Former security, for short 12 French flag couleur 13 “__ that special?”

15 Depart, in totspeak 20 Base kid 22 Spend, often begrudgingly 23 EastZRRG·s “Rawhide” role 26 Half an upwind sailing route 28 Sailors 29 People 30 Roulette choice 31 Sweater outlet?

32 Eye part 33 They·Ue constantly picking up 34 Their ancestry is often uncertain 35 Data transfer initials 36 Co. that introduced the 45-rpm record 38 Makes it

Friday’s Puzzle Solved

©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

40 Cut to a field reporter 42 One eying a basket 44 Nonsensical 45 Three-time Formula One World Drivers· Champion Niki __ 46 Sassafras foursome

the daily beacon

crossword & sudoku

your morning coffee’s best friend.

11/3/18

47 Uninspiring 48 Very small bit 49 Type of agcy.

50 Shipped 52 Lamarr of early Hollywood 55 Anonymous seashore vendor?

56 Bachelor __

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CITY NEWS

The Daily Beacon • Thursday, April 18, 2019

Dogwood Trails bring accessible natural beauty to Knoxville BAILEY FRITZ Staff Writer

Knoxville’s iconic “Dogwood Trails” are back for the season.

Dogwood Trails, a program of Knoxville nonprofit Dogwood Arts, opens every spring for walkers, runners and bikers.

The trails are all at least one mile in length, and visitors are encouraged to walk, run or bike these trails. All are open from dawn to dusk, and the admission to the trails is entirely free. The tree-lined, blooming trails showcase the beautiful scenery and nature of Knoxville.

Vicki Baumgartner is the the Trails and Gardens Program Manager for Dogwood Arts.

She works to overlook the outdoor initiatives of Dogwood Arts including the twelve trails located throughout the community, Hikes and Blooms and Bikes and Blooms.

“Dogwood Arts mission is to promote and celebrate the art, culture and natural beauty of our region,” Baumgartner said, explaining that the trail programs showcase Knoxville’s natural beauty.

Connie Wallace, longtime volunteer and the Chair of the Open Gardens Committee, became involved with Dogwood Arts about twenty years ago because of her involvement with Knoxville Green.

“This committee was very vigorous and totally engaged in Dogwood. I loved that community engagement, the search for the prettiest and most unique gardens and camera sites our city had to offer. For them it was a labor of love and it became one for me as well,” Wallace said.

Wallace volunteers on the trails and thoroughly enjoys her work with Dogwood Arts.

She says that the trails are accessible and ever-changing.

“Every day the trails and gardens look different, (and) the events are many and varied.

When the daffodils fade, the dogwoods are starting to bloom. No matter your age or ability you can enjoy spring in our glorious East Tennessee. Get out and see it,” Wallace said.

Locations of the trails range all over the outskirts of Knoxville, such as the Ijams Nature Center in South Knoxville. More trails are located in Oak Ridge, Alcoa, Sevier County,

A Dogwood Trail entrance for the Historic Gibbs Drive in Fountain City.

Caitlyn Jordan / The Daily Beacon Morgan County, Loudon County, Maryville, Norris and Hamblen County.

Programs offered with Dogwood Trails include Hikes and Blooms and Bikes and Blooms. Each program, whether on a greenway through a historic park or on a natural

trail through the woods, showcases the natural beauty of East Tennessee. The interactive journeys highlight interesting facts, features and flora in each location. Each program is led by fitness experts, park rangers and hiking enthusiasts.

‘EarthFest Knoxville’ to celebrate sustainability this weekend BEN WINIGER Staff Writer

Knoxville is growing and green again — and local organizations are throwing a party to celebrate it.

Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum will host EarthFest on April 20 — a couple days before it’s officially Earth Day. Ariel Allen, a lead organizer of EarthFest, said that the event builds connections between environmentally-conscious Knoxvillians.

“It’s the chance for the green community to come together, be inspired, build a network and walk away with a sense of place and purpose. Especially this year, we want to showcase some truly green small business owners, thinkers, hobbyists, and artists in the community that can share their vision for the future,” Allen said.

The event started out as a small Earth Day celebration, but it has grown to include more activities and attract new audiences.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of EarthFest’s first celebration in 1999. To celebrate this accomplishment, this year’s festival has adopted the theme “Vision 20/20.”

Through the new theme, EarthFest’s organizers hope to explore conservation and sustainability in East Tennessee, as well as how sustainable practices have expanded over the past 20 years. The theme also calls attention to the future of local sustainability.

“We want display how a greener 2020 — and beyond — can work,” Allen said. “We also hope to share visions and insights of our resident green gurus in the Ask The Experts sessions.”

Allen said that Ask The Experts is a brandnew addition to EarthFest, and that she hopes it makes environmental knowledge more accessible.

“We hope that attendees can ask any burning question they have about different environmental topics in a conversational setting.”

Allen said.

Festivities will include multiple fun activities for the entire family.

A zero-waste event will highlight the small ways through which individuals can care for their planet.

A youth area at the event will feature smallscale DIY projects, while the “Green Marketplace,” will feature activities with local, ecologically-minded craftsmen and artists. Finally, “Flavors of the Future” will let attendees taste new, unorthodox ice cream flavors.

However, the largest activities will be Used Glasses and the Ask the Expert sessions. The Used Glasses event, sponsored by Smoky Mountain Lions Charities, will collect attendees’ old eyeglasses to be recycled or donated.

Meanwhile, the Ask the Expert sessions will allow visitors to learn about environmental conservation with a panel of experts. The attending experts include representatives from Knoxville Solid Waste, speaking on recycling and waste reduction; Geo Hair Labs, giving the

Want some inspiration for your own garden? Try visiting UT’s own outdoor gardens as well.

Miya Heckman / The Daily Beacon audience green beauty tips; and CAC AmeriCorps, presenting on permaculture design.

CAC AmeriCorps is offering volunteer opportunities for any interested locals -- both in EarthFest and beyond.

“CAC AmeriCorps members always play a large role in the planning and implementation of EarthFest,” Christine Doka, the AmeriCorps representative for Earthfest, said. “We always need as many volunteers as possible at the event, so if you are interested in volunteering please sign up.”

Volunteers can sign up via the EarthFest Knoxville website.

Even though EarthFest is an excellent way to support sustainability, Doka still encourages sustainable actions in everyday life.

“There are so many ways to be greenminded in everyday life. Some quick tips are always remembering to bring reusable grocery bags, try to reduce your consumption in general, and make an effort to learn about the recycling standards wherever you live,” Doka said.